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Breaking The Law

This lesson plan is for a 4th grade English/Social Studies class about breaking laws and the possible consequences. Students will discuss in small groups what some reasons are that someone might lose their freedom for breaking laws. They will then create a scale of offenses from 1-10 and describe appropriate punishments. Students will explain their scales and consider how intent and different violations are evaluated. They will then discuss sources to verify the accuracy of their scales. Finally, students will write a fictional narrative about a crime/punishment scenario and identify how they would verify the accuracy of their story.

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148 views

Breaking The Law

This lesson plan is for a 4th grade English/Social Studies class about breaking laws and the possible consequences. Students will discuss in small groups what some reasons are that someone might lose their freedom for breaking laws. They will then create a scale of offenses from 1-10 and describe appropriate punishments. Students will explain their scales and consider how intent and different violations are evaluated. They will then discuss sources to verify the accuracy of their scales. Finally, students will write a fictional narrative about a crime/punishment scenario and identify how they would verify the accuracy of their story.

Uploaded by

api-311466759
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as RTF, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Name: Lisa Rakestraw

Subject: English/SS

Topic: Breaking the Law

Pima Course: EDC274

Instructor: Eagleton

Grade Level: 4th

Duration: 45 minutes

List of Materials, Handouts, Rubrics, and other Documents: See attached


Purpose/Goal and/or Essential Question(s): What are the possible consequences of violating laws?
Components
Content Standards

Description of Plan
Describe the possible consequences of violating laws.
Choose no more than TWO standards per (S3.C3.PO3)
lesson. One standard MUST be an ELA
With guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and
standard.
strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, and editing.
(4.W.5)
Teacher objective: Students will be able to describe possible
Learning Objective
Choose ONE objective that leads toward consequences of violating laws for the purpose of planning a
written fictional narrative.
mastery of the focal standard
Student objective: I can think about and write about what might
Must be specific, measurable, and
happen if someone breaks a law.
realistic.

Must have at least two parts: learning


and behavior

"If you want total security, go to prison. There you're fed,


clothed, given medical care and so on. The only thing lacking...
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is freedom." -Dwight D. Eisenhower. Buddy Buzz with your
partner what are some of the reasons why someone might lose

their freedom. Write your answers on your whiteboards and


hold them up when you are ready.
Call on as many people as time will allow and write down the
most common answers on a chart.
Do people go to prison sometimes for doing the right thing or
for the wrong reason? (Examples, stealing to support family or
people who gave shelter to runaway slaves on the Underground
Railroad)
Est # of EXPLORATION
What different levels of punishment are there for citizens who violate laws? Think of the
Mins
Describe the hands-on/minds-on smallest violation (jaywalking for example) and think of the biggest violation. In small
7
activities students will be doing. groups create a sliding scale of offenses from one to ten and describe appropriate
punishments.
List big idea conceptual
Est # of ENGAGEMENT
Mins

Describe how the teacher will


capture students interest.
What kind of questions should
the students ask themselves
after the engagement?

questions the teacher will use to


encourage and/or focus students How does intent factor in? What are "middle ground" violations? How do you evaluate
one violation as more or less extreme than another? What minimum requirements are
exploration

required to stay within the law?


Each small group will share with the class their sliding scale of
offenses and punishments. The groups will explain why certain
Student explanations should
precede introduction of terms or offenses are worse than others and how they determined the
punishment.
explanations by the teacher.

What questions or techniques

Est # of EXPLANATION
Mins

will the teacher use to help


students connect their
exploration to the concept under
examination?
List higher order thinking
questions that teachers will use
to solicit student explanations
and help them to justify their
explanations.

Bloom's Level 4: How does Group X's Chart compare/contrast


with Group Y's Chart? What evidence could you collect to
assess or support your chart?
Bloom's Level 5: How might you consolidate the charts of all
the groups into one class chart? Predict how many
violations/punishments you may have gotten correct.

