2. Our assignment was to use
the questioning strategy for
reading as a method to
develop our students’ Our classroom is set in a
knowledge of economics suburban school next to a
through the use of large city. We are teaching
literature, newspaper an 11th grade, 4th period
articles, poetry, photo class composed of 28
images, and song lyrics. We students: 12 girls and 16
used the questioning boys. Thirteen of our
strategy in the context of students receive either free
our content area – social or reduced lunch, several
studies. students have parents who
have been laid off, and
several students have
parents in the armed
forces. There is one child
who has a paraprofessional
with him due to having a
physical disability. We are
in the middle of a unit on
the Great Depression.
3. Features of the Developmental
Classroom Activity
Standards and Summary and
Objectives Closure
Materials and Review and
Procedures Homework
Background to Assessment
the Lesson
Adaptations
Warm-up
Conclusions
Motivator and
References
Bridge
4. Content Area: US History
Class descriptor – The class is an 11th grade, 4th period class that is 50 minutes
long. There are 28 students, 12 girls, and 16 boys. There are 13 students receiving
free and reduced lunch. Quite a few parents have been laid off due to where this
school is and there are a few family members in the armed services. There is one
child who has a paraprofessional with him due to having a physical disability. It is
day 20 of the first semester, and it is the 3rd lesson in a unit that will last 10 class
periods.
Lesson Topic: The Great Depression and the current economic crisis; Comparing
and contrasting primary sources
Lesson Objective - How is an economy dependent on government, business, and
consumers? Compare and contrast the Great Depression and the current economic
crisis.
Goals for this class: Students will
Express understanding of the multiple ways that the economy is dependent
upon the government;
Express understanding of the ways that people are in turn dependent upon
economy, particularly in the area of unemployment.
What were the basic economic weaknesses in the American Economy in the late
1920 that led to the Great Depression and what weaknesses started the current
Lesson economic crisis?
5. DC Learning Standards (11th Grade History) –
11.7. Students analyze the causes and effects of the Great Depression
11.7.1 Describe the weaknesses in key sectors of the economy in the late 1920s
11.7.2 Describe the explanations of the principal causes of the Great Depression.
Common Core Learning Standards – Reading Informational Text: Grades 11-12
Determine two or more central ideas of a text and analyze their development
over the course of the text, including how they interact and build on one
another to provide a complex analysis; provide an objective summary of the
text.
Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text,
including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings; analyze how an
author uses and refines the meaning of a key term or terms over the course of a
text
Common Core Learning Standards – History/Social Studies Grades 11-12
Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary
sources, connecting insights gained from specific details to an understanding of
the text as a whole.
Integrate information from diverse sources, both primary and secondary, into a
coherent understanding of an idea or event, noting discrepancies among
sources.
Lesson
6. Students will expand upon their knowledge of the connections between the
government and the problems of unemployment.
Students will be able to independently use the listing strategy to generate a list of
questions from the warm-up.
Students will be able to categorize their list of questions according to relevancy.
Students will use the question webs to expand upon the thinking strategy to
develop a central question addressing the issue of the role of the government in the
economy. Students will use peer support and their background knowledge of the
materials to accomplish this objective.
Students will independently research answers to the question using the materials
provided and they will independently write the answers to the central question on
the poster board.
Students will successfully fulfill their role within the group, as assigned.
Students will use the discussion rules to successfully communicate with each other
within the group and complete the strategies.
Lesson
7. Students will demonstrate comprehension of the lesson’s objective and take
independent initiative in achieving this objective.
Students will use the journaling activity to express understanding of the
pain, frustration and disappointment felt by people living in the Depression and the
current recession.
Students will express understanding of the specific ways that the Depression and
the recession affects day to day life and the role that unemployment plays in daily
life in the journal activity.
Students will express understanding of how these economic events
disproportionately impact people of different ethnicities, women and families.
Students will process their feelings about these events and reorganize this
information within their own schema.
Students will compare the feelings of the people who lived in the depression and the
recession to recognize the value of the economy in day to day life.
Lesson
8. For Entire Period:
Computer Materials
Key vocabulary list provided to students as a reference
More families Became
For Warm-up: Homeless in the
Recession by Henri
Great Depression image
Cauvin located at
http://mises.org/images/3372/gd3.jpg - multimedia
http://www.washingto
source
npost.com/wp-
For Motivator/Bridge: dyn/content/article/201
Highlighters (Green, Pink, Yellow) 1/01/12/AR201101120629
8.html.
