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Lesson Plan - History Makers: Thomas Edison
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Learning Objective
Students will understand the accomplishments and lasting impact of inventor Thomas Edison.
Text Structure
Profile, Sequence
Content-Area Connections
U.S. History; STEM
Standards Correlations
CCSS: R.1, R.2, R.3, R.4, R.5, R.6, R.7, R.8, R.10, L.4
NCSS: Science, Technology, and Society
TEKS: Social Studies 5.22, 6.2
1. Preparing to Read
Watch a Slideshow: 5 Things You Need to Know about EdisonAfter reviewing the slideshow, ask: Why do many people consider Edison one of the greatest inventors of all time?
Preview Words to KnowProject the online vocabulary slideshow and introduce the Words to Know.
Set a Purpose for ReadingAs students read, have them think about the qualities that helped Edison succeed as an inventor.
2. Close-Reading Questions
1. What physical challenge did Edison face when he was a child? A physical challenge Edison faced as a child is that he started to lose his hearing in both ears when he was around 12. R.2 Key Details
2. What materials did Edison try using for the filament inside a light bulb? What eventually worked best? Edison tried many materials for the filament, including fishing line, the stringy part of a coconut shell, and hair from a friend’s beard. Cotton thread worked well, but a bamboo filament ended up working best. R.5 Sequence
3. What did Edison mean when he said that no experiment is a failure? Edison meant that even if an experiment did not work, you could always learn something that would help you. R.1 Inference
3. Skill Building
FEATURED SKILL: Synthesize InformationUse the skill builder “All About Thomas Edison” to have students use details from the article to complete a profile of Edison. R.1 Text Evidence
Multilingual Learners Note that the English verb invent and the Spanish verb inventar are cognates. Challenge learners to look for other cognates in this issue, and make a list of the ones they identify.
Striving Readers Explain that the sidebar “The Life of an Inventor” shows three important events from Edison’s life. Have students use the main article to identify a fourth key event and illustrate it.
Writing Prompt Have students respond to the following prompt: What qualities helped Edison succeed as an inventor? How did these qualities help him?