Lesson Plan Template
Teacher: Birkofer
Class: Earth & Space
Course Unit: Water/African American History Month
Lesson Title: Geological Influence on Environmental Justice: An Historical Injustice
LESSON OVERVIEW	Summary of the task, challenge, investigation, career-related scenario, problem, or community link.
Students will investigate environmental justice issues centered around The Cedar Glades Post-Civil War Cemetery Community. They will complete a case study and connect the injustice of that area to its geological formation. The students will construct a definition of environmental justice.
STANDARDS	Identify what you want to teach. Reference State, Common Core, ACT College Readiness Standards and/or State Competencies.
HS-ESS2-5 Plan and Conduct an investigation of the properties of water and its effects on Earth materials and surface processes.
OBJECTIVE	Clear, Specific, and Measurable – NOT ACTIVITIES Student-Friendly
Students will define environmental justice and identify issues and problems within the context of historical regional environmental issues and its effect on local populations. The students will use the Cedar Glades and Cemetery Community to better understand the political, historical and geographic context surrounding this issue.
ASSESSMENT/EVALUATION	Students show evidence of proficiency through a variety of assessments. Aligned with the Lesson Objective Formative/Summative Performance-Based/Rubric Formal/Informal
Case Study handout Ticket Out

MATERIALS	Aligned with the Lesson Objective Rigorous & Relevant
Do Now Materials: ● http://tnlandforms.us/landforms/ ● excerpt from https://www.nps.gov/nr/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/118trail/118facts2.htm Lesson Material: ● The Changing Face of the Country: Environmental History and the Legacy of the Civil War at Stones River National Battlefield by: Rebecca Conard http://capone.mtsu.edu/mabolins/Conard.pdf ● Case Study handout: http://capone.mtsu.edu/mabolins/CaseStudyHandout.pdf
ACTIVATING STRATEGY	Motivator/Hook An Essential Question encourages students to put forth more effort when faced with a complex, open-ended, challenging, meaningful and authentic questions.
Do Now: (bellwork) Illustration of Geological landforms of Tennessee: http://tnlandforms.us/landforms/ Excerpt: https://www.nps.gov/nr/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/118trail/118facts2.htm As you read the excerpt from the writings of a Cherokee American Native as he reflects on his removal from his home to a centralized reservation think of the geography of his journey. Write a sentence or two about the different geographical landforms he and the other Cherokee encountered as they were forced to walk from East Tennessee to West Tennessee. ● Students can record in their science journals. ● Students will discuss what they have written. Teacher: Help students connect the recent study of limestone and solubility and the geographic changes those on the Trail of Tears encountered. Also, discuss or prompt the students to discuss what burdens they were forced to endure, how were the affected by a more powerful group. Summarize: Some people reap the benefits of the environment and others are forced to bear the burden. Our pledge of allegiance states “and justice for all.” Was their experience just? Today we will learn about the environmental burdens groups have to live with at the hands of more powerful groups. The environmental injustice we as society either have created or had to live with.
Instruction:	Step-by-Step Procedures-Sequence Discover/Explain – Direct Instruction Modeling Expectations – I Do Questioning/Encourages Higher Order Thinking Grouping Strategies Differentiated Instructional Strategies to Provide Intervention & Extension
What burdens did the American Indian suffer? Sanitation, starvation, climate, terrain, contaminated water, disease Teacher: Injustices didn’t stop there. The Trail of Tears ran right through Middle Tennessee. They were a group of people without a voice. They suffered injustice at the hands of a more powerful group. Can you think of another group of people that has suffered an environmental injustice in the South? (A group without a voice, a group with no power.) African Americans We have an example right here in Rutherford County. There was a community in Rutherford County called The Cemetery Community. ● Examine the case study handout and then read the cemetery community article. Before we begin let’s make sure we understand some vocabulary that will be used: ● Write Problem, issue, players and position on board and discuss the definition of each. See Notes at end of lesson for definitions. ● In your group complete the case study about the Cemetery Community in the Cedar Glades area of Rutherford County. Be prepared to contribute to a one minute share session. *How are the problems and issues related to the geological features of the area? *How are the geological features related to solubility?

CLOSURE	Reflection/Wrap-Up Summarizing, Reminding, Reflecting, Restating, Connecting
Reflect on the scenario Trail of Tears, Cemetery Communities What is Environmental Injustice within these two examples we discussed today? Ticket Out: Take these two examples of environmental injustices and construct a description of environmental justice. Remember: and justice for all. Construct a definition for Environmental Justice.
CROSS-CURRICULAR CONNECTIONS
Social Studies

NOTES:

Possible answers

Problem: When someone or something is at risk.

Issue: When does something become an issue? When people disagree about it.

Players: Those involved in the problem and issue.

Position: Point of view.