For Developmental Activity:
Poster Board
Poem distributed to students: Let American Be
America Again by Langston Hughes Colored Markers
Images of the Depression located at Sticky notes
http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/pri For Closure/Homework
marysourcesets/dust-bowl-migration/
Journals
Lyrics to a song distributed to students: I am Changing
My Name to Fannie Mae by Tom Paxton
Recession photos, Surviving Hard Times (PHOTOS)
located at
Procedures
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/28/recession
1. Warm-up: 5 minutes
-photos-survivin_n_333826.html?slidenumber=3
2. Motivator/bridge: 10 minutes
3. Developmental activities: 20
minutes
4. Summary/closure: 10 minutes
Lesson 5. Homework: 5 minutes
9. This lesson is the third day of the unit on the Great Depression. During the first
two days of the lesson, students were introduced to the basics facts related to the Great
Depression and the current recession, for example when they took place and their major
causes. They should be familiar with terms like stock market crash, debt and relief. They
should also have a context to understand the authors’ emotions in the reading materials.
On the previous day, the teacher modeled the listing and categorizing questioning
strategies for the students. The teacher has also observed them working in small groups using
these strategies. Also, the students were introduced to the question web reading strategy, as
students should not be introduced to a strategy on the same day that they use the strategy
(Brydebell, 2011). The question web is visually appealing and it is a good medium for the
students to present information to each other. The teacher will model the question web for
the benefit of students who need reinforcement or who may have missed the modeling the
day before.
Finally, during the previous day, students were given information on their groups
and roles, the expectations for the lesson, a key terms vocabulary list, and a summary of the
materials needed for the day. They looked at the materials and they completed a
brainstorming activity designed to connect the economy to people’s everyday lives. Their
homework was to review this information and become familiar with it.
Lesson
10. Desks will be arranged and the students will be divided in the small group format prior to
the beginning of class to avoid possible disruptions. The desk-groups will be spaciously
arranged to accommodate students with disabilities and to allow all students to make
transitions to the computer.
Groups are pre-assigned; the tables are arranged in groups of four. The names of the team
members are listed on a piece of colored paper in the center of each group. The students’
roles were assigned to them on the previous day; their roles are also posted next to their
name on the colored paper in the center of the groups.
During the introduction of the developmental activity, the teacher will review proper
small group etiquette – how to work as a team, how to listen to each other, and how to
break down the group’s assignment into manageable pieces.
Students will follow the guidelines for successful classroom discussion. These guidelines
include the use of the accountable talk prompts that are posted in the classroom and the
use of the rules for dealing with conflict.
Students who previously have demonstrated a need to take frequent breaks will have
access to a break pass that allows them to take one, 3 minute break from the group when
they feel the need to do so.
When the students arrive to class, they will be instructed to locate their team members,
sit with their groups, and listen for instructions on the day’s warm-up and motivator.
Lesson
11. The warm-up will build on the previous day’s
use of the listing questioning strategy. The
students are now asked to use the strategy on
their own (Harvey and Goudvis, 2007, p. 112).
The teacher will project an image of the
Great Depression on the board. Above the
projection of the poster, the teacher will post
the following instructions, “Think about
what we know of the Great Depression.
Think about what we have studied so far.
Now study the picture and spend five
minutes listing as many questions of which
you can think.”
Lesson
12. The teacher will introduce the lesson’s topic and objective question, “How is
an economy dependent on government, business, and consumers? Compare and
contrast the Great Depression and the current economic crisis.” The topic and objective
will be written on the overhead/board.
The students will categorize the questions according to their relevancy to the
lesson’s topic. The students will highlight questions that are definitely relevant in
green; they will highlight questions that are irrelevant in pink, and they will highlight
questions that are possibly relevant in yellow.
The teacher will then revisit the concept of using a question web to expand
upon thinking and model the strategy for the students. Also, the teacher will review the
goals for the developmental activity; the students were given this information the
previous day and were supposed to familiarize themselves with it for homework
(Harvey and Goudvis, 2007, 121).
Lesson
13. The goal for this activity is for students to create a question that will lead them to
understand the people’s dependency on the government to create and protect jobs and the crisis
that families face when family members are unemployed. Students will also demonstrate an
understanding that these factors affected people from all backgrounds and ethnicities. Students
will know that they have met the objectives of the lesson when they have created the
question, developed answers to their question, and successfully written a journal entry according
to the rubric. The goal is for the students to be able to connect the feelings from the poem – the
anger, the frustration, the disappointment – into their day-to-day lives.
