Teaching American History
Lesson Plan Template
Ernesto Quiroz, Fillmore High School, US History
One of the requirements for TAH Fellows is that each teacher will submit one or more lessons this year to be shared
with your colleagues. Lesson plans will be submitted electronically (Word, PowerPoint, FlipChart, PDF documents) so that
they can be posted to the project website. If you have a hard copy and need help converting it to electronic form, we
will provide assistance. Lessons can be on any topic in U.S. History that is of interest to the teacher and meets one or
more of the California State Standards (and preferably one that matches the grade-level essential standards we agreed
upon).
No matter what format your lesson utilizes, please use this template so that all of our lessons will have common elements,
some of which are grant requirements, and others that will make your lesson more user-friendly to other teachers. The
point of this activity is to develop and share some high quality U.S. History lessons that can be used beyond your
classroom.
1.
Teacher name: Ernesto Quiroz
2. Grade level of this lesson: 11th Grade US History
3. California State Standard(s) met: US History 11.7.5
4. Title or description of your lesson: What was the effect of Executive Order 9066?
Materials needed that are not posted on-line:
Textbook: McDougal Little – The Americans: Reconstruction to the 20th Century
Movie: Farewell to Manzanar
5. What is your learning objective?
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What your learning objective is:
Analyze the impact of Executive Order 9066 on the lives of Japanese-Americans.
Analyze the Supreme Court case of Korematsu v. United States in its historical context.
Understand the legal reasoning used to decide the Korematsu case.
6. Actual lesson content (lecture notes, charts, PowerPoint, student product, etc. can be attached):
This unit takes 5 days to complete :
Day One
o The students will have already completed the mini-DBQ unit entitled :‘Why did the Japanese Attack
Pearl Harbor ?’
o Lesson will be introduced using whiteboards to review the content of the mini-DBQ lesson.
o Students shall then pair-share to list possible results when the dominant group of a society has a
distrust of a minority group. The finding shall be listed on the board.
o Each student shall be asked to read Chapter 17, Lesson 4 in their McDougal Littell textbook : The
Americans : Reconstruction to the 21st Century, and complete the graphic organizer for pages 590595.
Day Two
 Warm-up – Students read Pages 596-597 in their textbook (Korematsu v. United States, 1944)
 In a triad, students shall answer the following questions and present their findings to the class :
o What was the legal reasoning presented : Both Pro and Con ?
o Why did this case matter ?
o What was the historical impact of this case ?
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Each group shall present their findings on a 24 x 36 inch paper to be hung up on the walls
Class shall then view a power point on Manzanar
 Homework : Students shall complete the underline assignment on Manzanar (Pages 1 & 2)
Day Three
o Warm-up : In a pair-share, discuss what the two of you found out about the Manzanar Internment
Camp. There shall be two groups, A & B. In the pair-share, the two students shall record the two
most important things they found out about Manzanar. Random check of several students to CFU.
o Pass out Cornel Note paper, then show movie Farewell to Manzanar.
Day Four
o Warm-up, students shall move one seat up in their rows, with the person in front moving to the back.
Students shall then pair-share and with a new partner, list something from the movie that helps us
understand the impact of Executive Order 9066 and internment of the Japanese-Americans. Students
shall, in a pair share, list an example on B’s white board.
o Finish movie
o Homework : Interpretation of pictures of Manzanar taken by Ansel Adams
Day Five
o Students shall move back one seat in their rows to have a new partner. Pair-share shall spend 10-12
minutes discussing three examples of how Executive Order 9066 affected Japanese-Americans. They
shall use the Thesis to Essay format used in previous lessons to map out an outline to write their five
paragraphs.
o Students shall then engage in a free write and write their 5 paragraph essays and answer the questons :
What was the effect of Executive Order 9066 ?
7. Methods/strategies you will use to make sure students are engaged and involved:
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Have students in pair-shares, making sure they have different partners by moving students to different
seats.
Use triads to discuss the lesson and have the students record their findings on 24x36 papers
Have students use Cornell notes to record information from the movie
Have large group review/discussion and call on random students to CFU
Use whiteboards to CFU
8. How you will check for understanding during the lesson (use of Explicit Direct Instruction, TAPPLE, or other
methods):
o Use whiteboards
o Random check of students during class
o Preparation of pair-share findings to be posted on classroom walls
9. How you will determine student comprehension of the content and/or mastery of skills after the lesson:
Students shall write a 5 paragraph essay describing the impact of Executive Order 9066 on Japanese-Americans.
The students shall make specific references to visual documents, readings, and scenes from the movie “Farewell
to Manzanar”.
10. If applicable, how you will differentiate or adapt the lesson for English Learners, or for other special needs
students in your class (special education, GATE, 504 Plan, etc.):
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ELLs and Special Needs students shall be paired with stronger students
More individualized help shall be given to the ELLs and the Special Needs students during the free write
period. In previous lessons, each groups have been give examples of introductory paragraphs and how to
use the Thesis to Essay template.