Indiana Wesleyan University

Social Studies Lesson Plan 1 – Direct Instruction

Immigration

Student: Ellie Stemple School: Riverview Elementary

IWU Supervisor: Dr. Soptelean Co-op teacher: Mrs. Faulkner
Teaching Date: 23 March 2018 Grade Level: 3rd Grade

READINESS
I. Goals/Objectives/Standard(s)
a. Goal: Students will learn the significance of immigration in the United States.
b. Objective:
i. When given an immigration scenario, students will use key vocabulary to
describe the importance of conserving family heritage preserving the
family legacy.
c. Standard:
i. 3.1.9 Define immigration and explain how immigration enriches
community.

II. Materials & Management

a. Materials
i. Personal examples of my important items in a suitcase
ii. PowerPoint
iii. Vocabulary/Ellis Island Tour worksheets (20)
iv. Suitcase papers
b. Time: 45 minutes
c. Space
i. Students will be on the carpet for the anticipatory set
ii. Students are in their seats for the remainder of the lesson
d. Behavior: Expectations will be set from the beginning for listening, speaking, and
using materials.
e. Technology: PowerPoint and online activities as a class

III. Anticipatory Set

To start out my lesson, I am going to show them a suitcase or box with some things
inside. I will say to the students,
How many of you have ever travelled somewhere? Who has travelled the farthest? Has
anyone traveled outside of America? Well, you’ll never guess where I just travelled from.
I have just moved from a country very far away, called Germany. But my family is still
there. So, I have brought with me my most important belongings that will help me
remember my family there.
I’m sure a lot of you are wondering what I have in my suitcase up here. Well, in my
suitcase are my absolute most important belongings. Do you guys want to know what I
have?
I will then pull out each of my 5 items one at a time from my suitcase. I will show them
what it is and ask for volunteers to help me identify them and why they might be
 important to me as an immigrant. I might have a few students pull an item from the
suitcase themselves, depending on the level of focus they have on this day. After I have
shown all my items, I will say,
So those are my 5 most important items that I own. When I moved, I didn’t have a lot of
space in my suitcase, so I had to choose what was most important to me to take with me
to remember my family and my identity. Immigrants also have to do this when they leave
their home and move to another country. Does anyone know what an immigrant is?
Awesome, well we are going to learn about it now.

IV. Purpose Statement

Today we are going to study the history of immigration in the United States so that we
can better understand how immigration affects families.

PLAN FOR INSTRUCTION

V. Adaptation to Diverse Students
a. Remediation: There will be multiple means of receiving the information,
according to the various multiple intelligences and learning styles.
b. Enrichment: For students that finish early, have them draw their items on the back
of their suitcase and explain to a partner why they chose to bring those items.
c. ELL: N/A
d. Exceptional Needs:
i. Student with severe ADHD: I have created a lesson that is very interactive
and engaging, particularly for this student who has trouble sitting still and
staying focused on one thing for long periods of time. I will be sure to
have this student sitting up front, primarily because he will stay much
more focused this way.
ii. Student with behavior issues: For this particular student who does not
always listen or will create disruptions during class for attention, I will
calmly speak to him and try to quiet him down so that he can participate in
the lesson. If he refuses to listen, I will ask him to sit at the back table by
the teacher so that he can focus.

VI. Lesson Presentation

 Input: PowerPoint presentation
I will begin my lesson presentation by sharing a brief PowerPoint presentation that I
have created with the students. At the beginning of the presentation, I will introduce
some important vocabulary when talking about immigrants such as:
Immigrant
Emigrant
Refugee
Alien
Ellis Island
I will start by asking the students if they know what these words might mean. If they
do not know off the top of their heads, I will allow them to look at their worksheets
for help. I will review each of the words to make sure they got the correct definitions
before moving on. Then, I will talk about the significance of Ellis Island in United
 States history. I will go to the Scholastic website:
http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/immigration/tour/ and navigate the online
interactive tour of Ellis Island. As I do this, students will follow along with me on
their paper guide as we go through the tour together. This will help students focus on
the importance of each of the stops during the immigration process on Ellis Island.
Finally, I will say,
“Now that we have learned so much about immigration, we are going to pretend we
are immigrants moving to a new country. Imagine you have to leave the United States
and are only given one suitcase. Remember the examples I showed you of what I
would take with me, what is most important to me and my family. What would you
take? What is most important to you and your family? Is it a picture? A quilt? A book
that your grandpa gave to you when you were a kid? Think critically about what you
choose to take.”

 Input: Guided Practice

o I will pass out a suitcase to each student and explain that they have to choose 5
things that they want to take with them to the new country they are moving to.
o I will make sure to tell them to think carefully about what they are choosing. The
items should be practical, useful, or meaningful to the family in some way.
 “How does what you chose to bring define your culture or family or
heritage?”
o After brainstorming, the students will write their 5 items on their suitcase, being
intentional about what they choose.
o If there is time, they can decorate their suitcase or draw their items on it.

