Blended Learning Lesson Plan

Lesson Title: Classical and Beyond!

Objectives
 Students will be able to analyze different political systems within early civilizations
 Students will be able to demonstrate their understanding of global interactions amongst
humans.
 Students will be able to describe differences between the political systems.

State Standards:
 Standard 2: Demonstrate an understanding of the increased global interactions among
humans from the end of the classical era to the invention of the printing press (i.e., 550–
1450).
 6.2.CO Compare the political systems within world civilizations
Context:
This lesson is a Sixth Grade Social Studies lesson about the increased global interactions among
humans from the end of the classical ere to the invention of the revolutionary printing press. I am
teaching this lesson because it is important to be in touch with the past. The purpose of the lesson
will be to utilize broad characteristics of historical developments to create a comparative
analysis. Being that this is the second standard that will be covered this year in class students will
be able to draw back experiences from comparison and expression of standard 6.1(6.1.CO
Compare the development of social systems among the early river valley civilizations.) This skill
is important because comparing leads to understand similarities and differences which lead to
expression. After the lesson students will be able to recognize the different systems, and global
interaction. This will serve as a building block for assessing the impact of global exchanges get
world civilizations. Overall the big picture of this lesson will help students to recognize the
different political systems within each system, but express what they are learning, which lead to
evaluations of world civilizations impacts.
Data:
There are twenty-five six graders in my class for the first half of the school year. I will divide the
students up into four different groups with the extra student being put into the best possible
group for student success. The groupings are based on the needs of our community of learners.
The students that faired the best of the previous unit will be paired with those that need more
help. The second group will be made up of the middle of the road performers, the third group
would be filled up of a variation of all the groups, and the last group will be of those that need to
be scaffold at harder. Based on previous comparison standards students will be arranged in this
manner. There will be a bell warm up that will serve as a pre assessment of their knowledge and
understanding of the topic. Also, the first or five system will play a role if grouping pairs need to
be adjusted. The groupings of the biggest group of 7 in a L shaped arrangement of desk, and the
three other groups of six will be in a group work style of arrangement. I will collect the data on
how each of these groups faired through the assignments I have planned out in the lesson. By
analyzing performance, quality, and effort I observe throughout the day. For this lessons
students will participate in a teacher directed conversation, a group oriented activity using the
provided materials, the exploration of digital media that increases their knowledge of political
systems of world civilizations, and the last station of the rotation will be collaborating
electronically and making their own notes to post in the google classroom. This whole lesson
will be helpful for students because they are not stagnant and can make the words in the textbook
come to life for them. A great effort in comparing, and understanding will set us up for the next
unit of why and what kind of impacts did these systems have on world civilizations during this
time period.

Part of Lesson Materials Needed

Introduction  The textbook will be displayed on the

smartboard
 Brief Introduction video of the time
period
 A visual representation of what we
should expect from todays lesson
Teacher Directed  Social Studies notebook
 A walkthrough of a post classical
website https://www.freeman-
pedia.com/early-modern-600-ce-to-
1450-ce/

 Show a brief crash course video with
student questions
 We will all engage in a discussion of
what we understand
 Flash Cards
 Bring up their Chromebook
Collaborative Station number 1  Color paper
 Construction of a group Venn
Diagram
 Markers
 Highlighters
 Sharpies

Collaborative station number 2  A card for each country will be laid

out
 Students will interact with each other
 and act out their card
Independent Digital  Chromebook
 Access google classroom
 Access the interactive lesson
Closure  Briefing from me
 Kahoot
 One thing they learned exit ticket

