The attached unit map deals with the idea of Westward Expansion. The unit first begins with a look at the painting American Progress, created by John Gast, and students getting an idea of who moved west in support of the idea of Manifest Destiny. Each lesson deals with a different portion of those moving west. Lesson 1 deals with the different groups that moved west that are seen in the painting. Lesson 2 deals with the Oregon Trail and learning about what these groups went through on it. Lesson 3 deals with President Andrew Jackson and his policies he created including the Indian Removal Act. Lesson 4 goes more in depth on the Indian Removal Act and the Trail of Tears. The final lesson deals with the Second Great Awakening and the many different beliefs that were created during the movement west. 

Each lesson plan gets students involved  in learning about the subject by either using group work or getting students to be involved in the overall teaching methods. My pedagogy in my 8th grade Social Studies classrooms uses the collaborative learning approach. In using this pedagogy, I allow my students to "learn by approaching working together on activities or learning tasks to ensure everyone in the class participates".  In my lesson one, my students are separated into groups to learn about different groups that moved west. In each group, they learn about the specific group and then act out a brief play about the group they learned about. The second lesson has students assigned into groups to learn about different participants that traveled the Oregon Trail. After as an entire class, we then do a presentation on the Oregon Trail where students get to pick and choose options out loud to get them through the Oregon Trail. Lesson three has students learning about Andrew Jackson and being separated into groups to look at political cartoons and decide whether or not Andrew Jackson is a hero or a villain based on how the cartoon depicts Andrew Jackson. Lesson four has students learning about the Indian Removal Act and as a class, participate in a group activity of a simulation where students walk the Trail of Tears and deal with the harshness of it during the walk and whenever they get to certain checkpoints on the trail. The final lesson gets students to participate in an example of a Dr. Phil show where they play "guests". Each guest is a participant that lived and created new beliefs during the Second Great Awakening. 

According to faculty in the Department of Education at Utrecht University, which can be read here, " Teachers’  common  opinion is that by working in groups students can improve problem-solving and helping skills’". As an 8th Great Social Studies teacher, I have made it my goal each year to get students to collaborate with each other. Going from a teaching perspective that used to just sit behind a computer and lecture to a teacher that promotes group work and collaborative learning, has taught me to keep learning different styles of teaching in the classroom.