Virginia Beach City Public Schools

Department of Curriculum and Instruction

UbD Template
Title: Its Classified
Topic: Government Transparency
Designers: Lia Clark

Course: Civics
Grades: 8th grade

Stage 1: Desired Results

Established Goals:

Gain a basic understanding and know the fundamentals

Understandings: Students will
understand that...

1. That the government is allowed to hide

information from us.
2. Transparency affects them

Students will know...

Essential Questions:

What is the meaning of

government transparency?
What is your right to know?
How does this affect you
personally?

Students will be able to...

1. What transparency is
2. How they can request information and
their role in the system to make
changes

1. Define government transparency

2. Define the right to know
3. Begin to discuss what they believe
the government is hiding
4. Start to select groups for the
group project

Stage 2: Assessment Evidence

Performance Tasks:
Written and verbal response to
nations crisis, and personal
opinion on government
transparency.

Key Criteria:

Surveys show a growth in

understanding the government
and how it works, a more
developed opinion about
information, and a detailed
response

Other Evidence:
Surveys
Nation information on how the nation deals with a crisis
Stage 3: Learning Plan-

Virginia Beach City Public Schools

Department of Curriculum and Instruction
Bell rings for class to start
5 min: Introduce myself and why Im here
5 min: Ask the students to write down on a sticky note something they value about themselves and
think is important for other to know about them.
10 min: Then start a dialogue about how they would feel if that piece of information was required to be
withheld from anyone and everyone. Then discuss the connection between the small activity and
government transparency. (How government is allowed to hide important information from us and we
dont have to know why)
20 min: Going over a power-point with a series of small entertaining/engaging clips about government
and government transparency. Using this time to explain my paper and my project, and why the topic is
considered important. Also using this time to teach the students what they dont know the government
can hide from us and how the government is actually justified in doing so, and what we as citizens do to
request information and why someone would request information. Explain the defense and offense of my
paper. Explain the National Crisis project (See below).
5 min: class discussion about how they feel about the government keeping information, where they find
it necessary to do so, and if they would change it what they would change about it and why.
5 min: students will be divided into 6 groups as evenly as possible by either recommendation from the
teacher, self-selected, or random selection.
On the board will be a description of the U.S., Iraq, and Russia and their individual view points on the
freedom of information; however, the descriptions will not be labeled.
5 min: Students will be given the chance to match the nation with its description and explain why
5-10 min: The National Crisis Project will then be explained to the students in full. Each group will
have a chance to either select what nation their group wants or I will assign each nation a group.
5 min: A packet of the background of the nation and its viewpoints on the freedom of information will be
given out and explained.
5 min: I will personally go around to each group and explain what their packet means, what their group
has to do, and answer any questions.
5 min: Handout survey for students to give feedback on the following:
1. My attitude and energy
2. My lesson
3. My activities
4. The class discussion

The National Crisis Project:

Students will be placed into 3 separate groups either recommended by the teacher, self-selected, or
selected at random. Each group will represent one of the following nations: U.S.A, Iraq, or Russia. Each
student will be given a small packet of information on their nation (what the country thinks about the
freedom of information and some background history). Students will be introduced to the topic on the
first class. The second class will consist of a series of activities preparing them for the actual project
itself. On the second day of class, students will be divided into the groups and given the information.
The third class will mostly be spent on the project simulation and reflection of my Senior Project.

Virginia Beach City Public Schools

Department of Curriculum and Instruction
Students will have certain crises that their nation has to deal with. For example: I give the countries
an epidemic crisis currently contained in a localized area, and they (the students), as the national crisis
board of that nation, have the decision to either inform the public as a whole or deal with it under the
table. The students have to prepare a response (on consensus) based on how they believe the nation
would carry it out. Once the response is formulated, students will present said response to the class and
explain why they decided the way they did. Students have free reign as to how in depth they wish to
create a national execution plan.