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John Stossel Lesson Plans and Worksheets

John Stossel Lesson Plans and Worksheets

John Stossel Lesson Plans and Worksheets

I would often use John Stossel Lesson Plans and Worksheets in my government class as he highlights different aspects of government and highlights what the role of the government in society and economy should or should not be. These came as videos on a DVD but now can be found in YouTube or his site below.

You can find and order his videos off his website here: http://stosselintheclassroom.org/

I’ve also included some of his video guides below.

John Stossel Teacher Guide 2012

John Stossel Tacher Guide 2011

John Stossel Teacher Guide 2009

John Stossel Teacher Guide 2008

John Stossel Teacher Guide 2007

John Stossel Teacher Guide Best of

One of my favorite videos was Greed. Particularly, when discussing the role of the economy.

John Stossel Greed Lesson Plan

The video comes in 6 parts below. I’ve added it as a playlist on YouTube

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Archeology Lesson Plans

archeology-lesson-plans

Archeology Lesson Plans

While I never had an opportunity to conduct a unit of Archeology Lesson Plans or a stimulated dig, I did have some notes and worksheets related to it. I figured this would be a 3-5 day unit.

Day 1: Archeology Lesson Plans
Discussion of what Archeology is and isnt
Why it is important
What skills or knowledge is needed
Learn about scientific method/forming hypothesis and how it may apply to Archeology
Maybe have students do a reading on a famous archeologist (or provide short snippets/bios from famous ones). Probably want to select a diverse group (male, female, minority, etc). Then discuss and share it.
Possible career research to being an Archeologist?

Day 2: Archeology Lesson Plans
Discussion of techniques (probably pick 5 techniques that are the most common)
What to do/What not to do
Maybe a video showing the techniques
Students then practice techniques
Students then critique each other

Day 3: Archeology Lesson Plans
Prep 5-10 different archeology topics: Mayans, Aztec, Roman, Greek, Indian, China, 1800s, 1900s, Egyptian, Viking, etc. Pick a variety of topics and have students research the life of a commoner and rich person.
Students should focus on
Food, clothing, physical objects, religious symbols, etc,
Students should complete some sort of chart that gives facts/info on different aspects of a common/rich persons life in each of the above topics
You may need to prep this on the internet and have students visit a website to learn more about daily life

Day 4:Archeology Lesson Plans
Continue research

Day 5-6:Archeology Lesson Plans
Simulated Dig
Depending how you want to organize students may select a box or students may be randomly assigned a box.
Students then use the techniques they learned about to analyze a shoebox and dig it.
Students complete a recording sheet where they describe what they found, where they found, the number of the object, and the measurements of the object.

There are several ways to present the dig. You could do the shoebox and put sand and objects in it. You could buy large tots or bins and fill it with sand and then put objects in it to make it a larger area. You could dig into the school yard property and place items. Obviously, if you have more classes it will take much longer to prep all the “digs”.

You would obviously need to purchase items related to the different topics/cultures. Items that students could find in a dig such as bones, skulls, jewelry, clothing etc. may be purchased cheap around halloween/dollar store. Shoe boxes can be gotten from a shoe store (ask the manager), trowels, measuring tape (probably a fabric one) and other digging items may be purchased from Lowes/Home Depot, the dollar store, Goodwill etc.

Day 7-8:  Archeology Lesson Plans
Students create a report on what they found and their hypothesis of the culture/kind of person.
Students present findings
Teacher shares answers

Day 9-10: Archeology Lesson Plans
Students watch a hollywood film and compare and contrast real-life Archeology to how it is portrayed on the screen. Students complete a worksheet on the film and then compare and contrast.

Here is an outline of some sources that I found to be helpful in sketching out my Archeology Lesson Plan idea.

Archeology Lesson Plan Outline
Basic Stimulated Dig
Shoe Box Dig
Schoolyard Dig
Sample Recording Sheet
What students need to know briefing
Layer Cake Archaeology

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Servo Motors

Servo Motors

Setup your breadboard and Arduino using the image below:

Servo Motor Image

Once your image is setup, use the code below to control the Servo

Servo Motor Code

Stuck on Servo Motor? Try this site here: Servo Motor Tutorial

Servo Questions
1 What real-world things use a Servo Motor? Come-up with 3 examples.

2 What could you create with a Servo Motor? How about two Servo Motors?

Servo Challenges:
1 Try to make the Servo Motor go 300 degrees.

2 Try to make the Servo Motor go 90 degrees

3 Try to make the Servo Motor go x degrees (your choice)

4 What happens if you make the Servo Motor go 460 degrees?
HINT: You may need to delete a For() function.

5 Ask for another Servo Motor and try to get two Servo Motors to work at the sametime. What would you need to add? What would your code look like?

