Developmental Lesson Plan

Teacher Candidate: Mr. Murphy Date: 1/17/2022

Group Size: 25 students Allotted Time: 30 mins Grade Level: 4th

Grade

Subject or Topic: US Government CORE 2

Common Core/PA Standard(s):

Standard -5.3.4.A

Identify the roles of the three branches of government.

Standard - 5.2.4.B

Describe the sources of conflict and disagreement and different ways conflict can be resolved.

Standard - 5.1.4.C

Explain the principles and ideals shaping local and state government.

Learning Targets/Objectives:

1. The fourth-grade students will be able to explain how to solve a sample conflict, as the
appointed governmental officials would. The students will provide goals and solutions
to solving the conflict.

Assessment Approaches: Evidence:

1) Written response to explain the goals
of resolving the sample conflict, and
what the solution or compromise for
the situation would be.
Assessment Scale: (Participation)
1) The students in the group were able to
solve their provided conflict by
recognizing the goals and what the
solutions to this conflict could be.

● The students produced possible solutions with the correct goal at hand for the conflict
to be resolved, providing two possible solutions to the problems that the students were
handed.

Subject Matter/Content:
Prerequisites:
- Understand that conflicts occur in the state and local government that needs to be
solved. The students will use their understanding of the government in order to help to
understand how conflicts are resolved.
Key Vocabulary:
- Democracy: A government system where the people hold the power.
- Checks and Balances- Process that makes sure that no one branch of government has
all of the power in any decision
- Governor- Chief executive of the state, with the power to veto a bill. Voted in every 4
years.
- Local Government- The government of individual counties, such as one of the 67
counties in Pennsylvania voting for a mayor or city council.
- Parties-Democratic and Republican groups that represent the beliefs of different
groups of people in the United States.
- Conflict: A problem or controversy that occurs when two or more parties disagree on a
situation.
- Resolve: To find a way to settle a problem and come to a compromise that works for
everyone.
- Bill: An idea for a law that has to be proposed and passed by the government, before it
can become a law.
- Law: Set of rules that people must follow.
- Judges: Members of the judicial branch who are in charge of deciding whether
someone has broken a law, or if a law is unconstitutional.
- Taxes: Money paid by citizens on goods and services or based on their income, in
order for the government to pay for resources such as schools and roads.

Content/Facts:
- Explaining the state and local government
- Explain that state government is the next smallest branch of government that
holds the whole state in its jurisdiction and is in charge of regulating laws for
the state.
- Local government is the individual county or town where we live, as our county
has its own rules and regulations. The local government is in charge of setting
and collecting certain taxes, as well as protecting its citizens through the police
force and local court system.
- State and local government officials as well as the role of voting for elected officials.
Cover how the local and state government have to work with federal courts, and that
there are still three branches in the smaller governmental types.
- Process of a bill becoming a law
- The judicial branch is in charge of settling disagreements in the state, local, and federal
government (have students understand steps of resolving a conflict).
- Role of Judge
- Local government making laws to protect citizens, as well as collecting taxes.
- Explain what taxes are and how they are collected.
- Finally, touch on the importance of all levels of government working together and have
students reach a compromise as a group for their exit ticket.
Introduction/Activating/Launch Strategies:
1. “Good morning 403!”
2. Every day we are challenged by so many different things, whether it be something our
parents want us to do that we don’t want to, or you and a friend are having an argument
about who gets to use what toy.
a. We have to be able to come to compromises for each of these problems so that
we can live more happily, and sometimes be safer.
3. Just like we make compromises all of the time, our government has to do the same
thing with different ideas that they may not initially agree on, but agree upon in the
end, turning a bill, which is a proposed law, into a law.
4. Let’s watch this fun video about governmental compromises and how a bill becomes a
law.
a. Pay attention to the different steps that the bill goes through and which branch
of government it is in.
b. Follow along with the guided notes page for video
5. Play Video: https://youtu.be/tyeJ55o3El0

Development/Teaching Approaches
1. Let's go over the different steps that a bill goes through, from its proposal to it
becoming a bill, or having to go through the development process, in order to become a
law as it goes through many different transformations as congress reaches a
compromise on that bill.
a. When an idea is rejected, it is not because it will not be accepted, there may be
some aspects of that bill that need to be adjusted, in order for it to become a
law, so in congress, it will be adapted, before the senate passes that bill and then
the President signs it to create a law.
2. Bills have to go through this process, because of the PA and US Constitution, which list
the rights of citizens.
3. Our state government is the government that is in charge of decisions made in our state
and runs on the same 3 branches as our national government.
a. Checks and Balances are a system that requires the branches to work together
and helps to keep one branch from having too much power.
4. The legislative branch in our state is made up of lawmakers.
5. Our executive branch is headed by the governor, as the President is the head of the
executive branch of our national government.
a. Our current governor is Tom Wolf
6. As we learned in the video at the beginning of class, our congressmen and women are
our representatives to create bills to solve the problems that we have, whether it be at
the state or federal level.
a. When the bill is created, it may die, or become a law, if the government decides
that it is important to our nation, state, or county.
7. In the national, state, and local government, the Judicial branch is in place to settle
disagreements about laws.
a. Judges are members of the Judicial branch who decide whether a law is fair or
unjust.
8. The next level down from our state government is the Local Government.
 a. Local government is the government connected to our county or town and has
its own branches, similar to that of the state and national government.
i. The executive branch in our local government is in charge of enforcing
laws and is made up of members of the community like police officers.
9. In addition to protecting citizens and enforcing laws, our government also collects
taxes.
a. Taxes are money collected by the local, state, and federal government that
comes out of percentages of money spent on goods and services, as well as a
portion of the money that a person makes.
i. The money collected is used to pay for different government services
such as law enforcement, education, and roads.
10. With the three levels of government in our nation, with having a federal, state, and
local government, it is important that they all work together with one another, instead
of contrasting one another.
a. Our government has to work together effectively, in order to remain efficient
and maintain the trust and peace in our country.
b. One of the most important aspects of government and having so many people
involved in every decision, such as a bill being made, is the fact that they need
to be able to reach compromises, in order to reach a solution.
11. The steps to reaching a compromise for a problem are on pg. 152 and include:
1. Identify conflict
2. Understand the reasons for the conflict. Have the people involved in the conflict
state their goals.
3. Think of all of the possible ways to resolve the conflict.
4. Choose a plan or compromise that is most acceptable to everyone involved.
Each side may need to compromise on its goals in order to reach a solution.
12. Look at example on pg. 153 and go through the problem as a class, before having the
students work as a group in order to reach a compromise.

