UCA MAT Lesson Plan Analysis

  1. How do the lesson concepts fit within the scope of the discipline ? (Tess – 1a)

NSS-USH.5-12.8 The Great Depression and World War II. “Understands the causes of the Great Depression and how it affected American society.”

The objective of being able to explain the causes and effects of the Dust Bowl is closely related to the broader, national social studies standard shown above. This national standard is asking for students to understand the causes and effects of the Great Depression as a whole, while today’s lesson will just be focusing on one specific event in the Great Depression: the Dust Bowl. By focusing on just one aspect of the Great Depression, students will be able to go more in-depth with the cause and effect skills while examining the Dust Bowl.

National Professional Organizations

Overall Standards Guide -

English/Reading/Language Arts - or

Fine Arts -

Math -

Social Studies - or

Science

PE/Health - or

Foreign Language -

  1. How do you become familiar with the diversity (culture, learning styles, interest, special needs, etc.) of students in your class? Use the columns below to provide details on your students and then answer the prompt.(Tess – 1b)

Approximately how many students have the following exceptionalities?
[ 1 ] visual impairment
[ ] hearing impairment
[ ] developmental disability
[ 1 ] emotional or behavioral disability
[ 3 ] gifted
[ ] learning disability
[ ] physical disability
[ 1 ] ADD/ADHD
[ ] other (please specify) / With respect to the following categories, how would you describe your students?
[ 2 ] African American/Black
[ ] American Indian
[ ] Asian
[ 20 ] Hispanic
[ ] White, non-Hispanic
[ 3 ] 2 or more races / With respect to student learning styles/preferences, how would you describe your students?
[ 1 ] Gardner
[ ] Gregorc
[ ] Myers-Briggs
[ ] other (please specify)
  1. How do you use knowledge of the diversity in your classroom in planning instruction for students to be successful in reaching the learning goal(s) of the lesson?(Tess – 1b)

The activities that occur during the lesson accommodate a variety of learners. During parts of the lesson I will be discussing the causes and effects of the Dust Bowl which will appeal to logical-analytical and nature learners. I will also be playing a sound clip of the Guthrie song which will benefit students who learn through music. For those students who learn best visually, they will appreciate the video segment of class. The lesson is also great for students who love group work (interpersonal). They will be able to discuss the Dust Bowl with their groups throughout the lesson. I will sit next to student with visual impairment to describe visuals in film to him.

Students like Monica, who struggle with a lack of confidence in her academic abilities, will be assigned to sit next to students who constantly encourage her. Lisa will be paired with Eli to help her stay on track in the lesson. Those students who need extra time to complete assignments will be able to take home a paper copy of the information they will be reading on the computer. Finally, if Shavonne and Nathan and Samuel need additional challenge, they will be asked to write a first person narrative of the Dust Bowl experience based on the starting writing prompt in the lesson introduction.

  1. How does your lesson objective connect to prior lessons and future learning expectations? (Tess – 1c)

Students have just finished their unit on the Roaring 20s and have begun studying the Great Depression. Students have been learning about how the end of WWI and the Great Depression affected farmers in regards to surplus’ and mechanization. Students have also learned about the stock market crash that occurred on Black Tuesday. These concepts and ideas will be necessary in helping them be able to explain the causes and effects of the Dust Bowl.

Students will next be learning about Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal. In order for students to understand the government’s effort to fix this time of economic and agricultural hardship, they must first be able to explain the causes and effects of the Dust Bowl. Many of the New Deal components relate to new agricultural laws, methods, and strategies that were created so this event does not happen again. The concept of cause and effect will be revisited often in these students academic career. Students will be expected to be able to explain the causes and effects of other events in their upper level core classes such as literacy, science, and social studies. This skill will be used throughout their education.

  1. What do you want students to know and be able to do as a result of this lesson? (Tess – 1c)

I want my students to understand the causes and effect of the Dust Bowl on people living in that time as well as understand how cultural artifacts (like music) reflect a specific sociohistorical period of time. The lesson procedures and activities support my instructional objective because each activity is geared towards helping students understand either the causes or effects of the Dust Bowl. Throughout my lesson we will not only be discussing the causes and effects, but students will have time to discuss the causes and effects in their own groups. Students will see how the Dust Bowl affected the land, crops, and how it personally affected many lives. The video and song students see/hear will help them more fully meet their objective.

  1. What resources will you utilize to enhance this lesson? (Tess – 1d)
  • Copies of Out of the Dust
  • Copies of Guthrie lyrics - Dust Storm Disaster
  • Clip of Dust Bowl -
  • Smartboard
  1. How will these instructional resources help you achieve the learning goals for the lesson? (Tess – 1d)

Students will be given handouts that include the lyrics to Woody Guthrie’s song that we will listen to in class. Students will also have a copy of Out of the Dust that they will use when looking at specific passages of the novel. I will be using a laptop connected to the SMARTboard while delivering the lesson.

