Lesson on the Articles of Confederation

Teacher Josh Sterenberg

Date __November 5, 2018 Subject/ Topic/ Theme The Articles of Confederation: an introduction
Grade_8th_____________

I. Objectives
How does this lesson connect to the unit plan?
The students have been learning about the Revolutionary War, which focused mainly on the battles, important documents and military strategies involved in the
conflict up until the Paris Treaty signed. This lesson aims to give an overview of the Articles of Confederation and its policies, which were comprised during the
Revolutionary War.

cognitive- physical socio-

Learners will be able to: R U Ap An E C* development emotional
 Understand the reasons for creating the Articles of Confederation. Understand
 Analyze the Articles of Confederation document focusing on the State and National Powers. Analyze X
 Evaluate the State and National Powers.

Evaluate

Common Core standards (or GLCEs if not available in Common Core) addressed:

- U3.3.1 Explain the reasons for the adoption and subsequent failure of the Articles of Confederation.

(Note: Write as many as needed. Indicate taxonomy levels and connections to applicable national or state standards. If an objective applies to particular learners
write the name(s) of the learner(s) to whom it applies.)
*remember, understand, apply, analyze, evaluate, create

II. Before you start

Identify prerequisite Students need to know that the colonies were fighting together as independent colonies in more of an
knowledge and skills. accepted agreement. There was no government structure in place that secured the “agreement”.

Pre-assessment (for learning):

Formative (for learning):

Ask the students to discuss what they think “confederation” means with their partner. Walk around
and listen to their conversation and then come together as a class to talk about it.

Formative (as learning):

Outline assessment
activities As the students are working on their graphic organizers the teacher should walk around and answer
(applicable to this lesson) questions while checking the answers to the graphic organizers.

Summative (of learning):

On a piece of paper have the students individually write their answer to the question, “Why might the
colonies fear a National government, especially one that is too powerful”? Have them hand in their
answers at the end of class.

Provide Multiple Means of Provide Multiple Means of Provide Multiple Means of Action
Engagement Representation and Expression

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 Provide options for self-regulation- Provide options for Provide options for executive
expectations, personal skills and comprehension- activate, apply & functions- coordinate short & long-
strategies, self-assessment & highlight term goals, monitor progress, and
reflection modify strategies
The information from the
Some students may want to work lecture can and should be Short-term: The students will be
alone and that’s ok. If there’s an able to connect the Revolutionary
applied to the student-friendly
odd number, then a group of 3 can War with the need for the Articles
be formed.
version of the Articles of of Confederation.
Confederation.
Long-term: Students will practice
Students will highlight the state document analyzation and
and national powers in the collaboration with partners
Articles of Confederation and
What barriers might this list them on their graphic
lesson present? organizers

What will it take – Provide options for sustaining Provide options for language, Provide options for expression and
neurodevelopmentally, effort and persistence- optimize mathematical expressions, and communication- increase medium
experientially, challenge, collaboration, mastery- symbols- clarify & connect of expression
emotionally, etc., for your oriented feedback language
students to do this lesson? The students will have the
Students will be working in The graphical organizers help lecture to listen to, presentation
partners which should help keep the list and clarify the information to look at, The student-friendly
students responsible for for the students. version of the Articles of
contributing.
Confederation.
Provide options for recruiting Provide options for perception- Provide options for physical action-
interest- choice, relevance, value, making information perceptible increase options for interaction
authenticity, minimize threats
The students can discuss and Option: Give the students a
The students have the choice to listen to the teacher presenting couple of minutes to walk
participate in class discussion or the information. around and discuss the strengths
just listen to what is being and weaknesses they found or
discussed. anything that stood out to them.
- Printed off copies of the Articles of Confederation graphic organizer w/ the student friendly
Materials-what materials version of the Articles of Confederation.
(books, handouts, etc) do - Projector/Whiteboard
you need for this lesson
and are they ready to use?

How will your classroom 3 columns of desks facing the front containing 5 rows with 2 desks per row. There are gaps in the
be set up for this lesson? middle for walking space. Classroom setup must be applicable to partner work.

III. The Plan

Describe teacher activities AND student activities
Time: for each component of the lesson. Include important higher order thinking questions and/or
(5 prompts.
Components
0
m
)
Motivation Short Lecture:
(opening/
introduction/ Review the historical context behind the creation
13 m engagement) of the Articles of Confederation.

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 - America was still at War, however people The teacher might want to ask, “why
began to understand that there was a need would they want to create a government
for a government structure to make during the Revolutionary War?”
decisions pertaining to the American
Revolution. Students are encouraged to take notes
- Benjamin Franklin was one of the people while they listen and ask questions.
who began to understand the need for a
government structure and wrote up a draft
which the Articles of Confederation were
based upon.
- In 1777 the Continental Congress
completed the Articles of Confederation
which became the first constitution for
America. (Important to note that the
Articles of Confederation were not
ratified by all states until 1781).

Developmen
t Handout the graphical organizer along with the
2m (the largest student-friendly version of the Articles of
component or Confederation.
main body of
the lesson)
Begin by asking the students to discuss what they
think “confederation” means with their partner. Students will discuss, and then have an open
- Confederation: league of independent discussion.
states.
There could be a variety of different answers here.
Explain to the students that the articles in the The important thing the students should take away
30 m Articles of Confederation aim to create a stronger from the meaning of confederation is that it’s aim
Union, which is ultimately the strength of America. was to strengthen America and maintain a union.

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 - Point out the “United we stand…” picture
on the graphical organizer.

Explain to the students that they may work in

partners as they evaluate the Articles of
Confederation and that they should try their best to
find the powers the State and National Students will move to find partners or work alone.
governments have in the Articles of Confederation

- The teacher should walk around the

classroom and answer questions.

Call the students to attention and ask them to share

what they found to be the State Powers and
National Powers in the Articles of Confederation. Students will raise their hands and give their
answers.
On the whiteboard make a list of State powers vs
National Powers. Write down their answers, if
correct, and possibly reword them in order to fit
better with the teacher’s definition. Discussion is
good here and is encouraged, let the explain their
thinking.

Have the students write their answers down on a

sheet of lined paper, which will be turned in at the
5m end of class. The answer should be no shorter than
2-3 sentences. The students will write their answers down and
Closure hand them in at the end of class.
(conclusion, Question:
culmination,
wrap-up) “Why might the colonies fear a National
government, especially one that is too powerful”?

Your reflection about the lesson, including evidence(s) of student learning and engagement, as well as ideas for improvement
for next time. (Write this after teaching the lesson, if you had a chance to teach it. If you did not teach this lesson, focus on the
process of preparing the lesson.)

Looking back at the lesson it seemed there were a lot of questions on the student-friendly Articles of Confederation on what
would be considered a national and state power. I’m glad I went over the answers regarding the state and national powers at
the end of class, else I think the students would have left the room confused. If I ever need to teach this lesson again I would
hand-out the graphical organizers at the beginning of class just so they actually had the Articles of Confederation in their
hands while I lectured on it.

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