Tim Brown

Observation 3
3/20/2019

Brief Class Description: This class is the smallest of my honors classes and has a maximum of 23
students. Grades are very much above expectations and almost everyone is passing with at least an
A or B with the exception of around 3 students. They do have behavioral issues when it comes to
excessive talking and phone usage, but they make up for it with their overall actions in the
classroom on school work. Writing levels are strong but close reading skills tend to be lacking.

UNIT: Judicial Branch LESSON TOPIC: PRIOR KNOWLEDGE: Criminal and civil
Criminal and Civil law law both had their own day two weeks ago
and since the unit test is approaching, this is
meant to serve as a refresher

STANDARDS OBJECTIVE: ASSESSMENT:

Content: Students will be able to Closure writing covering the content covered
explain the differences in class this afternoon
The student will
between criminal and
analyze elements,
civil law by analyzing
proceedings, and
real world scenarios
decisions related to
criminal and civil law
ACTIVITIES
Reading:
Drill question – open writing
CC. 9-12.R.1 – Read
closely to determine Kahoot/note sheet
what the text says Vocabulary worksheet
explicitly and to make
logical inferences from Gallery walk
it; cite specific textual
Closure writing
evidence when writing
or speaking to support
conclusions drawn from ADAPTATIONS
the text Notes are fill in the blank to lessen the amount they have to write
Writing: Note sheets are clearly organized and hole punched for easy access
CC. 9-12.W.9 – Draw Students without phones for the kahoot may work with a partner
evidence from literary
or informational texts to TECHNOLOGY
support analysis,
Kahoot!
reflection and research.
Lesson Procedure

Opening Activity – Drill

 Instead of a formal drill question, students will be given a worksheet as they enter that asks
them to compare and contrast civil and criminal law
 Discuss as a class the answers and record them on the board as they are mentioned
 Under similarities, they should note that both have a judge and jury if you choose to, both
involve some kind of wrongdoing on the part of the defendant, both have a plaintiff and
defendant
 Under differences, they should note that a criminal trial results in prison or jail time where a
civil trial ends with a monetary award as a punishment, you do not get to plead the 5th in a
civil trial, you are not granted an attorney if you cannot afford one in a civil trial, etc.
 Transition: As a refresher to the steps in both a criminal and civil trial, we are going to
follow along a kahoot and fill in the blanks on your notes worksheet
 Adaptations: Write students answers on the board
Time Allotted: 5 min
Activity 2 – Kahoot!
 Instruct students to enter into the Kahoot game in order to complete their given note sheet
 The answers from the kahoot will be in order as they appear on the worksheet
 We will highlight the 11 steps of a criminal case and the 5 steps in a civil case
 This is done in order to test the students without them feeling bad about themselves for not
doing well but still have the correct answers mean something more than just being checks on
a piece of paper
 15 questions in total
 Adaptations: Students without a phone may work on the computer
 Transition: Before we move on to the gallery walk, we need to highlight an important
vocabulary concept through a vocabulary diagram
Time Allotted: 20-25 minutes
Activity 3 – Vocabulary diagram
 Ask students if they remember the term “tort”
 Chances are they will not, so we will go through each aspect of it in order to help them with
the last activity
 First cover the definition
 Work through each of the four kinds: economic, intentional, dignitary & property
 Review examples for each tort
 Highlight that the torts will be used in the gallery walk so they should keep the papers out
 Transition: Our second to last activity today is going to relate to the scenarios taped around
the room
Time Allotted: 10-20 min
Activity 4 – Gallery Walk
 Break the class up into two halves before moving forward
 Instruct students in the back two rows of the middle section and the entire left side of the
class is group A
 Students in the front row of the middle section and right side of the class will be group B
 Instruct students to pick partners within the groups pre-assigned
 Group A will go through the scenarios out in the hall and group B will remain in the class
 Give each pair a number that will correspond to the scenario they start at
 Give them about 3 minutes for each scenario
 We will review as a class after they have gone to each one
 Adaptation: Answers will be on board as we review
 Transition: As your closure, we will review one final, longer scenario that could be very
similar to what you will encounter on the test
Time Allotted: 35-40 minutes
Activity 5 – Closure
 Have students review the scenario below
 Instruct them to read the text over then answer the questions below it
 They will turn this assignment in
 Aligns with writing standard
Time Allotted: 5-10 minutes