WVSU LESSON PLAN FORMAT (Updated 1/13)

Lindsie Nelson
April 23, 2014
Herbert Hoover High School
11
th
grade Law
The First Amendment: Freedom of Speech and Religion
Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Religion
Lesson 2
INSTRUCTIONAL OBJECTIVES/ STUDENT OUTCOMES
1. After given a scenario exemplifying free expression, students will decide if the example shows
someone within their constitutional rights or not, supporting their answer using past
landmark court cases and the constitution to cite evidence.
2. Students will distinguish between appropriate and inappropriate involvement with religion by
the government by applying the Lemon Test to given situations.

WV CSOS
SS.12.C.11 analyze how the freedoms of speech and press in a democratic society enable citizens to
develop informed opinions, express their views, shape public policy and monitor government actions.
SS.12.C.10 analyze the protection of liberties in the Bill of Rights and their expansion through judicial
review and gradual incorporation of those rights by the Fourteenth Amendment.

NATIONAL STANDARDS
Judicial protection of the rights of individuals. Students should be able to
evaluate, take, and defend positions on current issues regarding the judicial
protection of individual rights.

MANAGEMENT FRAMEWORK
Overall Time: 55 minutes
Time Frame: 5 minute introduction of lesson
15 minutes short presentations of webquest decisions and discussion
30 minute power point
5 minute closure

STRATEGIES
Direct Instruction: presenting and structuring
DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION/ ADAPTATIONS/ INTERVENTIONS
Like the last lesson, I will continue using power point to help visual learners and an advanced organizer
to help all the students stay focused. Using the same diagnostic test as before, I will incorporate specific
information for more complex ideas so that the students can internalize it more easily. While the
students work independently I will walk around the room to monitor them. This is important for any
student who does not like to ask questions because I will be able to tell if they are having trouble
without them vocalizing it.

PROCEDURES: Introduction/ Lesson Set
I will use the webquest I left with Mr. Duncan to do with them to introduce my lesson. We will have a
discussion about free expression and how everyone interpreted the scenario I left for them to analyze.
After I have collected everyones written decisions
objective 1
, I will transition into my lesson about free
expression and freedom of religion.
PROCEDURES: Body & Transitions
After answering some questions, I will begin my power point. I will start with how the first Amendment
has been interpreted and applied by congress and the Supreme court. This is where I repeat some
material from Monday to emphasize its importance. I will talk about how times of crisis has historically
led to more limited expression and how, after WW1, those limitations were lessened. Then I will define
the types of speech: libel, obscenity, and symbolic. I will use symbolic speech to transition to freedom of
religion. In this section I will define the free exercise clause and the establishment clause, giving
examples of each. After explaining the three pronged Lemon Test, I will present them with scenarios and
have them orally decide if the government can be involved in the situation.
objective 3

PROCEDURES: Closure
To bring the lesson to a close I will review the main points of my lesson: interpretation of 1
st
amendment
by Supreme Court, types of unprotected speech, and the two religious freedom clauses.
ASSESSMENT: Diagnostic
The diagnostic assessment for this lesson will be the one I used at the beginning of the unit. I will also
use the questions they ask me during the introduction to gauge what I need to focus on more during the
power point. The webquest is also a form of diagnostic assessment since they will be attempting to
apply material we have not directly gone over. Seeing how they interpret freedom of expression on their
own will let me know what I need to clarify for them.

ASSESSMENT: Formative
For this lesson I will use the religious scenario portion of my lesson as a formative assessment. Using a
list of their names, again, I will ask everyone questions during the freedom of speech portion and walk
around the room to monitor attention.
ASSESSMENT: Summative
For this portion of my lessons there will not be a summative assessment until the end of all three
lessons.
MATERIALS
www.zunal.com/webquest.php?w=235489
students will need pen and paper
I will need the computer, smartboard, printed slides, and assignment for students
EXTENDED ACTIVITIES
If Student Finishes Early- There is no independent work in this lesson
If Lesson Finishes Early- We can watch my flipped lesson that corresponds to the 3
rd
lesson.
If Technology Fails- I will have my slide printed as well as the supplemental website. I will continue the
lesson as planned, using the whiteboard to emphasize certain things.


POST-TEACHING
Reflections
Herbert Hoover High School
Mike Kelly
Dennie Duncan
11
th
grade law
April 23, 2014
Planning
There was a lot more material to cover in this lesson than the first one and the whole planning process
helped me hone in on the best way cover the material. For example, if I did not plan I wouldnt have
been able to use my webquest, but since I did I was able to use something more interactive and have
more discussion. Using an interactive tool helped them learn some of the content on their own and let
me see what I needed to focus on more after the discussion. This was one way I planned to challenge my
students to use higher order thinking. They had to understand a scenario, do research, and interpret
that research to make an educated decision on the case. Also, having them discuss their finding
promoted listening skills that are sometimes lost during discussion.
Something I would have changed about this lesson is my timing. I ran out of time with the entire
religious freedom section left to teach. If I would have planned for a longer discussion I would not have
had to rush and get a flipped lesson on religious freedom ready. I also would have taken my time during
my lecture if I had planned to do the last half of my lesson another time. I dont mind all of this though,
because I know we had a great discussion that perfectly fit one of the WV CSOs: analyze the protection
of liberties in the Bill of Rights and their expansion through judicial review and gradual incorporation
of those rights by the Fourteenth Amendment. During the webquest and discussion the class learned
how the protection of civil liberties has been expanded to include unexpected situations because of
judicial review. They also had to consider the 14
th
amendment when discussing state laws concerning
free expression.