Procedures:
Introduction (Twenty Minutes): This class will be the first of the day at 8:00am, and the ten
minutes before will be the grace period for students to get ready before class. At 8 am the doors
of the classroom will be closed. The first thing on the agenda is to ask how everyone is doing and
show them the PowerPoint of what we should cover today. I will access the lecture style
PowerPoint from my portable flash drive that I carry from, and to work, and upload it to my
classroom computer. From there I will start the slide show and Talk briefly about the information
I put onto the presentation. During this time, I will take a question if the student raises their hand,
in the appropriate way. After the presentation I will move into a visual representation of what I
want achieved in our class today enhancing our comparison/contrasting, and understanding skills
with respects to South Carolina standard for social studies 6.2 CO. I will have an apple and
orange on my desk from the cafeteria, and I will ask the students why to do you think I have
these on my desk? Whatever there answer maybe the point of the fruits are to serve as a
visualization for comparison and contrast of things that may seem different. This should leave us
with approximately five minutes left before we dive into our dynamic rotations. The students
will use this time to ask me the questions before we embark on the learning journey.
Teacher Directed (15 minutes):
At the teacher directed station my goal is to expand upon the procedures and develop a
knowledge of the time period, different political systems of world civilizations, and global
interactions. I walked them through the examples within the textbook at first. I will have them
write a comparison and contrast map or concept map in their social studies notebook. I will then
direct them on their induvial Chromebook to the website I listed in the materials. We will go
through a couple of interactive crash course videos that give the students a good background of
the time, and good understanding of the different systems at play within world civilizations. I
will go to each student individuality and ask if they are understanding what is being said. If a
student is not understanding I will ask them questions that lead them to think, and not regurgitate
answers. I will reinforce the importance of the political system during this time, and how
comparing and contrasting is so important. After the completion of this guided activity we will
discuss our takeaways. This would be in a discussion style and we can get all our thoughts out in
the open about the material. The last activity that I will lead for the group is the use of the Study
Blue app to create virtual flashcards that we created in class. This app allows me and the students
to create real definitions and not just give them definitions out of a book. The results will be
posted in the class materials on the Study Blue app. This small group section is a safe place that
encourages a student to be a student. We are not afraid of failure, and Hopefully this teacher
directed lesson will enhance comparing skills to causation skills that have global implications.
Collaborative (15 minutes):
At the collaborative station’s students will be in their groups of either 6 or 7. The first station that
the students will see is the color papers, markers, highlighters, sharpies, and a mini pasteboard.
The first station also has key important similarities, and differences about the different political
that will be examined students. Students are encouraged to peruse the information handouts and
use this towards expression on a Venn diagram. The Venn diagram will serve as a perfect group
working tool that accurately compares the finding, but also contrasting the many differences that
will be found. The students in the class knows about our platinum rule in the classroom states
treat others how you treat people to the best of your ability. Students know if they are questions
that I will respond to a raised hand instead of blurting out especially in rotations. They have had
prior experiences with this in the previous standard. The finished product will be displayed
around the classroom for further help as we go through these standards in sixth grade social
studies. The second collaborative station will be more sharing and growing of the student’s skills
together. The activity for this station will be a fun interactive role-playing station that enforces
what the students are learning. There will be cards turned face down with different political
systems, and world civilizations. The students will also have a fact sheet provided, and I will
have one-person responsible for this sheet. The group will try to pair up with the correct pairs,
thus demonstrate their base knowledge and skills. If the group finishes ahead of time, they could
play an extra game where they can pick one civilization and play it like a guess who situation.
The person holding the card will not know what they are holding because they will be handed it
by another classmate. The person holding the card will ask for hints, but the only rule is you
can’t ask for the direct answer. These activities will allow students to visualize what they are
learning by working with others to form comparisons, contrasts, and to solidify what they have
learned so far in a creative way.

Independent Digital (15 minutes):

At this station students will be tasked with working individually on their Chromebook at the
grouping of desk in the corner of the classroom. From their students will access the learning
management system, Google Classrooms for additional instruction. They will find an assignment
labeled independent study with multiple links they will have to follow. The first link will take the
students to an Edpuzzle video on feudalism https://youtu.be/EUzRNp7OucQ . The second video
link will discuss the political systems of Africa https://youtu.be/PLOQEgjs9kE .The last activity
that students will have to complete is the editable document attached to the assignment. The
activity will be in split into two portions the fill in the blanks taking up half the document, and
the later half being filled with open ended questions that have no right or wrong answers. After
the completion of this activity they will submit, and press done in the Google Classroom. The
purpose of the independent station is to get the students to think more deeply on the material.
The videos present the information in a way that is appealing to the students with aesthetics, and
delivery. The worksheet provides the students to test their knowledge on an individual level from
the introduction slides that were presented at the beginning of class and build on to their process.
This station will help me see where the students are in the learning process and see how the
comparison/contrasting skills played out. After I review all the students Independent work, I will
send them all back to the students so they can have the option of putting the work in their 6.2
notes for social studies.
Closure (20 minutes):
The students twenty minutes before the class end will sit with there collaborative groups from
earlier in the day. They will make sure all the materials at each station are put into the way the
found it, nice and orderly. During this time, I will collect all the groups collective work, and
place them in a special bin behind my desk labeled collaborative group work. After that I will
ask the students that If they wished to share is one thing that they learned today. I would write
this on the dry erase board in front of the class under 1 st block takeaways. They will all have to
tear a piece of paper out of their social studies notebook to write their answer on it as well. This
will serve as their exit ticket for the day. I will then go over briefly the high points that we should
have taken away from today about the political systems within world civilization, sharpen our
comparison / contrast skills, and global interactions from humans. Also, I will also have them
write how the lesson felt from them today, are they understanding it. This all should take exactly
ten minutes which leads us to our kahoot game. The kahoot game code will be displayed on the
smart board so that all students can see it visually rather than just saying it. The questions in the
game will only be ten questions that represent the main points from this section. All the
information on the kahoot is all from the lesson, so there will be no surprises. All the answers
would also be in a multiple-choice style format. If a lot of students get an answer wrong, I will
pause and explain why an answer is correct. The kahoot game should finish out the rest of class
during first period. If we finish or not, I will stop the students two minute short so they can pack
up all their belongings and get ready to attack the day.

