Lesson Plan for Implementing

NETS•S—Template I
(More Directed Learning Activities)
Template with guiding questions
Teacher(s)
Name Jon Brewer

Position World History/American Govt

School/District Hall County/Chestatee

E-mail Jon.brewer@hallco.org

Phone 706-201-2040

Grade Level(s) 9-12

Content Area Social Studies

Time line 5 days – Culmination Project – Choice Board Activity

Standards (What do you want students to know and be able to do? What knowledge, skills, and strategies do you
expect students to gain? Are there connections to other curriculum areas and subject area benchmarks? ) Please
put a summary of the standards you will be addressing rather than abbreviations and numbers that indicate which
standards were addressed.

Content Standards:

SSCG15: Demonstrate knowledge of local, state, and national elections.

NET*S Standards:

Empowered Learner 
Students leverage technology to take an active role in choosing, achieving and demonstrating competency in their
learning goals, informed by the learning sciences. Students use technology to seek feedback that informs and
improves their practice and to demonstrate their learning in a variety of ways.
Students understand the fundamental concepts of technology operations, demonstrate the ability to choose, use
and troubleshoot current technologies and are able to transfer their knowledge to explore emerging technologies

Digital Citizen 
Students engage in positive, safe, legal and ethical behavior when using technology, including social
interactions online or when using networked devices.

Knowledge Constructor

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Students plan and employ effective research strategies to locate information and other resources for their
intellectual or creative pursuits.
Students curate information from digital resources using a variety of tools and methods to create collections of
artifacts that demonstrate meaningful connections or conclusions.
Students build knowledge by actively exploring real-world issues and
problems, developing ideas and theories and pursuing answers and solutions.

Innovative Designer
Students select and use digital tools to plan and manage a design process that considers design
constraints and calculated risks.

Creative Communicator
Students choose the appropriate platforms and tools for meeting the desired objectives of their creation or
communication.
Students create original works or responsibly repurpose or remix digital resources into new creations.

Overview (a short summary of the lesson or unit including assignment or expected or possible products)

This lesson and culminating activity is over the last unit of American Government as proposed by the Social Studies Georgia
Standards of Excellence for American Government: Unit 7 – Government and You. The unit covers standards SSCG15 and
SSCG17. This lesson will be an introduction to the unit prior to describing and discussing careers in Government and Law.
Students will be completing a Choice board activity over Political Parties and Elections. Because of the mandated School from
Home intiative due to the Cornavirus, I will face some challenges in doing this Choiceboard. Students will choose any
combination of the activities and tasks provided for a total up to fifty points. Each week’s Learning Activities are score out of 50
points. Students may earn up to 10 points extra credit, providing the opportunity for a student to earn 60/50 points for a total of 10
extra credit points. Students can choose to work individually or in groups. Each student will be required to turn in their own work
for a grade. Students are to have at least 50 points to consider successful completion of the assignment. They will utilize Canvas,
Canva, Google Docs and NearPod. For NearPod and Canvas, students will be allowed to collaborate with one another through
discussions and an interactive NearPod presentation briefly introducing the topics of Political Parties and Elections. Using the
internet and various search engines, students will research the two main political parties as well as how elections are structured
(Open Primary, Closed Primary, Blanket Primary, etc.) Students will apply their knowledge of Political Parties and Elections
through completion of the differentiated tasks provided within the Choice Board Activity as well as a simulation activity – creating
their own political party to formatively assess each student. The teacher will divide the class into groups of 4 to 5 students.
Students will need to be able to describe the historical development, organization, role, and constituencies of political parties as
well as describe the nomination and election process. The Presidential Campaign Simulation activity allows students to work in
groups of 4 to 5 students to create their own political party, slogan, party platform, and party planks (School Issue,
City/Local/State Issue, and National or International Issues. The tasks provided within the Choice Board allow for students to
construct responses via Google Doc, Canva (Infographic), as well as the class canvas course discussion board. Students can
also use PowerPoint, Google Slides, or Prezi to create a presentation to submit for a grade, displaying their work in an organized
format aside from the traditional paper and pencil method. Depending on the quality of work (rubric), Students’ work will be
presented to other American Government classes as well as future classes to provide a real, authentic and meaningful to help
guide future students. I will also grade in a lenient manner and set a due date, but also keep in mind the challenges my student’s
have with internet availability as well as work obligations with this school from home intitiative.

