Megan Mackey

9/23/2014
EDSE 457
Lesson Plan #1: Developing Vocabulary
Title: Gender and Modern Society
Grade: Eleven
Purpose: To introduce US history students to modern gender roles, how they changed in the late
Cold War Era, and how these roles affected the family structure. This lecture is solely an
introduction into modern society. I will have more detailed lessons later in the unit.
California State Standard 11.11.3: Describe the changing roles of women in society as
reflected in the entry of more women into the labor force and the changing family structure
Common Core Literacy Standard Grades 11/12 #6: Demonstrate understanding of figurative
language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings.
a. Interpret figures of speech in context and analyze their role in the text.
b. Analyze nuances in the meaning of words with similar denotations.
Time: Two 45 minute class periods.
Materials:

PowerPoint presentation
Acrostic poem templates
Worksheets with two fill-in homes on each
Categorization worksheet
Colored pencils/crayons/markers
White board with markers

Access to Background Knowledge: Motivation and Introduction

1. PowerPoint Presentation: see slides; set A (15 minutes)
a. I am going to put three words on slides and ask the students what these words
mean to them: Masculine, Feminine, and Family.
i. I want to introduce the topic through the core words to get a grasp of what
the students know; if they are dont know what masculine or feminine
mean I will change the words to man and woman. Though these words are
not interchangeable, I can use them for the same purpose.
ii. Another reason to start the lesson with these three words is to understand
some of my students core beliefs and values so I can proceed with the rest
of my lecture according to their needs.

b. The next slides will contain pictures: one of a woman cooking and cleaning, one
of a man working, one of a man cleaning, and one of a woman reading
Cosmopolitan Magazine.
i. I will ask what my students think about these pictures; are both these men
masculine or men and are both these women good mothers?
ii. By asking them from visuals I can further understand their core beliefs and
which issue I need to emphasize.
iii. I will also ask if they think these pictures are relevant to the present-day
US or their own families. Middle class students tend to have a national
world view, while students low on the socioeconomic scale have a world
view based on their family or neighborhood.
Teaching Sequence

a.
b.
c.
d.

1. The vocabulary words: (15 minutes)

Gender
Sex
Family structure
Domestic
Dynamics
Traditional
Modern
Cosmopolitan Magazine
I chose these words because they will be used frequently in my lecture and understanding the
vocabulary is key for student comprehension.
I chose a mixture of concrete and abstract words to challenge the students with a complex
understanding of history.
I will have some pictures as part of the PowerPoint introducing the vocabulary words to
solidify meaning; see slide set B.
When I introduce the words, they will be categorized by which words fit together best.
Grouping the words will help the student understand their meanings and differences more
easily by visually breaking them up.
2. Group Work: Acrostic Poems (15 minutes)
a. Students will break into groups of about 3; each group will receive a handout to do an
acrostic poem on one of the vocabulary words; see Handout 1.
b. I will make these handouts so that each group is doing a different word; all the words
are covered.
c. After about 15 minutes of work students will put their work on the board and share
what they made and what they think about their word.
i. For example: Sammy has the word gender; he might share what he
thought the word meant, what he thinks the word means now, and
what masculine and feminine mean in modern society.

d. Doing an acrostic poem solidifies the vocab words creatively which reaches out to
students who do not easily learn from lecture.
END OF DAY ONE

3. Brief discussion review of yesterdays work. (3 minutes)

a. This will be short and simple because the acrostic poems will still be on the
walls; will not take longer than 5 minutes.
4. Brief Lecture on traditional gender roles and how traditional American society linked sex
with gender; see slide set C. (10 minutes)
a. I will use the vocabulary in my lecture frequently to review what they learned.
b. By using pictures and stories from the time period I will further solidify the
vocabulary; though this lecture will be short at about 10 minutes.
5. Gender vs. Sex Categorization Activity (5 minutes)
b. This activity will be individual. Students will be given a handout (see Handout
2) and asked to categorize which words fit into gender or sex.
c. Gender and sex are both vocabulary words and by this point students
understand that gender is social while sex is biological.
d. Having students categorize groups of words helps them to understand abstract
and complex ideas through simpler and some concrete words.
6. Short lecture on family (10 minutes)
a. Comprehensive lecture on gender and sex and its implications for the family
structure; see slide set D.
b. This will be the most complex and abstract lesson which is why this lecture is last.
We started with easier concepts to build up to complex and challenging points.
c. Covering social fears in the late 1950s, 1960s, and into the 1970s; introduce how
society blamed women for destroying the family unit.
Assessment and Evaluation
1. Traditional Family vs. Modern Family Handout (17 minutes)
a. I will provide a handout with two blank houses on them labeled traditional family
home and modern family home; see Handout 3.
b. Students individually will draw in what they think each means according to the
lecture, the activities, and the new vocabulary words they learned.
c. This activity is the last part of the two day modern society lesson and shows me who
got it by having students use knowledge from the lecture, and the vocabulary
solidified through the activities.
d. Im using drawings to ensure that all can do the activity on their own, but allows for
socialization in groups to collaborate on ideas.