Teacher name: Larry Allen

3rd Period, 12th grade Social Science

Date: November 3rd, 2010
Topic: Our Two Constitutions
Enduring Understanding:
• The Constitution was not the first governing document of the United States.
• There was vigorous debate over the structure of the federal government
during the Constitutional Convention. The Founders did not agree.
• The Articles of Confederation were incredibly ineffective.
Essential Question(s)
• (UNIT) Why is our government set up the way it is?
• (UNIT) How does the Constitution strike a balance between protecting
individual rights and serving the common good?
• (YEAR) What role do citizens play in shaping government policy?
• (CLASS) Why did we move away from the Articles of Confederation?
Goal: Compare the Articles of Fit: The students have learned about a
Confederation and the Constitution. number of time periods and ideas that
Examine the rationale behind portions of influenced the Constitution, and now it is
each document, looking for continuity time to examine the document itself.
and change.

Standards
5.1.9C: Analyze the principles and ideals that shape government, including
federalism, Constitutional government, and classical republicanism.
5.1.12E: Evaluate the principles and ideals that shape the United States and
compare them to documents of government.
5.1.12J: Analyze how the law promotes the common good and protects
individual rights.
5.2.12B: Evaluate citizens' participation in government and civic life.

Measurable Objectives Assessments

• Students will be able to describe Formal: None for today.
the differences between the
Articles of Confederation and the Informal: Checks to see what they
Constitution. remember from U. S. History. Get an
• Students will be able to define the impression of what concepts they don’t
powers allocated to each branch know and what they need to go over in
of government under the greater detail as the unit goes on.
Constitution.
• Students will be able to properly
use the lesson’s vocabulary in
class and on their assessments.
Student Prerequisite Knowledge: Individual rights, common good, recollection
that the Articles exist

Teaching Prerequisite Knowledge: What the students have studied the most
this year, how much they took away from previous units.

Summary & List of Key Concepts: Vocabulary: Supremacy clause, Articles

Proportional representation vs equal of Confederation, Constitution,
Teacher name: Larry Allen
3rd Period, 12th grade Social Science
Date: November 3rd, 2010
representation, individual rights vs constitution (little ‘c’), Shay’s Rebellion
common good, balance of powers

IEP/Other Considerations: Graphic organizer to help differentiate the Articles and

Constitution. Multiple visual aids during PowerPoints. Built-in time to field questions
at regular intervals.

Safety Considerations

Pre-Class
• About last night…
• Who won the PA Senate race? PA Governor’s race? The Murphy/Fitzpatrick
House race?
• What party controls the Senate? The House of Representatives? Are you
happy with this situation? Why or why not?
Assignments/Homework
None for today.
Anticipatory Set / Motivation/ hook
• Pre-class is meant to wrap up their election mini-unit.

• The History Alive activity doesn’t appear to have anything to do with the
class, so I think they’ll be wondering what it’s all about.

Procedures (numbered steps including ‘time’) Resources:

1. Pre-class: Election recap. After their campaign 1. Pre-class: Projector and
presentations, it’d be nice to look at the races surface to project on.
they reported on and see how things went. We’ll Will also need some
also look at the changes in Congress and board space to jot
consider the impact they might have. 5 down the rights
minutes. students name—or the
2. Agenda: I need to give out my contact SmartBoard, if it’s
information and go over some other installed and
housekeeping matters. Explain policy for operational.
homework (same as my CM—late work gets 2. I’ll use the powerpoint
50%) and missed tests (MUST take the test the for the agenda.
first day you’re back in school unless it was a Students need to write
prolonged absence due to serious illness or this stuff down.
death in the family.) They should contact me if 3. Students will need
they miss school; I might be able to send them writing materials; their
the worksheet or notes I passed out. 5 minutes. notebooks will suffice,
3. Articles of Confederation: History Alive! but I’ll have loose-leaf
Activity that highlights the difficulties of getting paper on hand just in
anything accomplished under the Articles. case. I’ll need an index
Students will be told that they’re going to card to jot down which
propose and vote on a class radio station. The groups I’m using to rig
class will be split into 13 groups and tasked with the activity.
creating a radio station to propose to the class. 4. I’ll need 35 copies of
A station needs 9 out of 13 votes to be the graphic organizer
accepted. Groups may not communicate with (33 students, 1 CM, 1
Teacher name: Larry Allen
3rd Period, 12th grade Social Science
Date: November 3rd, 2010
each other, so I’ll need to spread them for any potential
throughout the room. I will choose five groups observer, I’ll use the
and rig the game; using extra credit as a bribe, original)
I’ll ask them to only vote for their own proposal, 5. No resources needed
ensuring that none of the others get the 9 votes for closure.
needed for passage. When it comes time to
vote, we’ll have one group go at a time. The
group will explain their radio station and the
class will discuss the merits of their presentation
before voting. The kids will be frustrated, to be
sure. I’ll let the process go three or four times
before allowing the “rigged” groups to explain
what happened. 20 minutes.
4. Changing to the Constitution: I’ll pass out a
graphic organizer that the class can use to
differentiate between the Articles and
Constitution. The graphic organizer gives a
general impression of the differences between
the two documents (ex: weak national
government vs strong national government)
Using the previous activity as the example of
government under the Articles, we’ll talk about
what didn’t work and how the Constitution fixed
each problem. 10 minutes.
5. Closure: Not a lot of time for closure today, but
I want to emphasize the shift from a weak
central government to a strong central
government. I’ll tell the class that we’ll be
looking at how individual rights were protected
under a strong central government. 2-5
minutes, depending on the bell schedule.
Closure: Constitution implements a strong central government. They can’t leave
without that info.
Assignment:

Sponges: Won’t have any time left for sponges.

Extensions:
Bibliography: Articles of Confederation, U. S. Constitution
Reflections:
Teacher name: Larry Allen
3rd Period, 12th grade Social Science
Date: November 3rd, 2010