Goals & Objectives
Goals
- Students will learn that people came to the Americas during the Ice Age, and about 10,000 years ago, farming began in Mesoamerica.
- Students will know about the diverse cultures that thrived in the Americas.
- Students will recognize how important farming was for the first civilizations in America and that their civilization was based on farming and trade.
- Students will understand the importance of geographical ideas, such as location and human/environment interaction.
- Students will list relevant ideas and concepts about the first American civilizations by taking notes in a guided notes
- Students will create a chart to show the characteristics of the Olmec and Moche by reading a section in their text.
- After watching an introductory video on the first Americans, in a class discussion, students will explain how early Americans’ lives changed after the Ice Age.
- At the end of the first day’s presentation, students will infer about why Mayan settled in the rain forests by writing a short paragraph (exit ticket), which will serve as a formative assessment.
- Students will identify the importance of location and human/environment interaction by interpreting a map showing the location of Mesoamerican Civilizations.
- Students will compare and contrast the characteristics between the early American Civilizations by creating a graphic organizer.
California State Content Standards
7.7 Students compare and contrast the geographic, political, economic, religious, and social structures of the Meso-American and Andean civilizations.
1. Study the locations, landforms, and climates of Mexico, Central America, and South America and their effects on Mayan, Aztec, and Incan economies, trade, and development of urban societies.
1. Study the locations, landforms, and climates of Mexico, Central America, and South America and their effects on Mayan, Aztec, and Incan economies, trade, and development of urban societies.
Common Core Literacy Standards
Common Core Reading Standards for Literacy in History/Social Studies 6-8
Common Core Writing Standards for Literacy in History/Social Studies 6-8
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.6-8.2 Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary of the source distinct from prior knowledge or opinions
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.6-8.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including vocabulary specific to domains related to history/social studies.
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.6-8.5 Describe how a text presents information (e.g., sequentially, comparatively, causally).
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.6-8.7 Integrate visual information (e.g., in charts, graphs, photographs, videos, or maps) with other information in print and digital texts.
Common Core Writing Standards for Literacy in History/Social Studies 6-8
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.WHST.6-8.2b Develop the topic with relevant, well-chosen facts, definitions, concrete details, quotations, or other information and examples.
Driving Historical Question
- How and where did the first people come to the Americas? How did they survive in the new land? Where did they settle, and why?
- What would our lives be like if people never learned to farm? How did farming make civilization possible in Mesoamerica? How did the natural resources in the Americas help in the establishment of the new civilizations?
Lesson Introduction (Anticipatory Set/Hook/Accessing Prior Knowledge)
Firstly, students will be asked questions aimed to trigger their prior knowledge about the topic. The teacher will asks questions such as "What do you know or think about the history of the Americas? What do you know about the first Americans?" Students discuss their answer in pairs first to then share their opinion in a brief class discussion where the teacher stimulates students’ critical thinking by asking more in depth questions as the students share their opinion. In addition, the class discussion helps the teacher assess students’ knowledge, and in this way be able to know if he needs to expand an ideas or concept during the lecture, or if he should briefly touch upon any idea or concept because students demonstrated having enough knowledge. Secondly, the teacher will play a short video about the arrival of the first people to the Americas. The video will supplement the class discussion by further explaining facts, concepts, and ideas about the topic. Furthermore, the short video will captivate students' attention and interest to learn more about the topic.
Content Delivery (Method of Instruction)
Teacher’s instruction will be through a PowerPoint presentation (a total of 21 slides – 11 the first day and 10 the second day). The presentation covers the beginning of farming in Mesoamerica, and how it influenced the development of the Mesoamerican civilizations—the Olmec, the Maya, the Toltec, the Aztec; as well as the civilizations of South America—the Moche and the Inca. Also, students will be encouraged to explore the idea of geography and how it applies to the topic of the first American Civilizations. Students will examine and interpret maps showing the locations of the settlements. The lecture will discuss the importance of geographical features and how they influenced each civilization’s settlement. Here is the link to The First Americans PowerPoint Presentation.
EDSC 442S_The First Americans...
More presentations from Josue Pearson
Vocabulary (Content Language Development)After the lesson introduction, but before the teacher’s presentation, the teacher will provide the students with a vocabulary sheet. The teacher will briefly explain each term. The vocabulary sheet has helpful, related images to help “visual students” and English Learners make better sense of the concepts. In addition, the vocabulary words are infused throughout the lesson. The words will be bolded in the presentation; plus, the teacher will make sure to point out the words to indicate how they are used in context.