Rationale:
1. The Study Blue App
I choose this piece of multimedia because it is an old staple in a virtual world. The amount of
technology that we are exposed to has been growing at exponential rate in the past years. So, the
logical way for me to reinforce terms, and help build knowledge would be with this tool in the
classroom. Instead of doing handwritten flash cards Study Blue allows me to produce them
virtually and share them with my students. Paper is good, but it is also rewarding to give yourself
a nice changeup, and Study Blue provides just that. The content is very appropriate because we
have used the App before in class, so they can share and read information on the website. They
can also effectively practice their identifying skills to identify different systems, and
civilizations. The purpose of this tool is to enhance their comparison skills while increasing their
knowledge at the same time. The Study Blue app also allows me to post creative flash cards that
will help my students study while they are at home. Another aspect that is important is the
instructional usability. It can be set up clearly, and easy to navigate for students, and teachers. It
is also having reusability because it is not a one-dimensional tool. It can encompass all learners
regardless of their ability in multiple contexts. Study Blue is a great app for all the versatility that
it provides.
2. Post Classical Website (FreeMan-Pedia) https://www.freeman-pedia.com/early-modern-
600-ce-to-1450-ce/
The reasoning behind the use of this website is to present the base knowledge information
in a way the normal textbook doesn’t provide. It was a perfect website for me to use in
my teacher directed part of my lessons because of the resources on post classical
information. The graphics are pleasing and serve as a building block from my
introduction in the classroom. I loved that there are videos attached to the website that are
relevant to what I’m trying to achieve understanding and answering questions. It was a
great website to use for instruction, and best serves as something the students would have
to be guided through. Also, the presentation design was excellent with this website
because of the integration of text, graphics, and video in aesthetically pleasing way.

3. Crash Course Videos

Why would I use a crash course video during my independent digital time? Well there are many
compelling reasons for using this resource. Crash Course presents information in a fast-exciting
pace that makes learners drowned to the information. It is a high-quality educational tool that is
used across the world to not just educators, but casual learners as well. They produce high
quality videos on almost any topic imaginable, so this made perfect sense when picking the
videos. The first video was about feudalism, and the way the information was presented makes it
easier for the students to grasp on. The video really makes the student picture themselves in that
time period, and at least get the gist of feudalism. The second video also comes from crash
course and talks about the political systems in Africa in a short-segmented video. The
information is also presented in a way that are appealing the targeted age group because of the
animations and quirks. The students are always on technology, social media, and other
technology outside of school, so this is a perfect marriage of using technology to enhance my
students learning experience. This will also cultivate their increasing base knowledge and allow
them to formulate differences while they dive into their independent assignments for the day.
Another key principle that love about Crash Course is the continuity principle. The continuity
principle that lets the words and appealing graphics pair together is empirically proven more
effective than text and pictures on a separate page. The content quality is a great because Crash
Course is almost always without errors, and all information is always linked to a credible source.
4. Kahoot Review Game
Kahoot is a universal tool that is commonly used in classrooms for reviewing, and quizzing
purposes. The purpose of my Kahoot activity is to bring closure to my lesson besides an exit
ticket. My Kahoot would be personalized for the key concepts that we all should have taken
away from the lesson in first period. Also, another thing that Kahoot offers me is its creativity
that draws the students in. The students love a kahoot game, so this is a rewarding closure for the
day. Each question will allow me to access what we are getting, and why aren’t we getting it. If
there is a question I could easily talk in between the questions, so the website is a great creative
application. Kahoot’s biggest multimedia perk is its motivational aspect. It hits its target
audience and provides satisfaction for the learners participating in this game. It also maintains
attention throughout the whole activity.