Focus Plan
Texarkana Independent School District
GRADING PERIOD: / 3rd Six Weeks / PLAN CODE: / SS8.3.3writer: / Ruth Bates / Course/subject: / Social Studies
Grade(s): / 8th / Time allotted for instruction: / 1 – 2 class periods
Title: / Let’s Make a Deal
Lesson TOPIC: / Peer grouping to research and role play major compromises dealing with the U. S. Constitution.
TAKS Objective: / 01: The student will demonstrate an understanding of issues and
events in U. S. history.
FoCUS TEKS and Student Expectation: / 8.4 The student understands significant political and economic issues
of the revolutionary era. The student is expected to:
(D) analyze the issues of the Philadelphia Convention of 1787,
including major compromises and arguments for and against
ratification.
Supporting TEKS and Student Expectations:
Concepts / Enduring Understandings/Generalizations/Principles
The student will understand that
Compare/Contrast / comparing and contrasting provides the ability to identify how issues surrounding the compromises were alike and/or different.
Main Idea / the main idea is the ability to distinguish the general issue (idea) of a compromise from its supporting details.
I. Sequence of Activities (Instructional Strategies)
A. Focus/connections/anticipatory set
Prior to the class period, the teacher will choose two students to role play a
situation where each student has a different opinion on a current issue.*
As the teacher is taking the attendance, the two students will burst into the room talking loudly. The teacher will look startled, but will allow the skit to continue for 2 – 3 minutes.
The teacher will take charge of the situation and ask both students to have a seat.
*The issue should be something that the majority of students share an interest.
It could be sports related, movie or TV, a food, etc.
B. Instructional activities
(demonstrations, lectures, examples, hands-on experiences, role play, active learning experience, art, music, modeling, discussion, reading, listening, viewing, etc.)
1. Objective: Analyze the issues of the Philadelphia Convention of 1787,
including major compromises and arguments for and against
ratification.
2. Procedures: Peer groups will research the issues surrounding major compromises and their affects on the U. S. Constitution.
3. Modeling: The teacher will state, “There are two ingredients in every disagreement:
(1) an issue, which is usually objective and involves principles.
(2) various viewpoints, which are subjective and involve personalities.
Or, simply put a disagreement can be defined as:
A clash over an issue because of opposing points of view.”
“It is not so much one-side-is-right and the-other-side-is-wrong. Both sides have strengths and weaknesses. When the two sides or parties come to realize the matter as I-see-it-from-this-perspective and you-see- it-from-that-perspective then a compromise can be reached.”
“After the delegates to the Convention in Philadelphia had adopted the
rules for ratifying the Constitution, they were given a surprise. Some delegates had opposing points of view on several key issues including representation, branches of government, and how were enslaved person to be counted. Various plans were presented, which resulted in two major compromises. Today we will research and analyze them.”
C. Guided activity or strategy
The teacher will distribute Handout 1 to the students.
The teacher will use an overhead projector to display a transparency of Handout 1.
Handout 1
Major Plans and Compromises
of the
Constitutional Convention
Name of Plan or CompromiseName of delegate making proposal
State delegate represented
Issue
Supporters’ view
(Arguments for)
Opponents’ view
(Arguments against)
Results
Group Leader ______
Other Members of the Group ______
References ______
______
The teacher will state, “Each group will be assigned a specific Plan or Compromise presented at the Constitutional Convention. You will work as a group to research the items listed on Handout 1. Let’s look at the chart.
First, what is the name of the Plan or Compromise?
Is it the New Jersey Plan, the Virginia Plan, Three-Fifths Compromise or the Great Compromise?
Write that information in the right hand column.
Go to the next item listed on the left side in the chart. Which delegate presented or proposed the Plan or Compromise? Write that person’s name in the right had column.
Next, what state did the delegate represent?
Continue researching the other items listed in the chart.
D. Accommodations/modifications
E. Enrichment
II. STUDENT PERFORMANCE
A. Description
Students will work in groups to research one major plan or compromise. The group will
choose a leader representing the delegate who presented the proposal at the Convention. The remainder of the group will be divided into groups of two. One group will be supporters
of the plan/compromise. The other group will be opponents of the plan/compromise. Each group will write a paragraph explaining their position for class presentation.
B. Accommodations/modifications
At least one or two students requiring modifications will be assigned to each group.
C. Enrichment
Students requiring enrichment should serve as group leaders.
iii. Assessment of Activities
A. Description
B. Rubrics/grading criteria
The teacher will use an overhead projector to display a transparency of the Rubric and explain the grading criteria.
Major Plans/Compromises of the 1787 Constitutional Convention
Criteria / ChartPoints Points
Possible Earned / Paragraph
Points Points
Possible Earned / Presentation
Points Points
Possible Earned / Comments
Attempted –
Poorly researched or incomplete / 50 / 50 / 50
Minimal –
Shows limited research, poorly organized and reflects group’s limited understanding of the assignment. / 70 / 70 / 70
Adequate –
Well researched and written with few mechanical errors. / 85 / 85 / 85
Exemplary-
Presentation shows thorough research, is very well organized and contains no mechanical errors / 100 / 100 / 100
C. Accommodations/modifications
D. Enrichment
E. Sample discussion questions
1. What was the purpose of the 1787 Constitutional Convention?
To revise the Articles of Confederation
2. Where was the Convention held? In Philadelphia
3. What is the difference between a Plan and a Compromise.
A Plan is a set of ideas (proposal) that are usually objective and involves principles on a particular issue.
A Compromise is an agreement between two or more sides in which each side
gives up some of what it wants.
IV. TAKS Preparation
A. Transition to TAKS context
Our focus has been to analyze the issues of the Philadelphia Convention of 1787, which
included major compromises and arguments for and against ratification. In doing so we were able to compare and contrast the issues, distinguish the general idea or issue and its effectiveness. Although various viewpoints were expressed, the delegates were able
to resolve the issues with compromises.
B. Sample TAKS Questions
2006 TAKS Question # 26
How did the delegates to the Constitutional Convention settle the issue described above?
A Three-Fifths Compromise
B New Jersey Plan
C Virginia Plan
D Mason-Dixon Line
2006 TAKS Question #29
The diagram above shows the compromise that helped guarantee the ratification of the
U. S. Constitution by –
A providing a plan for representation of both large and small states
B taking power away from the national government
C creating new boundaries for both large and small states
D allowing local governments to determine matters of representation
A is the correct answer to both TAKS Questions.
V. Key Vocabulary
compromise, issue, disagreement
VI. Resources
A. Textbook
The American Republic To 1877, pages 199-204
B. Supplementary materials
Handout 1
Handout 1 Answer Key
Transparency TAKS Sample Questions (2)
Rubrics
Transparency Vocabulary Terms
C. Technology
Overhead projector
VII. follow up activities
(reteaching, cross-curricular support, technology activities, next lesson in sequence, etc.)
VIII. Teacher Notes
¨ Division of Curriculum and Instruction ¨ School Improvement Department ¨ Texarkana Independent School District