Term IV -- Inspirational Women

Social Studies Lesson Plan (Introduction)

“Which inspirational woman should be recognized in the form of a public holiday?”
Ms. Henry

Goals and Objectives

● Students will be able to…
○ Work collaboratively in small groups to begin a research project
○ Utilize online resources to research and identify historical women
○ Gather strong evidence to support their choice of the historical woman to be
recognized for a public holiday
○ Gather strong evidence to support their claim that a historical woman of their
choosing is considered inspirational
● In order to…
○ Write a persuasive letter to the governor of Pennsylvania to convince them as to
why an inspirational woman should be recognized in the form of a public holiday
○ Write a persuasive letter that will include a clear claim with strong supporting
evidence

Standards/Assessment Anchors
● W.4.10 - Write routinely over extended time frames (i.e. research, revision, reflection)
● W.4.7 - Conduct short research projects that build knowledge through investigation of
different aspects of a topic
● W.4.9 - Draw evidence from literary or informational text to support analysis, reflection,
and research
● SL.4.1 Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions with diverse partners on
topic, and building on one another’s ideas and expressing their own clearly

Materials
● Smart board
● Federal and PA holidays
● Hall of Women
● Biographies
● Research Guide Worksheet
● Ipads

Classroom Arrangement/Management Issues

● Students will be seated in their typical groups
○ There are 2-4 students per group
○ Students may work in pairs or in small groups
● Lesson will begin with student’s attention directed at the smart board
 ● During the course of the lesson, teacher will circulate the room
● Ipads will be located in cart at center of the room, and each group will send a
representative to collect ipads for their peers when instructed to do so

Plan
Note: This is the introduction lesson plan to a larger project that the students will be working on.
This lesson plan includes Day 1 and the transition into Day 2.
I. Introduction (15 minutes)
A. In the large group, ask students to list off as many holidays as they can think of
B. Record their responses on the smart board
C. Identify what a federal holiday is. Then, ask students to name the federal holidays
from the list they had created
1. Model an example of this first
2. Circle the holidays they have identified as federal holidays
D. Pull up list of federal holidays and Pennsylvania public holidays (explain the
difference between federal holidays and PA public holidays)
1. Compare how many of the holidays they identified correctly as federal
E. While looking at the federal and PA public holidays, have students identify which
ones recognize a specific individual
1. Circle the holidays they have identified
2. Ask students if they can ​briefly ​explain why each of the individuals that
were identified have had a holiday named after them
3. Then ask students what they notice about all of the names that were listed;
what they all have in common?
4. Validate student responses, and eventually highlight that they are all men
II. Transition (10 minutes)
A. Explain that in honor of National Women’s Appreciation Month, students will be
conducting research projects on inspirational women throughout history
B. Explain that in small groups, students will have to decide on a candidate for a
woman they wish to be recognized in the form of a PA public holiday, conduct
research on her life, and eventually write a persuasive letter to Governor Tom
Wolf detailing why he should dedicate a PA public holiday to this woman
III. Begin Research Process (30 minutes)
A. Students will remain in their normal seating arrangements (groups vary from 2-4
students)
B. Explain that the groups of 4 may either work as a large group ​ or ​spilt off into
pairs
C. Groups/pairs will send a representative to collect ipads for each member of the
groups
 D. When students have logged onto ipads have them open up a new window and
direct them to the websites: ​Hall of Women​ ​Biographies
1. During this time teacher will project the same two websites and discuss
how to navigate them when looking for a candidate
2. Inform the students that they have the freedom to choose whoever
interests them (i.e. can be someone they know, someone they’ve never
heard of, interest in her accomplishments, etc.)
E. Distribute ​planning guide
1. Inform students that each individual will narrow their choice down to two
candidates that they would like to introduce to their partner/group
2. Must include brief information on candidates (name, occupation, what
they’re known for, and what student found interesting about them)
F. Clean Up
1. Have students save their worksheets into their class folders
2. Send the same representative to put the ipads back into the cart
3. Inform the students that they will be given more time to meet with their
partners/groups again, and will continue the research process
IV. Continuation
A. For students that have completed the planning guide, provide them time to discuss
their findings amongst the group and decide which one candidate they want to
work on
1. Teacher must approve of their group candidate by requiring an oral
argument as to why they collectively decided on this woman
2. Must include evidence to support their claims
B. Once decided, students will begin a more in-depth look into this candidate
1. Teacher will disperse the research guide handout (name, occupation, place
of birth, time period, adversities they endured, accomplishments, etc.)
2. This process will continue on at each group’s pace

Assessment of Goals
● Planning Guide Worksheet
○ Allows students to utilize information from online texts to strengthen their
arguments for a particular candidate
○ By choosing two candidates each, it provides students the opportunity to present
their information to their peers, and collaboratively decide on a candidate together
● Teacher Approval (Continuation)
○ By presenting potential candidate to teacher, students will have the opportunity to
use the information from their research to support their claim that this woman is
inspirational
 ● Research Guide Handout (Continuation)
○ Allows students to gather more focused evidence for their candidate
○ Provides students with the opportunity to expand their research to more websites
beyond what was provided by the teacher
● Teacher Observations
○ Teacher will listen/observe students researching
■ Watch how they navigate the websites
■ Check to see which sites they explore
○ Teacher will listen/observe student’s discussions of informing their peers of their
discoveries; listen for use of evidence in their persuasion

Anticipated Student/Teacher Responses

I. Introduction
A. Confusion around difference between federal/public holiday
B. When asking students what they notice historical figures have in common: men,
all important people, all in America, all from history, all have died, they all tried
to help people
II. Transition
A. Potential complaints about grouping
III. Research
A. Confusion on site navigation (teacher will demonstrate how to do so in the large
group)
B. Technical difficulties (assign a new laptop or share with partner)
C. Oral arguments based on opinion, so teacher will help guide discussions with
“what evidence do you have to support that?”, “can you give us an example of
what you mean?” “feel free to use the information that you recorded to share
with your peers”

Accomodations
● Having students work in partners/groups
○ Groupings are intentionally not done by reading levels; they are meant to have
diverse learning needs, so students can provide support for one another
● All students will have individual laptops
● Groups will be working at a pace that is comfortable for them (since this will be
expanded throughout the next several days, they will be able to gather information
gradually)
● Both handouts have clear guidance that will allow the students who have yet to conduct
research to comfortably ease into it
● Teacher will be constantly roaming throughout the groups to make sure students are on
track with their work, and will provide individual support when necessary