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Student Engagement (Critical Thinking & Student Activities)
During the lecture, students will stay focus by taking notes in the guided notes, which will be provided by the teacher. Additionally, throughout the lecture, the teacher stops and ask questions that are in the PowerPoint presentation. In order to keep students engaged, the teacher asks the question, which will be related to the content just covered, and have the students discuss their answer with a partner (about 2 minutes). Then, teacher asks a few students to share with the class their ideas before moving on with the lecture. The PowerPoint presentation has related images to keep students focus on the presentation. There are also two very short videos in the presentation—one about the Maya Civilization and one about Machu Picchu. The videos are aimed to keep students interest on the topic and to expand a bit more on the concepts and ideas presented in the lecture. Also, during the lesson, teacher stops and have students interpreting maps about the locations of the civilizations. In addition to keeping the students engaged, this activities test students’ geography skills. And finally, the second day of lecture, students will read two sections in their textbook about the Olmec and Moche. Students will summarize information and create a chart to show the characteristics of the two civilizations. The chart will be provided with the guided notes.
Lesson Closure
For first day lesson closure, teacher asks students to first discuss in pairs why Mayans settled in the rain forests? What are the benefits? Students are allowed to discuss their answer with their partner and write it down in a piece of paper that the teacher will collect as an “exit ticket” (2 minutes). As the teacher collects the exit ticket before the bell rings, he asks students to share with the class their answer. This enable students to get immediate feedback from the teacher. The teacher either agrees with the answer or not. The teacher decides whether he needs to add to the students’ answers or not.
For the second day, students will quickly and verbally share what they learned in the two-day class. They will toss a ball from one to another. Students are free to share any idea and/or opinion about what they have learned. Teacher encourages participation, checks for understanding, and asks deeper questions in an attempt to get students to expand more on a idea or concept.
For the second day, students will quickly and verbally share what they learned in the two-day class. They will toss a ball from one to another. Students are free to share any idea and/or opinion about what they have learned. Teacher encourages participation, checks for understanding, and asks deeper questions in an attempt to get students to expand more on a idea or concept.
Assessments (Formative & Summative)
- Formative – in pairs, students will discuss critical thinking questions found throughout the teacher’s presentation to then share with the rest of the class. As the students share their answers with the class, and by listening to the other students’ reaction and opinion during the brief class discussion of each question (2-3 minutes), the teacher is able to monitor students understanding of the content. Students won’t summit a physical evidence of their answer; their answer will be delivered orally—and the teacher will give feedback by corroborating or by correcting students’ answers during the discussion.
- Formative – Using Geography Skills – in pairs, students interpret a map depicting the location of Mesoamerican Civilizations to then share their answer verbally with the rest of the class. The questions are provided with the map in the teacher’s presentation. By listening to students’ answers, the teacher is able to assess students’ understanding of human/environment interaction.
- Formative – Summarizing Information: individually, students will read two short sections in the textbook about the Olmec and Moche civilizations. They will complete a small chart comparing the two groups. The chart is provided with the guided notes. The teacher will collect the chart at the end of class.
- Summative – Comparing and Contrasting: using the guided notes and the textbook, students will create a graphic organizer in which they will compare and contrast the characteristics of all the first American civilizations covered in class.
Accommodations for English Learners, Striving Readers and Students with Special Needs
- Guided notes will help English Learners (ELs), as well as Students with Special Needs (SSN), to take good notes about important concepts and ideas that otherwise they might miss if they did not have the help of the guided notes. In addition, related images have been included in the guided notes and the vocabulary sheet to help students make better sense of the content.
- Most class activities are structured to be done in pairs, which helps ELs and SSNs if they do not understand what’s been asked, or if they have not completely grapple with the information.
- Related images and videos have been included throughout the lecture to help all students visualize what the teacher is teaching.
- A reading strategy activity has been added to the class activities to include striving readers, and to give them an opportunity to get their hands on a learning activity that they can enjoy doing.
- And finally, the vocabulary sheet will help all students understand key concepts better, but particularly ELs and SSNs since each vocabulary word is accompanied by a related image.
- Spielvogel, J.J., and The National Geographic Society. (2006). Discovering Our Past: Medieval and Early Modern Times. Ohio: The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
- www.history.com
- www.nationalgeographic.com