Planning Commentary

1. Central Focus

a. Describe the central focus and purpose for the content you will teach in the learning segment.

The central focus of the learning segment titled The Articles of Confederation and the

United States Constitution is to identify the goals, development, and weaknesses of the first

constitution in the newly founded United States and link newly learned content to the founding

fathers’ decision to create a new constitution during the Convention of 1787 in Philadelphia.

Students will be able to explain the relationship between each document as the Constitution

corrected several flaws of its predecessor.

concepts of federalism and anti-federalism in a summative assessment.

b. Given the central focus, describe how the standards and learning objectives within your

learning segment address:

 facts and concepts

 interpretation and analysis skills

 building and supporting arguments

The learning standards provided by New York State’s Social Studies Standards outline

the facts and concepts that are the focus of the learning segment. Standard 11.2, “Constitutional

Foundations” challenges students to analyze the development of the Constitution based on

assessment. Students will be challenged to use specific information from their notes and

excerpts or full texts to extract information that support their claims. Key quotes, statistics,

standpoints, and concessions will be referenced in their writing. Information from each lesson in

the segment can be utilized to create their response and I will help guide students’ recognition

of pieces that are essential by referencing previously learned information.

c. Explain how your plans build on each other to help students make connections between

facts, concepts, and interpretations or analyses to build and support arguments about historical

events, a topic/theme or a social studies phenomenon.

Throughout each session of the learning segment I will build connections between the

United States Constitution.

Each day I presented students with an advanced agenda on the white board (P3.5). The

format I used is reflective of Ausubel’s subsumption theory as I provided students with explicit

goals of what they would be learning, what information should be linked from previous

knowledge, and identifying the days’ “essential question” or learning target. The advanced

organizers remain on the board during the class period and help students by encouraging them

to link past information to new ideas and think critically about content.

After a previous learning segment regarding the events of the American Revolution and

Declaration of Independence students will investigate the development of the Articles of

Confederation. Students will examine the role of the central government and relate it to

from previous lessons to new material. At times I will model ways by which students should link

ideas from one class to the next in think-alouds. An example may be by stating, “I know taxation

was a major cause of the Revolution so the founding fathers were reluctant to grant the power

to tax. While this gained support for ratification of the Articles, it left a significant weakness that

would later be corrected by the Constitution since tax money is important for so many things the

government takes care of such as national defense, roads, and education.”

In lesson 3, students are asked to recall previous knowledge as they are introduced to

the major compromises of the Constitutional Convention that ultimately replaces the Articles of

Confederation. The previous knowledge is applied as students analyze the changes that are

employed in the new constitution. Students will follow my modeled justifications regarding the

from the perspective of a New York resident while reference historically accurate information.

In lesson 4 students will complete a summative assessment in the form of a double entry

journal where they must draft a discourse that analyzes the federalist and/or anti-federalist

stance on ratification of the newly proposed constitution. Students must draw upon previously

learned knowledge from the Pre-Revolutionary War Era, the Declaration of Independence, the

Articles of Confederation, as well as the Constitutional Convention. Students will be introduced

to leaders of the federalist and anti-federalist factions as well as their arguments in an instructor

led presentation. Students will be given a differentiated text or collection of excerpts to analyze

and interpret so that they may draft a discourse regarding the topic of ratification. Each student

must interpret the words of the text given to them with my assistance in order to complete the

Separation of Powers. The structure of the Constitution and the inclusion and analysis of the Bill

of Rights (Amendments I-X of the United States Constitution) will also be built upon in the next

unit using prior knowledge from the learning segment presented.

2. Knowledge of Students to Inform Teaching

For each of the prompts below (2a-b), describe what you know about your students with respect

to the central focus of the learning segment.

Consider the variety of learners in your class who may require different strategies/support (e.g.

students with IEPs, English language learners, struggling readers, underperforming students or

those with gaps in academic knowledge, and/or gifted students).

a. Prior academic learning and prerequisite skills related to the central focus - what do

students know, what can they do, and what are they learning to do?

