Ron+Olson-+Places+in+the+world

**__Lesson Plan:__**

//Lesson Title:// Tibet! It’s not just the home of Mount Everest.

//Instructor:// Mr. Olson

//Subject:// 7th Grade Social Studies

//Class Period:// 55 minutes

//Class Size:// 18 students

//Location:// The region of Tibet, inside the People’s Republic of China

//Context:// Tibet, as an autonomous region of China, has a varied and deep history as a religious foundation for Buddhism. The Tibetan culture is saturated by their Buddhist roots, and throughout the region’s history there has been a continuing struggle for independence, with varying periods of foreign rule and supposed sovereignty from empires like Britain, Russia, and China. Today, Tibet belongs to the People’s Republic of China, and the call for its freedom is loudly audible in some parts of the world. Should Tibet be an independent country? What does the United States have to say about the issue? This and more needs to be explored in the middle school classroom, as the theme of independence is a strong one in the context of world history. Tibet provides a perfect and current real-world example for this.

//Plan Number:// Day 1 of 3

//Guiding Sequence Questions://


 * Where is Tibet? What is it like? (Day 1)
 * Is Tibet a country? Why or why not? (Day 2)
 * What is the future of Tibet? (Day 3)

//NC Standard Course of Study Objective(s)://

1.02- Generate, interpret, and manipulate information from tools such as maps, globes, charts, graphs, databases, and models to pose and answer questions about space and place, environment and society, and spatial dynamics and connections (Day 1)

7.01- Identify historical events such as invasions, conquests, and migrations and evaluate their relationship to current issues (Day 2)

7.02- Examine the causes of key historical events in selected areas of Africa, Asia, and Australia and analyze the short- and long-range effects on political, economic, and social institutions (Days 2 and 3)

//Goals:// At the conclusion of today’s lesson, Day 1, SWBAT:


 * <span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px;">Locate Tibet on a world map
 * <span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px;">List the region’s geographical characteristics
 * <span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px;">List the characteristics of Tibet’s culture
 * <span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px;">List the indigenous population of Tibet
 * <span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px;">Compare and contrast the country with our home, the United States

<span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px;">//Materials and Technology Required://


 * <span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px;">SmartBoard
 * <span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px;">World Map
 * <span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px;">Internet Access
 * <span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px;">1:1 laptop ratio (every student has one)
 * <span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px;">Writing journals (every student has one)
 * <span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px;">18 individual copies of a world map, with space to write somewhere on the page

<span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px;">//Procedures://


 * 1) <span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px;"> __Introduction__ (10 minutes)


 * <span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px;">SmartBoard is on, picture of Mt. Everest (do not tell students it’s Everest) is shown
 * <span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px;">Tell students that this famous mountain borders Tibet
 * <span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px;">Flat world map is now shown on SmartBoad/pulled down if available
 * <span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px;">Students, still working individually, are asked to take a guess as to where on Earth (i.e. which continent) the mountain and Tibet are located
 * <span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px;">Students answer in their journals

<span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px;"> //2//. __Quick hook and lesson directions__ (5 minutes)


 * <span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px;">Ta da! Inform the students that the mountain is Everest, and show them via Google Earth where the mountain and Tibet are located in Asia
 * <span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px;">Number students off by threes, i.e. 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, and so forth. Students should already be seated in **three** big groups, with six in a group. Students numbered a 1 (one) will research, using their laptops and the internet, Tibet’s geographical features. Students numbered 2 (two) will research Tibet’s culture, and students numbered 3 (three) will research the region’s people. Within each group, there should be two students for each research area. The only websites allowed to use are [|__http://www.uniquetreks.com/tibet/index.php__] and [|__http://www.tibet-tour.com__]/. That’s it; no wikipedia or anything of the sort. Both websites provide more than enough factual information for students to research their topics. For their research, students must write down three facts that they find out on their respective topic. This should go in their journals. There will be sharing afterwards, so make sure everybody understands that they need to find at least three bits about their topic. Now time to research!

