Anthony J.

Zarate Grade 5 Social Studies Civil Rights Movement Topic: The Achievement Gap Lesson Plan #3 Objectives: a) SWBAT articulate and understand the achievement gap present in the United States. b) SWBAT analyze a graph to visualize the problem of the achievement gap. Learning Target: I can articulate and understand the achievement gap present in the United States. I can analyze a graph to visualize the problem of the achievement gap. PA Social Studies Standards: 8.3 United States History 8.3.5.A Compare and contrast common characteristics of the social, political, cultural, and economic groups in the United States. 8.3.5.B Illustrate concepts and knowledge of historical documents, artifacts, and places critical to United States history. 8.3.5.D Examine patterns of conflict and cooperation among groups and organizations that impacted the history and development of the United States ethnicity and race. Materials: Powerpoint Guided Notes Sheet will be a print out of the Powerpoint Poster Paper Whiteboard Markers Agenda: Total 80 minutes 1) Review - 5 mins Brainstorm Session - 2 mins Share Out 3 mins 2) Introduce What are statistics: 15 mins 3) Focusing on Statistics: 15 mins 4) The Achievement Gap: 30 mins 5) Solutions Discussion: 15 mins

Classroom Management/Arrangement: Students will be coming in from recess. As they are transitioning to the Civil Rights Movement lesson, many of the students will be coming in and out going to the bathroom and getting a drink of water. My approach to get them settle is by counting down from 10. By the time I hit 0, students should have nothing on their desk except a pencil. They should be tracking me as the teacher and fully silent to hear further directions. The classroom is already arranged into prearranged seating. The seats are set up in a horseshoe with the rows. It is set up like this because the classroom is really small. It promotes discussion format and also allows the class to have their eyes focus on the center whether a student or teacher is talking.

The Plan: 1) Review (5 mins): I want student to recap what happened yesterday with the 50 years after Brown, blacks still lag in education. Much of the discussion that occurred then will be important in todays discussion about the achievement gap. On the board, Im going to display a PowerPoint with everything Ill be doing for class. The first slide will have the words recap. It will ask students to pull on the main themes and ideas from yesterdays discussion. On their worksheets (guided notes), I want them to write down as many ideas as they can in about 2 minutes. Then we will share out the ideas. On the whiteboard, I will quickly jot down these ideas as we will come back to them throughout the lesson. 2) Introduce (What is Statistics?) (15 mins): During mathematics class, students will be or would have learned the general idea of statistics. They also would have been introduced to bar graphs, line graphs, and other ways of analyzing data. The first thing I want students to think about is what are statistics? I will give students about a minute to think about this. Then they will share out what they think. I will also jot their answers on the side of the whiteboard. Afterwards, I want students to think about what statistics say about us/or something. Ill give them another minute and then we will share out answers. I will go through my slides and show them a variety of ways statistics are used, including sports games, temperature, etc. With the article out in front of them, I want students to look through the article (50 years) and tell me what statistics do they see. They will share out the statistics they find. Slides: What are statistics? What do they say about us? Statistics show: o patterns o show the bigger picture o tell a story o they are not rules/laws ; they dont have to be followed. 3) Focus on Statistics (15 mins): 2003 National Assessment of Educational Progress 61 percent of black eighth graders and 52 percent of Hispanic eighth graders scored below basic in math. Only 20 percent of whites are below basic. 46 percent of blacks were below basic skills in reading, 44 percent for Hispanics, only 17 percent for whites. *These are statistics provided on the article yesterday. Ask them questions what do this statistics say? What does this mean? ** Guiding Questions: Think about the difference. Ask what the differential percentage is between Blacks/Hispanics vs. Whites. Exemplar Response/Anticipated Response: Hopefully one of the students or a few of the students will pick up on the large gap between whites and minority students.

***Once this gap has been realized, then I will introduce the terminology achievement gap. I might have to guide the students to this realization, by showing the large percentage differences. I will write them out on the board, so they might be able to see the large difference. 4) The Achievement Gap: Note to the students that this large gap between successful white students vs. minority students is a phenomenon (define word if they dont understand) known as the achievement gap. Let them know it is a widely debated topic for years and is something that is still being talked about in todays conversations. Emphasize how it describes that minority students are not achieving as well as white students in schools based on the nationally norm tests that they take as students. This gap is based on race and income. Make the connection with PSSA. Afterwards, show them several graphs that might help them conceptualize this idea: 1) Graduation Rates

Question: 1) What is the key? 2) What patterns do you notice on this graph? 3) What story is being told here?

2) Income Based

Question:
1) What is the key? 2) What patterns do you notice on this graph? 3) What story is being told here?

3) Race: Black vs. White

Question: 1) What is the key? 2) What patterns do you notice on this graph? 3) What story is being told here?

*EMPHASIZE: Make sure to emphasize that statistics should NOT reinforce stereotypes. They are not RULES and can be changed. **Anticipated Responses: Students may be angry and upset by the statistics. I, as the teacher, need to reinforce that we are just analyzing data first. I will emphasize later in the lesson about solutions what we can do as individuals/teachers, etc. 5) Solutions Discussions (15 minutes): Students will now be divided into groups of four or five to discuss what they saw in the graphs. The overarching question will be: What can they do as students to change this achievement gap? What can teachers do? What are some solutions that we can come up with as a class? I will circulate around the room to answer any questions and to provide support for students who are not quite understanding the graphs. Additionally, I will be around to cater to emotional support from this data. Students will write their solutions on a large paper. It does not have to be neat, we just want as many solutions as possible. They will table this paper and save it for the discussion tomorrow. ** Many students may not finish this, but they will have in tomorrows class to finish up the solutions discussion. They will share out their solutions tomorrow in class.

**Students will save their poster paper on the side of the class. They will pack up their things and be called individually to get their things from the mailbox/get ready for dismissal. NO JOURNAL RESPONSE THEY WILL COMPLETE ONE TOMORROW AFTER THE DISCUSSION HAS OCCURRED ON SOLUTIONS.
*Teaching resources and ideas were pulled from the Teach for America, Teaching Resources on TFAnet.