Short
1 draft _____
revision _____
st
Extended
_____
_____
Defining US: The American Experience
FCPS Teaching American History Grant
LESSON PLAN TEMPLATE
Subject: ESOL American History
Grade: 7th
Prepared by: Michelle Ratliff
School: Poe Middle School
Title or Topic: Civil Rights Movement________________________________________
Instructional Time: Approximately 3 weeks
PART I.-CONTEXT
1. Essential Learning: (Big picture/concept to be learned.)
a) The Civil Rights Movement resulted in legislation that ensured constitutional rights to all
citizens regardless of race.
b) African Americans, working through the court system and mass protest, reshaped public opinion
and secured the passage of civil rights legislation.
c) A deeper understanding of the sacrifices made by African Americans and their supporters in
order to achieve basic rights in our society.
2. Virginia Standards of Learning (SOL): (Identify by number and descriptor.)
USII.8a – The student will demonstrate knowledge of the key domestic issues during the second half
of the 20th century by examining the Civil Rights Movement.
VUS.13a - The student will demonstrate knowledge of the Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and
1960s by identifying the importance of Brown v. Board of Education decision.
VUS.13b – The student will demonstrate knowledge of the Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and
1960s by describing the importance of the NAACP, the 1963 March on Washington,
D.C., the Civil Act of 1964, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
3. Fairfax County Program of Studies (POS): (Identify by number and descriptor.)
7.1.12
 Interpret ideas and events from different historical perspectives.
 Students will be able to describe the social, political, and economic changes that transformed
the U.S. since 1945.
 Examine the Civil Rights Movement including the Supreme Court decisions, federal
legislation, leaders, and the impact of the Movement on American society.
1
4. National History Standard (Historical Thinking Standard)




5.
Historical Comprehension
Historical Analysis and Interpretation
Historical Research Capabilities
Historical Issues – Analysis and Decision-Making
Learning Strategy(s) Objectives: (See handouts from January 12 seminar)
1. Tell What you Know - Prior knowledge / example; KKK and Jim Cow Laws from previous
units
2. Make Predictions
3. Make Inferences
5. Use Resources
7. Group/Classify
10. Cooperate
11. Use Imagery
6. Connection to TAH grant:
Content: (explain)
 Civil Rights Movement (Oct. 2005 seminar)
 Post 1945 US history
 Race in America (June 3-seminar)
Pedagogy: (explain)
 Teaching with Historic Places (Oct. 2005 seminar)
 Locating/evaluating on-line materials and primary sources
PART II.
1. Assessment: (Describe here. Attach a copy of student instructions or assessment instrument.)
If applicable, include student self-assessment.
a)
b)
c)
d)
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
f)
Formal Assessment
“How Much Do You Remember” questions at the end of the PowerPoint
Postview Activity
Illustrated time-line of the Civil Rights Movement
Writing Assignment: Students will choose one of the writing assignments. The final product must be
at least 1 page in length. The students have 1 week to turn in the assignment (preferable typed).
On-Going Informal Assessment
Graphic Organizers
Daily oral comprehension check and discussions
Exit tickets
Classwork and homework
Vocabulary picture exercises
Computer lab work & computer lab etiquette
2
Instructional Strategies: (Describe step by step procedure. Include opener, teacher presentation and
student activities.)
Focus: To enhance the students understanding and knowledge of the Civil Rights Movement through
pictures. Students will acquire an understanding of what the Civil Rights Movement consisted of, the
issues that sparked the Movement, the people who participated and the events that occurred during the
Movement. Students will learn how to analyze and interpret photographs and make inferences. Students
will demonstrate what they learned and express it in some form of writing.
1. Pass out hand-outs to be glued into students’ Interactive notebooks
2. Students copy “Table of Contents” in their notebooks (are completed at the end of the previous
class)
3. Preview Activity (w/transparency)
 Students describe picture orally
 Students answer the 3 questions
 Class discussion – find out about students’ prior knowledge / examples: Jim Crow Laws,
KKK, opinions for and against the Civil Rights Movement, Dr. Martin Luther King, Rosa
Parks
 Explain that at this point there are no right or wrong answers – only their opinions and prior
knowledge
4. Graphic Organizer: Key Domestic Issues-Civil Rights Movement (w/transparency)
 Column 1 – Effects of Segregation
 Students work together to fill in the blanks
 Students read aloud their answers / Discuss and explain
 Show teacher’s copy (transparency) for students with little or no English to copy answers
5. Interactive PowerPoint: 20th Century – The Civil Rights Movement: Some Effects of Segregation
 Show the powerpoint using either the TV or LCD projector
 Students read each slide aloud
 Discuss and explain
 Teacher asks questions after each slide to check students’ comprehension or ask for
comparison examples
 As the PowerPoint is being shown, the teacher might choose 1 slide in which some students
“enter” the slide’s theme or idea and then conduct an “Act-Out” of this slide
 STOP on slide 12
6. Reading Hand-Out: Segregation
 Students read aloud
 Explain and discuss the pictures and vocabulary
7. Computer Lab: Photographs of Signs Enforcing Racial Discrimination - Photo Analysis Worksheet
http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/list/085_disc.html
 Prior to going, the teacher should bookmark the website
 Pairs: Students choose 1 of the pictures and print it out
 Pairs: Answer the questions from the Photo Analysis worksheet about chosen photo
12. Interactive PowerPoint: 20th Century – The Civil Rights Movement: Civil Rights Movement
 Continue with slide #13
 Students read each slide aloud
 Discuss and explain
3