The academic skill level of the students in the United States History and Government

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curriculum in 11

Varied levels of cognitive abilities provide opportunities to differentiate materials and

spiral the learning experience. Throughout the first weeks of school students have

demonstrated varied abilities of writing and reading - two essential skills for the content area

and the learning segment. They have not been evaluated by any standardized exams but have

taken pre-tests to assess their prior knowledge. Less than 10 percent of students were able to

correctly answer 50 percent of questions on a 45 questions multiple choice exam regarding

class content.

Students are familiar with the New York State Regents’ format of multiple choice

questions, short answer responses, and one of two essay styles: a document based question or

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curriculum. Students will build upon their basic writing skills learned in previous ELA and Social

Studies courses by adding the use of discourse markers into their writing to support their claims.

Through the Common Core and New York State Shifts, students will also be interpreting,

evaluating, and citing rigorous text based evidence in social studies class.

a. Personal/cultural/community assets related to the central focus - what do you know about

your students’ everyday experiences, cultural backgrounds, and interests?

Students in the district alternate between “M” and “T” days to differentiate the electives they

will attend. Students are in class from 8:08am - 2:30pm with 42 minute (average) class periods.

Many students in the class live in the village of Greenwich and are within walking distance of the

English as their primary language. Many families in the district have long-standing roots and

students often have siblings that have graduated or are still attending school. Several students

have direct family connections to faculty found within the district.

A majority of students participate in one or more of the extracurricular activities offered

including seasonal sports teams, academic clubs, and internships. Students must not be failing

2 or more classes to play sports and must be to school before the 1

period bell rings to be

eligible to participate in extracurricular activities. Many students demonstrate a moderate to

great amount of intrinsic motivation to do well in academics and athletics as evidenced by the

district’s high success rate of sending 86% of its alumni to higher educational opportunities.

Respond to prompts below (3a-c). To support your explanations, refer to the instructional

allows me to engage students through analogies that reference student interests, community

events, and past experiences. In particular, the discussion of government can be related to local

affairs to improve relevancy and enhance student interest. I will use knowledge of my students

to create more personalized opportunities for discourse and critical thinking as I challenge

students to consider stances on issues that are strongly debated within the community such as

healthcare, the 2

Amendment, and small town economies during assessments found in the

learning segment.

The four day learning segment builds upon students’ prior learning from each lesson and

is spiraled in difficulty and complexity as students must link new information together from the

cumulative segment. A combination of traditional learning theories was applied alongside

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overwhelming amount of information so it can be processed and stored for long-term recall.

Through the segment I will lead spiraled questioning and answering assessments to

provide opportunities for personalized learning experiences based on Education Oasis’s “Q-

Chart” (P1.1). Knowledge of students will enable me to also personalize analogies and topics in

discussion based on prior knowledge, personal interests, and events from the local community.

Gordon Pask’s 20

century theory on conversation supports the belief that through natural

discussion, object language (content based) and metalanguage (vocabulary development), I

can differentiate the learning experience of the students to maximize gained knowledge.

Furthermore, real-time discussion will allow me to ask questions for Pask’s “serialists” - those

who learn sequentially, or for “holists” - those who can recognize and link higher order

students may achieve higher levels with my support through teacher modeling. All students,

including classified students and English language learners, displayed a tremendous amount of

conversational support for one another throughout the learning segments.

The economic statistics of families in the district was also considered. Research by

Susan Neuman revealed significant effects on language acquisition due differences in family

incomes. Students near or below the poverty line struggle to understand grade-level texts and

will need additional support. Although most students in the district are from homes above the

poverty line it is still important for me to plan accordingly and present a strong focus on

vocabulary and language in my lessons. Additionally, low income status effects student morale,

is linked to health issues, and chronic absenteeism. These students must remain engaged in an

environment that is fun and friendly. I have also made attempts to provide outlets for students to

access information and receive support outside of class as necessary.

classified under IEPs and 504 plans that clearly designate any modifications or

accommodations to be provided. Multiple students in the grade are identified on the autism

spectrum disorder spectrum but are considered to be highly functional in academic skills and

struggle mostly with social and organizational skills. In compliance with their designated

accommodations I will distribute completed copies of notes (shown in A4.1b) and regular,

“blank” guided notes, when applicable for classified students to follow to the best of their

abilities. Five students in the class and one in the featured videos required guided notes.