Essential Questions (What essential question or learning are you addressing? What would students care or
want to know about the topic? What are some questions to get students thinking about the topic or generate
interest about the topic? Additionally, what questions can you ask students to help them focus on important
aspects of the topic? (Guiding questions) What background or prior knowledge will you expect students to bring
to this topic and build on?) Remember, essential questions are meant to guide the lesson by provoking inquiry.
They should not be answered with a simple “yes” or “no” and should have many acceptable answers.

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What is the National Convention? How is the National Convention a key component of Political Parties and
Elections? How can a candidate run for office (Exploratory Stage through election day)? What is the major
function of a political party? In what two-ways does the American electoral system tend to promote a two-party
system? Which political party was the first to appear in the new United States? Who was its leader and what type
of government did it favor? How did the Republic Party begin? How did the Democratic Party begin?

Assessment (What will students do or produce to illustrate their learning? What can students do to generate new
knowledge? How will you assess how students are progressing (formative assessment)? How will you assess
what they produce or do? How will you differentiate products?) You must attach copies of your assessment and/or
rubrics. Include these in your presentation as well.

Students will demonstrate mastery of the content through completing a choice board activities. Differentiation in both
content and process is displayed through guided reading practices, the development of flow charts and infographics
(Canva) as well as constructed response activities (Discussion board, NearPod Presentation, Simulation activity and
Google Docs). Student work can be presented via a Microsoft PowerPoint, Google Slides, or Prezi with each choice
board tasks showcased. Students will also have opportunities to complete Guided reading practices, NearPod
Presentation, and class discussions on the class Canvas course. Student’s work will be assessed using a teacher
created rubric to determine student mastery of the content presented over Political Parties and Elections. Students are
expected to produce quality work as they are provided the autonomy to choose what tasks they are completing which
better meets their learning style. Checkpoints will be made throughout the week to monitor student progress.
Additionally, students will undergo a Quiz at the end of the week in preparation for the summative assessment over all
cumulative units in American Government. Students will have a choice on how they will create their presentation.
Students have been exposed to numerous Web 2.0 tools throughout the semester and are encouraged to use what is
assigned as well as expand their experience to enhance their learning. For the simulation activity, students will be able
to grade their group members (4 to 5 students per group) based on their contribution towards their assignment via a
provided presidential campaign grading sheet. Students are assessed on their understanding of a political party,
slogan, party platform, and party planks (School Issue, City/Local/State Issue, and National or International Issues.

Resources (How does technology support student learning? What digital tools, and resources—online student
tools, research sites, student handouts, tools, tutorials, templates, assessment rubrics, etc—help elucidate or
explain the content or allow students to interact with the content? What previous technology skills should students
have to complete this project?)

For this assignment, Technology will be utilized to provide and support student learning over American Government, Political
Parties, and Elections. To assist with learning, students will have access to a NearPod presentation over the Unit prior to
beginning their choice board activities. They will also have access to the YouTube series, Crash Course Government and Politics
to further explain Political Parties. To also assist with student learning, students will work collaboratively on a Political Parties
Presidential Campaign Simulation activity where students will work in groups of 4 to 5 students to create their own political party,
slogan, party platform, and party planks (School Issue, City/Local/State Issue, and National or International Issues. The purpose of
the NearPod presentation and simulation activity allows for students to work collaboratively as they are producing their own
individualized learning and products, promoting higher-ordered thinking and learning. The simulation activity provides students an
authentic learning experience as they are learning about the structure of Political Parties by playing the role of developer,
producer, and empowered learner. Additionally, the simulation activity allows for students to act the role of both a Party
Presidential Candidate and Party Campaign manager. Providing formative and informal assessments as well as performance –
based tasks allow for me to differentiate both content and product. Prior lessons I have taught in American Government were
project-based and my students have provided feedback on the benefit of Choice board activities and the importance of student
autonomy on how they best would learn in correlation with their individualized learner needs and learning styles. Furthermore,
students who take my course are exposed to NearPod consistently, so they have a general understanding of how a simple
presentation can make a PowerPoint presentation look “old school”. Should students need additional training in NearPod or
Canva, our school media specialist is a highly qualified teacher who can expound upon the basics of the program, or at least in a
way different from what their teacher explains. Examples of Infographic and Prezi presentations are also provided on the class
canvas course page. Again, with the challenges of the school from home orders, I will ask my media specialists to enter my zoom
classroom and interact with my students.

