LESSON DETAILS & TYPE OF LESSON

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Lesson Details

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Teacher: Evan L. R. Hays

Grade: 11- Modern World History

​Curriculum Unit: Global Interactions: Interaction, Conquest, and Change

​Time Allotted: 50 minute class

​Lesson Topic: Columbian Exchange

 

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Type of Lesson

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Introductory​

Since this lesson is the first of two days about the Columbian Exchange, and only the sixth day of actual instruction in historical content, it makes definite sense for this lesson to be introductory as its primary goal. (See more under bridge for details about the previous days). This lesson functions mainly to connect students’ previous knowledge concerning the Columbian Exchange with more historically rooted views about the Columbian Exchange, and the main methods by which students learn this are through audio and visual representations of the Columbian Exchange as well as group work that allows students to work together to begin to learn about the artifacts of the Columbian Exchange. Once the students have this basis of knowledge concerns the artifacts (plants, animals, and microbes/diseases) of the Columbian Exchange, they will be able to better understand the deeper and more analytical aspects of the Columbian Exchange, as they will begin to do at the end of class when they write a short reflection on one artifact of the Columbian Exchange that they had a previous misconception about (for example, the student may have thought that tomatoes came from Italy). There will be a pre-test and exit journal to act as formative assessments, but the lesson will be actively engaging as it allows students to work together and move within the classroom, and the lesson will also allow each student to be successful because the formative assessments are scaffolded and are based on previous student knowledge in addition to the fact that the heterogeneous nature of the groupings will allow students to be successful based on help from group members. 

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Developmental

​The main function of this lesson is to allow students to learn by working in groups, so cooperative learning, guided practice, and indirect instruction which allow students to be inquiring without my input are employed.  During the group work, I will move around to different pods of desks (grouping discussed further below under provisions for student groupings) to help groups and/or students who may be struggling with understanding the text, the geography, or the process of learning.  Also the objectives for the day (see below under objectives) will make clear the basic curricular demands for students to learn about the Columbian Exchange and will provide them with the basic content of the commodities and artifacts of the Columbian Exchange to allow them to make sense of the more analytical/conceptual aspects of the issue, such as the ability to reflect on whether the Columbian Exchange had a more positive or negative effect on a certain group of people at a certain time. 

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Context for learning: ​

Recall/ Assess levels of learning: I will begin class with students doing a pre-quiz to assess their current levels of knowledge about the Columbian Exchange and begin their thinking about the topic.  A further important function of connecting students’ previous knowledge to historical content is to enable students to see that history does in fact inform and impact their lives all the time, whether they realize it or not.  For example, once students begin to think about their diets, they will realize how much the foods they eat are products of the changes brought on by the Columbian Exchange.  Each and every aspect of their lives is impacted by what happened in the past, and making this connection in a unit about the Columbian Exchange will allow for an expansion of this type of critical-historical thinking. 

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Bridge: 

The course begins with two days of introduction to the course, which will include my expectations for the students in terms of the work levels, behavior, and conduct towards other students. These two days will also include my breaking the students into groupings based on my access to student IEP’s or other notes from previous teachers and/or guidance counselors, my providing students with surveys (private) about which types of activities they feel the most confident or lack confidence, and my student (private) questionnaires about physical needs, such as hearing or vision issues. I will also discuss important behaviors for students working in groups at this time—this would include such issues as listening with an open mind, providing constructive feedback, balanced discussion and input, etc.  At this time, I will arrange the student desks into pods based on the student groupings.  These groups will be used frequently throughout the course, although I will be up front with students about the possibility that I may change the groupings at any time during the course if that becomes necessary. 

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​During these first two days, I will also begin a brief discussion of historical concepts and behaviors that students will need to know for the course, such as the difference between primary and secondary documents, the importance of context and appreciating differences among people across time and space (“the past is a foreign country” (Hartley, 1953, p. 1)) concept, the need to think critically and analytically based on an understanding of the historical content, etc. The modeling of these historical dispositions will continue in the next five days of historical introduction. 

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​There will then be six days of the first lesson topic: from pre-1450 early modern global trade and economy, ex. Silk road, western exploration, new naval technology, and opening of new markets. Since the Modern World History course essentially starts at around the year 1400, these five days are bringing students up to speed on the context of the world that will be the true focus of their course, from 1450 and beyond.  These will be the classes in which I model the historical dispositions mentioned above. 

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Technology:

The technology needed for this lesson includes a computer with speakers for music and same music on mp3 player with headphones for culturally deaf student, computer connected to projection screen to show video with transcript and/or closed-captioning

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Space:

The spacial arrangement of the classroom will reflect the need for students to work in groups. The six groups are broken into desk-pods, 28 students broken into groups of 4 and 5; large map on wall of classroom on which students will place markers; projection screen which can be viewed by all students

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