Instructional Cycle 1

Multiple Subject and Single Subject

Optional Lesson Plan Template

Step 1: Plan
Optional Lesson Plan Template
Directions: Use the optional lesson plan template to establish content-specific learning goal(s) and develop one
lesson plan.

Lesson Overview
Title of Lesson [ Let’s follow the money and see where it goes ]

Subject [ Government ]

Grade Level [ 12 ]

Time Frame [ 2 class periods or about 100 Mins ]

Content Standard(s) [ Compare the processes of lawmaking at each of the three levels of
government, including the role of lobbying and the media. ]

ELD Standard(s) [ CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.11-12.8

Evaluate an author's premises, claims, and evidence by corroborating or challenging them with
other information. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.11-12.2
Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an
accurate summary that makes clear the relationships among the key details and ideas.
]

Learning Goal(s) [ The student will be able to verbalize an argument based on a position they
will take either in favor or against animal testing. ]

Content of Lesson
What do you expect students to deeply understand about the lesson? What do you expect
students to retain after the lesson and use in future learning?
[ I expect students to understand how lobbyist and special interest groups can affect change
and go about forming policy decisions in Congress. I expect students to retain information
regarding lobbying and how lobbying and lobbyist cause members of Congress to vote on
certain issues. I expect the students to also retain information about how lobbyist influence
government officials for future learning because we will be covering campaign finance laws
along with the Mass Media and how lobbyist influence both campaign finance, and the Mass
Media. ]
What misunderstandings or misconceptions do you expect students might have from the
lesson?
[ Students may mix up exactly how these lobbyists are able to donate so much money to
campaigns and how they are able to gain influence with politicians. The result of this confusion
may happen because we just went over campaign finance laws briefly such as FECA and we
learned that individuals and organizations are limited to the amount of money that they can
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 Instructional Cycle 1
Multiple Subject and Single Subject
Optional Lesson Plan Template

spend on campaigns, so I anticipate that they may struggle with understanding the difference
between hard and soft money. ]
What knowledge and skills do you expect students to have after engaging in the lesson?
[ I expect students to be able to demonstrate an ability to analyze a document or a piece of
written information and dissect what was presented. By doing this they should be able to
understand what the document is saying. But I expect them to go beyond just basic level 1 & 2
understanding based on the Hess Cognitive Rigor Matrix and go to the levels 3 & 4 or
understanding. I would like the students to be able to connect ideas using evidence from the
text that they were given like using quotes or examples from the text. I would also like for my
students to be able to analyze the documents and use evidence to generate an argument. The
knowledge I expect my students to have is a firm understanding of how lobbyists operate, and
some of the tactics that they use to influence members of congress, state government, and
even local government.]

Assessment/Checking for Understanding

What essential questions will you ask to determine if students are not meeting, meeting, or
exceeding the learning goal(s) of the lesson?
[ How do I as a citizen influence my government officials? If students are able to answer this
question then they have successfully met the learning goal for the day, and if they could not
answer this question then they have not met the learning goal. If a student is able to incorporate
multiple vocabulary words and strategies used by lobbyist and regular people to influence the
government then they will have exceeded the learning goal of the lesson. ]
What will students do to demonstrate achievement of content during the lesson?
[ If students are able to answer the essential question then they will have successfully met the
learning goal for the day, and if they could not answer this question then they have not met the
learning goal. If a student is able to incorporate multiple vocabulary words and strategies used
by lobbyist and regular people to influence the government then they will have exceeded the
learning goal of the lesson. But more importantly than answering the question they can also
demonstrate achievement of the learning goal by using vocabulary, and real strategies that
were presented to them in their group debates.]
How will you know students understand the content?
[ I will know students understand the content based on their arguments that I am able to hear,
and also from the rubrics that I gave the students to grade their peers. I will also know if the
students are understanding the content based on questioning strategies that I will employ
throughout the lesson to check if anything is unclear, and to dispel any misconceptions. ]

Structured Student Learning Activities

What activities will the students be involved in during the lesson to support their achievement of
the learning goal(s)?
[ To begin the lesson students will be asked a question and then they will go over the question
with group mates, and then we will discuss their written responses as a class. After this section
of the lesson we will transition into a lecture/presentation in which guided notes will be provided
for the students. This section of the lesson should take no more than 20-25 minutes. After this
portion the remaining part of the first day of the lesson will be allowing students to grab their
chrome books, log in, and get set up with the texts that they will be analyzing. Once they are set
up they will begin analyzing the documents that I provided for them on their Chromebooks on

