Iona College Lesson Plan

Preliminary Information
Lesson 3 of 4 Date: 10/10/17
Grade Course/subject: U.S. History
Number of Students:
Central Focus of the Learning Segment: Day Period or block of time
in the Life of a Soldier Estimated duration: 50 minutes
Where in the Learning Segment does this Structure(s) or grouping for the lesson (check
lesson occur? any that apply).
Middle of the unit Whole class
Small group

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?)
The central focus of this lesson is for students to learn and understand what soldiers
went through daily. How being in the war affected their lives and how they dealt with
daily problems and challenges that are considered simple tasks for people today.

Prior knowledge and conceptions

(What knowledge, skills and/or academic language must students already know to be
successful with this lesson?)

Prior knowledge
Coming into this lesson students should have a general understanding of what it was
like during the time period.
Students should also know the general differences between living in the south and
living in the north.
Prior skills
Ability to draw context clues from reading.
Summarize readings into concise statements.
Prior academic language
Summarize
Annotate
Editorial
Textual Connections
 Student learning goal (s)/objectives (s)
(Identify 1 or 2 goals for students. How you will communicate the goals to your students.)
Able to understand and discuss the experience for African American soldiers of the
war on each side.
Able to understand and discuss the effect new weapons technology, as well as new
medical treatments had on the war.
Students will be able to understand and discuss the life of a soldier and their role in
both society and the military.

Standards
(List the (Core) Standards that connect to your goals.)
9-12 United States History and Government:
2.11.D: The Constitution in Jeopardy: The American Civil War
Part B: War time Actions

Academic Language Demands

(Identify academic language: particular words/phrases that are essential to understanding
the content of this lesson.)
Army ranks
Standard army terms
Weapons and technology used
Drilling

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 types of performance: exceeds expectations, meets expectations, and
below expectation performance.)
Exceeds Expectations: Student actively participates in discussion during powerpoint
section of lesson, student actively participates during group work, students written
work includes all required vocab words and is well thought out and concise.
Meets Expectations: Student participates when called on, student completes group
work cohesively, student completes written work with all vocab words and display
understanding of content.
Below Expectations: Student does not participate in discussion, student does not
participate in group work, student does not complete written assignment
 Evidence and Assessment of Student Learning
(What is your assessment and how will you know whether students are making progress
toward your learning goal(s) for each of the following types of performance: exceeds
expectations, meets expectations, and below expectations?)
Exceeds Expectations: Students responses during informal PowerPoint questions as
well as informal group work are clear, concise, and accurate. Students written work is
accurate, correctly uses vocab words, and contains proper references and information.
Meets Expectations: Students responses when called on are correct both during
PowerPoint and group work. Student also uses all vocab words correctly in written
assignment but does not show the same command as a student who exceeds
expectations.
Below Expectations: Student does not participate at all during PowerPoint questions
or group work, student does not complete written assignment.

Student feedback
(How will your provide students with feedback?)
Feedback will be provided to students via informal class discussion on their responses
to questions asked. As well as through written feedback on their written assignments.

3. How will you support 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?)
Students will complete a Venn Diagram comparing what they know about soldiers
lives during the Civil War, and soldiers lives now.
The diagram will include focus questions pertaining to how the soldiers lived, what
medical technology was available to them, and what they did for fun.

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.
Following the launch, students will engage with content through a PowerPoint lecture
about the daily lives of soldiers during the Civil War. This PowerPoint will be
accompanied by informal discussion questions to ensure students are following along,
and understanding the content.
 Following the lecture students will then be placed into small groups of 3 or 4 and given
a read and share sheet. This sheet will contain a question in which they must read a
brief article to answer and then compose a brief, concise answer to their question as a
group. After enough time has passed for the groups to be finished each group will be
asked to share their question and their answer to educate the rest of the class in a sort
of improvised Jigsaw method.
After this, students will be handed their written homework and the rubric that goes
along with it. Students will be asked to compose an editorial placing themselves in the
place of a newspaper writer who has been asked to compose a piece on a day in the
life of a soldier. With this the students will also be asked to include at least 5
vocabulary words from the class word wall for the unit. The words must be used
accurately and appropriately throughout the piece.

Closure
(How will you bring closure to the lesson?)
Closure will be brought through the use of an exit slip. On the slip will be 5 questions
pertaining to the days lesson of: A Day in the Life of a Soldier. The slips will be handed
in and checked by the teacher for accuracy. Any noticeable issues will be addressed in
later lessons to ensure understanding.

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?)
Students who cannot complete the group work or the editorial assignment will be
shown a documentary detailing the day in the life of a soldier and then asked to
prepare a 1 page summary about what they just learned and what they think it was
like to live back then during the war.

Extension
(How will you extend this lesson?)
The extension in this lesson is the editorial assignment handed out for homework. This
will assess the students understanding of daily life during the Civil War, and give them
a better understanding of what it was like to go the everyday dealings of being a
soldier in the bloodiest battle in U.S. history.

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

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