Lesson Planning Template

Lesson Title: Think Like a Historian Grade:____8___

Learning Target:
 The students will be able to analyze a historical document to compose answers to
questions based on a historical document.
 The students will be able to evaluate the credibility of a historical document based on
their analyzation.

Grade Level Guide: Content Standards

Content Curriculum Focal Points Common Core State
NCSS-C3 Framework Standards- Ohio 8th Grade
History
CCSS.ELA-
 D2.His.1.6-8. Analyze LITERACY.RH.6-8.6
connections among Identify aspects of a text that
events and developments reveal an author's point of
in broader historical view or purpose (e.g., loaded
context. language, inclusion or
 D3.1.6-8. Gather relevant avoidance of particular
information from facts).
multiple sources while
using the origin, CCSS.ELA-
authority, structure, LITERACY.RH.6-8.2
context, and Determine the central ideas
corroborative value of the or information of a primary
sources to guide the or secondary source; provide
selection. an accurate summary of the
 D.3.2.6-8. Evaluate the source distinct from prior
credibility of a source by knowledge or opinions.
determining its relevance
and intended use. Ohio 8 History Standard:
1. Primary and secondary
sources are used to examine
events
from multiple perspectives
and to present and defend a
position.
Interdisciplinary Connections
Interdisciplinary connections in this
lesson include:
 Geography- students will
determine if an article was
influenced by where it was
written.
 Math- students may need to
construct a mathematical
equation to determine if the
source they have chosen
was written soon after the
event occurred or much
later.
 English/Language Arts-
students will be discussing
the article’s point of view,
looking for the intended
audience, and what type of
writing the source is
(narrative, informative,
etc.).

Ohio 8 Government
Standard:

21. Informed citizens

understand how media and
 communication
technology influence public
opinion.

Academic Language:
For this lesson students will need to know the following terms:
 Analyze
 Evaluate
 Credibility
Students will need to be familiar with these words to properly complete the steps to determining
the credibility of the sources. To introduce these key terms to students by asking students to
write in their word exploration logs what they knew about these words before beginning the
lesson. Writing in their word exploration logs will allow students to activate prior knowledge and
prepare to add to their schema (Vacca et. al., 2014, p. 251).

Students’ Needs:

In this lesson, students will be working with historical documents that pertain to events that have
already been covered in class. For example, the students have already learned about the
Revolutionary War; the documents they will be analyzing come from the Revolutionary War.
Students have a firm background and many experiences with the history component of the
activity which will help them properly analyze documents. Before reading the Big Book, to
activate students’ background knowledge, they will make predictions in their logs about what
they believe it means to “Think like a Historian.” These logs will help students make connections
between prior knowledge and what they will be learning in the lesson (Vacca et. al, 2014, p.
285).

Universal Design for Learning (UDL):

English Language Learners Special Needs: Struggling
readers/Gifted students

 English language  Struggling readers

learners will be
given a copy of a
document in their
native language as
well as a copy of the
document in
English.
 English language
learners can be
paired with a
student strong in
English to help with
interpretations.
will be given an
article that is at
his/her individual
reading level so all
students can fully
participate in the
activity. When
choosing an article,
students can use
Newsela and the
teacher can adjust
the reading level to
fit the individual
needs of the student.
  Gifted students and
advanced readers
will also be given
documents that
reflect their reading
level. Newsela can
be used in this
situation as well to
find materials that
will be at a
student’s reading
level.

Materials:
 Student needs:
o Articles (given by teacher)
o Big Book- “Think Like a Historian”
o Graphic organizer (given by teacher)
o Writing utensils
 Teacher needs:
o Articles to pass out to the students (these will be located within the Big Book)
o Big Book- “Think Like a Historian”
o Graphic organizer to pass out to students

Before teaching the lesson, the teacher will need to prepare the documents that will be located
within the Big Book. The teacher will also need to make copies of the graphic organizer that the
students will use as they work through the Big Book.

Language Function:
Analyze, Argue, Describe, Evaluate, Explain, Interpret, Justify, Synthesize
 The students will analyze a historical document and synthesize the information to
determine if the document is a credible source of information. The graphic organizer will
help them analyze the historical document.

