Direct Instruction Lesson Plan Template

Name: Constanze Smith Central Focus/Big Idea of the

Lesson: Geography helps us
Grade Level/Subject: 3rd/Social Studies know our location in the
world.

Essential Standard/Common Core Objective:

3.G.1.1 Find absolute and relative locations of places Date taught: 10/24/17
within the local community and region.

Daily Lesson Objective: Student will be able to identify and write two examples for a
relative location and an absolute location using a map of a town. The students are
expected to earn 3 out of 4 points.

21st Century Skills: (Go to this link for more info about Academic Language
these skills: Demand
Communication and Collaboration, Use and manage
information Language Function: Analyse

Vocabulary: Absolute,
Relative, location, map,

Discourse: Exit Ticket, Turn

and Talk

Syntax: Anchor Chart, Maps

Prior Knowledge:
What a location is
Name of state they live in
Name of city they live in
Name of country they live in

Activity Description of Activities and Setting Time

Teacher poses inquiry questions to

students and has them turn and talk at
their tables and write down on a piece of
paper what their group thinks
1. Focus and Review 5 min
What does the word location
mean?
What do you think an absolute
 location is? Give a minute to think
and write down.
What do you think a relative
location is?

2. Statement of Objective Today you will define absolute and

30 sec.
for Student relative locations.

Start the lesson by asking the students

these questions:
Can anyone tell me the name of the city
we live in? Allow students to answer
Can anyone tell me what this is a map
of?

Allow students to answer.

Very good, so we all live in the city of

Charlotte which is in the state of North
Carolina.
3. Teacher Input 15 min
Can anyone tell me what country we live
in? Allow students to answer.
We live in the United States of America
and here is North Carolina on the map of
the country.

Lets look back to what we wrote down in

our groups about what we thought
 absolute and relative locations mean.
Allow the students to share what they
wrote. A relative location is the location of
a place compared to another thing or
place. For example, let's look at our map.
We can see that Charlottes relative
location is that it is near the city of
Concord and Gastonia. Or we could say
this about the location of anything. So I
could say Mrs. Terrell's desk is next to
the window or I am in front of the class.
An absolute location is an exact location.
So our address where we live would be
an absolute location or the address your
school would be an absolute location.

Teacher makes a chart on the board

labeled with one side absolute location
and another relative location. Students
are to help the teacher divide the different
location descriptions, as the teacher
4. Guided Practice reads them, into each section. 10 min
Teacher would ask, How can we tell if
the description is a relative location? As
the students say where they think each
should go the teacher could ask, why do
you think that?

The students will be given a map at each

table and they need to write down two
relative and two absolute locations
independently on a piece of paper. To get
5. Independent Practice students thinking of possible locations 10 min
teacher will ask, what street is the park
on? Or How can we describe the location
of the library?
 Formative assessment: Teacher grades the
6. Assessment Methods of students based on their independent practice
all objectives/skills: activity with the neighborhood map.

Teacher asks if anyone has any

questions.
7. Closure After having collected the neighborhood 5 mins.
map exit ticket the teacher asks if anyone
wants to share what they had written.

The students wrote their answers in their notebooks

8. Assessment Results of and I walked around to check. Each students was
all objectives/skills: able to write at least 1 absolute and relative
location.

Targeted Students Student/Small Group

Modifications/Accommodations: Modifications/Accommodations:
Early finishers: Can create another label for
English language learners: each category or they can create their own
The terms absolute and map to quiz each other on
relative location will be Struggling readers: Partner with students
translated into their home who are accomplished readers or work with
language the regular classroom teacher as needed
Autism Spectrum: Will be
able to walk through the
map with the teacher or
classmate before doing
the independent practice
in order to check for full
understanding or to walk
through it with the student.
Materials/Technology:
Neighborhood Map-
https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rj
a&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjr4JWyw9LWAhUBcyYKHWZTCKAQjRwIBw&url=http
%3A%2F%2Fwww.crayola.com%2Ffree-coloring-
pages%2Fprint%2Fneighborhood-map-coloring-page%2F&psig=AOvVaw3hPj5-
eIPqnlvNbpG8vd4i&ust=1507053733419145
Map of NC- http://d-maps.com/carte.php?num_car=6702&lang=en
Map of USA-
https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rj
a&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwisw5TPytLWAhVLNiYKHdPrAlIQjRwIBw&url=http%3A
%2F%2Fstemfest.us%2Fus-map-states-black-and-
white%2F&psig=AOvVaw1iwnEMTMAVo4IlQ7q3ZHB_&ust=1507055825184588
Paper with absolute and relative location descriptions for chart
Powerpoint-
https://docs.google.com/a/uncc.edu/presentation/d/1GXx9gL0wgKFSzZjd7DVk3
ESnz7tt61bQ8kS_Qv9aEfE/edit?usp=sharing
References:
http://study.com/academy/lesson/relative-vs-absolute-location-in-geography.html
https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rj
a&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjr4JWyw9LWAhUBcyYKHWZTCKAQjRwIBw&url=http
%3A%2F%2Fwww.crayola.com%2Ffree-coloring-
pages%2Fprint%2Fneighborhood-map-coloring-page%2F&psig=AOvVaw3hPj5-
eIPqnlvNbpG8vd4i&ust=1507053733419145
http://d-maps.com/carte.php?num_car=6702&lang=en
https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rj
a&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwisw5TPytLWAhVLNiYKHdPrAlIQjRwIBw&url=http%3A
%2F%2Fstemfest.us%2Fus-map-states-black-and-
white%2F&psig=AOvVaw1iwnEMTMAVo4IlQ7q3ZHB_&ust=1507055825184588

Reflection on lesson:
I learned a good bit from teaching this lesson. I felt most confident while teaching this
specific lesson. Over the course of our clinicals this lesson was the last one I taught.
Before this one I had received several bits of feedback from the teacher and was able to
apply it to teaching this lesson. I learned that it is hard to explain some concepts to
students. It is hard to make sure to be consistent across the lesson with your wording.
Throughout this lesson I kept catching myself saying exact location instead of absolute
location. While this is a correct way to describe the location I wanted the students to
associate that wording with the actual term absolute location. I noticed whenever I sent
the students off to do the individual practice with the map I had to clarify about absolute
location due to my wording during the lesson.
Some positives of this lesson were that I felt I did my very best to explain two new
terms to the students about location. They had the basis of location which made it kind
of hard to refocus their thinking to the two different types. The students were very
engaged and whenever they chose incorrectly during the guided practice, before telling
the student they were wrong I asked them to share their thinking behind why they chose
their answer. This allowed me to know what I needed to review and clarify before
sending them to do the independent part of the lesson.
In the future I would probably prolong the guided practice more for the students who
still struggle during the independent practice. I would try to come up with more examples
for the students as far as absolute location. Absolute location is the one the students
probably struggled most with coming up with on their own. Overall I was very happy with
how this lesson turned out.