Name: Katie Filosa and Michaela Cross

Lesson Plan Template

High School Government (10th-12th)
Rationale: The United States has a representative democracy, and it is important for students to know
the type of government they live in as well as other types of governments represented around the
world. Living in a democracy provides you with different rights than living in an autocracy or
oligarchy. Students should understand their rights in this government and how it impacts them.This
lesson will prepare students for an in depth look into the three main parts of government and will allow
them to go further into understanding how all of these can exist and run societies all over the world.
Explicit description of how each relevant factor relates to the lesson:

Lesson Preparation: At the beginning of each class the teacher goes over the days objectives
with the students. This allows them to know what we will be doing, as well as being exposed to
academic vocabulary. The lesson is built to be a gradual release of learning about government
vocabulary and learning how to apply it. The lesson includes visuals and the ability to copy words for
our level ones and level twos and it has discussions, reading of text, and grammar lessons for our level
threes, fours, and fives. Level six students are expected to complete a graphic organizer with detailed
definitions and example as well as a complete research project, with resources and a paragraph of full
thoughts and sentences.

Building Background: Each student in the class has different education backgrounds, comes
from different cultures, and has different knowledge levels of government and its responsibilities. The
opening activity is designed to get to students to think about what a government should and should not
do. The grammar exercise links students past experience with using different word roots and forms and
allows them to build on that for higher academic vocabulary (democracy to democrat to democratic).

Comprehensible Input: Each activity is differentiated to make sure all levels of English
proficiency understand the expectations and the content. Students will be modeled how to read the
government text as well as complete the graphic organizer. The organizer includes graphics for
students to visualize the difference in autocracy, oligarchy, and democracy. The teacher does a gradual
release model.

Learning Strategies: This lesson includes a 4 Corners activity to introduce students to

government and how it impacts their lives. We want to know their opinions on what they value in a
government. There is a read-aloud and think-write-pair-share. All of these are scaffolded to help
students get the most out of the text and lesson and push students to think about their own government
or other governments.

Interaction: Students are encouraged to work together to complete the graphic organizer, as it is
difficult information to comprehend. They also are to share their own ideas on what they think is or is
not important in a government. Students will be grouped in heterogeneous groups based on mixedlevels for English proficiency. Higher level and lower level students are paired strategically together to
help support language acquisition for the level 1s, 2s, and 3s and help support higher order thinking for
the level 4s, 5s, and 6s by asking them to explain and model.

Practice and Application: Students receive a graphic organizer that allows students to visualize
the types of government. They then use this in the classroom to discuss the new vocabulary as well as
move into researching their own assigned country and its government. We have all language skills
included, including reading (read-aloud and independent reading of text about government), writing

(the graphic organizer and think-write-pair-share), listening (read-aloud and review of grammar
lecture) and speaking (sharing opinions on government and sharing out the types of government from
the graphic organizer).

Lesson Delivery: The lesson begins on content and ends on language, with both tying into the
lesson on different types of government. Students are going to be engaged throughout most of the
lesson as we are moving periodically from different types of strategies. This way, if a student is
disengaged to a particular type of teaching or learning, they will have multiple opportunities to learn
the material. The lesson is also set up to allow differentiated small group work for students who still
need more instruction.

Review and Assessment: Students are asked to continually keep using the new vocabulary
throughout the lesson. This is in writing, reading, speaking, and listening. We use formative
assessments to make sure students are on track with their learning, including fist to five and different
levels of questioning. The final assignment is for students to research an assigned countrys
government. They will be graded on their content and use of new vocabulary.
Content Objectives:
Students will be able to define the three different types of government.
Students will be identify characteristics of each type of government.
Language Objectives:
Students will be able to discuss types of government using the adjective, noun, and verb forms of
government words.
Sequential Lesson Delivery and Descriptions:
Green - Comprehensible Input
Purple - Grammar
Orange - Vocabulary and Academic Language
Red - Classroom Management
Blue - Interaction and Application Activities
Pink - Review/Assessment

