BY MARINA KAKIASHVILIMODULE 8 GRADE XI

29 .05 2013

POLITICAL SYSTEMS(lesson plan)

British house of parliament Georgian parliament

Parliament buildings

Queen Tamar Queen Elisabeth ll

Monarchs

BARACK OBAMA MICHAEL SAAKASHVILI

Presidents

OBJECTIVES

GENERAL OBJECTIVES: SWBAT identify similarities and differences between monarchy and democratic systems.

LANGUAGE OBJECTIVES: SWBAT to write an essay comparing democracies and monarchies.

CIVIC OBJECTIVES: SWBAT to identify two political systems.

WARM UPStudents match names of government systems with their definitions

Teacher sticks the pieces of paper with names of government systems on the board. Students come to the board one by one take one of the papers, read the definition and stick it beside the correct name. e.g.

ABSOLUTE MONARCHY--- the system in which a king or queen inherits the throne, there are few limits to the King’s power

DEMOCRACY---system in which people choose their political representatives in elections.

CONSTITUTIONAL MONARCHY - system of government in which a king or queen is a figurehead and the “real” power lies with a representative body such as a Parliament which is elected by the people.

.

ACTIVITY I provides information & terms

St-s read the text and underline sentences that tell the main characteristics for monarchy and democracy.

Teacher discusses the differences between an absolute monarchy and a constitutional monarchy.

Teacher identifies countries which have a constitutional monarchy and an absolute monarchy

And a democracy

ACTIVITY II helps students organize content

Teacher puts a Venn Diagram on the board and gives a copy of a blank Venn diagram to each of the students.

Students form pairs and brain storm differences and similarities and fill in the appropriate spaces in the Venn diagram.

Vygotsky provides theoretical rationale for writing frameworks

“The zone of proximal development is the distance between what children can do by themselves and the next learning that they can be helped to achieve with competent assistance” . The scaffolding teaching strategy provides individualized support based on the learner’s ZPD . In scaffolding instruction a more knowledgeable individual provides scaffolds or supports to facilitate the learner’s development. The scaffolds facilitate a student’s ability to build on prior knowledge and internalize new information. “

PRESENTING AN ESSAY SCAFFOLD

Giving essay directions.A model of an essay is written on flip chart

paper and put on the board/wall. Teacher points to the parts of an essay, using

the model on the board. Essay topic written on the board about the

model: Compare an absolute monarchy with a

democracy which has a President as leader.

Purpose of this lesson: to introduce the form and content on an essay

The format of a formal essay: Introduction, topic sentence of a paragraph and content of a paragraph, and the conclusion of the essay.

The content of comparing absolute monarchies and democracies by reading a text and using a Venn diagram to identify differences and similarities.

Introduction

What is the purpose of an introduction.

What tips do you give when students write an introduction.

Examples of a long and short introduction in next slides

Example of a long introduction

Example: Although absolute monarchies and a democracy have ancient roots, they are very different forms of government. An absolute monarchy existed in medieval Europe and Georgia from the 8th centuries AD to early 20th centuries. Democratic forms of government existed in England when Parliament became stronger by the 17th century . The American government was the first modern experiment in democracy when they wrote their own Constitution after independence from Great Britain in 1789. This essay will explain the different characteristics of an absolute monarchy and a democracy.

[This sentence explains the purpose of the essay]

Short Introduction

Comparing an absolute monarchy and a democracy can demonstrate that there are many differences and a few similarities between these two forms of government.

Introducing comparative language structures

To help students write comparisons, it is important to give them vocabulary which shows comparisons.

SHOWS CONTRAST: While, whilst, whereas, however, in contrast.

SHOWS SIMILARITIES: both, they share, they are similar

The King inherits his position from his father, while the President in a democracy is elected by the people.

Body of Essay A paragraph begins with a topic sentence. The

topic sentence explains the main idea of the paragraph. Topic sentence in bold. Then the writer gives examples to illustrate what the topic sentence says.

For example: One of the primary differences between a democracy and an absolute monarchy is the way people are able to express their opinions. In an absolute monarchy, the King has complete control in making laws, carrying out wars and collecting taxes, while in a democracy, the people express their opinions by electing representatives who make laws and laws specifically related to taxes.

Next Paragraph

Another difference between an absolute monarchy and a democracy is the way the King and a President gain their position or job.

The King gains his position by inheriting it when his father or mother dies. The King is in power for his entire life, while in a democracy, the President and the Parliament are elected to their position. They hold this office for 4 or 5 years.

3rd paragraph

The similarities of leaders in democracies and absolute monarchies can be found in the qualities of leadership. To be successful, both Kings and Presidents have to be wise, clever, loved by the people, and care for the welfare of the people.

Conclusion

Rule of the conclusion: Keep to the information that has been stated in the body of the essay. Don’t add new facts in the conclusion. Begin with, “In conclusion” to indicate the end.

In conclusion, the leaders in absolute monarchies and democracies must be clever and wise leaders if they are to maintain their positions. In democracies, however, if the leader is bad and ineffective, then the people can change their leader. In an absolute monarchy, the people must put up with a bad leader until he dies.

FRAMEWORK FOR ACTUAL WRITING

Two political systems- monarchies and democracy- have some differences and similarities between them.

The first difference is that kings------------------------------------- while presidents-----------------------------------------------------------. This shows that-------------------------------------------------------------. The second difference is that kings------------------------------- while presidents------------------------------------------------------------. This shows that------------------------------------------------------------. One similarity is that both kings and

presidents--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------.

In conclusion-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------.

CLOSURE

After finishing work st-s collect papers

If there is time, one or two students can read their papers.

This lesson is time consuming. It may take two class periods to present the content of political systems and the framework for writing an essay. But once the model framework has been presented in one lesson, it does not necessary need to be repeated in the future.

Continue this type of scaffolding model in future writing assignments- Model of essay and framework for actual writing

THANKS FOR YOUR ATTENTION.

References

Rachel R.Van Der Stuyf – Adolescent Learning and Development. Section 0500A-Fall 2002; November 17, 2002)