Lesson Plan

Allison Greenberg
W301 Lesson Plan Template

Target Audience of the Lesson:
The target audience for this lesson is a 4th grade class. Within this class, there are 20 students. Among these students, two have ADHD.

Big Idea of the Lesson:

Students will learn about U.S Geography through use of the interactive whiteboard.


Overall Goal for the Lesson:
The goal of this lesson is to have students increase their knowledge about geography within the United States, by creating a visual representation. A map will be displayed on the whiteboard and students will be asked to come up and label various states and capitals. By the end of the lesson students will have a copy of the map that they have labeled as a class. This activity is intended to challenge students on their current knowledge, while simultaneously giving them the opportunity to learn from each other. Finally, students will be able to identify the state of Indiana and compare the shape and size of it to that of other states within the United States. They will also discuss some of the major features of Indiana including the capital and major cities. Students are locating states within the U.S, while focusing in on the state of Indiana as a central point for discussion.

Indiana Content Standards Addressed:

(Copy and paste entire standard from http://www.indianastandards.org/)
4.3.1 Use latitude* and longitude* to locate places in Indiana and other parts of the world.
4.3.4 Locate Indiana on a map of the United States; indicate the state capital, major cities, and rivers in Indiana; and be able to place these on a blank map of the state.

ISTE CNETS Student Standards Addressed

- design developmentally appropriate learning opportunities that apply technology-enhanced instructional strategies to support the diverse needs of learners.- facilitate technology-enhanced experiences that address content standards and student technology standards.- use technology to communicate and collaborate with peers, parents, and the larger community in order to nurture student learning.

Student Objectives for the lesson.

The objective for this lesson is to have students locating specific states within the country they live in. In addition, students are intended to master some of the important components of Indiana. Most importantly, students will be able to locate and describe U.S geography both visually and orally.

Length of Lesson:
This lesson is intended to take about one class period. However, this lesson can be extended into other areas for future lessons of the geography unit.

Schedule of Activities:

1) I will describe to the class the importance of learning geography.
2) I will start the lesson by giving students a blank map of the U.S and asking them to label as many states as they are familiar with.
3) Next, I will call upon students to come up one at a time and label a state they are familiar with.
4) Once students reach a point where they can no longer locate states, I will provide the students with a resource (i.e. almanac) so that they can look up the remaining states, and check on what they already have labeled.
5) When the class is confident with their map I will print out copies for the students.
6) I will encourage students to use computers, textbooks, and other magazines to research about the state of Indiana. Students will be encouraged to get up and select a partner for this activity. They will also have the option to go to the library for further investigation.
7) After about 20 minutes of research students will come back together as a class. At this time I will call on students to provide facts they have discovered. I will compile the class data on a poster that will be hung in the room.
8) Finally, I will ask students to discuss what they have learned about geography and why it is important for them to know about this.



How will these activities be assessed?
I will walk around and monitor student responses while they are researching Indiana. My observations will be the basis for my assessment. Also, I will assess students on what they say during the group discussion at the end. Their responses will be clear indicators of what they have learned about U.S states, Indiana, and geography in general.

Adaptations:

For students with special needs, I will allow them to use student appropriate means for researching the material. I will provide resources with lots of pictures for those visual learners; I will allow students to come up and touch the map on the board for those tactile learners; and I will allow those students with hyperactivity or attention deficit to use computer programs that deal with geography (i.e. map games). This will be highly engaging, and informative at the same time.

Materials Needed:
-Interactive whiteboard.
-Computers
-Books/Magazines
-Map worksheets
-Computer games dealing with geography