Name:
Nick Veschi
Topic:
Fundamentals of Government
Essential Questions: (What question(s) will students grapple with as they learn through this
lesson?)
What are some fundamentals that you work on in PE class or when you are practicing a sport or
some other activity? What are the fundamental political principles that have shaped government
in the United States?
Primary Content Objectives:
Students will know: (facts/information)
- the 5 fundamental principles of American government
- examples of each of those fundamental principles
- how to create a flipbook detailing the fundamental principles
Students will understand: (big ideas)
- there are principles of our government that were in place when it was founded and continue to
be in place today
Students will be able to do: (skills and behaviors)
- take notes based off of a presentation
- fill in charts with examples of the fundamental principles
- create a flipbook illustrating the fundamental principles
VSOL standard(s):
The student will demonstrate knowledge of the foundations of American
constitutional government by
a) explaining the fundamental principles of consent of the governed,
limited government, rule of law, democracy, and representative
government
Assessment: (How (and when) will students be assessed? What evidence will you collect to
determine whether students have met the lesson objectives? Will the assessment(s) be a preassessment (diagnostic), formative (ongoing feedback) or summative?)
Diagnostic: Introduction question.
To get the kids’ minds thinking in the direction of fundamentals of government, I will have them
answer an introductory question that will attempt to bridge a gap between something they do in
their daily lives to what we are going to talk about. “What are some fundamentals that you work
on in PE class or when you are practicing a sport or some other activity?”
Formative: Two charts/worksheets about the Fundamentals of Government.
After the students fill in a notes sheet they have two charts they will have to fill out. The first
sheet lists the 5 fundamentals that they need to know (Rule of law, limited government, consent
of the governed, representative government, and democracy), the meaning of those terms, and
asks the students to provide an example of when each of those terms occurs in life. The next
worksheet has a ton of examples of scenarios and each scenario matches with one of the
fundamental principles. The students will work with the person next to them to figure out the
correct answers for the examples. They are pretty challenging which is why I wanted the kids to
work together to do it.
Summative: Flipbook
The students will make a flipbook after the lesson about the fundamental principles that we
learned about. Each page will be a different principle. The students will have to write their own
definition of the principle, use the principle in a sentence, and then draw a picture illustrating the
principle. This will help me see the students recode the information and create a product of their
own. It will also allow me to see how well the students understand the material.
Lesson Procedures:
1. Introduction and goal orientation:
Introductory question: “What are some fundamentals that you work on in PE class or when you
are practicing a sport or some other activity?” The students will be posed this question at the
beginning of class after the daily agenda has been gone over. This question will serve to try and
connect something that the students out of school to the content they are learning. I will provide
an example if the students can’t think of one or if they decide they want to be asleep that day and
not raise their hands. This should take about 5 minutes.
2. Connecting to prior knowledge and experiences: (Questions or activities that help
students make links)
Powerpoint slides and notes: The students will get a notes sheet that coincides with a few
powerpoint slides. The slides just have the definition of each fundamental principle, what it
means, and then the students will come up with an example. This will be helpful for the students
because they will have a piece of paper with the definitions and examples to look back on when
they have to study for their test or answer a study guide. This should take about 10-15 minutes.
3. Tasks and activities: (What challenging tasks and activities will students engage in
as they construct knowledge, learn new skills or behaviors and develop
understandings?)
Chart activities: The first activity is to give the students a different perspective on looking at the
material being covered. It allows them to come up with an example of how each fundamental
principle can be used in their daily lives. The next chart requires more work from the students.
There are a ton of examples of each principle, and the students have to figure out which principle
goes with each example. These should take about 20 minutes or so.
4. Closure: (How will you wrap up the lesson and reinforce key ideas? Closure may
include some form of assessment or exit slip)
Flipbook activity: The last thing the students will be doing is creating a flipbook about the
fundamental principles of government. There will be 6 pages and each page will have a different
principle. The students will have to come up with their own definition for each term, create an
illustration, and then use the word in a sentence. If the students do not finish their flipbook it
will become homework.
Accommodations for individual differences: How will you modify the content (what is
learned), the process (how the content is mastered) or product (how the learning is observed and
evaluated) to support diverse learners? Describe additional supports that can be used for reteaching if needed, and a challenging extension for students for demonstrate mastery quickly or
show evidence of a lot of prior knowledge.
For students in the collab class I will provide them with notes sheets that are already filled out.
This is so the students have the information they need to do well on the test. This also helps
them follow along with the material instead of struggling to get it written down. I could also do
the second chart with the whole class so that they can have help with understanding the content.
(Credit: The framework for this lesson plan follows the Understanding by Design approach to
lesson planning, Wiggins & McTighe, 2004)