Three groups will look at the Great Depression resources, and four groups will look at
the current recession resources. The teacher will model this procedure to the students and walk
around to the groups to answer individual questions. The teacher will also remind the students of
the positive group work strategies that are used for all group projects. Students will be reminded
that this is an emotional issue and that they should use the rules for conflict resolution that are
routinely used in the class. These strategies are further explained in the section on proactive
classroom management.
Each student’s role in his/her group will cohere with at least one of his/her
demonstrated strengths. A student with demonstrated question writing skills will take
responsibility for synthesizing the groups brainstorming into one answerable question
(Brydebell, 2011). An identified strong reader will read the poems aloud to the group. Two students
are responsible for presenting the question and answer web to the class, with the other team
members providing a supporting role. Students will independently conduct their own research on-
line and write responses on the web. Each student will write his/her name next to his/her answer
for accountability. This type of collaboration provides students opportunities to socialize with each
other and helps to support and inclusive classrooms (Snowman, McCown, and Biehler, 2009).
Lesson
14. Resources
I am Changing Let American Be More families
My Name to America Again Became Homeless
Fannie Mae in the Recession
Lesson
16. The following directions will be given orally and displayed in the classroom:
Step 1: With your group, look at your list of highlighted questions. Look at the
questions you highlighted in green and decide as a group which question to
write in the center of your web. You may also combine elements from several
questions to form one, new question. Your question should focus upon the
ways that the economy is dependent upon the government and how people are
in turn dependent upon economy. Draw upon what you remember from the
first two classes and the pre-reading activity.
Step 2: The designated question writer will write the question in the middle of
the poster board and place a circle around the question.
Step 3: The group reader will read the poem or lyrics. Everyone should take
notes on sticky notes or directly on the paper.
Step 4: Everyone locate the visual images on-line and take notes. Your notes
should show how you will use this information to answer your question.
Step 5: Using your notes, write answers to your questions on a line off the
bubble. Place your name underneath what you wrote. You may also use a
symbol or picture to demonstrate your answer. The goal is to build an answer to
the question from the resources provided.
Step 6: The designated students will present the question and the answers to
Lesson the class using the poster board as the guide.
17. In a lesson guided by questioning, this lesson will conclude with students
revisiting their initial questions before the readings. At the end of class, students will be
charged with both responding to these initial questions and creating new ones from the
information they gathered. The teacher will host a brief discussion that sets the stage for the
conclusive journaling activity. Giving multiple venues for student interaction with material
will help solidify comprehension as students make multiple, personal connections with the
topic. The final informal discussion will be lead by the teacher and will introduce two
hypothetical people to the classroom. The first person will be a single twenty year old man
working at a Ford factory in Detroit before the Great Depression. Students will be asked to
describe the changes and causes of those changes to this man’s life because of the Great
Depression. The second case will be a CEO of a prominent Investment Bank before the Great
Recession. If students have properly synthesized the class lesson, they will be able to see that
the negative consequences of financial crises tend to fall on the working class, while the rich
upper-class tends to be less affected. This final exercise will reinforce student understanding
before they are tasked with presenting their individual understandings in their journal.
Lesson
18. Following the discussion, the teacher will have the students pull out their journals. In
continuing their exploration of the Great Depression, students will be assigned three
questions to answer in their journal for homework. Students will begin their journaling
during the last five minutes of class. The journal serves as both an assessment tool for the
teacher and a reflection tool for the students. Finally, the journal questions will serve as
the starting point for the next day’s discussion. In answering these questions, students
will be forced to synthesize the material from the previous lessons while making
predictions that will engage them in the remainder the unit’s content.
What were the basic economic weaknesses in the American Economy in the late 1920 that
led to the Great Depression and what weaknesses started the current economic crisis?
What could have been done to prevent the Great Depression? What could have been
done to prevent the current recession?
What should be done now to prevent another similar catastrophe in the future?
Lesson
19. Throughout the lesson, students will be formatively assessed through verbal
interaction with the instructor. A Socratic Method style of questioning will be used by
the teacher to deconstruct student understandings and comprehension. The lesson’s
components are provided in small steps, both orally and written; they are intended to
be manageable goals within each component strategy to maintain student interest
and motivation toward the lesson’s objective (Alvermann, Phelps, and Gillis, 2010).
The students will not be under a time-limit for each step, but the teacher will be
continuously checking in on the groups to ensure they are making adequate progress.
Daily, focused journal writing will be used to deepen student
comprehension and provide an outlet of self reflection and assessment with the
material. Reflective discussion will be used to assist the students in interpreting their
answers to their guided questions, though journal writing will be used for final
synthesis.