4 corners
Introduction: The teacher explains the 4 Corners activity where students are going to hear and see a
statement from the teacher and then either strongly agree, agree, disagree, or strongly disagree.
A governments main job should be to make sure all of its people are well-fed, comfortable and
safe (citizens are most important).
A government should have one ruler with absolute power (one person has the final say)
A government should have its power come from a strong military presence (a large, powerful
military is most important).
A government should have all of its power in its people (the people who live in the country are in
charge).
During each statement students will choose a position and then explain why they chose to agree or
disagree. Give students time sufficient time to come up with answers.
Vocabulary
Large group: the teacher will write autocracy, totalitarian dictatorship, monarchy, absolute monarchs,
consititutional monarchs, oligarchy, democracy, direct democracy, representative democracy, republic

on the board. Students are previewing vocabulary for a reading they will be doing shortly. The teacher
will read the vocabulary and have students repeat after.
Read-aloud
Large group: Everybody will turn to page 18 in their text. Students will each receive a graphic
organizer. They are to follow along with the teacher starting at The United States has The teacher
will stop periodically asking students What is this about? Who rules in Saudi Arabia? Give wait
time.
Modeling of graphic organizer
Large group: Teacher will lead a teacher-directed note taking of the Autocracy Section of the
reading. The class will fill in the Autocracy section of the graphic organizer, defining and explaining
each kind of autocracy and providing examples. After each definition is explained (i.e. totalitarian
dictatorship, monarchy, absolute monarchy, and constitutional monarchy), The teacher will ask for a
fist to five signal asking students to gauge their understandings of the types of government so far. If
there are a small number of students who are holding up low numbers, the teacher can put them in a
separate group to guide them through the activity during the independent work, creating small group
differentiation and more focused instruction for those who are struggling.
Independent reading and graphic organizer
Independent: Students will read the Oligarchy and Democracy sections on their own and complete
the graphic organizer with their table group, which is a predetermined, mixed-level group.
Review graphic organizer
Large group: Once students have finished the graphic organizer, the teacher will lead a review of the
types of government with the input of what students found in the reading. Once the definitions are
clarified, the teacher will instruct the group on how to use the vocabulary words (autocracy, oligarchy,
and democracy) correctly to describe forms of government
Discussion on nouns and adjectives
Large group: The teacher will review the definition and use of nouns and adjectives. The teacher will
explain that autocracy, oligarchy, and monarchy are nouns. The teacher will model the use of the word
autocracy correctly in a sentence by writing an example on the board. The students will then
participate in a think-write-pair-share activity where they will create examples of the use of oligarchy
and democracy in a sentence. Once they have written examples, the students will pair up and then the
pairs will share out to the class. Next, the teacher will show the adjective forms of the key vocabulary
nouns. Autocracy can become autocratic, oligarchy can become oligarchical, and democracy can
become democratic. Again, the teacher will provide a written example of autocratic used in a
sentence and the students will engage in a think-write-pair-share activity to write examples of
oligarchical and democratic used correctly in a sentence. This will help all students correctly use
the vocabulary words in all future discussions on forms of government.
Hand out writing assignment
The teacher will assign each individual student a country on which they will conduct research. The
student will then write a paragraph approximately 7-sentences in length describing the type of
government that country has. They should include government vocabulary learned and key details such
as important people or governing bodies.

Supplementary Materials:
Graphic Organizer (see attached)
Government Textbook (Section 3: Types of Government) p. 18-20
Assignment sheet for research project
4 Corners Activity (four signs, one each with strongly agree, agree, disagree, strongly disagree) (four
pre-written statements displayed on board)
WRITING ASSIGNMENT:
Level 1

Level 2

Level 3

Level 4

Level 5

Fully English
Proficient

LanguageBased
Expectations:
Students will
write/copy 1-2
words or
phrases
outlining the
country, type of
government,
and 2 facts
about the
country and its
citizens.

LanguageBased
Expectations:
Students will
write 2-3 simple
sentences
outlining the
country, type of
government,
and 2
supporting
details about
the country and
its citizens.

LanguageBased
Expectations:
Students will
write one
paragraph
outlining the
country, type of
government,
and 2-3
supporting
details about
how the
government
affects the
country using
grade level
vocabulary.

