American+Gold+Rush


 * Day:** 5
 * Topic:** Westward Expansion: Gold Rush
 * Setting:** Grade: 8th
 * Background Statement:** Throughout this unit students learned about some factors leading to westward expansion, including the Homestead Act, Mormon migration, African American migration (The second Exodus), Military exploration. Students were assigned a reading worksheet providing background information about the California gold rush. The purpose of today’s lesson is to show, through literature, how the Gold Rush is part of that conflict and prosperity that resulted from Westward Expansion.
 * Daily Concepts:** Movement of people and goods; Needs and wants; Geography; Change
 * Generalization Statement:** People had different perspectives of the promises/realities of the Gold Rush.
 * Major Goals: ||  State Standard/Core Curriculum:  ||
 * # 1. To reinforce the idea of Manifest Destiny as it applies to the Gold Rush
 * 1) 2. To make comparisons between the economic, political, and social motives for 19th Century imperialism.
 * 2) 3. To show how the movement of people from one geographic area to another creates both opportunity and conflict.
 * 3) 4. To foster empathy concerning those participating in the Gold Rush. || * NYSED (1999) SS 1,3,4,5 CC: Nationalism, Scarcity, Expansion, Conflict Pg 70-73

Common Core:


 * Draw evidence from informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research (Writing 9)
 * Develop the topic with relevant, well-chosen facts, definitions, concrete details, quotations, or other information and examples (Writing 2b)
 * Use precise language and domain-specific vocabulary to inform about or explain the topic. ||
 * Questions:**
 * 1) 1. What were developments that lead to the migration westward?
 * 2) 2. How did the reality differ from the promises of the gold rush?
 * Objectives:**
 * **Didactic:** Students should be able to list two key figures that are associated with the gold rush.
 * **Reflective:** Students will compare and contrast class notes with Robert Frost’s poem “A Peck of Gold.”
 * **Affective:** Students will be able to assume a point of view of a person affected by the gold rush.

S-**Bell Ringer:** list 3 reasons why people migrated west, 2 people involved in the gold rush, and answer “what is the golden gate” (this will be done as a think, pair, share) T-model reads Robert Frost’s “A Peck of Gold” S-draw a picture in groups of three (six groups total) of assigned lines of the poem S-form a picture book, and present their picture to the class S-craft a “fifty words or less” on a “point of view”
 * Activities:**


 * Materials/Resources:** Robert Frost’s “A Peck of Gold,” computer to project the poem, markers, and paper.
 * Daily Evaluation:** Students will share their “fifty words or less” “point of view” in-class writing assignment.

5.2: Use multiple tools for construction and composition 8.3: Foster collaboration and community. ||
 * UDL:**
 * Instruction || Differentiation ||
 * * S-draw a picture in groups of three (six groups total) of assigned lines of the poem.
 * Drawing and narrative construction (FWOL)
 * Activities are Group Work || 2.3: Support decoding of text.

Follow this link to see how my group incorporated writing to learn strategies into this lesson plan.