Standards:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.6-8.1
Cite specific textual evidence to support
analysis of primary and secondary sources.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.6-8.5
Describe how a text presents information
(e.g., sequentially, comparatively, causally).
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.6-8.3
Identify key steps in a text's description of a
process related to history/social studies
(e.g., how a bill becomes law, how interest
rates are raised or lowered).

Knowledge of Students and Context:

The Cultural Studies Theme for 8th Grade
this year is the constitution
Mini Course allow for students to learn
about a specific topic
8th Grade students have just completed a
research paper that requires them to take
a stance on a controversial issue that
relates to their constitutional rights
Creativity and Performance are important
to the curriculum and learning
environment
In classes students learn with the purpose
of relating class content to various
contexts, such as the city of Philadelphia
and our nation

Curriculum Materials:

Smart Board
Overhead Projector
Laptops
Pens
Paper
Texts and Resources on Abortion
Syllabus
Information and Handouts on
Supreme Court Proceedings
Information and Handouts on
Roles
Activity Handout on Argument
formation and Refutation

Teaching Methods:

Teach in ways that works information into
existing mental frameworks (Mac Duis,
Schema Theory)
Through controlled argumentation,
students can broaden their perspectives,
learn material more thoroughly, and
make better decisions (Critical Thinking
Through Controlled Controversy, Johnson
and Johnson)
Cooperative Learning through Peer to
Peer Assessment and Review
Performance Understanding: Learning
activities that allow students to see their
understanding develop in new and
challenging ways (Blythe)

What

Lesson

Why

How

Educational Philosophy and Beliefs

I believe that my role as an educator should be to teach
content in a culturally relevant manor, and to focus on
educating the whole child. Cultural relevance is an
important aspect of my instruction because it helps
students find meaning in what I am teaching them in the
classroom through finding ways that it is connected to the
world around them. In the classroom, I feel it is important
to create a learning environment that fosters more than
just intellectual growth. In the classroom students must
be able to learn and grow as social and emotional beings,
and figure out where their identity places them in the
world we live in.

Theories of Teaching and Learning:

Teaching students content that
is culturally relevant to them
and their background (Delpit)
Teach students so that they
obtain knowledge of the
content rather than knowledge
about the content
(Scardamalia)
A foundation of prior
knowledge and various forms
of retrieval practices can help
students learn more and
remember longer (Brown)
Breadth and Depth in learning
can be created through a
multitude of experiences that
are related to one another, and
through the many kinds of
connections that can be made
across facets of an experience.
(Duckworth)