Digital Unit Plan Template

Unit Title: The Independence of a Nation Name: Judith Cuellar

Content Area: Social Science Grade Level: 11th grade
CA Content Standard(s)/Common Core Standard(s):
11.1 Students analyze the significant events in the founding of the nation and its attempts to realize the philosophy of government described in the
Declaration of Independence.
1. Describe the Enlightenment and the rise of democratic ideas as the context in which the nation was founded.
2. Analyze the ideological origins of the American Revolution, the Founding Fathers’ philosophy of divinely bestowed unalienable natural rights, the debates on the drafting and
ratification of the Constitution, and the addition of the Bill of Rights.
3. Understand the history of the Constitution after 1787 with emphasis on federal versus state authority and growing democratization.
Big Ideas/Unit Goals:
Big Ideas:
 Political controversy inspired Enlightenment Thinkers to propose their ideal government system based on the events and situations of the time.
 The American Revolution was fueled by ideals of the Enlightenment Thinkers.
 The Founding Fathers of the United States created a new government system that was outlined in the Constitution of the United States.

Essential Questions:
 Should citizens allow historical documents to continue to set the guidelines for how their nation should be governed?
 Should historical documents be altered to fit modern times?

Unit Summary:
In this unit students will learn why, how, and through what methods were the thirteen colonies able to gain their independence from England. Students will learn how the
newly independent nation created a new system of government, and will be able to identify the Enlightenment Thinkers who inspired the Founding Fathers to integrate
these political concepts into the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States. Students will learn the content of the two important national
documents: The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States of America. At the end of the unit students should be able to justify the reasons for
allowing historical documents to continue setting the guidelines for how our nation should be governed.
Assessment Plan:
Entry-Level: Formative: Summative:
 Survey: to be aware of the student’s prior  Kahoot: questionnaire game on the events  Poster: group project of an original and
knowledge on the topics. that led to the American Revolution. creative constitution for their graduating
 Webercise: guided research on the class.
Constitution.  Popplet: map showing connection between
 Article: small project on an Enlightenment the Enlightenment Thinker, the Founding
Thinker. Father, and the Constitution.
 Discussion: oral class activity on Federalist
and Anti-federalist.
Lesson 1 (Teacher Lecture)
Student Learning Objective:
In today’s lecture, students
will be able to evaluate the
5 events/actions that led to
the American Revolution
and the making of
Declaration of
Independence.
Lesson 2 (Webercise/ iPad Lesson)
Student Learning Objective:
Students will be able to
analyze the significance for
a Bill of Rights, the content
of the Constitution, and the
different view points of the
Federalist and Anti-
Federalist through a
webercise, and a class
discussion.
Lesson 3 (Graphic Organizer)
Student Learning Objective:
By doing creating a
newspaper article, students
will be able to identify and
analyze the ideologies of
the Enlightenment
Thinkers that guided two of
the Founding Fathers when
creating the constitution.
Acceptable Evidence
(Assessments):
Students should be able to
understand why the 13
colonies decided to revolt
against the rule of England
by correctly filling our a
guided notes worksheet
from the lecture and
participating in a Kahoot
game.
Acceptable Evidence:
Students will be able to
independently or in groups
fill out a worksheet through
a guided research based on
the Constitution. At the end,
the class will have group
discussion on their
research with an emphasis
on the Federalist and Anti-
Federalist groups.
Acceptable Evidence:
Students should be able to
understand the ideologies
of the founding fathers by
creating a constitution for
their the graduating class
and designing a Popplet
showing the relationship
between the Enlightenment
Thinker, the Founding
Father and the Constitution.
Lesson Activities:
Students will fill out a guided notes worksheet during a teacher lecture. Students are encouraged to
participate and ask questions during the teacher lecture. The guided worksheet is divided in three sections
and in three columns. The first column has an image representing the topic, its purpose is to provide a
visual for the enhancement of the students understanding of the topic, the second column will ask