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 Instructional Cycle 1
Multiple Subject and Single Subject
Optional Lesson Plan Template

their own, but they are allowed to talk and react to the documents with their groupmates. Once
they are set up with their articles I will begin passing out the packets in which each role is
defined and students will be assigned their role based on the color of their chair. They will then
have the remaining part of the period to analyze the documents and further their understanding
of their position on the topic. They will need to understand, analyze, and evaluate using the
higher levels of the Hess Matrix in order to succeed in their debate. In the final 20 minutes of
class each role will have a set amount of time to debate their position, and the teacher will have
a timer on the board that will let the students know how much time they have. Once they have
debated they will then enter into the closure of the lesson in which they will write their exit card
response on a google form, and once they have done that they will vote on which position they
will take, and we will discuss the outcome of the election and the consequences of the election.
Once we have done that we will revisit the essential question of the lesson and the lesson will
have ended once the students are given time to discuss with their group and then again share
those responses with the class. ]
How will you group students and manage group work to support student learning?
[ Students will be grouped into groups of 4 which will allow for small group work to take place.
The reason for this is that it will allow for my EL students to have the opportunity to speak in a
low stress environment, and will also allow to have the opportunity to speak which is great for
language development. The students will each be given roles to play in the student activity
where one student is a politician/state representative. Another student will be the concerned
citizen/grassroots organizer. The third student will be the evaluator, and the final student will be
the lobbyist. Each role has a defined activity that each student is in charge of facilitating.
Students are in charge of doing individual work as well as the small group work. Individually
they will need to pick out sources from two articles that I provided for them and they will be
tasked with gathering arguments from both sides of the spectrum on animal testing. Then we
will transition into our group activity in which the students begin their debates. ]

Instruction to Support Learning

What instructional strategies will support student learning through multiple modalities?
[ I have utilized multiple instructional strategies throughout the lesson one of them being
modeling in which I show students an example of what a great argument would look like so like
that they have an idea of what kind of work to emulate. This is an especially effective because it
sets clear expectations, and I provided the example orally by reading the argument I created
and by also printing it out for the students to look at and read for themselves. Another strategy I
incorporated was accessing prior knowledge, and I did this at multiple points in the lesson, but
for example I did this for my lesson opener when I asked students a question that called back
on what we have learned in the previous lessons for the same unit. I did this so like that it would
inform the rest of what we would be learning for the lesson. I also monitored for student
understanding and for any misconceptions during the middle portion of the lesson where the
students were working on their own. ]
What resources, materials, and/or educational technology will you or your students use during
the lesson?
[ I will be utilizing 2 articles with the same theme of animal testing one from ProCon that details
the Pros and Cons of the practice along with a general article about animal testing from
Newsela. The Newsela article is utilized for students who perhaps have a lower reading level
but still presents the information can still access the material without having to exhaust
themselves from reading the article at a reading level that is higher than what they are at. I am

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 Instructional Cycle 1
Multiple Subject and Single Subject
Optional Lesson Plan Template

also utilizing Chromebooks in which the students will be able to access the articles online and
highlight or manipulate them however they see fit. I will also be utilizing a PowerPoint along
some videos from YouTube that highlight issues regarding campaign finance, and lobbying.
Along with this I also have access to an Elmo that allows me to project whatever it is that I am
writing onto the screen so like that I can properly model anything for the students. We will also
be using a google form, and a google survey at the end where the students will be voting on an
issue. A work packet in which they have to respond to several questions based on their position
and the role that they are playing in the debate. So for example the politician will have a series
of questions that they need to answer along with several other duties that they are responsible
for during the debate that is on the work packet for them, and this is the same for each of the 4
roles.]
What adaptations and accommodations, including, as appropriate, assistive technologies, will
support individual student learning needs beyond the UDL supports built into the lesson?
[ Adaptations and accommodations that I have made are having subtitles play when I play the
YouTube videos in class and by doing so, anyone with a hearing impairment can still access the
video, but also so like that students can both hear and read the material that is being presented
in the video. Although much of the research and reading is on the Chromebooks any student
who wishes to have a physical copy will be provided with one so like that they can physically
manipulate the document and highlight or annotate accordingly. I also do this for any students
who do not have a computer at home, and while this particular assignment does not require for
students to work outside of class some may not have access to a computer at home, so it gives
them the ability to work on it if they wish. This activity is also done both in handwriting and on
the computer in order to have them handwrite, but also to work on typing and researching with a
computer which is an important 21st century skill. The access to the computers also allows them
to dispel any misconceptions they may have or research further into their topics if they wish to,
and also to look up any words they might not know. Along with this the school site and district I
am at uses JAWS which is a screen reader program that any student has access too if they
wish to have the document read aloud to them, or blown up to see better, or even if they need
the document read in another language. Another accommodation I have made is by having the
students work in groups which allows EL students to be more comfortable when having to speak
publicly. ]

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