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Information Literacy Lesson Plan
Learning to Seek, Use and Contribute Information
Lindsey La Barge
ITEC 7136
Mrs. Sears
Dr. Repman
Fall 2008

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Lesson Summary
This lesson is designed to teach information literacy to ninth grade government
students. The students will excerpts from History Speaks: Legislative Branch of the
Government by Julia Hargrove. This is a non-fiction book with basic facts about the
legislative branch of the United States government. Their classroom teacher expects them
to have a basic knowledge of the legislative branch and be able to discuss the process of
bill making within the classroom. Their teacher also wants them to be able to write a bill
that they believe in and want to be passed. It is to be written as if it was actually to be
passed through the legislative branch.
Learning Goals
▪ The students should know the legislative process of the United States government.
▪ The students should know how to write a bill in the proper format.
▪ The students should be able to work within a group to produce a piece of legislation.
▪ The students should be able to present their bill in the classroom.
Standards Used
Information Literacy Standards
Standard #3: The student who is information literate uses information accurately and
creatively.
Indicator #2: Integrates new information into one’s own knowledge.
Standard # 6: The student who is an independent learner is information literate and
strives for excellence in information seeking and knowledge generation.

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Indicator #2: Devises strategies for revising, improving, and updating self-generated
knowledge.
Standard #9: The student who contributes positively to the learning community and to
society is information literate and participates effectively in groups to pursue and
generate information.
Indicator #2: Respects others’ ideas and backgrounds and acknowledges their
contributions.
GPS Standards
SSCG10: The student will describe the legislative process, including the roles played by
committees and leadership.
a. Explain the steps in the legislative process.
b. Explain the function of various leadership positions within the legislature.

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Information Literacy Lesson Plan
Materials and Equipment
▪ smart board
▪ computer with internet connection
▪ plain white paper
▪ printer
▪ copies of excerpts from History Speaks: Legislative Branch of the
Government by Julia Hargrove
▪ copies of the template for a bill
▪ podium from which to propose the bill in the classroom
▪ a rubric for teacher evaluation
▪ the peer evaluation form that each student will fill out at the end of the project
Time
This is a week long lesson. Each day will have 90 minutes devoted to the lesson.
▪ Monday: The students are introduced to the Legislative Branch and
the bill writing process. They are assigned readings from
History Speaks: Legislative Branch of the Government
by Julia Hargrove to read at home.
▪ Tuesday: The students are split into groups as diverse as possible.
Try to include different races, genders and economic
backgrounds within each group. They will be asked to
discuss the assigned readings. They will also have to come
up with the topic for their bill that they plan to propose to
the class.
▪ Wednesday: The students will have the entire class time to write a bill
from the template and the research that they have done to
prepare for the bill writing process.
▪ Thursday: The students will have the day to present their bills, in the
proper format to the class. They will explain the process
that they used in order to choose the topic of their bill and
who did what in order to complete the bill.
▪ Friday: The students will have a class discussion about the process
of bill writing and what types of bills were proposed. They
will give each other the chance to explain their stance of
different proposals. They will also be asked their favorite
part of the process. The last thing they will be asked to do
is evaluate each other in response to the standards.

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Procedures
Introduction
Step #1: The media specialist will let the classroom teacher introduce the project
and the legislative branch to the students. Then the media specialist will
tell the students what types of research they can help with in the media
center. The media specialist will bring some reference materials that could
help with understanding the legislative branch and the bill writing process.
The students be told that since they cannot take the reference materials out
of the media center, it will be open until 6:00 in the evening both Tuesday
and Thursday and the media specialist will be there to help with whatever
questions they have.
Step #2: Using the smart board, the media specialist and the teacher can show the
students how to find the wiki written for them with examples of bills and a
bill template. They will also be able to see the diagram of the path that a
bill take in order to get passed and the key players in the process.
The class will have a discussion about the bill writing process and the
Legislative Branch. Every student will be expected to participate.
Step #3: The media specialist will ask the students to predict where they will find
the best information about writing bills whether they choose to do their
research on the internet or in print sources. The students will be required
to find at least one online source and one print source for the bill. They
will also have to cite their sources.
Step #4: The students will be given a lesson on finding appropriate a relevant
material on the internet. They will be given a handout that has a few
examples of appropriate and factually correct sites that they can use for
their bill.
Step #5: The class will be divided into groups. Each group should be as
representative as possible of each ethnic and social group within the
school. Each group should also have at least one male student and one
female student. The students will learn to work together and listen to the
suggestions from all of the members of their group. They will be made
aware that at the end of the project, on Friday, they will be required to
evaluate the participation of each of the members of their group.
Step #6: The students will discuss among their group and decide on a topic for their
bill. They will have access to sample bills and appropriate topics for their
bill. They will be encouraged to choose something that they would
actually like see become a law at the Federal level. They will also be
required to assume the roles of actual legislators, such as senators and
representatives. They should also know about the roles of lobbyists.

