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
Questions and concepts
Collaborative work
Strategic thinking
Authentic investigations
Student responsibility
Interaction and talk
Teacher as model and coach
Multiple resources
Real purpose and audience
Caring and taking action
Performance and self-assessments
Lesson Timeline: Multiple class sessions
Equipment or materials needed:
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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