<span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px;"> //3//. __Research Activity__ (20 minutes)


 * <span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px;">See directions above. Help students stay on task by making sure they are researching the correct topic, and using the correct websites. Also, make sure they are jotting down at least three facts on their topic

<span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px;"> //4//. __Research Sharing__ (15 minutes)


 * <span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px;">With the research activity completed, students now will need to share what they’ve found on their topic for Tibet. A 1 (one) student should go first in each group, followed by a 2 (two), a 3 (three), and then repeating again (the other 1, 2, and 3 students). Each student should share two facts that they found. The other students in the group need to jot these down in their journals. At the end of the fifteen minutes, every student should have at least 10 (ten) facts written down in their journals about Tibet. Each student will have their three facts, and then two facts from every one else in the group. This equates to 13 facts shared total, but there will be some overlap because each group has two students with the same topic. As the students are sharing, make sure they are staying on task and actively participating. No shy voices here!

<span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px;"> //5//. __Closing and Homework Assignment__ (5 minutes)


 * <span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px;">With facts in their journals now, students should be able to pick Tibet out on a map and provide some basic knowledge of it. For homework, or an easy follow-up activity rather, each student is to be given a blank world map sheet (can be printed off the internet easily) and given these instructions: circle and label where Tibet is on the map sheet, and list three facts that you learned today from your peers about Tibet. The facts should focus on the geography, culture, and/or the people of Tibet. There needs to be at least three facts written down. On the backside of the map sheet, students need to list three differences that they can think of that separate the United States and Tibet. Students can write a paragraph if they want, or just make a list. They should have plenty of facts about Tibet to think of three differences from our own country. This completed map sheet is due tomorrow (or next class period)!

<span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px;">//Assessment:// Along with making sure that students stay on track throughout their research and sharing sessions, and thus earning their daily participation grade, the formal assessment here is the completed map sheet to be turned in next class period. Student journals are also checked regularly, so any incomplete work there would result in a poor grade. The map handout is the primary grade here though, as when the students hand them in next class period, the teacher will be able to tell who did their research and gathered facts about Tibet.

<span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px;">//Next Class Period:// The class will move on to investigating Tibet’s status in the world, past and present, and why it is or isn’t recognized as an independent nation today.


 * __ Lesson Narrative: __**

So, why do a lesson on Tibet? Tibet’s not even a recognized country, so what in the world does it have to offer in terms of learning social studies in a middle school classroom? Aside from its 2008 Summer Olympics news break (free tibet! free tibet! the protesters roared), Tibet is a relatively quiet region with a not-so-quiet history. It is unique in that it has declared itself a world country before, back in the 1950s, only to find no one else willing to support its claim. Various other countries have tried to claim Tibet as part of their empire though, and in the 1970s, the People’s Republic of China was successful in taking the region as its own. Overall, the history of Tibet, its geography (including Mount Everest), its Buddhist foundations, and finally its continuous cry for independence, make it a wonderfully intriguing area to look at for expanding one’s view of the world climate. I chose it for the above reasons, and especially because of its real-world political implications. Why isn’t Tibet a free country? Should it even be one? These questions and more can be posed, and the history of Tibet alone makes it a strong classroom lesson on the difficulties of gaining independence without the necessary resources to do so (which Tibet has never had, despite its historical claims). Going into the creation of this lesson, my own knowledge of Tibet was severely lacking, as I even mistakenly thought that the region had gained sovereignty from China (whoops!). My knowledge base now is more defined of course, although I still need to read more about the long past of Tibet. I think it is a fascinating area though, and like my lesson title said, it’s much more than the home of Mount Everest.