comprehension questions, critical-thinking questions, and/or perspective questions based on the students
understanding of the lecture, the last column will ask the students to draw a picture based on the
understand of the topic. The first topic deals with the events that led to the American revolution, the
second topic is the ideologies behind the American Revolution and the third topic is on the values found
within the Declaration of Independences. At the end of the lecture students will be able to test their
knowledge on all three topics through a Kahoot questionnaire game.
Lesson Activities:
Students will use the internet to do a guided research and complete a worksheet based on the Constitution
of the United States in preparation for the class discussion. The worksheet will provide the student with
links to videos, articles, and documents that will aid them when completely the worksheet. Students will be
asked to name and describe and the Ten Amendments, outline the Constitution, identify specific words and
phrases found in the Constitution, understand what were the Federalist Papers and who were the authors,
compare the ideologies of the Federalist and Anti-Federalist group and know the process of making the
Constitution the rule of the land. Comprehension questions will be asked, as well as perspective questions,
critical thinking questions, and reason and evidence questions.
After filling out the worksheet students should be prepared to participate in an in class discussion on the
Content of the Constitution with an emphasis on the Federalist and Anti-Federalist groups.
Lesson Activities:
Students will be getting into groups of 7 to create a newspaper on the Enlightenment Thinkers. Each
member in the group will be assigned one philosopher and will create one newspaper page dedicated to
that Enlightenment Thinker. Using the Printing Press website, they will create a newspaper article page on
their assigned Enlightenment Thinker. In the newspaper article page students will need to provide as
much relevant information as possible that describes the ideologies of the Enlightenment Thinker, their
written work and provide a short biography. Once everyone in the group has created their page, the next
step will be to create a physical copy, or a digital version, of the newspaper that includes the articles of
each member. A name for the newspaper must be included. This newspaper article project will help the
students identify the relationship between the Enlightenment Thinker, the Founding Father and the
Constitution. On the Popplet website students will be creating a map demonstrating the relationship
between the Enlightenment Thinkers ideologies and the Founding Fathers contribution to the Constitution.
Unit Resources:
Digital Unit Plan Cite: http://historyclasswithjudith.weebly.com/
 Survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/WNNQNTH
 Kahoot: https://create.kahoot.it/details/united-states-history-the-declaration-of-independence/361f496e-e3ff-4cc1-8e68-015aa2c1e9a3
Teacher Lecture (Prezi):
 https://prezi.com/view/2BH8FnOxgV5RyyAqh5Ib/
Resources for Guided Research:
 https://nccs.net/blogs/americas-founding-documents/bill-of-rights-amendments-1-10
 http://constitutionus.com/
 https://www.constitutionfacts.com/us-articles-of-confederation/the-federalist-papers/
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbaQ56nL19Y&feature=youtu.be
Resources for Graphic organizer:
 https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-worldhistory/chapter/enlightenment-thinkers/
 http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/Printing_Press/
 https://teachingamericanhistory.org/resources/convention/delegates/
 http://popplet.com/app/#/demo
 https://www.mountvernon.org/george-washington/constitutional-convention/6-key-players-at-the-constitutional-convention/
Unit Resources:
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bO7FQsCcbD8&feature=youtu.be
 https://www.superteachertools.us/jeopardyx/jeopardy-review-game.php?gamefile=384294#.XLeN9ZNKg8a
 http://www.ushistory.org/Declaration/document/
 http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/revwartimeline.html
 http://www.softschools.com/social_studies/13_colonies_map/
 https://www.timvandevall.com/wp-content/uploads/13-Colonies-Blank-Map.pdf
 https://4travellingacrosstime.com/2016/10/15/enlightenment-thinkers/
 https://matchthememory.com/EnlightenmentThinkers
 https://nccs.net/blogs/americas-founding-documents/bill-of-rights-amendments-1-10
 https://www.factmonster.com/take-quiz/amendments1
Useful Websites:
Worksheets and Rubric:
 https://www.scribd.com/document/401948230/Guided-Notes#from_embed
 https://www.scribd.com/document/402557155/Web-Ercise#from_embed
 https://www.scribd.com/document/403393630/Checklist#from_embed
 https://www.scribd.com/document/403393697/Scoring-Guide#from_embed