6 As a challenge try adding a Potentiometer Knob here to control the location of the Servo Motor. Use the link below.

Potentiometer Knob and Servo Motor

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Arduino Piezo Buzzer Project

Arduino Piezo Buzzer Project

You will need 4 wires and a Piezo buzzer.

Connect the wires as shown to complete a circuit with the Piezo buzzer.

Peiz Arduino Setup

The negative wire should go to the digital ground pin while the positive wire should go to digital pin number 8 and positive should be in ground. If that does not work, place the positive wire in the 5v power pin.
Peizo Digital Pins

To code the Piezo buzzer you will need to create a tab or file that your main Arduino code can access. You should call this new tab pitches.h

To create a new tab click on the arrow located all the way to the right and select New Tab.

New Arduino Tab

Name this tab pitches.h and insert the new code. Use the code located here to cut and paste into a pitches.h tab

Arduino Notes

Then select the your original sketch (also known as your code) and insert the following code by cutting and pasting it.

Melody for Arduino 

Code Challenges:

  1. Figure out how to place the melody on a loop
  2. Figure out how to change the melody notes
  3. Figure out how to change the kind of notes
  4. Figure out how to adjust the delay between each note.
  5. Can you play a recognizable tune? (Note: delete everything in your pitches.h file and insert all the following code into the Arduino Main sketch). You do not need any resistors and make sure your positive wire is in pin 13 and your negative wire is in pin 3.


The Code for a Recognizable Tune

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Lesson Plans World History II 16b Developed and Developing Countries

Lesson Plans World History II 16b Developed and Developing Countries

Standards: The student will demonstrate knowledge of cultural, economic, and social conditions in developed and developing nations of the contemporary world by

Objectives: assessing the impact of economic development and global population growth on the environment and society, including an understanding of the links between economic and political freedom.

Lesson Plans: Introduction: A Bell-ringer activity
Notes: Students copy-down and discuss teacher generated notes
Activities: Students complete various in class activities to support learning including video analysis, maps, charts, diagrams, graphic organizers, worksheets, text-book questions, group discussion, KWL Charts etc.
Assessment: Informal, Formal, Exit-Questions, Teacher Questioning. Quizzes, Tests, Projects.

Essential Knowledge:

Contrasts between developed and developing nations
• Geographic locations of major developed and developing countries
• Economic conditions
• Social conditions (literacy, access to health care)
• Population size and rate of growth
Factors affecting environment and society
• Economic development
• Rapid population growth
Environmental challenges
• Pollution
• Loss of habitat
• Global climate change
Social challenges
• Poverty
• Poor health
• Illiteracy
• Famine
• Migration
Relationship between economic and political freedom
• Free market economies produce rising standards
of living and an expanding middle class, which produces growing demands for political freedoms and individual rights. Recent examples include Taiwan and South Korea.

Activities that support lesson plans:

See Teachers Pay Teachers

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Lesson Plans World History II SOL 14a

Lesson Plans World History II SOL 14a: Indian Independence and Gandhi

Standard WH II:
The student will demonstrate knowledge of political, economic, social, and cultural aspects of independence movements and development efforts by

Objectives: Describing the struggles for self-rule, including Gandhi’s leadership in India and the development of India’s democracy.

Lesson Plans:
Introduction: A Bell-ringer activity
Notes: Students copy-down and discuss teacher generated notes
Activities: Students complete various in class activities to support learning including video analysis, maps, charts, diagrams, graphic organizers, worksheets, text-book questions, group discussion, KWL Charts etc.
Assessment: Informal, Formal, Exit-Questions, Teacher Questioning. Quizzes, Tests, Projects.

Essential Knowledge:
Regional setting for the Indian independence movement
• Indian sub-continent
• British India
• India
• Pakistan (formerly West Pakistan)
• Bangladesh (formerly East Pakistan)
• Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon)
Evolution of the Indian independence movement
• British rule in India
• Indian National Congress
• Leadership of Mohandas Gandhi
• Role of civil disobedience and passive resistance
• Political division along Hindu-Muslim lines — Pakistan/India
• Republic of India
– World’s largest democratic nation
– Federal system, giving many powers to the states Indian democracy
• Jawaharlal Nehru, a close associate of Gandhi, supported western-style industrialization.
• 1950 Constitution sought to prohibit caste discrimination.
• Ethnic and religious differences caused problems in the development of India as a democratic nation.
• New economic development has helped to ease financial problems of the nation.