Teacher asks questions after each slide to check students’ comprehension or ask for
comparison examples
STOP on slide #41
10. Reading Hand-Outs: Famous People of the Civil Rights Movement & Protesting During the Civil
Rights Movement
 Students read aloud
 Explain and discuss the pictures and vocabulary
11. Graphic Organizer: Key Domestic Issues-Civil Rights Movement (w/transparency)
 Column 3 – Civil Rights Movement & Organized Protests
 Students work together to fill in the blanks
 Students read aloud their answers
 Discuss and explain
 Show teacher’s copy (transparency) for students with little or no English to copy answers
12. Students view 10 – 15 pictures from various events of the 1950s and 1960s during the Civil Rights
Movement. These pictures are taped to the walls around the classroom. Each of these is numbered.
Each one has some background information written on the back or written below the picture, which
students may use to help them in understanding the picture and what is happening at this time in
history.

Students chose one picture from those posted to use to fill out the Photo Analysis
Worksheet. Students should write the number of the picture they are analyzing on the top of their
Photo Analysis Worksheet.

Students share details and thoughts from their Photo Analysis Worksheet with the class.

Teacher gathers information students have come up with on chart paper or on a
transparency.

Teacher makes 3 lists on 3 different pieces of chart paper/transparencies:
a) Chart/Transparency #1 -Who Was Involved in the Civil Rights Movement and How Did
They Make Themselves Known or Heard?
Example: Picture #16 – There were 9 African-American high students and U.S. troops
b) Chart/Transparency #2 - What Sparked the Civil Rights Movement?
Example: Picture #08 – When Rosa Parks was arrested on December 01, 1955, in
Montgomery, Alabama, for refusing to give up her bus seat to a white man. This started
the Montgomery bus boycott.
c) Chart/Transparency #3 - What Things Did People Want to Change Through the Civil
Rights Movement?
Example: Picture #16 – Segregation in Little Rock Central H.S.

Students share from their Photo Analysis Worksheet by putting the information onto one of
the appropriate chart papers.

Students take notes (ESOL students copy notes) from the 3 chart papers/transparencies.

Teacher explains and clarifies important facts from each chart paper/transparency. Teacher
allows for discussion and questions.
4

Teacher gives time for students to go back to the picture they analyzed and read the
background information on the back of the picture.