All journals will be informally assessed by the teacher, and may become the
starting point for future class discussions. As this lesson is only the third in a sequence
of ten, a summative assessment will not be given to students yet. The focus of this
lesson will be formative as students are challenged to think critically and analytically
about material with which they are becoming familiar. Journals will be assessed based
on the following rubric:
Lesson
20. Criteria 5 3 1 0
All or almost all of the Most entries have a Few entries have a None of the entries have a
Structure Ideas (x2) entries have a connection to connection to structure. connection to structure. connection to structure.
structure.
Feelings and thoughts are Feelings and thoughts are Feelings and thoughts are None of your feelings and
Feelings and Thoughts revealed in all or almost of revealed in most entries. revealed in few of the thoughts are revealed in any
(x2) the entries. entries. of the entries.
The proper format has been The proper format has been The proper format has been The proper format has not
Format followed for all of the followed for most of the followed for few of the been followed for any of the
entries. entries. entries. entries.
All or almost all of my Most of my entries use Few of my entries use None of my entries use
Mechanics entries use correct spelling correct spelling and correct spelling and correct spelling and
and grammar. grammar. grammar. grammar.
All entries are present, in All entries are present, but All entries are not present, All entries are not present,
Completion order, and together. are either not together or in but they are together or in nor are they together or in
Lesson order. order. order.
21. To accommodate any ELL, Special Education, and any other potentially struggling or confused
students, all instructions for all parts of the lesson will be provided in a visual/written format as well as read
aloud. Visual context is beneficial to students who are in the beginning stages of reading and understanding
the text (Grassi & Barker, 2010). Whenever possible, the teacher will briefly review lesson concepts and
strategies that have already been covered. Finally, the teacher will frame the discussion in terms and concepts
which will be accessible to all the learners in the classroom.
Materials will be assessed using the readability feature on Microsoft Word to accommodate all
skill levels in the classroom. During reading, the teacher will focus attention on students who generally have
the most difficulty with reading comprehension. A key terms vocabulary list will be provided for the students’
reference during the lesson. Scaffolding, modeling and enhancing prior knowledge will be strategies used to
help bolster the comprehension of challenged students. Journal writing is an activity which does not require
differentiation as it allows for each student's individual expression of their comprehension to be displayed.
Several differentiation strategies are included within the strategy to make sure that all learners
have the opportunity to think about and process the information. The strategy is modeled to the students by
the teacher at the beginning of the class. The amount of text that the students will read is varied depending
upon their reading levels. Emerging readers will read a shortened version of the Hughes poem. They will be
instructed to read paragraphs 5, 6, 7 and 8 of the poem. Emerging readers using the recession era material
will only read the poem. They will not read the Washington Post article. Group brainstorming is used to
create the initial question. The small groups will have a mixture of performance levels, so that students with
stronger background knowledge of the topic can assist students who may need reinforcement; strong readers
will be paired with emerging readers. Furthermore, during readings and group work the teacher will be free to
travel from group to group and provide necessary scaffolding and modeling to struggling groups or individual
members. If particular group members remain reticent about their understanding, the teacher will employ a
Socratic style of questioning in order to unearth understandings and potential misconceptions.
Lesson
22. The questioning strategy propels our students to deeper levels of comprehension (Harvey and
Goudvis, 2007, p. 109). In order to attain these deep levels, we have to effectively teach our students how to ask
questions, and we have to provide them with the confidence to present the questions that are lingering in their
minds before the class and the teacher.
A question’s effect is determined by when and where it is asked. Questions that are asked before
reading are used to help readers focus on the information that is important in the text. We used the listing
questioning strategy and categorization strategy to focus our students on the lesson’s topic and objective – the
Great Depression and the economy’s dependency on the government, business, and consumers. Further, our
goal was to use the warm-up and motivator to activate prior knowledge. By activating prior knowledge students
are able to incorporate new information into their existing schema (Alvermann, Phelps, and Gillis, 2010, p.
204). We had the students activate this knowledge by formulating questions about a new picture using
information they had already studied.
During the warm-up and motivator, we used the independent practice stage of direct
instruction, as the teacher had already introduced, modeled, and observed guided practice of the listing and
categorization strategies. The developmental activity continued the direct instruction, though the teacher
began at the modeling stage. We had the teacher review the question web strategy as a means of scaffolding the
lesson (Alvermann, Phelps, and Gillis, 2010, p. 199). The motivator and developmental activity were completed
in a small group format. Small groups are optimal for implementing reading strategies because each student
has a greater opportunity to participate and receive the support he or she needs (Brydebell, 2011). Our groups
were pre-organized to provide a diverse mix of students; the groups were designed to have a balance of reading
and academic skills, gender, and ethnic/ cultural backgrounds.