Activities that Support Lesson Plans

Premium Lesson Plan Gandhi Film:  5 Day unit that accompanies the 1982 film Gandhi

India Independence readings and map analysis: On Teachers Pay Teachers

Gandhi Biography Video Questions: Video Viewing Guide. Students answer questions.

Excerpts from Hind Swaraj: Students read quotes and answer questions.

Gandhi non-violence response scenarios: Students respond to scenarios using non-violent techniques.

Creation of India and Pakistan Reading: A reading on the creation of Pakistan and India

Gandhi Biography Reading: A biography reading on Gandhi. Students answer questions.

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Lesson Plans World History II SOL 13d

Lesson Plans World History II SOL 13d: Cold War People

Standard WH II: The student will demonstrate knowledge of major events in the second half of the twentieth century by

Objectives: describing major contributions of selected world leaders in the second half of the twentieth century, including Indira Gandhi, Margaret Thatcher, Mikhail Gorbachev, and Deng Xiaoping.

Lesson Plans:
Introduction: A Bell-ringer activity
Notes: Students copy-down and discuss teacher generated notes
Activities: Students complete various in class activities to support learning including video analysis, maps, charts, diagrams, graphic organizers, worksheets, text-book questions, group discussion, KWL Charts etc.
Assessment: Informal, Formal, Exit-Questions, Teacher Questioning. Quizzes, Tests, Projects.

Essential Knowledge
Indira Gandhi
• Closer relationship between India and the Soviet Union during the Cold War
• Developed nuclear program
Margaret Thatcher
• British prime minister
• Free trade and less government regulation of business
• Close relationship with United States and U.S. foreign policy
• Assertion of United Kingdom’s military power
Mikhail Gorbachev
• Glasnost and perestroika
• Fall of the Berlin Wall
• Last president of Soviet Union
Deng Xiaoping
• Reformed Communist China’s economy to a market economy leading to rapid economic growth
• Continued communist control of government

Activities that Support Lesson Plans

Cold War Match: Lesson Plan from Teacher Pay Teachers

Indira Gandhi Biography Reading: Student reading on biography. Students answer questions.

Ronald Reagan and End of the Cold War: Lesson Plan for use with video below.

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Lesson Plans World History II SOL 13c

Lesson Plans World History II SOL 13c: China and Vietnam

Standard WH II: The student will demonstrate knowledge of major events in the second half of the twentieth century by

Objectives: describing conflicts and revolutionary movements in eastern Asia, including those in China and Vietnam, and their major leaders, i.e., Mao Tse-tung (Zedong), Chiang Kai-shek, and Ho Chi Minh.

Lesson Plans:
Introduction: A Bell-ringer activity
Notes: Students copy-down and discuss teacher generated notes
Activities: Students complete various in class activities to support learning including video analysis, maps, charts, diagrams, graphic organizers, worksheets, text-book questions, group discussion, KWL Charts etc.
Assessment: Informal, Formal, Exit-Questions, Teacher Questioning. Quizzes, Tests, Projects.

Essential Knowledge:
Terms to know
• containment: A policy for preventing the expansion of communism

Conflicts and revolutionary movements in China
• Division of China into two nations at the end of the Chinese civil war
• Chiang Kai-shek (Jiang Jieshi): Nationalist China (island of Taiwan)
• Mao Tse-tung (Mao Zedong): Communist China (mainland China)
• Continuing conflict between the two Chinas
• Communist China’s participation in Korean War

Conflicts and revolutionary movements in Vietnam
• Role of French Imperialism
• Leadership of Ho Chi Minh
• Vietnam as a divided nation
• Influence of policy of containment
• The United States and the Vietnam War
• Vietnam as a reunited communist country today

Activities that Support Lesson Plans

To Live China Lesson Plan: Lesson Based on the movie “To Live”.

To Live Lesson Plan Type 2 : Another Lesson based on the move “To Live”.

Mao Zedong Document readings worksheet: A worksheet where students analyze documents and answer questions.

Mao Zedong Biography Questions: Questions related to the biography on Mao Zedong: China’s Peasant Emperor.

 

Mao Zedong Hero or Villain Handout: Student handout where they analyze Mao’s quotes, complete a chart, and answer questions.

Chiang Kai-shek Short Biography Reading: Biography reading on Chiang Kai-Shek.

Vietnam War Reading Analysis: A student reading of primary sources (interviews) of those involved in the Vietnam War. Student complete a chart and answer questions.

Vietnam War Schlessinger Video: A video question guide to go with the Vietnam War as produced by Schlessinger.

Vietnam War Questionnaire Assignment: Student interview sheet where they select someone who involved in the Vietnam war and interview them.

