Cultural Lit. 11: Natural Resources and the Economy

Summary

Students will investigate occupations related to the natural resources and community development of SE Utah and the Four-Corners-Region, after receiving direct instruction and carrying out activities in cooperative group settings, in 1-2 class periods.

Materials

Recommended: Marzano, Pickering, and Pollock. 2001. Classroom Instruction that Works. Alexandria, Virginia: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
See chapter 2 for ideas for graphic organizers.
1. Graphic organizer
2. Paper, pencil
3. San Juan County Economic Profile, 2004. Economic Development Corporation of Utah

Background for Teachers

Guarded Vocabulary:
Occupation, employee, employment, industry, income, population, household, ethnicity.

Intended Learning Outcomes

Students will know some occupations related to the natural resources and community development in SE Utah and the Four-Corners-Region

Instructional Procedures

Introduce lesson to capture student's attention:
Teacher will refer students to their own completed graphic organizer from the previous lesson, which identified natural resources in SE Utah and the Four-Corners-region, and review the listed natural resources and the goods that could be produced from them.

Problem/Prediction:
How can you get the students really thinking?

Teacher asks students to name some jobs which are related to the listed natural resources and goods produced from them. Teacher uses graphic organizer on board, projection device or flipchart to list student answers to the question.

Teacher Instruction:
Teacher projects pages from San Juan County Economic profile and explains the charts, graphs and information being reported. Teacher directs students to take specific notes on their graphic organizer regarding main points of instructional objective, e.g., pg. 4 lists the number of people employed in mining, construction, education, social services, etc.

How will you end your lesson?
Students show and share their graphic organizers across cooperative groups.

Strategies for Diverse Learners

How will you help ELL students?

Guided Practice:
Teacher is writing notes on board for students to copy, and asking questions to check for comprehension of vocabulary and concept.

Extensions

Students will work in table groups of four or in pairs and copy the teacher generated notes onto graphic organizer.

Assessment Plan

Observation of student participation, completed graphic organizer.