Concordia University Nebraska Education Department Lesson Plan Format
Introduction/Context:
- Where does this lesson fall in the unit? What have you don’t prior to this lesson? How does
this lesson help guide students towards understanding? (it helps students build
_______/know________ so they can _______)
- This unit covers the Civil Rights Movement and is targeted towards 10th or 11th graders. This
lesson falls towards the beginning of the unit, before I have taught much content, to give the
students an introduction into several events of the Civil Rights Movement and show that
historical events often build off of one another. In the lesson the students will be looking at a
document that details several events from the CRM and then interpreting the document and
making their own timeline from it. It helps students read and interpret a information packed
document so that they can write about history in their own words and make connections.
Name: Julia Bloom Grade Level: 10-11
Topic/Central Focus Civil Rights Movement Subject: U.S. History
Time Frame: 50 minutes
Standard(s) to be met in the lesson:
SS 12.4.1 (US) Students will analyze how major past and current US events are chronologically
connected, and evaluate their impact(s) upon one another.
SS 12.4.5.c (US) Gather historical information about the United States (e.g., document archives,
artifacts, newspapers, interviews)
Learning Objective: Assessment Tool(s) and Procedures:
Students will be able to read a source, pull The students will be creating a
important information from it, and make their foldable/layered timeline with 5-6 events
own timeline from it. from the CRM. This will be formative to see
how well they can read a document and
interpret it into their own words.
Research-Based Best Practice used in lesson and why it is appropriate/useful
Graphic Organizer: The graphic organizer the students will be using/making is a
foldable/layered timeline. This will be useful for their comprehension because we will be
looking at several events from the CRM at once, so the timeline will allow them to cohesively
write down information to reference later.
Discussion: after the students fill out their timelines, I will ask them to discuss with a
partner about why they chose the events that they did, and how those events relate to one
another.
Student Engagement used throughout the lesson
The students will be engaged in creating their own mini-timeline that details several events
from the civil rights movement
Concordia University Nebraska Education Department Lesson Plan Format
Key Vocabulary:
Timeline vocab: Chronological
Ask students to write down at least two words from the document that they aren’t sure about
the definition of, and then look up what it means.
Materials: Technology:
Paper, markers or colored pencils, pencil or pen, stapler, I will have my computer
device (if 1:1) Students will have their device (if
1:1)
http://www.thefilmspace.org/selma/docs/selma_timeline.pdf
Faith/Values Integration:
None in this mini lesson. If I were teaching the lesson about choosing a current civil rights
issue I would definitely talk about faith and how that could/should influence our views on
politics and other issues.
Assets (Knowledge of Students: personal, cultural, community)
- Partially college educated
- Possible background knowledge
- White-majority community (Concordia)
Differentiating Instruction
Identify the elements of the lesson that are differentiated (content, process, product).
Identify the student characteristic you will use to differentiate (readiness, interest, learning profile).
Explain how you differentiate (whole class, groups of students, individuals, or students with IEPs or 504 plans)
One element of the lesson that is differentiated is how in the hook I relate timelines to the students daily lives
(content and interest), so that they see that they aren’t just something that we use for history. We also are doing
an activity that is very hands on. Instead of a boring timeline that is just a line on a piece of paper, we are
creating a foldable/layered timeline.
In the product, I ask the students to find at least two words that they are unfamiliar with and write the
definition on the back of their timeline, through this they are expressing their own required learning.
They also are working alone at first while making their timeline, and then at the end we discuss.
We begin as a whole class, and then split up to working as individuals. At the end we work as either a
whole class or in small groups.
Concordia University Nebraska Education Department Lesson Plan Format
Procedure with time allotments:
A) Hook/Engage/Pre-Assess Students (1 minute)
what does it say, what does it mean, why does it matter, what do I do with it
“Today we are going to be taking a closer look at something we might already be
familiar with: timelines. We actually use timelines way more than you might think. For
example, this is a timeline that I made to show the progression of my life for a
geography assignment, and you might even describe a timeline of events in a text
message that you send to a friend about how your day went. Timelines are important
to more than just history, they help us explain events in a cohesive and logical way.”