We preferred to create an active classroom atmosphere that resembled Freire’s (2001) constructivist
classroom. We wanted to avoid Freire’s described banking method where the students passively receive the
information that is methodically dispensed by the teacher. Students were provided opportunities for physical
movement and socialization to maintain student interest as well as to provide an opportunity for the students
to develop their social skills (Snowman, McCown, and Biehler, 2009). Moreover, socialization increases student
engagement through its necessary interaction. We modeled our lesson to create the constant communication
Lesson
and relation characteristic of Freire’s (2001) problem-posing method.
23. The entire lesson incorporated powerful imagery that portrayed the impact of unemployment on
the individual and the family. The goal was for students to connect government fiscal policy to unemployment
rates to personal stories through the pictures, even if the text was challenging to them. The economy is a very
powerful and emotional issue to families; it affects all aspects of our lives. Many of our students were receiving
free and reduced lunch, and some students’ parents were laid off. We selected Langston Hughes as our
representation of the Depression era poetry because of the strong emotions and imagery imbedded in his works.
Also, he is one of the most prominent African American writers of the Depression/Renaissance era. In his poem,
he provides not only African American perspectives, but perspectives from Native-Americans and all working
class people who have lost jobs.
We concluded our lesson with journal writing to provide an opportunity for a formative assessment
for the teacher and self assessment and reflective practice for the students. The journal provided an opportunity
for the teacher to gage the students’ progress and comprehension in an informal setting. More importantly,
however, the journal is another step towards making our student independent learners. Our goal to produce
self-regulated learners means producing students that know their strengths and weaknesses and are able to set
goals for themselves (Snowman, McCown, and Biehler, 2009, p. 277-285). Journal writing coupled with the
questioning strategy provides an excellent medium for students to organize their thoughts and track their
progress.
Self-regulated learners purposely and thoughtfully use their skills to maximize their learning and
achieve specific goals (Snowman, McCown, and Biehler, 2009, p. 277-285). We will know that our students are
learning when they are monitoring their own comprehensions by asking questions and searching for answers
(Harvey and Goudvis, 2007, p. 109). Through direct instruction and modeling we have provided our students
with the tools to become independent learners. Our further incorporation of powerful imagery, a constructivist
atmosphere, and the questioning strategy allowed us to develop Dewey’s (2001) progressive classroom that gives
students a purpose of their own in the pursuit of classroom learning goals. Scaffolding the instruction, we have
gradually pushed our students to become confident independent learners.
Lesson
24. Alvermann, D.E., Phelps, S.F., & Gillis, V.R. (2010). Content area reading and literacy: Succeeding in today’s diverse classrooms.
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Brydebell, L. (2011, March 10). Interview with Lynn Brydebell [Online classroom document]. Retrieved from
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Cauvin, H. (2011). More families became homeless in recession. Retrieved on March 3, 2011 from
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/12/AR2011011206298.html
Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts
& Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects. (n.d.). In Common Core Standards retrieved from
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Dewey, J. (2001). Democracy and education: An introduction to the philosophy of education. In Schultz, F. (Ed.), Sources:
Notable selections in education, (3rd ed., pp. 39-44). Guilford, CT: McGraw-Hill/Dushkin.
Freire, P. (2001). Pedagogy of the oppressed. In Schultz, F. (Ed.), Sources: Notable selections in education, (3rd ed., pp. 87-94).
Guilford, CT: McGraw-Hill/Dushkin.
Grassi, E.A., and Barker, H.B. (2010). Culturally and linguistically diverse exceptional students. Los Angeles, CA: Sage Publishing.
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109-124). Portland, ME: Stenhouse publishers.
Hughes, Langston (2006). Let America be America again. Retrieved on March 3, 2011 from
http://famouspoetsandpoems.com/poets/langston_hughes
Library of Congress (2011). Dust Bowl Migration Primary Source Set. Retrieved on March 3, 2011 from
http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/primarysourcesets/dust-bowl-migration/
Paxton, Tom. (2010). I am changing my name to fannie mae. Retrieved on March 3, 2011 from
http://www.tompaxton.com/download.html#
[Photographs of the recession]. (2011). The Huffington Post. Retrieved on March 3, 2011 from
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/28/recession-photos-survivin_n_333826.html?slidenumber=3
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Lesson
