Unit Title ‖ Lesson Title

Goals & Objectives

Goal: Students will be able to apply their understanding of the Federal Budget and Fiscal
policy towards understanding the Whitehouse Budget Proposal

Objective: Students will collaboratively research the budget of one of the 15 executive
agencies, and present the information they found to the class during “Expert Roation”

California State Content Standards

CCSS Content Standards

12.3 Students analyze the influence of the federal government on the American
economy.

3.Describe the aims of government fiscal policies (taxation, borrowing, spending) and their
influence on production, employment, and price levels.

Common Core Literacy Standards

CA ELA 11-12.SL.
6. Adapt speech to a variety of contexts and tasks, demonstrating a command of formal English
when indicated or appropriate. (See grades 11–12 Language standards 1 and 3 for specific
expectations.)

Driving Historical Question

What is the Federal Budget and How does the Federal Budget influence the economy?

Lesson Introduction (Anticipatory Set/Hook/Accessing Prior Knowledge) ‖ Time: 5-10

min

 Intro to Federal Budget Current Event: Government Shutdown

o Current Event Video: Federal Deficit and possible government shutdown if
budget is not passed.
 Play short video
o Review budget process/ what stage of the process we’re dealing with.
o Students should be familiar with this, as we’ve spent the past week learning
about monetary and fiscal policy through lecture
o Explain/Remind students about hat a shutdown is – when it happened – why
to avoid
 o Explain:Dec 7th is about a week away and they haven’t reached an
agreement. “Totally Willing” to shut down. Why that’s bad. This is what
Congress people are doing/should be doing right now

Vocabulary (Content Language Development) ‖ Time: 20 min

Students annotate a short overview passage of their assigned department, from the
Department Handout. They are looking for language that is difficult or hard to understand.
Students are informed that they will be encountering the same type of language in their
next portion of their research. They are to use Chromebook to search for answers and
definitions to their annotations.

 Instructor explains this portion of the assignment

 Self-directed, students will be using their skills of annotate to close read
o They will be provided with an annotation guide
o Teacher will model process
o However, they should be familiar with the process. We’ve used this method
before.
o Instructor explains the minimum number of required annotations.
o Instructor gives clues about which vocabular words to look for:
 Mandatory Spending
 Discretionary Spending
 Appropriation
 Executive Agency
 OMB – Office of Management and Budget
 Government Accountability Office (GAO)
 Entitlements

Content Delivery (Method of Instruction) ‖ Time: 40 mins

1) Answer your annotations from primary source #1- Department Handout
Research department/programs
2) Primary Source #2 – Budget Proposal FY 2019
3) Primary Source #3 – Budget Proposal FY 2018

Students will be looking at primary source documents to investigate the essential question
in the contemporary era. They will work in pairs to read an collect information from the
three sources. Each source is about 2-3 pages per group. Students will have to collaborate
to share the responsibility of getting all of the information and will be recommended to
divided and conquer.
The students have experienced nearly two weeks of material on fiscal and monetary policy
in preparation for this assignment. They have been assessed, and the class has
demonstrated meeting standards at a level high enough to succeed in this activity. The
instructor will inform students as to what the goals are, what information is needed, where
to find the documents, how to use the assisting materials to answer the questions, etc. The
students will be self-directed for the majority of the activity.
The students will be close reading in pairs, using annotation as a strategy for success with
this task.
The teacher will provide the information about the source, and the context of these
documents. The students will use the information to corroborate or deny common
conceptions about government spending.

Student Engagement (Critical Thinking & Student Activities) ‖ Time: 25 mins

3) Expert Rotation

Need even # of students

Place students in rotational seating chart
They should be based on Departmental Groups
45 second sessions
This will be like “Speed dating,” and the goal is to build the skill of quickly an effectively
articulating information. The ability to accurate summarize needed information will be
tested through speaking.
Students will be motivated to participate because each group depends on all of the other
groups to provide the needed information in order to correctly complete the Spreadsheet.
Goal is to answer questions on spreadsheet
Then other interesting facts about department spending

Lesson Closure ‖ Time: 8 min

Group Discussion
Teacher proposes questions about the federal budget to assess students’
knowledge/experience.
Based on Spreadsheet numbers obtained from “Expert Rotation,” the class analyzes where
the majority of federal spending will be allocated.
The class discusses how this is likely to impact the American Economy.

Assessments (Formative & Summative)

EL- Question Strategy during Intro
PM- Annotation and Work packet
S- “Expert Rotation” and Spreadsheet

Accommodations for English Learners, Striving Readers and Students with Special Needs
Annotation Guide
Annotating Session
Google Chromebooks
Info Sheets on Departments
Spreadsheet
Direct Questions in Work packet

Resources (Books, Websites, Handouts, Materials)

Fiscal Year 2019 Whitehouse Budget Proposal
Info sheet- Department Handouts, made from primary source information
School-loop
Google Chromebooks
Overhead Projector
Annotation Guide