Famous African American Research
Created By:
Melissa P. Johnston
Title/Role:
Assistant Professor
Organization/School Name:
University of Kentucky
Location:
Kentucky
Grade Level:
2 Type of Lesson:
Lesson in a unit Type of Schedule:
Flexible Collaboration Continuum:
Intensive Content Area:
Social studies Content Topic:
Social studies unit that covers famous African American historical figures. Scenario:
Second grade teachers and the SLMS work together plan a social studies unit that covers famous African American historical figures. The unit will be used as an opportunity to reinforce some information literacy skills previously taught in the year and to address additional skills with a research process project. Since these students have already completed some minor projects this year, they have previous experience in working with graphic organizers, reading biographies, using the table of contents and index, locating information in encyclopedias and taking notes.The SLMS and the teachers work together to plan out the unit and what role each will play in the teaching and assessment. The teachers and the SLMS work together to create a graphic organizer that the students will use to organize the information they find. Research questions will be developed through a guided brainstorming activity. The SLMS will pull all related materials for this project and house them on a reserve shelf for the students. The SLMS will also create a hotlist of websites for each famous person that students can access at school or at home. The SLMS and teachers work together to create assessment rubrics. Overview:
Students will apply the research process in a major project that involves several lessons.
The students will read about and describe the lives of historical figures and their place in history.
The student can use knowledge of the conventions of language and texts to construct meaning for a range of literary and informational texts for a variety or purposes.
The students will use the writing process to construct meaning and communicate effectively. Final Product:
The project culminates in a final typed essay, a portrait picture of the famous African American, and a presentation to the class of this work. Library Lesson:
Students work with the SLMS in a series of four sessions where students will learn how to (1) develop questions that relate to and are of importance to their topic, (2) select a variety of resources to retrieve relevant information, (3) use a graphic organizer to organize the information collected, and (4) assess information to decide if it meets their needs. Estimated Lesson Time:
120 minutes Have you taught this lesson before:
Yes