Learning Target Lesson-Planning Process Guide

Grade level: 11th

Duration of lesson (hours/minutes): 90 minutes
Subject: The Civil War
Topic: Plans for Reconstruction
Todays lesson is part of this unit of study: Unit 4, Civil War
How many lessons in the unit? Eleven
Where does the lesson fall in the unit? Near the end
List the instructional objective(s) for this unit or group of lessons: See unit plan.
2. List the essential learning content for todays lesson, including what students will come to know and be able to do by the end of
todays lesson.
2a. Essential knowledge. My students must learn that . . . prominent political groups had opposing plans for Reconstruction
policy, both attempting to balance healing and justice in the ways they saw valuable and efficient. President Johnsons plan prioritized
healing the North and the South while the Radical Republicans prioritized rights for freed slaves.
2b. Essential skills. My students must be able to . . . analyze historical sources (context, bias, reasoning), evaluate differing
points of view, and use evidence to respectfully assert a conclusion.
3. Identify the potential learning trajectory, or this lessons reason to live.
3a. Where does this lesson occur in the unit or group of lessons? End
3b. What have your students already learned about this concept from previous lessons? Students have already learned about the
causes of the civil war, the events that occurred during, and the larger social and economic impacts of the war.

3c. What lies ahead for your students? What will they tackle in tomorrows lesson and the lessons that follow? After this
lesson, students will evaluate the success of the 14th amendment and the impact of Reconstruction on regional development in the U.S.
3d. What is this lessons reason to live? What is absolutely essential for your students to come to know and be able to do in
todays lesson to build on what they already know and to be prepared for the learning challenges that lie ahead? It is absolutely
essential that students understand that there was a complex debate over how reconstruction policy should be handled, and if healing or
justice should be prioritized. The significant conflict would set the stage for a future of continuing racial divisions and regional
separation.
4. Essential reasoning skill(s): what reasoning processes will best help your students actively construct the kind of understandings that
are essential for todays lesson?
My students must learn to . . . search for bias and context in a primary source text, draw a conclusion backed with evidence, and assert
a controversial opinion respectfully.
5. The performance of understanding:

I can use information I gather from this performance to inform my plans for tomorrows lesson.

My students can use information they gather during the performance to select strategies for improvement.

This is what my students will do, say, write, or make during todays lesson to deepen their understanding and generate undeniable
evidence of their learning so that my students and I can use it to assess their growing competence:
- Students will discuss in their pairs the values and issues at stake when planning reconstruction.
- Students will create plans with their teams, valuing either healing or justice
- Students will debate the merits of their plans and attempt to create a compromise
- Students will annotate the arguments made by President Johnson, Richard Dana, and Thaddeus Stevens and find where their
statements ask for justice or healing, checking for bias and context.

6. The learning target statement: answer the following questions from the students-eye view in student-friendly, developmentally
appropriate language.
6a. What will I be able to do when Ive finished this lesson?
I can . . . compare the elements of opposing plans for Reconstruction
6b. What idea, topic, or subject is important for me to learn and understand so that I can use this information to do it? (Create a
bulleted list.)
To be able to do this, I must learn and understand that . . . Healing and Justice were the fundamental values at play when
drafting plans for Reconstruction. (See Essential Knowledge)
6c. How will I be asked to show that I can do this, and how well will I have to do it?
I will show I can do this by . . . Creating my own plan for reconstruction that values either healing or justice, argue for that
plan and attempt to create a compromise, and analyze the opinions of prominent politicians. (See essential skills)
7. Getting to the success criteria: for the performance of understanding in your lesson and based on the learning targets you will share
with students, what will typical and not-so-typical student progress look like on the way to the learning target?
7a. Describe target mastery. These students will be able to . . . vocalize the values of healing and justice as they relate to
Reconstruction, argue effectively for either value as necessary for democracy, analyze primary sources for context and bias
and explain why each author may have held those beliefs, and use evidence to describe why Andrew Johnsons plan took effect
and how it may have been decided. They will also be able to hypothesize where the plan may have strengths and weaknesses.
7b. Describe proficient understanding. These students are close to mastery and will be able to . . . do all of the above, but have
difficulty finding bias in the primary sources and hypothesizing the outcome of Johsnons plan.
7c. Describe basic understanding. These students have general understanding and will be able to . . . describe how healing and
justice were incorporated into the opposing opinions about Reconstruction policy and explain the Reconstruction policy that
took effect.

7d. Describe minimal understanding. These students are challenged by the content and will be confused about . . . what groups
had what opinions and which policy took effect.
8. To help students assess where they are in relation to the learning target, how will you organize the criteria for success? Choose one
strategy and state your reason for choosing it.
A list of I can statements to describe mastery of a learning target that is a discrete skill.
- I can create and argue a plan for Reconstruction
-I can see the values of Justice and Healing, as well as context and bias, in the real Reconstruction proposals
9. In addition to engaging your students in a strong performance of understanding, how will you weave the learning target into the
fabric of todays lesson to ensure that it is continuously visible?
Check all that apply and explain exactly what you will do.
X Verbally share the target.
What will you say or do? Write the target on the board and share it with students verbally after the warm up.
X Use a visual (e.g., a picture, a chart, SMART Board, or a student handout).
What will you say or do? Have the Target on the Smartboard slide following the Warm Up, along with pictures that represent justice
and healing.
X Connect what students are doing in todays lesson to what came before todays lesson and what will be coming next in the unit.
What will you say or do? Verbally recall the end of the Civil War and introduce the idea that Reconstruction is a time when people
will create arguments about how to treat the South and freed slaves. I will remind them of the events leading up to the Civil War as
they create their plans and help them draw connections.
10. Imagine the kind of mastery goal that would help two specific students during todays lessona student who almost gets it and
one who is struggling to get it.

