L5+Aceto,+Jason

Teacher’s name: Jason Aceto Date of lesson: 2 Grade Level: 6-8 Topic: Understanding the important events in the conquest of the Aztec Empire. Student will understand that ** the result of these interactions gave way for further expansion and conquests in ** later ** eras. ** Student will know that we can learn many things about the mentality of Spanish conquistadors and their view of the Aztec civilization which could give us clues as to why cross-cultural biases exist today. Student will be able to create a power point pitching a museum exhibit idea that will detail the demise of the Aztec Empire at the hands of the Spanish. // Maine // //Learning Results:// Social Studies-E.History E1 //Historical knowledge, concepts, themes and patterns//. Grade 6-8 "The Expansion and Interaction of Civilizations, 600CE-1450CE" //Students understand major eras, major enduring themes, and historic influences in the history of the various regions of the world.// b. Identify and analyze major historic eras, major historical eras, major enduring themes, turning points, events, consequences, and people in the history of the various regions of the world.
 * Objectives: **
 * Maine **** Learning Results Alignment: **
 * Rationale:** ** Through this learning result we can allow students to dive into the enduring themes of this historic era and compare these to the themes of conflicts today and detail why such an **

** *I will have the students review their graphic organizers from past lessons to decipher which information about the Aztec Empire would be important to include in a museum exhibit. This will help me to see what they already know and what else they need to know. After they are finished I will break them up into groups of 4 and allow them to further research any information. ** This lesson will integrate technology in the form of powerpoint software. This final product will require the students to utilize this technology to create a creative and historically accurate museum exhibit detailing all the important events of the Aztec/Spanish conflict. This technology will allow students to present their museum exhibit ideas in a well organized manner and include graphics as well as text to enhance their product. Other forms of technology that will be utilized in the creation and presentation of this final product will be a wireless internet connection and an LCD projector which the students will use to present their exhibits. The integration of other subjects will come through by way of critical reading and writing skills which the students must utilize during their research and creating the text for their exhibits. Other English skills that will be integrated will be analysis of documents. The students will have to understand the order of events in this cultural clash and must utilize their mathematical skills such as orderly sequential thinking. Also, the arrangement of their exhibits should be aesthetically pleasing; therefore any art skills will be utilized as well. Students will enter the class and they will take their normal seats. I will group the students by having them count off by fours. This method of grouping will ensure that there will be random group members and will avoid the wasted time of having students chose their own groups. Once they have formed their new groups, it will be imperative to have the students move quickly to their new tables and moving them into their designated work spaces. Students will assume one of the three roles for this activity. They will need two researchers, a visual organizer and an exhibit designer. *Linguistic - students will be writing and reading while creating their graphic organizers and while creating their exhibit proposals.. Logical - students will be creating a timeline with the chronological order of the events that occurred during the Spanish invasion of the Aztec Empire. Spatial - students will be working with pictures detailing the Aztec/Spanish conflict which will enable these students to derive critical information about this topic through a different medium. Bodily-kinesthetic - students will be moving around the class during their research. Musical - Students will be allowed to utilize music samples in their presentation. Intrapersonal - Students will be working independently on their research. Interpersonal - Students will be working in groups and then sharing their proposals with the class. Naturalist – Students will be able to go outside to work on their powerpoint.