Bloom's Level 6: Do you agree that there are sources for


verifying the charts that you created today? How would you
begin an investigation to discover the accuracy of your chart?
Assessment is embedded into the inquiry process through
Checks for Understanding
students discovering answers to their own questions. As this is
Various strategies that are ongoing
a collaborative process students will be expected to be
throughout the entire lesson.
Enables teacher to determine whether discussing all of these ideas and arriving toward a group
understanding.
ALL students have "gotten it."
Est # of ELABORATION
What sources might help us to assess our scales for accuracy?
Mins
Where might we find more information about this topic? In
Describe how students will
5
develop a more sophisticated your small groups think of two possible sources of information
understanding of the concept. that we might use to learn more about this topic.

Small groups will brainstorm ways to learn more about laws and
consequences.
Each small group will share with the class a method, source, or
strategy for learning more about the topic. Write students'
answers on a chart. Group the ideas accordingly (e.g., search
the Internet, search through local/state/federal government
websites, call/write to the police/court, find books about laws).
Ask students to vote on the strategy they would be most likely
to use.

What vocabulary will be


introduced and how will it
connect to students
Possible vocabulary introduced: Incarceration, Violation,
observations?
How is this knowledge applied in Conflict, Offense, Punishment, Citizen, Freedom, Right,
Responsibility, Common Good
our daily lives?

When trying to learn about something new it helps to know


what options are available. Navigating those options requires
brain-based learning, such as metacognitive strategies
developed through collaboration.
Est # of EVALUATION
Students will write a 1-2 paragraph narrative about a real or
Mins
How will students demonstrate imagined crime/punishment scenario. Their story must follow
15
their understanding throughout the Summarizing Strategy (studied extensively the previous
sememster) SWBS (Somebody-Wanted-But-So). This will be a
and after the lesson?
How will the teacher know that allpre-write. At the end of the story they will write what their plan
is to verify their story for accuracy (one of the strategies
students have achieved the
discussed during Elaboration).
lesson objective?

How will students assess their


own progress?

Students will be using this pre-write to self-assess their


accuracy when they research the the crime and punishment of
their story.

I would like each group to share one reason someone might


Actions or statements made by lose their freedom in this country. Someone else from each
group share a possible consequence for that violation. A third
teachers AND students that
summarize lesson objectives. person share a possible source for verifying the accuracy of
Essential for helping students that consequence for violation.

Est # of Closure:
Mins

integrate ideas, make sense out


of what has just been taught, and Students will write down the specific violation that they intend
to improve their chances of
to research in future class time. This will be their exit ticket.
retention and transfer.

Formative assessment will be ongoing and embedded


Formative and summative tools that will throughout the lesson. The authentic assessment will be
whether or not students are able to successfully research a
be used as pre- and/or postviolation/consequence for the purposes of writing an accurate
assessments.
Alternative options for diverse learners narrative story.

Assessment Options

should also be provided

Differentiation Options
How you will reach diverse learners by
varying the:
Content

Process
Product

21st Century Learning


Includes technology as well as the 4 Cs:
Critical Thinking

Creativity
Collaboration
Communication

Additional Information:

The content is already differentiated since students are thinking


about, researching, and writing about their own interests. The
process could be differentiated by giving students the option to
work alone if they want to or in partners. If the classroom is 1:1
students can create charts and plans on tablets. For students
that struggle with text organization, paragraph form could be
eliminated for the sake of expression of ideas. For students
identified as gifted they could assess the validity of more than
one violation/consequence listed on the charts rather than just
the one in their story.
If the class is 1:1 students could have opportunities during the
lesson to begin to search online to the answers to their queries.
For collaboration, if students link up with others interested in
the same violation/consequence, they could combine their
narratives into a larger story about the issue at large, like a
case study or investigative journalism. For critical thinking
students can evaluate the consequences that were
brainstormed and think of alternative consequences to the ones
typically listed. Critical questions for extending learning: Is
there more than one way to deal with violating laws? (e.g.,
different types of prisons, punitive versus restorative practice)
What are the consequences of different ways of treating
prisoners? Is the goal to shame and humiliate or return people
to society?

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