Students with classifications that designate extra time for quizzes and tests will also receive

their arranged accommodations when applicable. One student’s classifications also permit the

use of a word processor which they were able to use to complete writing assessments in

The implementation of differentiated instruction and assessments based off previous

student performance pairs with Gardener’s theory of multiple intelligences as it allows content to

be presented to the students’ strengths and at levels that will help them move through

Vygotsky’s Zones of Proximal Development. Classified students and foreign exchange students

who were still mastering English were met with spiraled opportunities and differentiated

materials based on their abilities, not their labels.

PowerPoint presentations include graphic organizers and authentic images of topics

discussed for visual learners. Differentiated political cartoons (A2.1 and A2.2) and the

corresponding assessment that opens lesson 3 allow kinesthetic, interpersonal, and verbal-

linguistic learners to participate with confidence. Many underperforming students in the class

was strongest during the summative assessment featuring arguments from federalists and anti-

federalists. The double entry journal for gifted students was based on a full text of Federalist

Paper #1 by Alexander Hamilton and was more rigorous than the selected quotes given to other

students for the same task. Gifted students were also asked to include a higher number of

discourse markers from their handout (P4.4) when drafting their essay.

Supplemental materials including notes, links to web resources, and videos were

provided on the class website that I own and maintain - ilovesocialstudies.com. Many students

in the class identified themselves as intrapersonal learners that would learn best in the

distributed individual quadrant of learning discussed by Edward Hutchins in the mid 1980’s. By

providing access to notes on the web or in hard-copy format, these students would be able to

maximize their learning experience in the environment best suited to their learning styles.

document they were expressed in. An example may be a student believing the Declaration of

Independence provided a set of laws and system of government for the United States when in

fact it was the United States Constitution that successfully completed this task.

I will combat this misconception by referencing previously learned knowledge, having

students construct graphic organizers, and by clearly stating the differences through teacher

modeling in this learning segment as well as future units. By visually separating the principles

and concepts of each document, students will be better able to differentiate between them.

Students may also struggle to realize the Articles of Confederation was indeed a formal

constitution. This may be an issue because the United States currently operates under a

constitution that is referred to as the Constitution (proper noun).

4. Supporting Students’ History/Social Studies Development Through Language

b. Identify a key learning task from your plans that provides students with opportunities to

practice using the language function identified above. Identify the lesson in which the learning

must be utilized in conjunction with information provided in class to create a discourse in the

form of a double entry journal (A4.2) as a summative assessment.

I will challenge students to examine the situation faced on both sides of the issue

concerning ratification that they have been studying. Students will draft an essay using

discourse markers and evidence from text. I will be providing students with a Discourse Markers

guide (P4.4) that may be used as a reference when writing. They will be reminded to consider

historical events and evaluate how they may have affected each side’s arguments.

c. Additional Language Demands. Given the language function and learning task identified

above, describe the following associated language demands (written or oral) students need to

understand and/or use.

To complete the task discussed above, students will be required to exercise several

other language demands often utilized in the social studies content area. Students will be

challenged to analyze and interpret rigorous texts as supported by the New York State ELA

Shifts 1-6 to write an essay supported by evidence from readings.

Students will be evaluating the arguments made by Federalists and Anti-Federalists

throughout their analysis of the text. As students write the first leg of the assignment they will

Federalist. I will be providing support to help students navigate the rigorous text provided and

scaffold their learning.

Before students begin working on the double entry journal, I will define the term

discourse and review the Discourse Markers sheet as well as the purpose of including a

collection of the terms provided. Students have reviewed the basic principles of academic

writing in a previous lesson and construction of a practice New York State, Regents’ Document

Based Question (DBQ) and will now be challenged to develop their discourse by using key

markers that are categorized into other language functions.

I will be informing them that academic writing, specifically the construction of discourse,

should include a consistent use of markers that allow the reader to clearly understand what

During this assignment I will be scaffolding student learning by introducing the use of

discourse markers to academic writing. The Discourse Markers sheet provided gives examples

of words and phrases that can be used to help students develop several language functions in

their writing including comparing, contrasting, qualifying, emphasizing, and sequencing.

Students have also explored the concept of cause and effect that is commonly found in the

social studies content area.

