Sampson Lesson Plan

Topic: Geography of the Middle East

Objective: Students will understand the geography of the Middle East by completing a map
activity online using the National Geographic website.

Standard: 7.2 Students analyze the geographic, political, economic, religious, and social
structures of the civilizations of Islam in the Middle Ages.
1. Identify the physical features and describe the climate of the Arabian peninsula, its
relationship to surrounding bodies of land and water, and nomadic and sedentary
ways of life.

Lesson (two days)

Day One —>

On the first day of the lesson, students will start off by answering a warm-up (bell work)
questions that asks what they already know about the geography of the Middle East. Students
will first share responses with their elbow buddy, then we will discuss as a class. I will then
instruct the students to get their chrome books and come back to their desks and wait patiently
for instructions. I will ask students to put everything away except a pen or pencil and their
colored pencils. I will then pass out the blank map of the Middle East. I will then show the
students the National Geographic websites mapmaker interactive and demonstrate how to use the
site and review the expectations for this activity. Students then are instructed by me to open their
chromebooks, go to google classroom and click the link provided and begin filling in their map
and coloring it according to the instructions. Students work on this independently and at the end
of the period we review the map together as a class.

Day Two —>

On the second day, student will start off by answering a warm-up (bell work) questions that asks
about the Middle East map from the previous day. Students will first share responses with their
elbow buddy, then we will discuss as a class. I will then instruct the students to get their chrome
books and come back to their desks and wait patiently for instructions. I will ask students to put
everything away except a pen or pencil and their map from the previous day. I will then pass out
the instructions for the interactive mapmaker activity day 2. I will walk through the instructions
with the students, then demonstrate on the projector how to complete the questions by adding a
layer to the map and answering the first question with them. Once I am confident the students
understand the process, I allow them to open up their chrome books and work with their elbow
buddy to go through the rest of the questions. The next day we review the answers together as a
class and discuss the major topics (climate, religion, etc.) of the geography of the Middle East.

Closure —>
First day the close of my lesson will include a class discussion on the map of the Middle East.
Next as a class we will review the map and questions from day two and discuss main points. This
conversation will help us understand the the similarities of the geography of the Middle East
today compared to back in 600 AD.

Assessment:
Assessments for this lesson will be both informal and formal. The informal assessments include
the teacher walking around listening to student conversations, making sure they are
understanding the content. Formal assessment includes the answer sheet and the reflection and
unit test.

Appropriate strategies for adapting/differentiating/modifying content/instruction/

assessment:
Some strategies for modifying this assignment are appropriate student grouping, added sentence
frames, vocabulary words easily available and allowed out for students to use, sentence starters
allowed out and for students to use, and adult aide. Students also all have access to a
chromebook.