B) Communicate the purpose of the lesson to students (objective/assessment)
(3 minutes)
“Like I said, timelines are important in history, but also in other aspects of our lives.
They’re specifically important in history because they help us understand histocial
events more clearly and see how they connect to other events.”
“We’re going to be making a timeline of several important events from the Civil Rights
Movement. The events that are going to go into our timelines are from this document.
For the timeline I want you to choose events that you think connect with each other.
For example, I chose Brown v. Board of Education because it talks about the Supreme
Court decision that segregation in schools is not equal and then I chose to talk about
the Little Rock Nine who were African American students that were trying to integrate
in schools after the Supreme Court decision and were being discriminated against and
held back from what they were wanting to do. I want you to choose events that you
think connect, there are no right or wrong answers as long as you explain your
thought process to a partner when we are done! There are some colored pens and
markers that you can use on your timeline if you want to make it pretty or even color
code things if you would like!”
“While you are making your timeline, if you find any words that you aren’t sure what
they mean, you have my permission to go onto a device and look up the word. Once
you have the definition, write it on the back of your timeline. I want everyone to find
AT LEAST two words that you don’t know. The words can be anything from groups of
people to words like discrimination or segregation.”
C) Instructional Sequence: (10-15 minutes)
Explain how the timeline works (top to bottom)
Show my example
During this time the students will work individually to complete their timelines. This
should only take about 10-15 minutes.
D) Closure:
Close with a discussion in small groups. The students will pair up and talk with a
partner about why they chose two specific events and why they think they relate to
each other.
Concordia University Nebraska Education Department Lesson Plan Format
Ask the students to turn in their timeline if it is complete, and if it isn’t the rest of the
timeline is homework that is to be turned in at the beginning of the next class period.
Pictured below is the assessment for this mini-lesson. The foldable/layered timeline:
Concordia University Nebraska Education Department Lesson Plan Format
Teaching Prep/Notes:
A) Hook/Engage/Pre-Assess Students (1 minute)
what does it say, what does it mean, why does it matter, what do I do with it
“Today we are going to be taking a closer look at something we might already be
familiar with: timelines. We actually use timelines way more than you might think. For
example, this is a timeline that I made to show the progression of my life for a
geography assignment, and you might even describe a timeline of events in a text
message that you send to a friend about how your day went. Timelines are important to
more than just history, they help us explain events in a cohesive and logical way.”
B) Communicate the purpose of the lesson to students (objective/assessment)
(3 minutes)
“Like I said, timelines are important in history, but also in other aspects of our lives.
They’re specifically important in history because they help us understand histocial events
more clearly and see how they connect to other events.”
“We’re going to be making a timeline of several important events from the Civil Rights
Movement. The events that are going to go into our timelines are from this document.
For the timeline I want you to choose events that you think connect with each other. For
example, I chose Brown v. Board of Education because it talks about the Supreme Court
decision that segregation in schools is not equal and then I chose to talk about the Little
Rock Nine who were African American students that were trying to integrate in schools
after the Supreme Court decision and were being discriminated against and held back
from what they were wanting to do. I want you to choose events that you think
connect, there are no right or wrong answers as long as you explain your thought
process to a partner when we are done! There are some colored pens and markers that
you can use on your timeline if you want to make it pretty or even color code things if
you would like!”
“While you are making your timeline, if you find any words that you aren’t sure what
they mean, you have my permission to go onto a device and look up the word. Once
you have the definition, write it on the back of your timeline. I want everyone to find AT
LEAST two words that you don’t know. The words can be anything from groups of
people to words like discrimination or segregation.”
C) Instructional Sequence: (10-15 minutes)
Explain how the timeline works (top to bottom)
Show my example
During this time the students will work individually to complete their timelines. This
should only take about 10-15 minutes.
Concordia University Nebraska Education Department Lesson Plan Format
D) Closure:
Close with a discussion in small groups. The students will pair up and talk with a partner
about why they chose two specific events and why they think they relate to each other.
Ask the students to turn in their timeline if it is complete, and if it isn’t the rest of the
timeline is homework that is to be turned in at the beginning of the next class period.
