Need help choosing a topic for an american history model lesson plan, pls help!!!?

Question

I need help choosing a topic for a model lesson I have to give on american history for 8th grade-it can be anywhere from after the civil war to the present. please help!! any and all ideas are welcomed!!! The school is also very in to practical application in to today's world so i was thinking black rights and follow it through till obama or the impact of the invention of cars, other ideas were: characters of the 1920s, s/t w/ communism/mccarthy, PLS HELP I KNOW YOU ALL HAVE AWESOME IDEAS!!!!!!!!!!

Answer 1

your best bet would be to start with the civil war and use a day or two to talk on it and give a summary. then give an interactive project that would be due by that Friday and on that Friday get a film that discusses the civil war and its impact on minorities and not just blacks. that will get the other minorities interested as well. after the film then you can bring in obama but start off with great African American leaders. Martin Luther King Jr. to Obama as a nominee. I have found that that interest children the most. Then you could show the economic system and how it has changed since then.(children love money and it will get them thinking) you could discuss constitution changes and why they happened. The democratic process. religion is a little touchy so you might not want to go there, or you could talk about the growth of religious groups as well as cults. I strongly believe in the one day lecture then project and movie to rap it up.

Answer 2

It sounds like you have a good idea, so I recommend going with what you already stated.  

Try to avoid lecturing for too long: puts kids to sleep, real quick.  Give them the information/vocabulary they need to know, then make sure you incorporate some kind of student centered learning activity.  

Four Corners is great: post 4 questions pertaining to your topic in the 4 corner of your classroom.  Read the questions aloud to the class, then direct them to choose a question and go stand near it.  Give them 30 seconds to think about it, then 30 seconds to turn to their neighbor and discuss their answers.  Any longer and the kids start chatting about something else.  Try to make the questions as high level as you can.  

Follow ups include: writing a response to 1 of the 4 questions, (paragraph to full page answer), having the students write the OPPOSITE of the question and try to defend it, et cetera.  Do your best and good luck!

Answer 3

My personal favorite would be the Civil War but what are you interested and passionate about? Take a subject you are passionate about and expand on it but, do not just stand in front of the classroom and lecture.  

Look for Document Based Questions (Personal favorite) because they get the students involved...maybe show a portion of a movie on the time and have a discussion...did this with Band of Brothers with the liberation of the death camps or come up with role plays for the time period... Lots to do and have fun with and learn at the same time... Good Luck.

Answer 4

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