Instructional Plan
Preparation (What student needs, interests, and prior learning provide a foundation for this lesson? How can
you find out if students have this foundation? What difficulties might students have?)

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Students need to be able to work collaboratively and individually to demonstrate their mastery of the concepts
presented. The simulation activity allows for students to work in groups to delegate tasks to achieve a general
understanding of the structure of Political Parties. Additionally, each student/group has the opportunity to act the
role of both a Party Presidential Candidate and Party Campaign manager. Providing formative and informal
assessments as well as performance –based tasks allow for me to differentiate both content and product. Prior
lessons I have taught in American Government were project-based and my students have provided feedback on the
benefit of Choice board activities and the importance of student autonomy on how they best would learn in
correlation with their individualized learner needs and learning styles. Furthermore, students who take my course
are exposed to NearPod consistently, so they have foundation of how a simple presentation can make a
PowerPoint presentation look “old school”. 9 graders can have difficulty conceptualizing visuals and simulations as
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they were only exposed to history, generally Geography or Georgia Studies in middle school, with little recognition
of American Government – the foundational structure of how the United States Government runs today. Programs
such as NearPod, Prezi and Canva can provide a different outlet for students to not only learn, but demonstrate
mastery and concepts which simply cannot be created through a traditional pencil and paper method. Providing
examples of visuals, a NearPod presentation with an overview of Political Parties and examples of Infographics can
help aid and guide learning. Student’s foundation levels will be determined on their work derived from the simulation
activity and choice board activity tasks. Students may have difficult cumulating a presentation on their work, but will
have the resource of their facilitator (Teacher), student peers (Groups), as well as the Media Specialist to ensure
their work is of quality, authentic, and meaningful to demonstrate a true mastery of the content.

Management Describe the classroom management strategies will you use to manage your students and the use
of digital tools and resources. How and where will your students work? (Small groups, whole group, individuals,
classroom, lab, etc.) What strategies will you use to achieve equitable access to the Internet while completing this
lesson? Describe what technical issues might arise during the Internet lesson and explain how you will resolve or
trouble-shoot them? Please note: Trouble-shooting should occur prior to implementing the lesson as well as
throughout the process. Be sure to indicate how you prepared for problems and work through the issues that
occurred as you implemented and even after the lesson was completed.

The choice board activity will be individualized. However, students will be working in groups of 4 to 5 to complete the
Political Parties Presidential Campaign simulation activity. Students will be pre-determined by the teacher, paired
heterogeneously based on prior formative assessment and performance tasks. Each group will have a strong peer who
will play the role of a leader to help guide and facilitate learning with the help of the teacher. The lesson plan will be
implemented in the co-taught classroom of 27 students. Students will have access to Google Chromebooks, the media
center, as well as the computer lab before and after school should they choose or do not have access to internet or
technology outside of the classroom – closing the “digital divide” gap many students struggle with currently. If needed,
the teacher will provide a laptop cart should there not be a sufficient supply of laptops or chrome books for any
unforeseen reason(s), ensuring equitable access to technology. Our media center also has several iPads which can be
checked for students who may have more experiences working with a program such as NearPod, Prezi or Canva on a
mobile device. The majority of the work will be completed in the classroom as students are provided 5 days (50 minute
class periods) to complete their work. However, students also have the opportunity to work before and after school as
mentioned earlier. Should WiFi be an issue, students can revert to the class textbook, hence the inclusion of tasks
derived from the textbook on the Choice Board Activity. Students will also have hard copies of any presentation, guide
reading practice and even the political quiz provided on isidewith.com to determine which political party a student is
more likely to side with based on their collected responses from the numerous questions embedded. When creating the
choice board activity and implementing the simulation activity, I wanted to allow technology to be included. However,
each assignment can be completed via a hard copy. Lastly, students will be granted extended if deemed appropriate. 