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Step #7: The students will present their proposed bill to the class and explain their
process. The student in charge of the group will present their bill to the
entire class as if they were presenting a bill in Congress. They will allow
questions from students and answer them to the best of their ability. They
will also discuss their process and how they decided what topic to cover in
their bill.
Step #8: The class will discuss the proposed bills. The class will be required to
discuss each of the groups’ bills and which one they think was the most
successful and why. They will give each other the chance to amend and
edit their bills and discuss their changes. Then they will pass the bill to
the “president”. If the bill is acceptable and reflects the stances of the class
as a whole, then the teacher (president) will sign the bill. If it not
acceptable then the teacher will veto the bill. The bill will then go back to
class who will have the chance to pass the bill without the teacher’s
signature. The teacher will also demonstrate the line-veto option and how
powerful that can be when the President is not a member of the majority
party represented in the Legislative Branch. They will also be taught that
President Clinton held the line-item veto power only for a short time and
then the Supreme Court took away that power because it was deemed
unconstitutional.
Step #9: The students will evaluate their fellow group mates. The will evaluate
their group on participation and quality of ideas and work. They will not
evaluate their group on whether or not they agreed with them. They will
have a chance to write a short paragraph about whether or not they agree
with their proposed bill.
Step #10: The students will write a short essay about what they learned about
research and contributing their gained knowledge to their group and the
class as a whole. They will be assigned this essay for homework over the
weekend. They will be asked to turn this essay in on Monday of the
following week.
Conclusion
This lesson was designed to teach the students about the Legislative process that
our government goes through in order pass the bill. They have also learned a little bit
about the checks and balances system. They learned about how the President has the
power of veto and the President had the power of line-item veto for a short time, but that
it was deemed unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. The students have also had a
chance to express themselves in a bill that they wrote in a group. The students have also
had the chance to evaluate their group by the standards used for this project and the rubric

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provided at the beginning of the week and on the project wiki. The students have also
had the chance to communicate their research and information literacy through in class
discussion led by the classroom teacher. The students have also learned how to sort
through online and reference information. They have learned where to find appropriate
information on the internet that can be used for research and writing. They have also
learned how to cite sources within a paper. Through this lesson, the students have learned
the process of research and the legislative process.
Accommodations
Since a majority of the students at this high school do not have internet or
computer access at their home, the media center will be open two extra hours two days
this week. The students will be invited to come to an after school research and help
session with the media specialist. They will have access to all of the reference materials
and the internet in order to do their project.
Lesson Wiki
The students will have access to this wiki: This wiki has links that has
examples of bills and a bill template. There are also appropriate topics that they can use
to write their bill about. There will also be a diagram of the path that a bill takes in order
to be passed successfully.
Assessments
▪ Students will be assessed on their ability to find relevant information about the
Legislative process and use it accurately and creatively.
▪ Students will be assessed on their ability to work together in a group.
▪ Students will be assessed by each other.

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Individual Rubric
Teacher Evaluation
2 4 5
Participation I did not I participated only I participated in
participate in in my group, or both my group and
my group or in only in my class my class
class discussion. discussion.
discussion.
2 3 4
Research I have only one I have two sources, I have two sources,
source. but they are not one from a book
relevant to my and one from the
group’s bill. internet, which are
relevant to my
group’s bill.
2 3 4
Presentation I stood in front I said what one of I showed that I
of the room and the other group understood the
said nothing. members told me to assignment and
say. worked with the
group to complete
the project.
2 3 4
Group My group did My group got My group worked
Cooperation not get along. along, but did not great together. We
We argued work well enough listened to each
about what our together to other’s suggestions
bill would be. complete the and then came to a
assignment decision about our
properly. assignment.
2 4 6
Proof of I read the I understood the I understood the
Information assigned assigned reading, assigned reading
Literacy reading, but did but I did not and understood
not try find any understand how to how to find relevant
outside sources find relevant outside sources.
to help with the outside sources.
project.
A= 45-50 points
B= 40-44 points
C= 35-39 points
D= 30-34 points
F= 29 points and under

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Individual Rubric
Student Peer Evaluation
1 2 3
Research You sat and did You participated You participated in
not participate in the group the group research
in the group research, but did and found relevant
research. not contribute and creative
anything relevant. information.
1 2 3
Participation You did not You did You participated
participate in participate in relevantly in both
the group work either the group the group and class
or the class or class discussions.
discussion. discussions.
1 2 4
Group You did not say You did not try to You showed
Cooperation anything unless work well with leadership by
it was to disrupt the rest of the listening to
the group from group. You everyone and also
working worked, but you getting others to
efficiently. also tried to take listen to you.
over.
1 2 3
Presentation You did not say You read what You spoke about
anything when someone else the bill and your
the group wrote for you research showing
presented its during the group the rest of the class
bill. presentation. that you did your
part of the work
and you understood
the assignment.
A= 23-25 points
B= 20-22 points
C= 17-19 points
D= 15-16 points
F= 14 points and under