Vietnam War Questionnaire Assignment PowerPoint: Teacher-led PowerPoint where the class analyzes their responses.

Vietnam Event Timeline: Timeline activity where students answer questions from the textbook.

How did the US Get involved in Vietnam readings: A reading on how the US got involved.

Vietnam US Involvement Reading: Another reading on how the US got involved in the Vietnam War.

 

 

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Lesson Plans World History II 13a Collapse of Communism

Lesson Plans World History II 13a: Collapse of Communism

Standard WH II: Lesson Plans World History II 13a-The student will demonstrate knowledge of major events in the second half of the twentieth century by

Objectives: Explaining key events of the Cold War, including the competition between the American and Soviet economic and political systems and the causes of the collapse of communism in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.
Note: I tend to break SOL 13a into two parts. One part is on the causes of the Cold War. The other is on the causes of the Cold War ending.

Lesson Plans
Introduction: A Bell-ringer activity
Notes: Students copy-down and discuss teacher generated notes
Activities: Students complete various in class activities to support learning including video analysis, maps, charts, diagrams, graphic organizers, worksheets, text-book questions, group discussion, KWL Charts etc.
Assessment: Informal, Formal, Exit-Questions, Teacher Questioning. Quizzes, Tests, Projects.

Essential Knowledge:
Collapse of communism in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe
• Soviet economic collapse
• Nationalism in Warsaw Pact countries
• Tearing down of Berlin Wall
• Breakup of the Soviet Union
• Expansion of NATO

Activities that Support Lesson Plans:

Lesson Plans World History II 13a-To analyze the collapse of Communism I put students into groups. They analyze the documents below and complete the questions. Students rotate around to different stations, analyze the documents, and complete the questions.

Premium Lesson Plans- What Killed the Cold War: A Reading and Map Analysis Worksheet.

Blue Jeans and Rock and Roll Reading: A reading on Blue Jeans, Rock and Roll and the desire for consumer goods led to the collapse of communism.

Nine Days The Pope John Paul II visits Poland Reading: A reading on Pope John Paul II’s visit to Poland.

Solidarity Movement in Poland Reading: Student reading on Solidarity

Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan Reading: Student reading on Russian invasion of Afghanistan.

Gorbachev Biography Reading: Student Reading on Gorbachev. Touches on glasnost and perestroika.

Cold War Ending Document Analysis: Student handout with questions.

Communism and Toilet Paper: Student reading on Communism, Long Lines, and Toilet Paper.

 

Collapse of the Soviet Union Readings Worksheet Cartoons: An analysis of communism’s collapse using cartoons.

Ronald Reagan: Below are some lesson plans I have used in the past regarding Ronald Reagan’s role:
Did Ronald Reagan End the Cold War? Inquiry Activity: One type that focuses on Ronald Reagan.

Did Ronald Reagan End the Cold War? Inquiry Activity: Second type that focuses on Ronald Reagan.

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Lesson Plans World History II 13a

Lesson Plans World History II 13a: Beginning of the Cold War

Standard WH II: The student will demonstrate knowledge of major events in the second half of the twentieth century by

Objectives: Explaining key events of the Cold War, including the competition between the American and Soviet economic and political systems and the causes of the collapse of communism in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.
Note: I tend to break SOL 13a into two parts. One part is on the causes of the Cold War. The other is on the causes of the Cold War ending.

Lesson Plans
Introduction: A Bell-ringer activity
Notes: Students copy-down and discuss teacher generated notes
Activities: Students complete various in class activities to support learning including video analysis, maps, charts, diagrams, graphic organizers, worksheets, text-book questions, group discussion, KWL Charts etc.
Assessment: Informal, Formal, Exit-Questions, Teacher Questioning. Quizzes, Tests, Projects.

Essential Knowledge:

Beginning of the Cold War (1945– 1948)
• The Yalta Conference and the Soviet control of Eastern Europe
• Rivalry between the United States and the U.S.S.R.
• Democracy and the free enterprise system vs. dictatorship and communism
• President Truman and the Policy of Containment
• Eastern Europe: Soviet satellite nations, the Iron Curtain

Activities that Support Lesson Plans

Communism vs Capitalism Analysis: Students may read a comparison between Communism and Capitalism and then answer questions.

What Caused the Cold War Inquiry Method: A set of 12 documents. I normally assign students to a group and then using a carousal format, rotate around the room stopping at each station and completing the questions.

What Caused the Cold War Type 2 Data Set Analysis: Student worksheet with questions.

What Caused the Cold War PowerPoint: Introduction PowerPoint, complete with answers.