Sample Lesson Materials

8th Grade Social Studies: Development of Political Parties

Lesson Basics

Grade Level: 8th Grade

Content Area: Social Studies

Lesson Title: Development of Political Parties

Learning Objective: Understand how the conflicts between Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton resulted In the emergence of two political parties (e.g., economic policy, National Bank, funding, and assumption of the revolutionary debt). 

Instructional Video

I use Screencastify to make my videos and really like the editor feature to make changes after the recording is completed. 

I include images to support the text and keep the text to a minimum on the screen so the students will listen to what I am saying versus just copying the words. 

I do include captions for all my students, so they can make sure they are spelling words correctly or in case my voice is difficult to hear.

Guided Notes

With every instructional video, students complete guided notes. These notes are set up to make sure that the students are listening, which is why the notes only have parts of the info for the students to add to. I include the pictures from the slides to help with understanding and following along.

Practice Work

Since their guided notes included the major differences between the two parties, I wanted my students to apply their newly gained knowledge. 

I increase the rigor of the content/skill by creating practice tasks that require my students to use higher levels of Bloom’s or DOK.

Mastery Check

The most important information to include in the skill check is the differences between the two parties. The differences had a major effect on the development of the Civil War.

Students complete Skill Checks (Mastery Checks) in a specified seat in the back of the room. 

Progress Trackers

I created three progress trackers for my classroom:

The above link is the one posted in Google Classroom for my students to access all the tasks. I provide hard copies as well. 

The game board to the left is also printed so the students can cross off their completed tasks.