 * Assessment: **
 * Formative **** (Assessment for Learning) **
 * Summative** (Assessment of Learning)
 * *To assess what the students have learned, each student will be placed in a group with 4 of their peers. They will be asked to create a proposal using powerpoint that will be pitching an idea for an Aztec exhibit in the Smithsonian Museum. Then after creating this powerpoint and sharing it with the class, they will fill out reflective self-evaluators to judge how well they felt they did on their project and suggest improvements. Also, as a class, each student will fill out the same self-assessment questionnaire to see how their knowledge has grown from their research. **
 * Integration: **
 * Groupings: **
 * Differentiated Instruction: **

To meet the needs of all students, I will encourage them to look for various mediums in their sources. Each student will be given the opportunity to discuss and work with their group members to answer questions or clarify information. Also, to accommodate any IEP’s, 504’s, or ELLIDEP’s I will review the needs of the given student and provide an alternative that will suite their learning style. An example of this would be to encourage a student with a low reading level to have their laptop read the information back to them, which will allow them to retain more of the content and allow them to participate fully. This assignment will help students achieve a higher level of thinking by challenging them to think about how students could make parts of the Aztec Empire appealing to the general public of our modern world. As they will be creating a museum exhibit, the students will be encouraged to consider ideas and concepts that relate to the Aztec Empire and how they will be able to make this information interesting and appealing to museum visitors. I personally will have to gather resources to prepare for this lesson which will give students an idea of the Aztec and Spanish interactions. This will also mean that I will have to obtain information that details this conflict from start to finish as well as the issues surrounding the post conflict world of the Aztec Empire. I will also have to create a pre-assessment as well as group evaluators. Collecting a graphic organizer for this will also be vital as it will help organize group research better. During the research portion of this lesson the students will be using their text books and internet search engines to uncover more information on their own. In terms of how technology will be used, it will be imperative that I instruct them as to how they will be setting up their powerpoint exhibits. As I have used powerpoint before, it will be easy for me to instruct my student as to how they can best utilize this technology for their products. Project Description Handout Wireless Internet Network Powerpoint software LCD Projector Group Evaluation Sheets Product Rubric http://www.guggenheim.org/exhibitions/aztecs/overview.html a great overview of an Aztec Exhibit in a real life museum! http://www.cgs.conway.ma.us/AncientAztec.htm a webquest with a similar idea to this lesson. This will help supplement the lesson and also give students ideas on what they should include in their exhibits. The students will enter the room and find the class set up with the usual two tables slid together in the back of the class, and two tables up front angled inward on the right and left hand side of the class. While the teacher’s desk may be located at the back of the class, the teacher will be giving instruction primarily from the small desk in the font of the class which will hold the LCD projector that the teacher will use to display the various handouts. The teacher will then briefly welcome the class and take role call while settling the students into the learning environment by using content questions. Welcome Hook (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gb0aSqpEBH4) Group Students Students move tables to group workspaces Lesson Introduction Explain project guidelines Handout product rubric along with the final group evaluation Allow the remainder of class to be spent researching. Check in with groups Send students to their next class The students will enter the room and take their seats in the usual classroom setup. Once this has happened, I will then welcome all of the students and the briefly explain that we will be starting a new lesson that will draw on the previous lesson’s topics of the Spanish and Aztec conflict and Aztec culture. I will explain that the class will be asked to create a museum exhibit that will demonstrate a holistic understanding of the history of the Aztec empire. It will be important to make them aware that during this lesson each student will be grouped with three of their peers at random and expected to use powerpoint to construct a visual aid to their museum exhibit idea. I will then show them a portion of a video online that shows an example of an Aztec museum exhibit that will not only engage them, but to give them an idea of where I would like them to go with this product. After viewing this video, I will lead the class into a discussion about what would be the best parts of Aztec civilization to include in a museum exhibit and what other factors the students should take into consideration before they go into their research and creation of the final product. Students should also consider the fact that their museum exhibits must catch the interest of the modern day audience and must also be presented in a way that each person can understand what the various artifacts are. A brief class brainstorm will happen which will allow students to show what they learned from the previous lessons and also give them an understanding of where this lesson is going. After this is through, I will begin to prepare my students for the project guidelines and pre-assessment. As students ponder the questions from their discussion and eventually begin to research the events of this interaction they will start to understand the major historical influences and enduring themes from this ancient culture and their cultural conflict relate them to our own modern day society. **Where, Why, What, Hook, Tailor: Intrapersonal, Linguistic and Visual (20 minutes)** The students will be expected to present this museum exhibit to the class in a creative and fun way which will show the class the grand scope of the Aztec civilization and make it appealing for a museum audience. The students will then be asked to count off by fours in order to form their groups for this assignment. After having them get with their groups, the students will be asked to move to their designated work places. It must be made clear to the students that they must make their museum exhibits creative and appealing for their fellow students as they will be presenting them to the class upon their completion. This will stretch their creativity and how well they researched the information about Aztec civilization and how well they have constructed an accurate exhibit outline. After I have explained the expectations I will ask the students to remain seated while I hand out their graphic organizer for this assignment and their final product rubric. The rubric will allow the students to rethink during their research time and during the creation of their products as this rubric will allow them to see the criteria for obtaining the highest possible score. After receiving these handouts and moving to their designated work spaces, I will allow each group to obtain their textbooks and laptops to prepare for their research. Each group will have their own tables which they must move to another part of the room to use as their personal workspace which will allow minimal distractions between groups. I will make sure that each group understands that each individual works equally during the group research. This will ensure that all may come to understand the major enduring themes and historical influences while also understanding the grand scope of the Aztec civilization and how we can convey this to everyday people. Before setting the students to work, I will remind them that they must use their critical thinking skills when looking through the internet for information on this topic and to try and decipher what is appropriate information for their final product. Also, it will be important to remind students that when they have finished researching that they must try and think creatively about how they can set up their exhibits in a way that can effectively present their research in an engaging way to convey the pieces of Aztec civilization that each group felt was important. Finally, I will set them to work on their research and make my rounds about the classroom to observe the groups work on their graphic organizers and begin to construct their products. To assess my students I will be giving them a final product rubric that will inform the students that they must follow the criteria listed in the rubric in order to achieve the highest mark possible. This will give my students a clear understanding of what I expect from them and what their product must entail. The final self evaluation will be explained as part of their grade and I will explain that these evaluations should be a reflection on how the student felt that they worked on this product and what they learned. I will explain to them that each group member must participate equally and that through my observations I will be grading them on participation and their efforts during the group research. At the end of class I will make a quick check in with each student to help them assess what is left for them to do in order to complete their exhibit. If need be, they may only have to finalize the setup of their exhibit for homework, while other individuals may have to stay after school or come in during recess if they are behind with their research or are having any sort of difficulties with finding sources. It is important for them to know that I will be prompt and available if they need any help or need to discuss an extension. Finally, once all the students have been check up on, I will allow the students to pack up their belongings and head on to their next class.