In previous lessons of this learning segment I have discussed several historical ideas

that each side reacted differently to including the events prior to the American Revolution that

led to the Articles of Confederation, the effects of Shay’s Rebellion on the Constitution, and the

weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation to the development of the Constitution.

adoption of the Constitution. Students learned about 4 major compromises and the contrasting

arguments made by at least two sides on the issues that were discussed in the Constitution’s

inception that may be referenced in their assessment (as seen in student sample work).

These language functions have prepared students by improving their abilities to analyze

texts and compare and contrast the ideas they represent.

5. Monitoring Student Learning

a. Describe how the planned formal and informal assessments provide direct evidence of how

students learn and use facts, concepts, and interpretations of analyses to build and support

arguments about historical events, a topic/theme, or social studies phenomenon throughout the

learning segment.

the SMART Board where they will identify and explain the powers of the states and federal

government under the Articles of Confederation as well as the weakness that existed within its

design through a question and answer session. I will ask students to correctly identify elements

then use question and answer techniques to have them explain their responses using facts and

authentic scenarios when applicable (Video 1).

In lesson 2 students will begin in groups by analyzing a differentiated political cartoon

that was assigned as follow through in the previous lesson. Groups must answer the questions

associated to each cartoon using knowledge learned from the lesson and present their answers

to the opposite group so they may complete both sides of the worksheet with my support. This

informal assessment allows me to gauge student knowledge of the topic (Articles of

during the convention by reading independent texts. This activity will reveal how well the

students are able to work with text to find evidence and cognitively process information into

graphic organizers. I will be walking around the classroom to check on student progress and

offer assistance when needed.

Lesson 3, like many, also features an exit slip that challenges students to present a

historically accurate depiction of a letter from the perspective of a New Yorker on any one of the

issues discussed in the guided notes. Students will use facts from the lessons to accurately

compare and contrast arguments before drafting a letter from the assigned role (A3.2). The

assessment will gauge the students’ abilities to understand perspectives and interpret evidence

from text in their writing to present historical events.

previous lessons in the learning segment and other units such as the events leading to the

American Revolution. Evaluating and interpreting the words of Alexander Hamilton, Thomas

Jefferson, and/or James Madison will be a central focus of the task. After students have drafted

a brief essay, they will switch papers with a partner who will then respond to the original author’s

essay (not explain their own thoughts again).

Throughout all of the lessons in the segment I will also be informally assessing students

through simple activities such as thumbs up/thumbs down, agree and disagree, and allowing

them to collaborate at times to engage them as shown in the “Find Someone Who…” activity

that encourages students to walk around and speak with their peers to review materials before

proceeding.

Each assessment will be accompanied by immediate feedback when possible. I will be

actively engaging students and challenging them with rigorous, yet differentiated tasks to

The assessments are often varied amongst learning styles recognized by Howard

Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences allowing students to make stronger connections to

content. Lesson 1 closes with an informal SMART Activity assessment that allows interpersonal

and linguistic learners to express their knowledge by collaborating with me and their classmates

to scaffold their learning. Working directly with the SMART Board also helps kinesthetic learners

as they are encouraged to utilize the screen’s hands on function when participating. The

SMART assessment and other sessions of question and answer assessment also allows me to

easily differentiate the rigor of questions asked using the Q-Chart referenced in lesson 1 (P1.1).

Students who are still learning English, such as the foreign exchange students in the

class, have differentiated options during many assessments and may also choose to present

listed accommodations and modifications met as arranged by the committee on special

education. Students in the class have accommodations and/or modifications such as providing

printed out notes, allowing the use of word processors, and/or providing extended time on

essays (1.5 or 2.0 time). All learning materials will be sent to case managers as noted in the

IEP’s and 504 plans so they may provide support to students.

Students who are struggling or have gaps in knowledge will be approached on an

individual basis when students are working through the individual practice sessions or group

work times so that the class’ pace can be maintained to the best of my ability. Students also

have several resources, including the class website, to reference when they are absent. The

majority of presentations and supplemental materials are posted and students, as well as their

identify their goals and will continuously help prepare them for higher education while providing

feedback I believe is beneficial.

P1.1 - http://www.educationoasis.com/curriculum/Printables/PDF/LA/Q_Chart.pdf