Inquiry-Based Lesson

Name of lesson: Important People of the Thirteen Colonies

Target grade: 8th Grade

Essential Question: How do people affect change?

Unit Question: How did (name of important person) affect change in (date).

MIG/Common Core Standards:

MIG 3: Develop and apply skills and strategies to comprehend, analyze and evaluate nonfiction (such as biographies, newspapers, technical manuals) from a variety of cultures and times

Common Core Standard Reading Standard for Informational Text: Integration of Knowledge and Ideas: 7. Integration of different media or formats as well as in words to develop a coherent understanding of a topic or issue.

Learning objective: Students will make comparisons and inferences, using visual and written text.

Learning Objectives:

1.  Students will develop questions and statements of purpose to guide research.

2.  Students will locate and use resources to acquire information, answer questions, and support purpose.

3.  Students will record relevant information using note-taking and organizational strategies.

4.  Students will integrate research into an inquiry plan to answer the essential question.

Inquiry skills:

Student voice and choice / Interaction and talk
Questions and concepts / Teacher as model and coach
Collaborative work / Multiple resources
Strategic thinking / Real purpose and audience
Authentic investigations / Caring and taking action
Student responsibility / Performance and self-assessments

Lesson Timeline: Multiple class sessions

Equipment or materials needed:

·  Class set of assorted portraits of important people of the Thirteen Colonies.

·  Fakebook

·  Computers with Internet access - schedule Library Research Lab

Engage: Student curiosity is created by studying the portraits. Introduce portraits to students and identify the following 6 elements of portraiture: facial expression, focal point, gesture, clothing, setting, and objects.

Explore: Students create authentic questions about important people in the foundation of the Thirteen Colonies by observation, questioning, interpreting and evaluating the portraits.

Explain: Students will research answers to questions generated from viewing the portraits.

Elaborate: Teacher will decide the size of the small groups.

Students may choose from the following options to organize their findings

Evaluate: Students will self evaluate using the provided rubric. Students will use the Critical Thinking and Collaboration and Communication Reflection Guides for middle school to evaluate their collaborative work during the inquiry.

Colonies Inquiry Project

1.  Connecticut 14. South Carolina

Reverend Thomas Hooker Peter Horry

2.  Delaware 13. Virginia

Peter Minuit Captain John Smith

James, the Duke of York John Rolfe

3.  Georgia

James Oglethorpe

George II

4.  Maryland

Lord Baltimore

Margaret Brent

5.  Massachusetts Bay

William Bradford

Miles Standish

John Winthrop

6.  New Hampshire

Captain John Mason

John Wheelwright

7.  New Jersey

Lord Berkeley

Sir George Carteret

8.  New York

Peter Stuyvesant

Thomas Dongan

9.  North Carolina

Charles II

Sir Walter Raleigh

10. Pennsylvania

William Penn

11. Rhode Island

Roger Williams

Anne Hutchinson