Closure/Summarizing Strategies:
1. Pull the sample conflict up on the board and ask the students to work as a group, and
fill out one answer sheet for their group.
a. Hand out conflict and answer sheets to each group, and give them time to
work, moving around the classroom to guide thought and listen to the
conversation.
2. The park in Kutztown has been there since 1943. Some people in the town are trying
to use the money that the local government collected in taxes, in order to buy the park
and build a Dunkin’ where the park currently is. There are a number of abandoned
buildings and plots of land that are available in town, but they believe that the land
where the park is will get more traffic than some of the existing buildings. Many of the
people in the town are against Dunkin' replacing the park because they enjoy spending
time there with their families, and it has been there for 78 years. The town also has
three other coffee shops that already exist, including Starbucks, Bagel Bar, and Turkey
Hill.
a. What is the conflict?
b. What are the goals of the people in the conflict?
 c. Write two possible ways that the two groups could resolve this conflict.
3. Once groups have completed the three responses, have them turn the paper in to the
Social Studies tray, and sit with their hands on their desk, quietly, so you know that
they are ready to go to special.
Accommodations/Differentiation:
● Follow all IEPs
● For students that struggle with reading small text, or writing small, print a larger copy
of the outline of guided notes to better fit their needs.
● Provide students who lack fine motor skills and the ability to read the closed captioning
on the board a copy of the outline with the answers bolded.

Materials/Resources:
● class set of outlines: shown below
● 6 copies of the conflict-resolution page
● Video link: https://youtu.be/tyeJ55o3El0
● Text Book:

Reflective Response:
Report of Student Learning Target/Objectives Proficiency Levels

Students were able to complete the guided notes and receive each answer for the guided
notes, dring the video. After the video, the students showed that they have gained the
information from the video by responding with the blanks when 9 of the students were
chosen by random, with lucky ducks, to answer for each of the 9 frames on the guided notes.
Students showed an understanding of checks and balances by coming to a resolution on a
created topic about a Dunkin’ Donuts and a historic park. The students weighed all possible
options, proposed solutions, and then a majority vote was cast, in order to decide which
option would be the compromise.

Personal Reflection Questions

What would you change about this lesson in the future?
For the future, I would again change how I presented the guided notes, and give the
students the chance to watch the “I’m Just a Bill” video once for fun, before asking them to
record notes on it. This will give them the chance to watch it a first time as an introduction and
more for pleasure, getting them used to the information. A second screening after the first
would allow students to record missing words in the guided notes and none of the terms would
be a surprise to the students, making the note-taking more beneficial, enjoyable, and effective.

How was your classroom management during this lesson?

During this lesson, classroom management was very positive, as there were a limited
number of students that called out, and anyone that did call out was asked to raise their hand,
and remain in their seat if they had gotten up to get attention. With limited call-outs and many
students remaining quiet and focused on the material, as well as having students very interested
and engaged in the lesson, I was able to keep the class on task and efficiently moving from one
aspect of the lesson to the next.

How was my time management?

Based on the time that it took students to take notes on yesterday’s guided notes, today I
tried to run the video in a new way that would better give students time to listen for, and then
record the answers for each of the blanks that they were filling in. Each time an answer to a
blank was stated in the video, I would pause the video and ask for a volunteer to tell me the
answer. If the class did not get it, I would rewind and replay the 10-second clip with the
answer in it, and ask again, allowing time for notes and then continuing. I went a little over my
time for this lesson, but it was because the class had gotten into very constructive and positive
conversation over the “Dunkin’ Disaster” which I was fine with because it was all educational
and all of the students were active in the lesson.
Name:
The Dunkin’ Disaster
The park in Kutztown has been there since 1943. Some people
in the town are trying to use the money that the local government
collected in taxes, in order to buy the park and build a Dunkin’
where the park currently is. There are a number of abandoned
buildings and plots of land that are available in town, but they
believe that the land where the park is will get more traffic than
some of the existing buildings. Many of the people in the town are
against Dunkin' replacing the park because they enjoy spending time
there with their families, and it has been there for 78 years. The
town also has three other coffee shops that already exist, including
Starbucks, Bagel Bar, and Turkey Hill.

a. What is the conflict?

b. What are the goals of the people in the conflict?

c. Write two possible ways that the two groups could resolve this
conflict.