Lesson Plan #:AELP-HIS0004

Famous Person -- Who am I?

An Educator's Reference Desk Lesson Plan

Submitted by: Steve Silcox
School or Affiliation: Fowler Junior High School, Tigard, OR
Endorsed by: These lesson plans are the result of the work of the teachers who have attended the Columbia Education Center's Summer Workshop. CEC is a consortium of teacher from 14 western states dedicated to improving the quality of education in the rural, western, United States, and particularly the quality of math and science Education. CEC uses Big Sky Telegraph as the hub of their telecommunications network that allows the participating teachers to stay in contact with their trainers and peers that they have met at the Workshops.

Date: May 1994

Grade Level(s): 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

Subject(s):

Description: This is a review activity to be used at the end of a unit or any quarter, semester or at the end of the year.

Goal: The purpose of this activity is to review various historical personalities studied.

Objectives: Students will be able to:

  1. Identify the important contributions of each individual.
  2. Formulate questions of a very specific nature.

Materials: 3"x 5" note cards tape

Procedure:
Each student will have a 3"x 5" note card taped to their back with the name of an historical personality the class has studied written on it. The student will not know the name of this person. Their goal is to try to identify "who they are" by asking questions that can be answered with a "yes" or "no" answer. Some simple rules to follow are: no more than two questions at a time can be asked of any one person, the student must figure out who he/she is within 20 questions. Everyone who does this is a winner but the person who figures out who he/she is in the least number of questions is the grand winner. It might help if each student started with a paper numbered from 1 to 20. After each question, a number is erased (or checked) off. To prevent wild guesses, a penalty of three numbers should be given. When everyone has completed the activity a sheet with all of the personalities on it can be assigned for each student to make a general statement about.

Tying it All Together:

This has proved to be a very enjoyable way the review a unit. It is different and the students love it. It will probably take about 20 minutes to complete.