LanguageBased
Expectations:
Students will
write one
paragraph
outlining the
country, type of
government, and
3-4 supporting
details about
how the
government
affects the
country and its
citizens using
some grade
level vocabulary
and academic
language.

LanguageBased
Expectations:
Students will
write one
paragraph
outlining the
country, type of
government, and
3-4 supporting
details about
how the
government
affects the
country and its
citizens using
mostly grade
level vocabulary
and academic
language.

LanguageBased
Expectations:
Students will
write one
paragraph
outlining the
country, type of
government,
and 3-4
supporting
details about
how the
government
affects the
country and its
citizens using
grade level
vocabulary and
academic
language..

Standards-Based Content:
NCSS National Council for the Social Studies: National Standards for Social Studies Teachers

help students to understand the purpose of government and how its powers are acquired,
used, and justified;

assist learners in understanding the origins and continuing influence of key ideals of the
democratic republican form of government, such as individual human dignity, liberty, justice,
equality, and the rule of law

assist learners in developing an understanding of civic life, politics, and government, so that
the learners can explore the origins of governmental authority, recognize the need for
government; identify the crucial functions of government, including laws and rules; evaluate
rules and laws; differentiate between limited and unlimited government; and appreciate the
importance of limitations on government power

ELP English Language Proficiency (ELP) Standards

ELP.9-12.2 An ELL can participate in grade-appropriate oral and written exchanges of information,
ideas, and analyses responding to peer, audience, or reader comments and questions
ELP.9-12.9
An ELL can create clear and coherent grade-appropriate speech and text
ELP.9- 12.5 An ELL can conduct research and evaluate and communicate findings to answer questions
Scaffolding
and Support:

Scaffolding
and Support:

Modeling

Modeling

Scaffolding
and Support:

Modeling

Scaffolding and Scaffolding and Scaffolding

Support:
Support:
and Support:

Modeling

Modeling
Modeling

Graphic
Organizers

Graphic
Organizers

Graphic
Organizers

Graphic
Organizers

Outline

Outline

Outline

Outline

Sentence
Starters

Sentence
Starters

Sentence
Starters

Word Bank

Word Bank

Word Bank

Draw and/or
Label
Pictures

Draw and/or
Label
Pictures

Use L1

Use some L1

Outline
Outline

WRITING RUBRIC:
Assignment: Government Research Paragraph
Criteria for: Content

Excelle
nt
4

Level 1

Level 2

Level 3

Level 4

Level 5

Fully English
Proficient

1-2
Copied
vocabular
y words
from the
text,
outlining
2 facts
about the
country

2 supporting
facts.

2-3
supporting
details.

3-4
supporting
details.

3-4
supporting
details,

3-4 supporting
details

Expresse
d mostly
complete
ideas with
key
vocabular
y,
provided
somewhat
detailed
example

Expresse
d mostly
complete
ideas with
key
vocabular
y,
provided
mostly
detailed
example

Expresse
d
complete
ideas with
key
vocabular
y,
provided
mostly
detailed
example

Expressed
mostly
complete
ideas with key
vocabulary,
provided
vague
example

Expressed
complete ideas
with key
vocabulary,
provided
detailed
example

Good
3

1 Copied
vocabular
y words
from the
text,
containin
g 1 fact
about the
country

Fair
2

Poor

1 supporting
fact. Express

3-4
supporting
details.

3-4
supporting
details.

Expresse
d
somewhat
complete
ideas with
key
vocabular
y,
provided
vague
example

Expresse
d mostly
complete
ideas,
provided
somewhat
vague
example

2-3
supporting
details.

2-3
supporting
details.

Expresse
d
incomplet
e ideas
without
key
vocabular
y,
provided
vague
example

Expresse
d
somewhat
complete
ideas
without
key
vocabular
y,
provided
vague
example

1-2
supporting
details.

1-2
supporting
details.

1-2
supporting
details.

Expresse
d
incomplet
e ideas
without
key
vocabular
y,
provided
no
example

Expresse
d
incomplet
e ideas
without
key
vocabular
y,
provided
vague
example

Expresse
d
incomplet
e ideas
without
key
vocabular
y,
provided
vague
example

Expresse
d
ed incomplete somewhat
ideas with key complete
vocabulary,
ideas with
provided
key
vague
vocabular
example
y,
provided
vague
example

No supporting
facts.