Instructional Strategies and Learning Activities – Describe the research-based instructional strategies you will
use with this lesson. How will your learning environment support these activities? What is your role? What are the
students' roles in the lesson? How can you ensure higher order thinking at the analysis, evaluation, or
creativity levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy? How can the technology support your teaching? What authentic,

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relevant, and meaningful learning activities and tasks will your students complete? How will they build knowledge
and skills? How will students use digital tools and resources to communicate and collaborate with each other
and others? How will you facilitate the collaboration?

Throughout this assignment, I will demonstrate the roles of guide and facilitator. I will work with students to ensure they are on track, following
directions, as well as informally assessing them over the content. Students must be able to utilize their communication, collaboration and critical
thinking skills to complete each differentiated task on the choice board and simulation activity. NearPod and the simulation activity will be utilized
as a supplemental resource to encourage collaboration amongst classmates, communicate as well as provide as a source of organized notes.
Students are critically analyzing information over political parties and elections, both who are which real-world scenarios.  To ensure higher order
thinking and analysis, students are encourage to obtain 60 points for 10 extra credit points. Each column increases in challenge. Technology will
be used as a crutch to support student learning, provide visuals and many sources of media to expand on the content presented. The rubric for
the simulation activity will be utilized as a quick formative assessment as well as a checkpoint for understanding. Students will also be able to
self-assess their learning as well as group collaboration and communication skills. This is a real, world authentic activity due to students learning
how to work as a team to learn new content as well as progress through guided reading, vocabulary-enriched activities and research papers over
Political Parties and Elections. Additionally, students will be culminating a presentation to display their work and their preferred choice of tasks
based on the Choice board. Each needs to collaborate and work as a team in order to obtain a strong foundation of the content presented as well
as producing quality work via their individual submissions and group activities.

Differentiation (How will you differentiate content and process to accommodate various learning styles and
abilities? How will you help students learn independently and with others? How will you provide extensions and
opportunities for enrichment? What assistive technologies will you need to provide?)

Content: The choice board activity provides differentiated tasks to accommodate the various learning styles and needs of my students. Each task
supports the kinesthetic, visual/spatial, logical, interpersonal, or intrapersonal learner. When developing the activity, I wanted to differentiate content into
an activity which students have the choice on how they learn. I try to avoid the traditional method of direct instructions as engagement levels can be very
low. However, through both the choice board and simulation activities, I believe each student will be able to engage, collaboration and progress towards
meeting the weekly learning goals, objectives and answering the essential questions. The simulation activity allows for students to develop their own
structure of their own political party. With the topics being Political Parties and Elections, I believe this assignment will keep my students engaged as well
as providing a break from their individualized tasks. 

Process: 
Students were categorized based on their overall grade. Each group had at least three students with one being a strong peer to help play the role as
facilitator to ensure each group was on task in accordance to the requirements of the project. In accordance to the ISTE (International Society for
Technology in Education) standards, my focus were the following standards.
 Knowledge Constructor 3a, Knowledge Constructor 3d, Innovate Designer 4b, and Creative Communicator 6a.
To accommodate the various learning styles, students were provided textbooks, chrome books and were allowed to check out iPads and Laptops to
utilize when creating their final products. Students with IEPs or 504 plans will have extended time should they need it. Assistive technologies include
Google Chromebooks, iPads, Laptops as well as any Web 2.0 tools the students choose to use. The final presentation should be a Prezi, Google Slide
presentation, as well Canva infographics each student creates.

From the Data I collect from the classroom rubrics (students) and myself, this will determine whether or not each student will have met mastery of the
content for the week. Enrichment opportunities will be available as tutoring sessions before and after school on a first come, first serve basis.