As for what students can learn from studying Tibet, let me first make the point that in 7th grade, NCSCOS calls for students to learn about Asia, Africa, and Australia. Tibet is in Asia, and thus it satisfies the over-arching grade requirement. More specifically, Tibet is home to a varied geographical and cultural infrastructure, especially compared to that of the United States and the state of North Carolina. The economy of Tibet is mainly sustenance farming, and family plays a much bigger role there than what is found here in America. Besides learning about these differences and more, the real implications for studying Tibet would show themselves in days two and three, as students would come to understand why Tibet isn’t a country, and what its history has to say about its failed attempts at gaining independence. Building off of this, students would gain a better understanding of Tibet’s current political situation with its host country China. Finally, by learning about Tibet’s status today, students can better arm themselves with predictions for the future, and what it would mean for Tibet to gain its own recognition as a country. To connect all this back to our home, the United States, I would have students learn about America’s stance towards Tibet, and what to pros and cons would be for us if and when Tibet ever gained its independence.

Moving on to the actual lesson itself, the first thing that I wanted students to do was see the picture of Mount Everest and start making connections with it and the region of Tibet. I suspect that some of the students will recognize the mountain as Everest, at least when it is mentioned that it's famous. Along with that, for those that recognize it as Everest, I think that another few will be able to recall the general location of the world's tallest mountain. It would surely be interesting to check the student's notebooks afterwards and see who could correctly guess the mountain and its location with Tibet. After students are given a minute or two to answer in their journals, it's time to move on to telling them the location and getting the main lesson activity underway. The grouping for this work is very, very important. The lesson will not fly if there aren't three groups of six students each (or something similar to that, depending on the number of students in any given class). The grouping is significant because there are three topics for the students to study, and in order for everyone to gain some learning about Tibet, there needs to be at least two students in each group giving information on the same topic. If there were only three students in each group, for example, and they each reported on one topic, then the sharing of info would inherently be less meaningful and memorable because there would only be one student reporting on their topic for Tibet. I hope this is well clear. Learning is enhanced with the more people teaching, and for something as unfamiliar as Tibet it's important to have multiple students teaching their peers on their respective topic.

Once the students understand what they are doing, and the groups are set, the actual activity should be relatively free flowing and smooth to watch over. The two websites are specific in their info, and both provide a different voice for the individual topics that students are researching. The sites are touristy by nature, but that's ok because they are accurate in what they say about Tibet and their presentation is much livelier than Tibet's own regional website and even Wikipedia. Students should find the websites easy to navigate and straightforward to study for facts on their topics. Make sure they use only the two sites, and encourage them to investigate both because, like I said earlier, they each provide different info on Tibet. I don't mean different as in contrasting, but different as in varied in what they offer. As mentioned in the lesson plan, help the students stay on track in their research, and make sure that they are writing what they find down in their journals. Empty journals will do no good when it comes time to share findings. Speaking of the sharing event, when the research period is over, inform the students how the sharing process will go, with 1's speaking first, followed by 2's, 3's and then repeating again. I figure that this order isn't necessarily important, but rather might just help the kids stay on track and lessen the confusion. The significant thing for research sharing is that the students must report at least two facts on their Tibetan topic, and everybody else needs to write these down. Stress the importance of getting at least 10 facts down in their journals, and that includes the three that each student will have from their own research. Active listening and participation are the key ideas here for sharing, and again float around the classroom and help students stay focused.

For the end of the first lesson day, there is no class review of the info learned, and I excluded this for a reason. The last fifteen minutes of the actual lesson are spent on student's sharing of what they learned about Tibet, and I feel that it would be overkill to review this once the sharing period is over. Instead, the students should just be assigned their homework, which in turn will show what they learned to the teacher. I think that an interactive homework assignment is better anyway to show the teacher what was learned instead of some quick and phony review at the end. Before the bell rings, each student should be given a blank map of the world sheet, and their homework is to 1) locate Tibet on the map and label it, 2) list three facts that they learned about the region, and 3) list three differences that it has compared to the United States. The last part can be in the form of a short paragraph if the students wish. The assignment itself is simple and clear, but it will show that the students did their research, listened to their peers, and now know more about Tibet than ever before. The homework is due the next day or next class period. This activity, along with checking their journals, is the assessment and evaluation for Day 1. Days 2 and 3 are significantly more thought-provoking and they will have much deeper assessment methods. But, they will be more intriguing as well. Tibet has a very interesting story to tell, and students will get to understand it and make a decision as to whether the region is a country or not, and what its future holds.