 * Modifications/Accommodation: **
 * Extensions **
 * Materials, Resources and Technology: **
 * Source for lesson plan and research: **
 * Maine **** Standards for Initial Teacher Certification and rationale: **
 * // Standard 3 - Demonstrates a knowledge of the diverse ways in which students learn and develop by providing learning opportunities that support their intellectual, physical, emotional, social, and cultural development. //**
 * Rationale ** : This lesson meets the Maine Standards for Initial teacher certification by taking into a consideration that students learn in different ways and providing them with different learning opportunities. Students will also be following the product rubric to create their timelines and must stay organized and efficient in their research. Students are also provided with a safe and comfortable learning environment. Any mistreatment or disrespectful attitudes will not be allowed and will be discouraged as they not only are disrespectful to others, but they also disrespect the learning environment.
 * // • Standard 4 - Plans instruction based upon knowledge of subject matter, students, curriculum goals, and learning and development theory. //**
 * Rationale ** : This lesson meets the Maine Standards for Initial teacher certification by providing students with the proper information they need to complete this project. Students will be taking another look at the Aztec and Spanish conflict and the importance of understanding the order of events and how they related to one another in this conflict. The students will also be made to think and make modern day connections to this topic by looking at accounts from the War in Iraq and thinking about how the order of events in both conflicts had common threads and ultimately led to the same ending point. This allows students to make a deeper connection to the subject matter by applying it to their every day life, while still reaching the goals set out in the MLR for this unit.
 * // • Standard 5 - Understands and uses a variety of instructional strategies and appropriate technology to meet students’ needs. //**
 * Rationale ** : This lesson meets the Maine Standards for Initial teacher certification by meeting the needs of eight different learning strategies. These eight strategies include linguistic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, musical, bodily-kinesthetic, naturalist, logical, and spatial. The students will also be utilizing \ technology in the form of their powerpoint exhibit products which will final product. Each student will be accommodated because their final products will be a multimedia presentation that will accommodate all learning styles.
 * // • Standard 8 - Understands and uses a variety of formal and informal assessment strategies to evaluate and support the development of the learner. //**
 * Rationale ** : This lesson meets the Maine Standards for Initial teacher certification by assessing students in many different ways and by a variety of individuals. Each group member will be expected to participate fully in the research and collaborative efforts. The students will be assessed on this area of the lesson by filling out group evaluation sheets which will ask questions about how they felt each member of their group worked during the research portion and how they felt that their final product came out. I will also be assessing their effort and participation by circulating the room and observing each student. Students will also be evaluated on the overall quality of their final product. The teacher will go through the rubric and assess whether or not each student has hit the required benchmarks in order to receive a certain score on their product. Students will be given this product rubric when they first begin and will be able to reference this in order to understand what will be necessary to receive the highest possible score.
 * Teaching and Learning Sequence: **
 * Agenda: **
 * Equip, Explore, Rethink, Tailors: Visual, Linguistic, Intrapersonal (20 minutes) **
 * Explore, Experience, Rethink, Revise, Refine, Tailors: Interpersonal, Bodily-Kinesthetic, Intrapersonal, Visual, Linguistic, Naturalist. (45 minutes) **
 * Evaluate, Tailor: Interpersonal, Spatial, Visual, Linguistic (5 minutes) **

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