10a. Finish these statements to create a just-right goal for a student who is close to mastery of the learning target.
I am already good at . . . creating an evidence based conclusion and arguing it.
I am unsure of or confused about . . . why President Johnsons plan was enacted and how it will succeed or fail.
I need to work on this to improve my understanding: assessing bias and context and hypothesizing future events based on
information in a primary source.
10b. Finish these statements to create a just-right goal for a student who is struggling to reach the learning target. Think
about common errors that students make. What would be the logical next step for the student to take?
I am already good at . . . linking causes to their effects throughout history.
I am unsure of or confused about . . . how healing and justice are encorporated into my own arguments of the primary
source arguments.
I need to work on this to improve my understanding: linking abstract ideas to events and arguments.
11. Select, adapt, or design specific strategies that would help your two students reach their goals during the performance of
understanding in todays lesson.
11a. Finish this statement to create a just-right next-step strategy for the student who is close to mastery of the learning
target.
This is exactly what I will do: annotate the primary sources and use independent research to create conclusions about why
Johnsons plan was enacted.
11b. Finish this statement to create a just-right next-step strategy for the student who is struggling to reach the learning
target. Think about common errors that students make. What would be the logical next step for the student to take?
This is exactly what I will do: reflect on my own plan for reconstruction and see how justice and healing are incorporated. I
will look at President Johnsons plan and underline where I see phrases that refer to healing or justice (in other words).

12. Think about all the ways you can provide your students with feed-forward information during a formative learning cycle in todays
lesson.
12a. How will you plan to feed learning forward during the introductory part of the lesson, when you model and explain? Give
an example of how you will use the success criteria to explain the concepts in the lesson in ways that will help students
envision what mastery looks like and understand what is important to learn, what they will do to learn it, and how they will be
asked to demonstrate that learning.
I will explain that mastery will look like creating a plan with specific details about Reconstruction policies that effectively
prioritizes healing or justice, finding bias and context in the opinions and plan, and verbalizing an evidence based hypothesis
of the successes and failures of President Johnsons plan.
12b. Give an example of how you will use the learning target and success criteria to plan ways to provide feedback during
guided practice.
I will continually remind to students to be reflecting on the values of healing and justice, both when creating their own plans
and assessing other plans.
12c. How will you use the success criteria to feed students learning forward while you give directions for the performance of
understanding?
I will challenge students to repeatedly speak in terms of justice and healing when creating their plans, and explain in the debate
why this value is necessary. I will remind them to look for these values, as well as context and bias, in the primary sources. I
will refer back to our prior knowledge and prompt students to use this information to build a hypothesis about President
Johnsons plan.
12d. Explain how the success criteria will help you gather information during or soon after the performance of understanding
to pinpoint the feedback that a particular student needs to feed his or her learning forward.
If students are having trouble creating plans in terms of healing and justice, as a class we will create graphic word maps on the
board that show the connections between potential elements of their plans and these values. We can then use these graphics to

jog their thinking during the activities. If students are having difficulty looking for bias or context, as a group we can look at
one author and I will guide them in finding potential issues.
13. How will you intentionally teach and scaffold student self-assessment so that students can assess and regulate their work while
they are learning during todays lesson?
13a. Finish this statement to suggest self-assessment strategies for the student who is close to mastery of the learning target.
What should the student look for that will provide evidence of improvement?
This is how I will check my progress along the way. I will look for . . . references to justice and healing when I am creating my
plan, and remember to use specific details. I will annotate carefully when we look at primary sources and remember to look for
context and bias. I will challenge myself to think outside the box when hypothesizing successes and failures of the enacted
plan.
13b. Finish this statement to suggest self-assessment strategies for the student who is struggling to reach the learning target.
Think about common errors that students make. What should the student look for that will provide evidence of
improvement?
This is how I will check my progress along the way. I will look for . . . connections I can make between the details of my
groups plan with the values of justice and healing. I will think about ways our plans could compromise with one another. I will
underline places in the real opinions and plans where the authors discuss justice and healing (in other words).
14. What planned questions will you make sure to ask during todays lesson? List five strategic teacher questions for todays lesson.
The questions should be planned, connected to the learning target for todays lesson, and require student explanation and justification.
- Essential questions: After a civil war, how can a country both heal and reunite and bring justice to aggressive parties?
- Intro: What is Healing? What is Justice? Who may have valued one over the other?
- Create your own plans: What groups of people are prioritized in your plan? Will your plan reunite and heal the country? Will it bring
justice?

- Analyzing Opinions: Who are the authors? What are their biases? Where are healing and justice in these opinions and in President
Johnsons plan? Using all of our prior knowledge about the regions and the Civil War, what can we hypothesize about the successes
and failures of President Johnsons plan?