Designer: Clare Statham

Publication Date: August 25, 2005                                                                                                                                                  

Standard: (Include analysis skills): 8.4.1;   8.6.2;   8.5.2;   8.7.1;   8.8.2;   8.8.4;   8.10.2;   8.12.1.  These are all the standards that focus on the role of geography in United States history.                                                    

  1. Key Concepts(CA. Concept Collection II)/ Vocabulary: This lesson will not include direct                           instruction in the following concepts and terms, but it teaches information the student must                         know in order to understand these terms later : region, agrarian economy, cash crops, frontier,                         manifest destiny, sectionalism.

Learning Outcome/“Big Idea”/“Essential Learning” (Objective):

1. Students will learn the areas of land acquired between 1607 and 1853 that make up the continental United States today.                                                                                                                                                                                        

2. Students will learn the organization of the history text and familiarize themselves with its main features.

EL/Inclusion Strategies: The fact that the activity is completed with a partner and uses graphic as well as written material means that a student needing EL or other support would have several ways to access the          material.  Also the teacher is free to circulate and give individual help.                                                                            

Materials: Story of America (I will rewrite the activity once we have a newly adopted text) and the TCI laminated maps.                                                                                                                                                                                                    

Opportunities to Learn/Perform (Procedure):

         1. What will students need to do to achieve knowledge and skills identified in standards and                             learning outcomes? Students will answer questions which require close attention to                                               directions and will use various parts of the textbook.  Students will complete a U.S. map that                             reflects the area of land we acquire between 1607 and 1853.  This map will be put into the                              student’s history notebook and referred to throughout the year.  See also Assessment.                   

Technology Component: None

Resources (Indicate Primary source): None

Assessment (Description of 2 or more assessment  tasks with specific directions, questions, and prompts):

• This activity is completed in the first week of school.  From that point on I will routinely have the students identify geographic locations that they had to identify on the map.  The completed map is itself the               assessment of their ability to follow the activity directions.                                                                                                        

 Examples of follow up reteaching and practice:

•  I periodically will have the students spend a few minutes restudying the map completed for this activity and another they make showing major land forms. (These maps are kept in their history notebooks.)  I ask several students to come up to the map at the front of the class. I mix information from this activity with later U.S. geography activities they have completed.

1. José, all the original thirteen colonies were east of which mountain range?  Please indicate on the map.
2. Mary, as a result of the Mexican-American war, what land area in addition to Texas was acquired by th United States?
3. Xou and James, the Louisiana Territory was purchased from what European country?  Can you find any evidence of this in the place names you see today in this region?
4. Angelina and Paula, please indicate which land areas were acquired after the term “Manifest Destiny” began to be used in newspapers and by government leaders?   

Rubric to be used for map assessment:

5: Excellent:         All boundaries are correctly drawn and  areas are correctly identified by color. All areas                        are correctly labeled. The presentation in exceptional. The writing is neat. The work as a                     whole is pleasing to look at.

4. Good:      Areas are correctly identified by color but not all borders may be correctly draw All areas are

correctly labeled.  The presentation is neat.  While legible, the labeling and coloring are not

exceptional.

3. Fair                 Areas are correctly  or nearly correctly drawn, but directions as to color are not always                          followed. No more than one area is unclearly labeled. The presentation is the lowest                            acceptable standard.  The labeling and coloring need to be neater.

2. Poor                Several serious errors are obvious.  The color coding may be incorrect. The drawn boundaries

may be incorrect in places. Spelling may be incorrect.  The presentation is messy.  Several

errors combine to make the map of poor quality.

1 Unacceptable    The number of errors in content and presentation combine to make this work                                unacceptable for a passing grade.

0  Incomplete       The work is incomplete or not turned in at all.

Reflection:

1.  What did student samples reveal?  The samples revealed that students do indeed have difficulty processing both written and graphically presented information. Most students did produce a map that was correct, but  they had had to erase, write over, and in various ways edit their work.  This indicated that they had made quite a few errors in the process of doing the assignment.  The samples also showed a carelessness of presentation in almost half the work.

 I originally thought the lesson’s primary benefit would be the familiarity students would gain with the textbook.  I had thought that there would be secondary benefits as well, such as working with a new peer, following directions, gathering information from the written word, graphs, and maps.   As in turned out, I think these secondary benefits were more important that the primary.  Most students prefer working with other students to working alone.  But the difficulty of finding and interpreting this material made them appreciate the academic as well as social benefits of having another person to consult.  It was an excellent activity for showing why teamwork is necessary as well as fun.

2. What do I need to model, change or adjust regarding criteria, assessment and opportunities to learn?

First, I would model how to read both instructions and text sentence by sentence rather than in larger chunks.  Secondly, I would model how I wanted the presentation part of the assignment completed and would show examples of maps from other assignments.  I would stress that presentation is not only about aesthetics; it is also about being able to read and understand the information later when one has to use the map.