Teacher: Michelle Hochmuth School: Hackett Middle School
Grade: 8 U.S. History Time Period: 43 minutes each day
Unit: Industrial Revolution
Lesson Topic: Group Projects
Lesson Objectives:
1. Students will collaborate to create a political cartoon, newspaper skit, propaganda poster, or a rap/poem focused on a different group of society living during the Industrial Revolution.
2. Students will justify the components of their project through a written piece explaining why they chose to include specific elements.
New York State Standards:
Standard 1, Intermediate 3, Key Idea 1: Students will complete well-documented and historically accurate case studies about individuals and groups who represent different ethnic, national, and religious groups, including Native Americans, in New York State and the United States at different times and different locations.
Standard 1, Intermediate 3, Key Idea 2: Students will gather and organize information about the important achievements and contributions of individuals and groups living in New York State and the United States.
Standard 1, Intermediate 4, Key Idea 2: Students will understand how different experiences, beliefs, values, traditions, and motives cause individuals and groups to interpret historic events and issues from different perspectives.
Standard 1, Intermediate 4, Key Idea 4: Students will describe historic events through the eyes and experiences of those who were there.
Activities:
1. Students will complete the P.O.D: (3 minutes each day)
Day 7: Explain why inventors might be more creative working in an invention factory, such as Edison’s, than working on their own?
Ans: Inventors might be more creative working in an invention factory than on their own because they can brainstorm ideas together, they can have more than one person working on something to get the job done quicker, and they would be more productive overall.
Day 8: Explain why you think that it often takes a tragedy to spark reforms (changes) to occur. Give one example from the Industrial Revolution.
Ans: Sometimes it takes a tragedy to spur reforms because people don’t know there’s a problem until it’s too late or because people are more aware of bad situations when something bad happens. One example is the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire.
Day 9: List at least 2 inventions invented during the Industrial Revolution that created entirely new industries.
Ans: Inventions that created entirely new industries were sewing machines, which led to the ready-made clothing (textile) industry, telephones, which led to switchboards and operators, and light bulbs which led to a system to deliver electricity to homes.
2. Students will be broken into groups of 3 or 4. One student will be assigned the role of group leader. The leader will be explained their role, which is to make sure the group is staying focused on the task and not getting side tracked.
3. Students will have access to netbooks to attain the information needed to complete the projects. (145 minutes)
a. Students will be given instructions to navigate to trackstar.4teachers.org on the netbooks. Depending on the project the group chose, students will use track numbers to access a list of websites that have been preselected for them to use to obtain information on the project. This information will be available on the board throughout all class periods.
4. Students will be instructed to have their group leader read the specific project checklist instructions out loud to the group. The leader will also read the “Excellent” category on the rubric out loud to the group.
5. The group leader will complete an exit slip at the end of the day 7 class addressing the following questions: What project topic has our group chosen? What is each group member responsible for completing? (5 minutes)
6. The group leader will be responsible for completing an exit slip on day 9 addressing the following questions: What did we accomplish today? What do we have left to do? Is the group staying on task? Has our group used our time wisely? (5 minutes)
7. Each class period will end with a 2-minute clean-up checklist that was explained on day 6. This checklist will be hanging on the classroom wall.
8. Groups that finish early will complete the reflection component of the project. Those that do not finish early will complete reflection for homework.
Assessment: Informal – Students will provide an exit slip explaining their progress on the project on day 6 and 8. On day 7, all student work must be in the group folders, progress will be reviewed, and feedback will be provided in writing. Suggestions for improvement will be supplied to all groups