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Post Educ2220 Lesson Plan
Post Educ2220 Lesson Plan
Post Educ2220 Lesson Plan
Westward Expansion
Beth Post
The lesson will cover the U.S.’s western expansion and focus on how the country was changed by this. How
the country managed the new territory and how it changed.
Estimated Duration:
The class periods are 45-50 min. and I plan for this to take about 6-7 periods (270-350 minutes total).
Commentary: For this lesson’s hook I plan on showing them the game Oregon Trail which they will need
for later on. I think the challenge will be understanding how the states formed and what they were at
different periods of time and possibly some of the vocab words. I will help them by showing maps over time
and explaining how these happened.
Instructional Procedures:
Day 1:
First 10-15 min are the pre-assessment
Next, I will introduce the kids to my hook (the Oregon Trail Game) 10-15 min
Then I will show them how major cities changed overtime out west. And wrap up by informing them that we
are going to be learning how the western half of the United States was formed. 15 min
Day 2:
PowerPoint and worksheet guided notes 25-30 min
Small group and class discussion over the topic 15-20 min
Day 3:
PowerPoint 25 min
Map activity- marking important items on a map of the U.S. and creating logos or sayings to help them
remember what happened and where. 15- 20 min
Pass out instructions for project and rubric 5-10 min
Day 4:
Wrap up PowerPoint 10-15 min
do post assessment 10-15 min
Take any questions they have on the project and get them to fill out the worksheet to think through what they
are going to do 20 min
Pre-Assessment:
Identify vocab words and list or draw at least three things they know. Also, color in a map of territories for
their best guess or pre-existing knowledge of when they were acquired (I.E., the area Louisiana purchase
should be one color, Texas should be a separate color from that, and so on.)
Scoring Guidelines:
Students will not be formally graded on the assignment. I will do a check list for the definitions, and
map, and for the three things or more that they already know, I will be looking for completion. Could
they tell me three things that were not on the list of definitions, if so they will pass the section. The
overall take away will depend on how much time I have to spend on the lessons themselves. If I have
over 2/3rds of the class with less than half missed then I will still teach the subject but allow the kids
more time to explore on their own. They will get the same quiz just rearranged at the end of my
teaching and after that have a brief project.
Post-Assessment:
It is the same quiz just with questions in a slightly different order. I will use it to see what concepts the
students have a good understanding on and what they might still need help with. They will then do a project.
They can choose to make an updated version of the “Oregon Trail” game, make a comic, they can make a
puzzle of the untied states with a couple different versions (as in territories and current states), make a poster
on something that happened at the time like the gold rush, or anything else they believe they can create so
long as they clear it with me first.
Scoring Guidelines:
The quiz won’t be graded because the final project will. I will look over it the same way as the first
one for understanding.
The Project will be graded by how well they incorporate what they learned. I will be looking for 1.
Did they create a piece that was modeled after something we learned (1-5 scale barely connects to
material to 5 being connects well to material) 2. How well was the knowledge applied a. has a
excellent understanding and incorporated many different elements correctly b. has a good
understanding and incorporated many different elements well with 1-2 errors c. has a basic
understanding but there are multiple errors, but is recoverable d. poor understanding, there are
multiple errors that are detrimental to the work. (if they get c or d circled they should meet with me
to help them understand what they can do and what I can do to make things better.
Technology Extension
I could create a google earth tour that takes them through the exploration of the west, if there is not one
already. I also plan to have an area on my Google classroom of videos where the students can go to explore
more or have a slightly different explanation of what the unit covers.
Interdisciplinary Connections
While covering the journeys people took, I can explain how geography changed which ties in science. In
addition, we can also read excepts from different people (autobiographies/journal entries) which ties in
Language Arts.
Key Vocabulary
Louisiana purchase
Expedition
Territory
Organ trail
Mexican-American war
Trail of tears
Manifest destiny
Land grant
Homestead Act 1862
Missouri Compromise 1820
Compromise of 1850
Gold Rush
Santa Fe Trail
Republic of Texas
Additional Notes
The lesson will not just be a PowerPoint, I will have times for questions and short videos or some other way
to involve the kids in the lesson. I also have tried to incorporate different ways for the kids to be active that
is not just me talking. The goal of this lesson it to make the students apply what they learned. I want them to
really think about how this area of the Country changed with the freedom of mediums to show me their
thoughts and ideas. I also gave them extra time to work in class because I know that not every student is
going to have the time or resources to work on it outside of class. This is also to try to discourage parents
from doing the work for their kids and so that if the kids have questions, I am there to help.