Preliminary Information

Lesson 1 of 4 Date:
Grade: 11th Grade U.S. Course/Subject: American History
Number of Students:20
Central Focus of the Learning Segment: Period or block of time estimated duration:
Causes of the American Civil War
Where in the Learning Segment does this Structure(s) or grouping for the lesson (check
lesson occur?: all that apply):
Beginning of the unit Whole class
Small group
One-to-one
Other (please specify)

1. What are your goals for student learning and why are they appropriate for these students
at this time?
Big idea or concepts being taught (What is the central focus of the lesson?)
Prior knowledge and conceptions (What knowledge, skills and/or academic language must
students already know to be successful with this lesson?)
Prior knowledge:
Succession, Compromise.
Prior skills:
Analyze, Summarize
Prior academic language:
Compare and contrast, examine.
Student learning goals/objectives (Identify 1 or 2 goals for students. How you will
communicate the goals to your students?)
Students will be able to analyze and list the major causes of the Civil War.
Students will be able to explain the role of different economies in North/South
and its effect on the start of the Civil War.
Standards (List the [Core] Standards that connect to your goals.)
2.II.D: The Constitution in Jeopardy; the American Civil War.
Academic Language Demands (Identify academic language: particular words/phrases that
are essential to understanding the content of this lesson.)
Compromise, Dredd Scott Decision, Kansas-Nebraska Act, 3/5 Compromise,
Compromise of 1850, John Browns Raid, Bleeding Kansas.

2. How will you know and document the extent to which students make progress towards or
meet your goals?
Expectations for student learning (What are your expectations for performance?
Specifically describe expectations for each of the following: exceeds expectations, meets
expectations, and below expectations.)
Exceeds Expectations: Students will perform all assigned tasks to the best of
their abilities accurately analyzing and examining documents. Students will
complete the assigned worksheets correctly, and ask unprompted
conversational questions.
Meets Expectations: Students will follow along with presentation, complete all
assigned work, participate actively.
Below Expectations: Students do not participate, does not complete assigned
work.
Evidence and Assessment of student learning (What is your assessment and how will you
know whether students are making progress towards your learning goal(s) for each of the
following: exceeds expectations, meets expectations, and below expectations.)
Students will be assessed informally via questions and discussion, as well as a
formal assessment based on completion of the compromises work sheet.
Exceeds Expectations: Student completes assessment worksheet to full extent,
actively engages in questions and discussion, completes all work on time.
Meets Expectations: Student completes all handouts on time, participates in
discussion when called on.
Below Expectations: Student does not participant in discussion or questioning,
student does not complete the assigned material.
Student feedback (How will you provide students with feedback?)
Feedback will be provided to the students in the form of in class discussion, as
well as grading of assigned work.

3. How will you support your students to meet their goals?

Launch/Hook (How will you get the lesson started? What questions, texts, modeling and/or
other techniques will you use to engage students?)
The lesson will begin with a turn and talk with students brain storming causes
of the Civil War and ways in which the war could have been avoided. Making
sure to bring up compromise if not initially mentioned by student.
Explore (How will students engage with ideas/texts to develop understandings; what
questions will you ask; how will you promote student questioning/generation of discussion;
how will you address the academic language demands? Detail your plan.)
Students will engage with the concepts and material in many ways during the
lesson. To start they will view a brief PowerPoint lecture highlighting the major
compromises and causes leading up to the Civil War.
The PowerPoint will be the first step in the Listen-Read-Discuss portion of the
class. The students will then read a summary of the Dred Scott decision and
write how they felt it impacted the countrys stability and how it could have been
improved via compromises.
Lastly the students will share their thoughts on what they read and discuss as a
class in Socratic Seminar the its impact.
Closure (How will you bring closure to the lesson?)
Closure will be brought to the class by alluding to the start of the Civil War in
1861, which will set up the next class in the unit.
Differentiation (How will you provide successful access to the key concepts for all students
at their ability levels and according to their identified needs in the Context for Learning?)
For students struggling with the content the option to read the document and
discuss its impact with a partner of the teachers choosing.
Extension (How will you extend this lesson?)
Extension will be provided in the form of homework. For homework the
students will complete a worksheet examining the economies of the North and
South and how they played into each sides decisions and attitudes toward
slavery.
What ifs? (Be proactive. Consider what might not go as planned with the lesson. What will
you do about it?)
Research/Resources and Materials
Powerpoint/Worksheet provided by:
Civil War Lesson Plans: High School. (n.d.). Retrieved December 06, 2017, from
https://www.civilwar.org/learn/educators/curriculum/high-school
Lesson Plan Template, Updated Fall 2016
edTPA