Reflection (Will there be a closing event? Will students be asked to reflect upon their work? Will students be
asked to provide feedback on the assignment itself? Also answer the following questions?

• How will you know if the students found the lesson meaningful and worth completing?
• In what ways do you think this lesson will be effective? Why do you think this?
• What problems do you anticipate and why?
• How would you design and/or teach this lesson differently if you had more time?)

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Upon completion of the alignment and projects, students will be provided a survey (Google Forms) to complete to provide
constructive feedback on what they liked, did not like, and what could this have been improved. Throughout the course of five
days, I noticed the lesson was effective after the simulation activity. My students were more inclined to complete group
assignments based on their communication skills. Each student worked well with one another to complete the task. Providing a
realistic topic allowed for students to see as basic example of how a political party is structured. For a subsequent lesson, I
would like to create a group assignment over both Political parties and use the assignment as a study guide or extra credit for
the summative assessment in less than two weeks. I will also present another NearPod presentation provided by iCivics
reviewing the Election process.

I believe this lesson will go really well because it is student choice. Students should engage, communicate and collaborate quite
nicely. I will having informal checks and allow for appropriate redirection for students who are off tasks. As everyone can attest, I
will have student’s off task. Many will try to utilize their free time and play computer games. I will constantly walk around,
redirect, sit with kids, and learn along side them. There will be some students who cannot work on their assignments at home
due to no internet access. However, about half of those students will come into the computer lab before and after school. I have
identified those student’s due to our school from home intitiave and have a good idea who has access or not. I like using
NearPod and Canva. I hope to utilize more Web 2.0 tools in subsequent lessons. I plan to continue using choice boards to
different content, but I would like to modify the process by making these assignments more hands on or even invite a local
representative outside of the classroom to increase LoTi levels. Having students submit a presentation instead of paper and
pencil will allow for the students to be exposed to several Web 2.0 tools to enhance their learning and meet their needs.

Closure: Anything else you would like to reflect upon regarding lessons learned and/or your experience with
implementing this lesson. What advice would you give others if they were to implement the lesson? Please
provide a quality reflection on your experience with this lesson and its implementation.
Although this is my 11th year teaching, I believe that implementing Technology and Web 2.0 tools in my classroom
has allowed me to enhance my professional practice. I am a firm believer of providing meaningful, useful, real, and
authentic experiences both inside and outside of the classroom. I believe technology continues to emerge
consistently and will be continued to be pushed into modern-day education. I want technology to be a crutch to my
teaching methodology. I do not want to rely solely on technology, but I want to be a well-rounded teacher. When
teaching this Unit, I like to provide realistic simulations to allow students to work collaboratively and “see the bigger
picture” in hopes to better conceptualize the content presented. I wanted for my students to also be familiarized with
Google Suite as our school-issued Chromebooks are from Google. Google Suite has a plethora of resources for
students to work collaboratively. Programs such as NearPod, Prezi, and Canva allowed for my students to be
creative. We have learned about the 4 Cs: Communication, Collaboration Critical Thinking, and Creativity. I believe
this lesson addresses each skill. I believe I have experience with accommodating students, modifying instructions,
and providing technologies to help guide and assist student learning. The presentation software presented can be
utilized beyond the high school setting and can be used in the business world or at the college level. I believe my
students were engaged, but I can always improve. I purposely categorized my student groups to have at least one
strong peer, but I would like to have my students to group themselves to see the difference in data. I would also like
to push my students to continue to further research and present their presentations to a larger audience and
collaborate with students around the state who are learning American Government as the professional content
standards are the same. If another teacher were to implement this lesson, I would hope the lesson is seamless, but
I would assume some sort of modification – this is how educators can improve their practice with another
colleague’s insight. I believe I am better at “teaching in the flow” rather than being as structured as this assignment.
However, this project has allowed me to critical analyze my lesson planning skills as well how much easier teaching
a lesson is when organized. American Government is an important topic, but just like any other subject, is hard to
keep students to remain engaged. I will continue to strive to improve in subsequent lessons for the betterment of my
students.

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