Students choose one writing assignment from three possible writing assignments. Teacher
goes over and explains each assignment. Students have one week to turn in their neatly
written or typed papers.
13. Interactive PowerPoint: 20th Century – The Civil Rights Movement: Civil Rights Movement –
Court Cases
 Continue with slide #43
 Students read each slide aloud
 Discuss and explain
 Teacher asks questions after each slide to check students’ comprehension or ask for
comparison examples
 Students read together the “So what” slide
 Use for discussion slides #62 and #63
 Do the discussion questions as a group / write answers on the board / students copy answers
in their notebooks
 STOP on slide #64
14. Graphic Organizer: Key Domestic Issues-Civil Rights Movement (w/transparency)
 Column 2 – Supreme Court Decisions and Legislation Passed
 Students work together to fill in the blanks
 Students read aloud their answers
 Discuss and explain
 Show teacher’s copy (transparency) for students with little or no English to copy answers
15. Reading Hand-Out: Rulings & Laws Related to the Civil Rights Movement
 Students read aloud
 Explain and discuss the pictures and vocabulary
15. Graphic Organizer: Two Landmark Court Decisions in the Civil Rights Movement
(w/transparency)
 Students work together to fill in the blanks
 Students read aloud their answers / Discuss and explain
 Show teacher’s copy (transparency) for students with little or no English to copy answers
16. Document Analysis Worksheet: Brown Vs. Board of Education Document Court Decision
(w/transparency)
 Using the transparency, work as a class to answer the questions
 Write the answers on the transparency, so that all students have the same answers
 Discuss and explain each answer
19. Postview Activity: Civil Rights Movement (w/transparency)
 Students do alone
 Grade & then discuss
21. Interactive PowerPoint: 20th Century – The Civil Rights Movement: Quiz Slides
 Quiz: Slides #Continue with slide #61-71
 Students answer questions on their powerpoint handout
 Check their answers
 After all students have completed the PP quiz, go back and read & discuss the questions &
answers
22. Movie: Teacher chooses 1 of the following 5: (w/transparency) OR show just excerpts or parts
from some of the movies, depending on time
5

Our Brother, Martin / A Long Walk Home / Mighty Times-The Legacy of Rosa Parks /
Ruby Bridges / Remember the Titans
 Motion Picture Analysis Worksheet: adapted / the original can be found at
http://www.archives.gov/digital_classroom/lessons/analysis_worksheets/movie.html
 The worksheet has three parts: Previewing, Viewing, and Postviewing
 Part 1 – complete as a class, writing their responses on the transparency
 Part 2 and 3 – the students may complete alone or in pairs
 When everyone has completed the exercise, discuss, explain, and write their responses on
the transparency
23. Final Project: Illustrated Civil Rights Time-Line (w/transparency)
2. Materials/Resources to be used:


All hand-outs are glued into students Interactive Notebook and a “Table of Contents” is written
for the students to copy at the beginning of each new unit
Student Interactive Notebook, Preview Activity, Interactive PowerPoint, ACCESS-Building
Literacy Through Learning: American History (Pgs 247-253), Graphic Organizers,
Transparencies, Documents, Analysis Worksheets, Computer & Internet Access, Movies,
Postview Activity, Quiz
3. Differentiation: (Include strategies for reteaching and special populations such as GT, ESOL and
special education.)
GT
a) History & Social Science Enhanced Scope & Sequence – Virginia Department of Education / Pgs.
135 & 142 – Session 1: Historic Places of the Civil Rights Movement (use lesson plan p. 135)
http://www.pen.k12.va.us/VDOE/EnhancedSandS/histUSII.doc
a) Ordinary People, Ordinary Places: The Civil Rights Movement
http://edsitement.neh.gov/printable_lesson_plan.asp?id=353
b) Historic Places of the Civil Rights Movement: We Shall Overcome
http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/travel/civilrights/index.htm
b) WebQuest: Little Rock 9 – Integration 0? http://www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/BHM/little_rock/
ESOL and Special Education
Allow students to always work together; to help and share information. An abundance of images with
written handouts, and less reading from textbooksbooks.
4. Attachments: (Include copies of assessments, rubrics, handouts that support this lesson.)
5. Annotated Bibliography: (Include information so that others are able to access the same
resources.)
6
1. Photo for Preview Activity: the photo was taken by Charles Moore and published in the
newspaper Black Star
2. Graphic Organizer: Key Domestic Issues-Civil Rights Movements: Adapted from the Social
Studies 7th grade Blackboard Website, under the section, Society Since 1945 / Graphic
Organizations. http://fcps.blackboard.com/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp
3. Interactive PowerPoint: teacher created and all photos are cited at the bottom of each PP slide
4. Photo Analysis Worksheet: adapted – original version can be found at:
http://www.archives.gov/digital_classroom/lessons/analysis_worksheets/photo.html
Photographs of Signs Enforcing Racial Discrimination:
http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/list/085_disc.html
5. Segregation VS. Desegregation Worksheet: Adapted from the Social Studies 7th grade
Blackboard Website, under the section, Society Since 1945 / Graphic Organizations.
http://fcps.blackboard.com/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp
6. Rubrics for response, letter, and newspaper article
http://rubistar.4teachers.org/index.php?screen=NewRubric&module=Rubistar&
7. Segregated Schools Worksheet: Adapted from; National Museum of American History’s
Separate Is Not Equal: Brown v. Board of Education- Unit Two: The Battleground:
Separate and Unequal Education / Suggested Grade Level: 4th through 12th grade /
Skills: Analysis of primary sources, small group work
http://americanhistory.si.edu/brown/resources/intro.html
a. Photos p.2 of worksheet – Library of Congress
b. Photos p. 3 of worksheet– same as worksheet
7. Graphic organizers can be created from the: Ed Ellis CD or using Inspiration
8. Teaching with Documents Lesson Plan: Documents Related to Brown v. Board of Education ,
(adapted from)
http://www.archives.gov/digital_classroom/lessons/brown_v_board_documents/brown_v
_board.html
Document Analysis worksheet: adapted from
http://www.archives.gov/digital_classroom/lessons/analysis_worksheets/document.html
 2 others that can be used or adapted are:
a) Teaching with Documents Lesson Plan: Court Documents Related to Martin Luther King,
Jr., and Memphis Sanitation Workers
http://www.archives.gov/digital_classroom/lessons/memphis_v_mlk/memphis_v_mlk.html
b) Teaching with Documents Lesson Plan: The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Equal
Employment Opportunity Commission
http://www.archives.gov/digital_classroom/lessons/civil_rights_act/civil_rights_act.html
9. Motion Picture Analysis Worksheet: adapted from
http://www.archives.gov/digital_classroom/lessons/analysis_worksheets/movie.html
10. Transcript: Plessy v. Ferguson
http://supct.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/historics/USSC_CR_0163_0537_ZS.html
11. Transcript: Brown v. Board of Education
http://supct.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/historics/USSC_CR_0347_0483_ZS.html
12. Street Law & Landmark Supreme Court Cases: Plessy vs. Ferguson-1896
http://www.landmarkcases.org/plessy/home.html (has 3 different levels)
13. Street Law & Landmark Supreme Court Cases: Brown vs. Board of Education
http://www.landmarkcases.org/brown/home.html (Has 3 different levels)
14. Moot Court Activity – role play adapted from
http://www.landmarkcases.org/mootcourt.html
15. Education World: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Scavenger Hunt
http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/hunt/hunt060.shtml
7
16. Thinking About Primary Sources: this is a version more appropriate for ESOL or Special
Education students http://memory.loc.gov/learn/features/doc_analysis/graphic_organizer.pdf
17. Photos: copied from various books or downloaded from various websites
Some suggested websites are;
a. African American Odyssey-The Booker T. Washington Era; Part 1 & Part 2: this
site has pictures, documents, and information from the era
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/aaohtml/exhibit/aopart6b.html
b. African American Odyssey-The Civil Rights Era: Part 1 & Part 2: this site has
pictures, documents, political cartoons, and information from the era
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/aaohtml/exhibit/aopart9.html
c. Civil Rights Memorial: excellent site, with lots of information about the Civil Rights
Movement; click on the time-wheel & it shows a picture & gives information
http://www.tolerance.org/memorial/index.html (may not be able to access
through FCPS website)
d. HISTORIC FRONT PAGES FROM THE Arkansas Democrat and Arkansas Gazette
about the Little Rock Nine: http://www.ardemgaz.com/prev/central/
e. The Library of Congress | American Memory | The Learning Page: Information &
photos about the Civil Rights Movement
http://memory.loc.gov/learn/features/immig/african9.html
8