LESSON PLAN TEMPLATE FOR

THE AGENDA FOR EDUCATION IN A DEMOCRACY

Name:__Nathan Brandsma __________Date:_____3/3/15_____________________________
Unit Essential Question:__Why do we study the French Revolution? ____________________
Lesson Topic:__The Reign of Terror ___Class:___World History ________________________
PLANNING THE LESSON
With Democracy and Social Justice at the Center of Instruction
Focusing on the National Network for Educational Renewal (NNER) Mission the 4-Part
Agenda for Education in a Democracy
EQUAL ACCESS
ENCULTURATION
NURTURING PEDAGOGY
STEWARDSHIP
To Knowledge
In Democratic Society
Safe and Caring for All
of the Mission
What are you and your students doing today to advance the 4-Part Mission? Connections:
With which part(s) of the Agenda does this lesson connect most clearly? And how?
Enculturation in a democratic society, as students work to determine when the end justifies
the means, and how far are we willing to go to protect democratic ideals.

STANDARDS (
www.cde.state.co
)
Content:
1. c.
Construct and defend a
written historical argument
using relevant primary and
secondary sources as
evidence
.

Literacy and Numeracy:

Access and use primary and
secondary sources to answer
questions being researched

Democracy and
st
21
Century Skills:
Cooperate for a common
purpose

Literacy and Numeracy:

SWBAT Access and use
primary and secondary
sources to answer questions
being researched by using the
sources to answer the
question, was the reign of
terror justified?

Democracy and
st
21
Century Skills:
SWBAT Cooperate for a
common purpose by working
together to understand the
reign of terror sources and
answer questions about
those sources.

OBJECTIVES
Content:
SWBAT Construct and defend
a written historical argument
using relevant primary and
secondary sources as
evidence by reading sources
on the reign of terror and
answering questions about
the validity of the terror.

ASSESSMENTS What is your evidence of achieving each objective? How will students know
and demonstrate what they have learned in each of the areas, all of the objectives?
Content:
The answers to the questions
and the annotations

Literacy and Numeracy:

The annotations and answers
to the questions

Democracy and
st
21
Century Skills:
I will
observe the groups working,
and the answers to the
questions.

Literacy and Numeracy

Democracy and
st
21
Century Skills

KEY VOCABULARY
Content
Guillotine
Public Safety
Robespierre

HIGHER ORDER QUESTIONS for this lesson

Content
Why did the reign of terror
happen?
Why do we study the reign of
terror?

Literacy and Numeracy

Democracy and
st
21
Century Skills

LESSON FLOW
This is the actual planning of the lesson activities.
Time

Anticipatory Set Purpose and Relevance

Warm-up may include any of the following: hook, pre-assessment, introduction
to topic, motivation, etc.
A short video on the guillotine

Time

Pre-Assessment

Time

Building Background
Link to Experience:
What do you think is the most humane way to execute
someone?
Link to Learning:
Have you heard of the guillotine?

Time

Activity Name
Should be creative title for you and the students to associate
with activity.
Was the reign of terror justified?
Anticipatory Set
The hook to grab students attention. These are actions and
statements by the teacher (or students) to relate the experiences of the
objectives of the lesson, to put students into a receptive frame of mind.
To focus students attention on the lesson
To create an organizing framework for the ideas, principles or
information that is to follow (advanced organizers)
An anticipatory set is used any time a different activity or new concept is to
be introduced.

Time

Instructional Input
Includes: input, modeling and checking for understanding
Models of Teaching

:
Inquiry, Cooperative Learning, Concept Attainment, Direct Instruction,
Discussion, Socratic Seminar, Synectics, Inductive, Deductive and Mastery
Learning, etc.
Inquiry about the reign of terror
SIOP Techniques:
I do, We do, You do.
Guided Practice
: An opportunity for each student to demonstrate grasp of new
learning by working through an activity or exercise under the teachers
supervision. The teacher moves around the room to determine level of mastery
and to provide individual feedback and remediation as needed. (Praise,
Prompt, and Leave)
I will go through the class to see ask questions and praise good work.
Reading , Writing, Listening, Speaking

Students will read sources, speak and listen with their neighbors, and write
answers.
Checking for Understanding
: Determination of whether students got it before
moving on. It is essential that the students practice doing it right so the
teacher must know that the students understood before proceeding to
practice. If there is any doubt that the class does not understand, the concept
or skill should be re-taught before practice begins.
Questioning Strategies:
Utilizing Blooms Taxonomy questions should
progress from the lowest to the highest of the levels of the cognitive domain
(knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, evaluation and
creativity).
The questions move from knowledge to judgement
Independent Practice:
Once the students have mastered the content or skill, it
is time to provide reinforcement practice. It is provided on a repeating
schedule so that the learning is not forgotten. It may be homework or
individual or group work in class. It can be utilized in a subsequent project. It
should provide for relevant situations not only the context in which it was
originally learned.

Time

Accommodations, Modifications, and Student Adjustments

Consider: multiple intelligences, learning styles, cultural and ability diversity,
etc.
If the activity is too advanced or too easy for some, how will you modify
instruction so all students will learn?
What accommodations will be needed and for whom? (IEP, 504, Special Needs)

Time

Review and Assessments of All ObjectivesHow will you and how will the
students know they have achieved the objectives of the lesson?
Content:
So was the reign of terror justified?
Literacy and Numeracy:
Did the activity help you to be able to analyze
documents?

st
Democracy and 21
Century Skills:
How did your group work as a team?

Time

Closure
What will you and the students do at the end of the lesson or after a chunk of
learning to synthesize, organize and connect the learning to the essential
question(s)?
Was the reign of terror justified in the circumstances?

Time

Next Step
Napoleon

Post-Lesson Reflection
( For the Teacher)
1. To what extent were all objectives achieved?
The objectives were achieved for the
most part, but I should have been more specific with students about the importance
of cooperating for a common purpose. Some groups were able to do so well, but
others struggled. Perhaps a grade associated with the activity may have convinced
students to try harder in that realm.

2. What changes would you make if you teach the lesson again?
I would explain the
context of the reign of terror in direct instruction, in order to give them a basis. I also
would have gone over the texts with the students as a class.

3. What do you envision for the next lesson?

The next lesson will be about Napoleon,
and will have students research, present and determine if he was a hero or a villain.

4. To what extent does this lesson achieve the Mission of the Agenda for Education in
st
a Democracy? To what extent does this lesson achieve the 21
Century Skills?