Presidential Duties

Name:
Nikander Jonte

Date:
3-2-16

Type of class/grades:
SDC & Resource Government/Econ Freshman
Number of students:
Nine
Unit of Study and Lesson Plan Title:
Unit: Chapter 6 Lesson 3 Duties of the President
CA Standard Covered:
Principles of American Democracy 12.4
Students analyze the unique roles and responsibilities of the three branches of
government as established by the U.S. Constitution.
Objectives:
-To explain the presidents diplomatic duties
-To explain the presidents legislative duties
-To describe ways the president acts as the political party leader
-To name the duties of the president as world leader
-To describe the duties of the vice president
-To describe what happens when the office of president becomes
vacant
Methods to Evaluate Student Learning:
-Students will be asked ongoing comprehension questions vocally.
-Students will answer lesson summary question.
-The following day students will answer Group Task questions about the
lesson.
Concepts:
-Diplomatic duties
-Presidents Legislative duties
-Presidents role as a leader
-Powers of President
-Duties of Vice President
Vocabulary
Participate-to take part in
Diplomat- a person whose work is to manage relations between nations

Legislator-A person who makes or passes laws

Budget- A plan for how money will be taken and spent
Commander- a person who has full control of a group
Vacant- not filled, empty
Assassinate- to kill a politically important person
Materials Needed:
Whiteboard, whiteboard pens, Computer, projector.
Use of Educational and Assistive Technology:
Large print PPT
Learning Modalities:
Visual: Projector, whiteboard.
Auditory: verbal instructions from teacher.
Kinesthetic: writing Group task questions and summary question.
Accommodations/Differentiation for ESL and Students with Special
Needs:
Asking questions that are appropriate and concise for the level of each
student. The lesson will move at a pace that is acceptable for the
students. The teacher will use scaffolding to enhance student
understanding.
Developmental Considerations:
The class is a mixture of SDC and Resource students. The academic
abilities of the students differ greatly. Keeping students engaged by
providing meaningful and interested is a top priority.
Anticipated Problems/Classroom Management:
One student likes to blurt out answers and asks questions that dont
always pertain to the lesson. Redirecting the student and making sure
the lessons stays on track is a method I will use. Another student will
make tapping noises and leave his seat at times throughout class.
Ignoring his behaviors is the strategy I will use to address his
behaviors. If the student starts distracting other students I will redirect
him back to the lesson.
Strategies for Using Support Staff:
There is one student that has a one on one aide and another student
that has two aides. The aides are there to assist their students with
academics and to keep the students behavior on task. During the
Group Task I will ask the aides their thoughts on the questions so that
they feel involved.
Lesson Narrative:

1. Motivation:
Students have wanted to watch an educational rap video about how
the U.S. President is elected. At the start of the lesson I will tell the
students that we can watch the video at the end of class if everyone is
on task.
2. State Objectives and Evaluation to Students
The lesson will begin with the expected outcomes and an overview of
the lesson explained to the students.
3. Teach Concepts & Skills, Inviting Student Participation
Students will be encouraged to answer questions about the lesson
during the period.
A. Demonstration (I DO):
I will directly instruct students on the duties of the U.S. President.
B. Guided Practice (WE DO):
I will use the strategy of a think aloud to generate student ideas about
the ideas of the President as an introduction to the lesson.
C. Independent Practice (YOU DO):
At the end of the lesson students will be asked a summary question.
Students will work independently to answer a question about the
duties of the President.
4. Monitoring:
Throughout the lesson students will be asked questions to check for
student understanding.
5. Closure:
I will quickly review the lesson and thank the students for participation
and engagement.
6. Reflection:
The lesson was successful because the students were engaged in
the lesson the entire time. The students enjoyed learning about the
duties of the President and asked meaningful and thoughtful questions.
At the end of the lesson the students were asked a summary question
about the lesson. An indicator of success was that all of the students
answered the summary question correctly.
The students stayed motivated during the lesson and were
excited to discuss the many duties of the President with the student
teacher. Having an on going discussion with the students was an
effective strategy to keep students engaged. At the start of the lesson

the students were told that they would get to watch a rap video about
the President. This was another effective strategy to generate student
interest and to keep students on task.
The only challenge that happened during this lesson was that
one student had his birthday on the day of the lesson. The student
was excited and wanted to talk all about his day. The class was told
that if they were on task that the lesson would stop early and there
would be a birthday party. Once the excitement settled down the
lesson went well. Managing the initial excitement was the only
challenge.
The lesson went extremely well. It was a fun lesson to teach and
the students enjoyed it. The only thing that would have made the
lesson better would have been more time to present the lesson. Since
the class celebrated one of the students birthdays the lesson was cut
short. Besides the birthday, everything else was great. The students
were engaged, on task, and understood what was being taught.
7. Next Lesson:
The next lesson is going to be reviewing CNN Student News. Relating
this lesson to the current events in the news will be a connection
activity.