I want students to be able to follow along to the audio clip of Guthrie’s “Dust Storm Disaster.” Some singers are hard to understand and because of this I wanted to make sure each student had a copy of the lyrics in front of them so they can clearly recognize the words Guthrie is singing. I also wanted to make sure that students who struggle with auditory learning have lyrics in front of them so they can follow along. We have a classroom set of Out of the Dust so it made sense to me to utilize the books themselves. I feel as though it would be a waste of paper for me to print out the passages for students when we have the book available. I think incorporating technology into a lesson is extremely beneficial to the student. I found a wonderful video on PBS about the Dust Bowl that I wanted to show my students. By using this video, students will not only get to hear first-hand accounts of the Dust Bowl, but they will also get to see images and video footage of actual dust storms that occurred. Students at this age need those concrete images and stories in order to more fully grasp a new concept. Just hearing about what the Dust Bowl was like is not the same as seeing actual footage that was taken. The laptop will also be used when I play the sound clip of Guthrie’s song. I want students to not only listen to the words he is singing, but also listen to how the song is being sung. These students love listening to music so letting them listen to a song that was sung during the Dust Bowl about the Dust Bowl, will help them relate to this time of great struggle.

  1. Describe your method/strategy/approach to the lesson and explain why you made this choice. (Tess – 1a, 1e)

During this lesson I will be using the method of group discussion. I really want students to communicate with one another and help each other realize the causes and effects the Dust Bowl had on people’s way of life. I want students to have the opportunity to discuss aspects of the Dust Bowl in their groups before sharing their ideas/responses with the rest of the class. I think it is important that classroom discussions/group discussions are a vital part of the learning process for these students. It allows them to think out loud and bounce ideas off one another. For these reasons, the lesson is using a social constructive methodology (Vygotsky) as its foundation as students can serve to scaffold one another and to work to internalize ideas through linguistic representation of key concepts and social interaction.

By having students sit with their assigned group, students who struggle with learning new concepts or ideas will be able to look to their group members for help and guidance while group discussion occurs. I will be able to go around to each group and listen in on their discussions. If I see that a specific student or group is having difficulty, I can come over and assist them.

  1. Describe the structure of your lesson. How do you use the materials, methods, and activities to differentiate instruction for students to achieve the learning outcomes? (Tess – 1e)
  2. How will you actively engage ALL students in the learning process?(Tess – 1e)

This objective is appropriate for the whole class, including students with diverse learning needs because students need to realize how every action has a reaction, whether that be positive or negative. By studying the Dust Bowl and having students focus on the causes and effects of this event, the idea that actions and choices have consequences will become more concrete to them.

At this age, 6th graders still struggle with abstract ideas and need their lessons to be more concrete so they can have a better understanding of the concepts being taught. Students will not only hear first-hand accounts of what the Dust Bowl was like, but they will also read excerpts from Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse that will help them visualize what the Dust Bowl was actually like.Piaget determined that children are able to incorporate inductive reasoning. Inductive reasoning involves drawing inferences from observations in order to make a generalization. So cause and effect of events of that time and of then vs now is certainly possible with this age group. Also this age is not quite ready (but are developing their ability) to Development CD to students separate and control variables. So teasing apart the variables leading to the dustbowl is good for their development.

  1. Describe and explain the various groupings of students throughout the lesson. (Tess – 1e)

Students will be seating at their assigned seat in groups. For this lesson, I wanted to make sure I kept students in their groups. Throughout the lesson students will be discussing the Dust Bowl within their groups, before sharing their findings with the class. 6th grade students need time with their peers and I want to give them an opportunity to collaborate with one another about what they are learning about the Dust Bowl. Not only will students get to interact with their peers, but they will also be exposed to different ideas and perspectives on the Dust Bowl during their group discussions.

  1. What methods of assessment (formative/summative) will you use to determine whether ALL students have mastered the learning goals (Tess – 1f)

I have chosen to mix formal and informal methods of assessment for this lesson because it helps me have a more thorough understanding of how well students grasp the lesson’s objective. Not only will I be able to listen in on their student led discussions about the Dust Bowl, but I will be able to assess their learning through their response to the lyrics and to the reading. Some students do better on informal assessments and stress over formal tests. By incorporating both strategies I will have a more accurate assessment of student learning.I will be assessing students on their ability to explain the causes and effects of the Dust. While I want students to understand the severity of life during the Dust Bowl, I will be focusing my assessment on what caused this event (both man-made mistakes and natural occurrences), as well as the effects the Dust Bowl had. By looking at their summative assessment, I will clearly be able to determine the extent to which students have met the objective.

  1. How will you use assessment data to plan for future instruction? (Tess – 1f)
  2. Is there anything else I need to know about the lesson?
  3. Is there anything else I need to know about the classroom environment?
  4. Why are you teaching this content?

I have chosen this objective because it is important that students are able to comprehend and explain how the Dust Bowl affected agriculture, migration patterns, and the lives of Americans who experienced it. This one event influenced and changed not only agriculture methods, but it was a catastrophic event that only made the Great Depression more difficult for the American people. Students need to realize the extent to which one event or action can affect a multitude of other things, such as environment and people. It is also important that students understand what created this event and the fact that it occurred as a result of poor farming techniques, as well as mother-nature.

  1. In what ways does this lesson stimulate higher order thinking? What evidence do you have that all students are thinking beyond knowledge and comprehension?)]

The lesson reaches the analysis and evaluation levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy as students are asked to dissect the lyrics and the reading passages to look for themes and key ideas in relation to the Dust Bowl content they have been learning..

 Adapted from