VII. Check for Understanding

 I will collect the vocabulary worksheets to make sure they understood the basic vocab
and important topics of immigration.
 I will ask questions throughout my lesson presentation to ensure that the students are
following along.
 I will observe facial expressions and head nods to make sure students are understanding
the material I am presenting.
 I will walk around the classroom as the students do the activity, making sure they are
completing the task the way it was designed to be completed.
 My closure will also serve as a check for understanding.

VIII. Closure
For closure, I will have each student partner up with one person next to them. They will
share with their partner the five items that they decided to bring and why they chose those
five items to represent their family as they moved to a new country. I will give them 2
minutes for this. Then, I will bring them back to a whole-group discussion and will ask
for 3-4 volunteers to share one of the items that their partner would bring and why their
partner chose to bring this item. This will give us a wide variety of examples of family
heirlooms and other important family items.

PLAN FOR ASSESSMENT

 Formative:
Asking questions throughout my PowerPoint presentation
Going over the vocabulary worksheet as a class
The guided practice is a form of formative assessment as it assesses student’s understanding
of the concept of family heritage and the importance of an immigrant’s belongings
Hearing feedback from students as they share what family items they would take and what
they learned with a partner during the closure time

REFLECTION AND POST-LESSON ANALYSIS

1. How many students achieved the lesson objective(s)? For those who did not, why not?
a. I feel that each student achieved the learning objective because they understood
the importance of taking things with them that preserved their family heritage or
history. Every student wrote at least 2 quality items on their suitcases that
showed me that they thought critically and understood the importance of
choosing wisely what they would take if they were an immigrant.
2. What were my strengths and weaknesses?
a. I think my biggest strength was my anticipatory set. I felt the students really
responded well to that and engaged in my activity. I also thought the vocabulary
sheet was a great way to involve the students while also giving them visuals to
learn the material.
b. I would say that my lesson presentation was probably my weakness. I felt that I
was talking to them too much instead of involving them in the learning, asking
them questions and hearing from them. The Ellis Island tour was a good visual,
but maybe could’ve used some more student engagement.
3. How should I alter this lesson?
a. Next time, I would have more hands-on learning for them during the activity. I
think just writing on the suitcase was not enough kinesthetic stimulation for the
students to stay focused and enjoy it. Just thinking about the items they would
choose was probably not enough for them. I would make the activity more fun
and tactile to help them.
4. How would I pace it differently?
a. I would definitely not take up as much time for the lesson presentation. I would
choose a different activity that is more fun and I would allot more time for that
fun activity so that the students felt like they had more of a part in my lesson.
5. Were all students actively participating? If not, why not?
a. During the anticipatory set and activity time, I felt they were all participating
well. However, during the lesson presentation, I could tell some students were
not following along on their vocabulary sheets. I think that is mostly because
they did not care about it so they chose not to do it. However, if I had been more
intentional about calling on them or observing their behavior, they might’ve
followed along more closely.
6. What adjustments did I make to reach varied learning styles and ability levels?
a. I felt I made appropriate adjustments by having visual aids in the form of my
PowerPoint, physical examples of important belongings, and the vocabulary
worksheet. On top of that, I allowed them time to get up and move by having
 them change locations where they were sitting to listen to me and also allowing
them to come up and touch my examples of the important things to me. Finally,
I audibly explained each of the directions and repeated answers back to the
students so that they could hear it out loud and also so that they felt heard in my
classroom.
7. How could I better conduct my lesson presentation in a classroom that does not do well
with whole-group teaching?
a. I feel my class did better than I expected with this whole-group teaching.
However, I think that I should ask my students more questions throughout my
lesson presentation so that they are able to participate more in the lesson instead
of just having to listen to me talk. I think that I also could have included some
form of video or online interactive game to help my class stay involved more
and have to work together to come up with answers. This might’ve eliminated
some of the time where I was just talking to them.
8. What should I change in my anticipatory set and closure that would better bookend my
lesson?
a. I don’t think there is anything I would change about my anticipatory set, but I
think that for my closure, I could have had each pair say one thing that their
partner said. Though I tried to ask each pair, there were a few groups who did
not get heard. I think it would’ve been beneficial to ask everyone to make sure
everyone had a chance to share what was important to them.
ELLIS ISLAND TOUR
 Vocabulary
1. Someone who leaves their home country to live in a
new country
______________________________________________

2. Someone who leaves their home country

______________________________________________

3. Someone who is leaving their home because they are

running away from danger
______________________________________________

4. Someone who is not a legal citizen of the United States

______________________________________________

5. The place that immigrants had to go to enter the United

States many years ago (by New York and New Jersey)
______________________________________________