McDonald’s Draft (2010). Modified by Kreassig and Gould (2014) for use with student teachers.

Revised August 2015

Teacher: Madeline Keever Date: 10/12 & 10/15

Title of Lesson: Power Paragraph Cooperating Teacher: Stacey Luck

Core Components
Subject, Content Area, or Topic
8th Grade Civics and Economics

Student Population
1A: 23 1B: 23
5A: 26 5B: 25
Learning Objectives
8.2.2 Examine the impact of earlier documents on the U.S. Constitution

Virginia Essential Knowledge and Skills (SOL)

CE.1a The student will demonstrate skills for historical thinking, geographical analysis, economic
decision making, and responsible citizenship by analyzing and interpreting evidence from primary
and secondary sources, including charts, graphs, and political cartoons;

CE.2b The student will apply social science skills to understand the foundations of American
constitutional government by examining and evaluating the impact of the Magna Carta, charters of
the Virginia Company of London, the Virginia Declaration of Rights, the Declaration of
Independence, the Articles of Confederation, and the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom on the
Constitution of Virginia and the Constitution of the United States, including the Bill of Rights;

Materials/Resources
Warmup notebooks, textbook, writing utensils, chrome books, student survey, power paragraph
outline, homework activity sheets
High Yield Instructional Strategies Used (Marzano, 2001)

Check if Used
Strategy Return
Identifying Similarities & Differences 45%
X Summarizing & Note Taking 34%
X Reinforcing Efforts & Providing Recognition 29%
X Homework & Practice 28%
Nonlinguistic Representations 27%
X Cooperative Learning 23%
Setting Goals & Providing Feedback 23%
Generating & Testing Hypothesis 23%
X Questions, Cues, & Advanced Organizers 22%
DOES YOUR INSTRUCTIONAL INPUT & MODELING YIELD THE POSITIVE RETURNS
YOU WANT FOR YOUR STUDENTS?
Check if Used Strategy Return
Teach Others/Immediate Use of Learning 95%
X Practice by Doing 75%
X Discussion 50%
McDonald’s Draft (2010). Modified by Kreassig and Gould (2014) for use with student teachers.
Revised August 2015
 X Demonstration 30%
Audio Visual 20%
X Reading 10%
X Lecture 05%
Safety (if applicable)

Time
Process Components
(min.)
10 *Anticipatory Set
min Warmup: SOL Test Practice on VA5-19
TTW place the instruction for the warmup on the promethium board.
TSW read a sample of a primary source document and select the best answer to the
questions found in their textbook.

> *State the Objectives (grade-level terms)

1min I can examine the impact of earlier documents on the U.S. Constitution
35min *Instructional Input or Procedure

Student Survey
TTW administer a brief survey for TS using Google forms.
TSW evaluate the Student Teacher.

TTW do a quick spiral of content and ask TS to “Remember: The people in the colonies
were unhappy. They wanted more rights and more power over their government. SO, they
needed to draft a constitution and they used certain documents as their blueprints.”
TTW ask, “Can anyone name one of the three documents we studied last class.”
TTW Briefly Review
TTW ask, “Who can tell me what a primary source document is?”
TTW inform TS that there are two more documents that they must be familiar with.

The Declaration of Independence

TTW instruct the students to read pg. 97-98 starting at the red heading “The Declaration of
Independence”
TTW set a timer for 3 minutes and have TS read to themselves.
TTW ask some students to summarize what they read.
TTW make sure that TS know that, “The Declaration of Independence stated complaints or
grievances against the King.”

The Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom

As a class TT and TSW read pg. VA 5-11,12 on Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom

5 min. *Modeling
TTW model how to do a power paragraph based on the example on Schoology.

McDonald’s Draft (2010). Modified by Kreassig and Gould (2014) for use with student teachers.
Revised August 2015
15 *Check for Understanding
min.
The Declaration of Independence
As a quick review, TTW ask, “Who were the colonists declaring independence from?”
Once TS complete the activity, TTW ask, “What were the unalienable rights listed in the
declaration?”

The Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom

TTW ask, “According to this statute can the government force the people to attend a
specific church?”

*Guided Practice
*The Power Paragraph Activity will consist of both Guided and Independent elements,
depending on the needs of the students.
40min *Independent Practice
Power Paragraph
TTW pass out the power paragraph worksheets.
TTW introduce the students to the power paragraph and discuss the elements using the
example on schoology.
TTW give TS two writing prompts to choose from. Only one to two sentences per section
of the paragraph.
TS can pretend to be Thomas Jefferson and write a persuasive paragraph persuading their
fellow delegates to sign the Declaration of Independence.
OR TSW write a paragraph answering, “How did historical documents impact the
Constitution or the Bill of Rights.”
TSW use their handouts to plan their own paragraph.
TTW walk around the room giving personalized instruction depending on need.
TTW type their paragraph on their chrome books using the organizer on schoology.
If TS do not complete the paragraph by the end of class they will finish it for homework.

5 min Assessment
TTW walk around the room and make sure that during discussion TS are understanding the
content.
TTW use the content of the power paragraph as an informal assessment on how much
information TS have retained.
10 *Closure
min TTW introduce this week’s homework
- Finish Power Paragraph
- TTW pass out the Document Review worksheets as homework.

Differentiation Strategies (enrichment, accommodations, remediation, or by learning style).

The lesson includes several different elements that will be helpful for students with different
learning styles including class discussion, reading, writing, direct instruction, group wok, and
individual work.
For students who require extra assistant the teacher assistant and classroom teacher will be available
McDonald’s Draft (2010). Modified by Kreassig and Gould (2014) for use with student teachers.
Revised August 2015
for specific instruction and remediation.

Classroom Management Issues (optional)

Lesson Critique. To be completed following the lesson. Did your students meet the
objective(s)? What part of the lesson would you change? Why?

*Denotes Madeline Hunter lesson plan elements.

Intern Signature Cooperating Teacher Date

Signature

McDonald’s Draft (2010). Modified by Kreassig and Gould (2014) for use with student teachers.
Revised August 2015