Lesson Plan (step by step sequence of the lesson)

Before:
To spark the students’ interest and to activate the students’ prior knowledge about credible
sources, the teacher will ask students to write on an index card something they have read in a
newspaper, online, a book, or in a magazine and wondered if the information was true. Next,
students will place the index cards in a hat and the teacher will read some example anonymously
to create a discussion. To introduce the activity, the teacher will put three sources on the board,
one credible source, one not credible source, and one that has the potential to be a credible
source. The students will have a few minutes to look over the sources to try and determine if the
sources are credible. Next, the teacher will open the floor for discussion and hear the responses
from students. The teacher can pose the question, “What steps need to be taken to determine if a
 source is credible?” The students will write the answer to this in their logs then start a class
discussion. The students’ responses can be recorded on the whiteboard and left on the
whiteboard to compare with what the students learn through the big book. Next, the vocabulary
needed for the lesson will be introduced and students will be asked to write in word exploration
logs to activate prior knowledge about the terms. The teacher will model for students how to fill
out the graphic organizer before beginning the activity.

During:
During the lesson, each student will have an article to source. The students will be able to choose
one of three articles written about the same topic. The students will sit with the other students
who have the same article. Each student will be given a graphic organizer to help them record the
information they are finding as they source the document. Next, the teacher will introduce the
big book to the students. For the introductory lesson on sourcing a document, the teacher will
walk through the steps with the students. The teacher will introduce each step and the students
will complete the necessary task on each page. The students can discuss each step in their
groups. The teacher can walk around the groups and ask students questions about the document.
As the big book progresses, the teacher will ask students to share his/her thought process as they
are determining answer to teach step. Some questions the teacher can pose to the groups include:
“How did you determine the author’s point of view without reading the whole document?” “Why
did the author write to that specific audience?”

If students are struggling with the material, the teacher can re-teach and walk through each step
to source article with students and model how to source a document.

After:
To wrap up the lesson, students will answer the final question on their graphic organizers, “Is
this a believable source of information?” Students will determine this by themselves, not with the
groups they have worked with. Next, students will pair up with another student that has a
different article. The pair will discuss whether the articles they have are reliable sources of
information and how they came to that conclusion. Next, the teacher will ask representatives
from each original group to share their conclusions with the class and how they determined their
conclusion. Students will turn in their graphic organizers to the teacher. The graphic organizers
will inform the teacher if re-teaching is necessary. Informal observations will take place as the
lesson is happening and as students share their findings in pairs. Formal assessments will be in
the form of the graphic organizer submitted to the teacher.

Assessment:
Type of Description of Modifications to Evaluation Criteria- How good is
assessment assessment the assessment so good enough to meet standards?
(formal or informal; What will students do that all students (related to the learning objectives)
formative or to show what they may demonstrate Include scoring guide, rubric or other
summative) have learned? learning criteria

Informal-formative The teacher will As the teacher Students should be able to work
observe students as observes students, through the worksheet on their own
they work through he/she can ask with little assistance.
 the graphic organizer students questions
and big book. to monitor
learning and
assist students as
they work
through the
graphic organizer
as needed.

Formal-formative Students will turn in Students may be Students need to be able to answer all
the graphic organizer analyzing the questions on the graphic organizer
they have completed different articles and give justification for their answers.
for the activity. based on their Students must also answer the final
learning needs. question: is the source credible?
However, the Students need to achieve a 90% (9/10)
organizers will be on this assignment to prove mastery of
graded the same. the topic.

Resources:
Vacca, R. T., Vacca, J. A. L., & Mraz, M. (2014). Content area reading: Literacy and
learning across the curriculum (11th ed.). Upper Saddle River: Pearson.

This resource is helpful in that it provides strategies for both activating prior knowledge and
vocabulary learning strategies to help students in this lesson.

Washington, G. (1796). Primary sources: George Washington's farewell address. In Newsela.

Retrieved December 9, 2018, from https://newsela.com/read/primary-source-george-
washington-farewell/id/25779/

This resource is very helpful in the classroom. This citation is specifically for an article I
included in the folder in the Big Book, however Newsela itself is a great resource for teachers to
allow all students to participate in the activities presented in this lesson. Teachers can adjust the
reading level for individual students to make the sources approachable for all students.

Ziegler, V. (2015). Reading like a historian . In The Teaching Channel. Retrieved December 1,
2018, from https://www.teachingchannel.org/video/reading-like-a-historian-sourcing

This resource illustrates to teachers how to present thinking like a historian to students. This
teacher is a high school teacher and the way she presents the information to a high school class. I
created the big book to allow the strategy to be more approachable to middle school students and
present these skills earlier.