Implementation
The lecture and questioning part of my lesson went really well. The students were engaged and
answered my questions eagerly. I was able to answer any questions they had with considerable ease.
There were some points when I directed the question to Mr. Duncan if I was unsure of how to answer it.
I need to work on directing discussion. This group is so talkative, while it is not off topic I still need to
keep them more organized. I could walk around to people more when they start talking over people.
Everything I did with this group of students was appropriate for their age. Having a debate, lecturing,
and asking questions are appropriate for 11
th
graders. However, I planned for too much. Even though
everything flowed pretty well, the discussion went on longer than expected and there were a lot of
questions during my lecture. Since I ran out of time at the end I was not able to give a summary, but I
did end right before my lesson switched to religious freedom, so it made sense. I did not move around
as much as I should. When students asked me questions though, I would move towards them.

Clarity of Presentation
I didnt realize it until I listened to my recording, but I do have an accent. I typically do not finish words
ending in ing, turning them into in words like makin. I had no idea I did this. I also say gonna a
lot. I dont have a problem with volume; I can project my voice very well while not being too loud. A pet
phrase of mine is uh. It usually comes in at the beginning of a new slide or other transitions in my
lecture. I dont think I speak too quickly. I emphasize my words and try to lecture conversationally.
Examples I used were mostly from the text book, so they made sense.

Attention to Individual Differences
In my lesson I used mostly visual and oral means of teaching. The interactive webquest worked for the
students who easily get off task. The advanced organizers I provided for everyone also helped keep
students focused. There is one student in particular who has extreme differences from the rest of the
class. To accommodate her, I made sure there was no homework and I would have made it a point to
get her involved in discussion, but she was not in class.

Student Response
The students and I got along really well. Unlike the class I planned to teach in the beginning, this class
respected me and trusted that I could teach them. In fact, one student who sits in the front of the class
told me at the end of my lesson that this has been the most work they have done and the most they
have learned in this class. Another student, during my first lesson also said that this was the most work
she has done, but I think her statement had a different connotation. I loved how enthusiastic these
students are about the Constitution and leaning about law. They stayed engaged with my lesson
because they genuinely wanted to learn what I was teaching. The only times I lost them was when a
questions was asked and it would spur a discussion between two or three students. I simply used this to
get more responses from those who started talking since I knew they were talking about the material.
These students are very respectful of each other; they all seem to have a really friendly relationship.
Even though some talk while another student is trying to hear an answer to a question, it is not done out
of disrespect. I think they just have a lot of pint up energy mixed with a great knowledge of what we are
talking about and that leads them to unconsciously begin discussing what the other student just asked.
What tells me that they do not mean to be disrespectful is that students who are trying to hear my
answer are not even bothered by the background noise. They are totally focused on me answering their
question. Despite all this, I cant let the students continue to talk over me and other students so I would
stop and say something like student X has asked me this, can you answer that? and almost every time
the students who were talking could give a really good answer.

Planning and Implementing Higher Order Thinking Skills
I provided opportunities for my students to analyze when I asked them to determine the relationships
between congressional acts and the freedom of expression clause. Also, showing how past landmark
court cases can be applied to current events helped them learn how to generalize Supreme Court
decisions. The webquest specifically required them to investigate a case and make a decision on it after
analyzing research. Everything that I taught- civil liberties, freedom of expression, freedom of religion,
naturally involves looking at ethical implications. Questioning supreme court decisions and questioning
government decisions allows students to look considered how ethical they are and how constitutional
they are. I allowed my students to use technology with the webquest.

Assessment
Special Additions: Areas needing improvement
For this lesson my diagnostic assessment was the pre-test I gave to the class before I began teaching.
Also, I used how they did on the webquest to see what areas of the first amendment I needed to focus
on, so that was a diagnostic assessment as well. For formative assessment on this lesson I gave a short
review at the end of the lesson highlighting the most important points. I took up that paper and
determined how well they learned from my lesson. Most of them did very well, missing no more than 1
question. The summative assessment for the lesson will be my post-test. My review showed that almost
the whole class gained mastery on my lessons content. For students who did not seem to understand
the material I will go over specific questions at the beginning of the next lesson.
What I wanted my students to learn from this lesson was to what extent speech is protected by the
constitution and to understand the religious clause of the first amendment (which had to be covered in
my flipped lesson). My students got my lesson on free expression. I know this from how they answered
questions in class the types of questions they asked me and the review I gave at the end of the lesson.
My review didnt require as many higher order thinking skills as it should have, but instead of asking for
definitions of things like libel and youth speech I ask that they make up example of them. I learned that I
need to work on classroom management because I think a lot of students missed my answer to peoples
questions which would have given them clarification as well. I also need to have more examples on hand
of concepts so that I can help my students generalize what I am teaching.

Data Based Decision Making
After trying more discussion time I learned that I need to work on directing the conversation and
managing the time of the discussion. In my last lesson I will not be designating a time for discussion, but
rather letting student questions create short discussions of the material. I will also be compiling more
examples to give to the class about concept. This will be very important for my next lesson because
there are so many scenarios that crime and due process can be applied to. Having a short review quiz at
the end was really helpful for me in this lesson so I will use it again.
From my pre-test I know that my students do not have much background knowledge of my next
lesson (crime and due process). They missed most of the questions on the pre-test pertaining to this
section. So, I will have to spend more time going over the exclusionary clause (no one knew what this
was), and self-incrimination. I think more students will understand the question on the test about self-
incrimination after I discuss Miranda Rights.