No
copied
vocabular
y words
from the
text,
containin
g no
additional
facts
about the
country

Expressed
incomplete
ideas without
key
vocabulary,
provided
vague
example

N/A

N/A

Expresse
d
incomplet
e ideas
without
key
vocabular
y,
provided
no
example

3-4 supporting
details. Express

ed mostly
complete ideas
with key
vocabulary,
provided
detailed
example

2-3 supporting
details.

Expressed
somewhat
complete ideas
without key
vocabulary,
provided vague
example

1-2 supporting
details.

Expressed
incomplete
ideas, provided
vague example

Assignment: Government Research Paragraph

Criteria for: Organization and structure

Level 1

Level 2

Level 3

Level 4

Level 5

Fully
English
Proficient

Excelle
nt

Words/pictur
es in
sequence

Ideas in
sequenc
e;
sentence
level
structure
; Wrote
2-3
simple
sentence
s.

Ideas in
sequence;
logical
structure;
paragraph
format

Words/pictur
es mainly in
sequence

Ideas
generally
in
sequenc
e; Wrote
2-3
simple
sentence
s.

Words/pictur
es not in
sequence

Good
3

Fair
2

Poor

N/A

Logical
organization;
smooth
structure;paragr
aph format

Strong
organizatio
n; logical
structure;
paragraph
format

Some
Logical
problems organizatio
in
n; illogical
organizatio structure;
n and
not a full
structure;
paragraph
paragraph
format

A few
breakdowns in
organization;
somewhat
illogical
structure;
paragraph too
short

Wellorganized;
mostly
logical
structure;
paragraph
format

Ideas not Significant

Some
in
problems breakdown
sequenc
in
s in
e; no
organizatio organizatio
sentence
n;
n; not a full
flow;
paragraph paragraph
Wrote
s are too
less than
short
2 simple
sentence
s.

Some
breakdowns in
organization;
illogical
structure; not a
full paragraph

A few
breakdown
s in
organizatio
n;
somewhat
illogical
structure;
paragraph
too short

Serious
breakdowns in
organization;
illogical
structure; not a
full paragraph

Some
breakdown
s in
organizatio
n; illogical
structure;
not a full
paragraph

N/A

N/A

Logical
organizatio
n; smooth
structure;
paragraph
format

Serious
breakdown
s in
organizatio
n; illogical
structure;
not a full
paragraph

Assignment: Government Research Paragraph

Criteria for: Grammar and Mechanics

Level Level
1
2

Level 3

Level 4

Level 5

Fully English
Proficient

Excellent
4

N/A

N/A

Simple
grammar;
some varied
sentence
length;
adequate
mechanics

Some
grammatical
errors; varied
sentence
length
mechanics
generally
strong after
revision

Few
grammatical
errors; varied
sentence
length; strong
mechanics

Minimal
grammatical
errors; varied
sentence
length; strong
mechanics

Good
3

N/A

N/A

Some errors
in simple
grammar;
little varied
sentence
length;
developing
mechanics

Several
grammatical
errors (no
confusion);
some varied
sentence
length;
adequate
mechanics

Several
grammatical
errors; some
varied
sentence
length; mostly
strong
mechanics

Some
grammatical
errors; some
varied
sentence
length; mostly
strong
mechanics

Fair
2

N/A

N/A

Frequent
errors;
sentences
generally the
same length;
beginning
mechanics

Several
grammatical
errors (brings
some
confusion); little
varied
sentence
length;
developing
mechanics

Several
grammatical
errors; few
varied
sentence
length;
developing
mechanics

Several
grammatical
errors; some
varied
sentence
length;
developing
mechanics

Poor
1

N/A

N/A

N/A

Frequent
grammatical
errors;
sentences
generally the
same length;
beginning
mechanics

Frequent
grammatical
errors;
sentences
generally the
same length;
beginning
mechanics

Frequent
grammatical
errors;
sentences
generally the
same length;
beginning
mechanics

Graphic Organizer: