Goal-directed Instructional Design Plan – Branches of Government and Personal Impact

Author - Jeffrey Fisher

1.) A problem or a need:

a. The major concern for our young Americans is the ability to have a job after achieving a post-secondary

education degree or a vocational training certificate. They often feel like state and federal governments have

left them behind and aren’t doing enough for their cause. With all the blame pointing at government

officials, do the people pointing the fingers know much about the structure of the federal government?

2.) A real-world performance:

a. Each and every American should know what role the government plays in our lives. If anything, they should

have a basic understanding of what each branch of government does. If you are an American citizen, it is

your duty to know the basic structure of the federal government.

3.) An instructional objective – Students will: a. Diagram a KWL Chart of what they already know, what they want to know, and then eventually what they

learned about the three branches of government

b. Diagram the significance and illustrate real-life impacts of the Executive Branch

c. Diagram the significance and illustrate real-life impacts of the Legislative Branch

d. Diagram the significance and illustrate real-life impacts of the Judicial Branch

4.) A set of essential content:

a. Students will fill out an interactive KWL chart with the topic being the Three Branches of Government.

Students will then take a screen shot or save their file of their KWL chart and place it into the Google Doc.

b. By watching the video “Three Branches Rap – Smart Songs,” students will be required to provide a basic

definition outlining the purpose for each of the branches of the government.

c. From that definition, they are to use a drawing web tool to make a visual for their definition.

i. Picture Web Tools: Microsoft Paint, Sumo Paint, Foto Flexer, Microsoft Word… etc.

d. By creating a video with a microphone, the students will answer, “Why is the ____ Branch so important to

my life?” One video for each branch will be sufficient. The video cannot last more than 2 minutes. The

video is open-ended and the students can create it as they want as long as they answer the focus question.

The end result can be placed into Voice Thread or Animoto or Microsoft Movie Maker. Students will post

the link into Google Doc.

e. All of this will be placed into a Google Doc which will be accessible to all students for viewing and

commenting.

5.) An evaluation consisting of a test or observation:

a. One of the assessments will be the Google Doc included above that displays the KWL chart, the pictures of

their definitions, and the personal impact of each branch. How they go about finalizing their product will

show the teacher how much needs to be taught in the upcoming class discussion and in the notes that break

down each branch into more specific details.

b. Each student will also be given time to discuss what they learned about each branch of the government in an

open class forum.

c. A final assessment will consist of a unit/chapter test/quiz at the end of the unit.

6.) A method to help participants learn:

a. The teacher will provide a sample of what is expected from each student in a .pdf format.

b. The follow up discussion will help students figure out if what they wrote in their paper is accurate. They can

also change some of their answers or adjust their answers as they hear others talk and discuss their topics.

c. Students are always allowed to collaborate with one another in the teacher’s classroom about ideas,

concepts, and “how to” guides.

7.) Motivation:

a. Meaningfulness:

i. Plain and simple, the lesson provides types of activities that the students love. For example,

providing them a rap song to learn from and finalizing their product in a video with a voice over are

things that they love doing. Although the teacher will hear some complaining, the overall

satisfaction will be wonderful.

ii. The topic and the vocabulary used are also things that they have probably heard before in their

educational career, but haven’t really investigated enough to know too much more about it. It is also

something that they hear about all the time in current media and news. So, there will be some

previous curiosity in this area.

b. Pleasant consequences:

i. After finalizing the product, the students will be able to show the videos that they created for the

assignment. They will be able to take pride in the work that they created. Some of the students will

realize that their work was better than some and will want to continue to push their level/quality of

work. Other students will realize that they are still learning about video production and will want to

strive to make their assignments better in the future when showing them to students.

c. Novelty:

i. Whenever I have shown videos of student-created work in the classroom, everyone is always curious

how their assignment compares to the rest and how the other students’ projects look. This part of the

assignment, the part where the students show their videos, will add much needed humor to this

lesson. I let the students have complete creativity and stress humor on assignments like this and the

outcome is extraordinary. Stressed throughout the year is the idea that “if they are laughing, they are

paying attention.” Making sure to tell the students we will be displaying these for the class and for

other classes encourages them to create a solid piece of work.

8.) Socialization:

a. Students will be asked, and already know, to help out others around them. Students will also be discussing

in class what they learned. They will also be showing their finalized product and no one wants to make the

“worst” project. In a sense, the teacher needs to create an environment that encourages discussion and that

encourages students to ask questions.

9.) Audience:

a. Age:

i. The age of the students will be 10th

/11th

grade United States Government students.

b. Skill level:

i. These students are students that I have had now for three years. They have also had multiple

Microsoft Office classes. Therefore, their knowledge and teacher expectations of the assignment are

high. They already know how to use Google Docs, and to save/edit the KWL chart. The only things

that I would have to teach them to go are the video tools, for which I would provide my own

knowledge and “how to” videos.

c. Prerequisite knowledge:

1. Students will have basic background knowledge of government. Ideas such as what is

government, and what is the purpose and role of the government, have been discussed. This

lesson would take place toward the beginning of the first quarter of the class, so their overall

knowledge of government is limited. However, I believe with this group of kids, the amount

of government information that I have taught them in previous classes (US History and

World History) will at least give them a head start.

10.) Technology Needs: a. Internet

b. Computer Lab (1/2-60 minute class periods)

c. Google Docs

d. YouTube Video

e. Cloud program (I-Drive)

f. KWL Chart