Daily Plans

Lesson Plan for HIT 1

Title of lesson: Theodore Roosevelt and National Parks
Your Name: Robert Johnson
Length of lesson: 1-2 days.

Context of Lesson:
● Over the past two weeks, the students have been learning about the Progressive Era. In this
unit, students have already explored progressive reforms such as, women’s suffrage, child
labor laws, and the creation of the FDA through Upton Sinclair’s book The Jungle. They have
also been exploring how the Progressive Era did not always result in progress in American
society through their exploration of Jim Crow Laws and the Plessy V. Ferguson trial. This
lesson on Teddy Roosevelt and National Parks comes one day after the students have learned
about Henry Ford and his positive and negative impacts on American society during the
Progressive Era.

Overview:
● In this lesson, students will be learning about Theodore Roosevelt, and some of the lasting
impacts that he made during the Progressive Era. Specifically, this lesson focuses on Teddy
Roosevelt and his involvement in the creation of national parks. Students will be given articles
to read through in order to learn about who Teddy Roosevelt was, and some of his reforms.
They will highlight ideas from the articles in which they believe that these ideas reflect
consistent efforts of the Progressive Era. Students will also watch a short video in order to
learn more about national parks and the significance of them. Once they have background
knowledge on Teddy and national parks, they will then create a Brochure that advertises the
importance and history of national parks.

Central problem/ Essential question:

● Why Teddy Roosevelt was considered progressive in his ideas and reforms.
● Why are national parks important, and what impact did Teddy Roosevelt have on national
parks?

Standards: 8.2.3 Comparing Domestic Policies – Focusing on causes, programs, and impacts, compare
and contrast Roosevelt’s Square Deal initiatives, Johnson’s Great Society programs, and Reagan’s
market-based domestic policies. (National Geography Standard 14, p. 2
6.3.2 Causes and Consequences of Progressive Reform – Analyze the causes, consequences, and
limitations of Progressive reform in the following areas:
● role of reform organizations, movements and individuals in promoting change

Objectives: “Students will…”

● Students will be able to focus on Theodore Roosevelt’s National Parks programs in order to
compare and contrast this reform with other reform organizations and individuals who brought
about change in the Progressive Era.
Anticipated student conceptions or challenges to understanding:
● One of the challenges that I anticipate is the student’s struggling to fold their paper like a
Boucher or them not knowing what a Boucher is in the first place. However, I outlined their
Boucher for them, so this should limit some of these challenges.
● Another challenge I anticipate is students thinking that National Parks are only parks, when in
fact other landmarks are considered National Parks as well.
 ● Another challenge is obtaining the information on National Parks. Students might have to use
their phones to look up this information, and they could easily get sidetracked and do other
things on their phones instead.

Materials/Evidence/Sources:
● Teddy Roosevelt Reading
● National Park Brochure Template
● National Park Video
● National Park Brochure Rubric
Instructional Sequence:
1. Launch-5 minutes
a. I will begin this lesson by reviewing the previous day’s material on Henry Ford. I will
ask the students whether they thought Henry Ford was a hero or a villain based on the
evidence they had from the last class.
b. I will then introduce to students that we will be learning about Theodore Roosevelt and
national parks and the ways in which they impacted the Progressive Era.
2. Ken Burns National Park Video and Discussion - 15 minutes
a. Students will watch a Ken Burns National Park Video in order to get a better idea of
what National Parks are and what they do.
b. After the video is over, students will discuss with the person sitting next to them for
one minute some of the important ideas about what National Parks are, what they do,
and why they are beneficial.
c. The Students and I will then have a short discussion on what they took away from the
video.
3. Teddy Roosevelt Reading and Discussion- 10 minutes
a. Students will then read an informative passage on Teddy Roosevelt. They will read about his
Square Deal policy, The Progressive Party, and how he began to develop National parks and
other conserving environment methods.
b. While reading, students will highlight which pieces of the Roosevelt text that they think ties
together with the Progressive Unit as a whole. They will highlight if they think a policy either
progresses American society or if one of his policies regresses American society.
c. Students will then discuss with the person sitting next to them some of their ideas on how
Roosevelt’s policies were able to progress American society or regress American Society from
the reading they just did.
d. We will then have a class discussion on their findings in the Roosevelt reading and their
overall perspective of Roosevelt being progressive or regressive during the Progressive Era.

4. National Park Boucher-30 Minutes

a. After the Roosevelt readings, Students will then begin to create a Brochure advertising national
parks. Students will be given a rubric that will describe the directions of this project.

b. In the Boucher, students will advertise: the history of national parks, why national parks are
important, some modern day parks and why they are beneficial to society, some programs that national
parks implement, and Theodore Roosevelt’s role in establishing the first national parks. The students
will need time for the next class period to construct their research, and then create their national parks
brochure.