Eled432 Lesson Plan Final
Eled432 Lesson Plan Final
The following information should be included in the header of the lesson plan:
Shurden Garrett
Sarah Toman, Cassell Elementary
4/7/16
D. LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Understand what are the broad Know what are the facts, rules, Do what are the specific thinking
generalizations the students should specific data the students will gain behaviors students will be able to do
begin to develop? (These are through this lesson? (These knows through this lesson? (These will also
typically difficult to assess in one must be assessed in your lesson.) be assessed in your lesson.)
lesson.)
I will understand what the water I will know each step in the I can identify and explain each
cycle is and how it travels through process of the water cycle, will be step of the water cycle by acting
a process of steps. The student able to label each step, and out the process and going through
will also identify water sources on express the several steps through the motions of each step in the
the Earth. his or her writing, actions, or cycle as a water molecule. I can
words. write about my journey, using
every step in the cycle.
E. ASSESSING LEARNING
What will your students do and say, specifically, that indicate every student has achieved your
objectives? Remember every objective must be assessed for every student!
F. MATERIALS NEEDED
-Labels: Clouds, Animals, Vegetation, Rivers, Oceans, Lakes, Mountains, Soil, Groundwater; I will
secure
-9 Die: each with four possible scenarios; I will secure
-Handout/ Record sheet- 19 copies, one per student; I will secure
-Writing notebooks (time permitting); students will secure
-Dry-erase markers for discussion; CT will secure
-Writing utensils, colored pencils, or crayons; students will secure
H. PROCEDURE
(Include a DETAILED description of each step. Write what you will SAY and DO.)
Preparation of the Learning Environment: To set up the learning environment for the
classroom, I will place labels of examples of places where water is found at different stations
around the room (this includes: clouds, animals, vegetation, rivers, oceans, lakes, mountains,
soil, groundwater).
For each station, I will make a corresponding die that determines where the student (or
water molecule) will travel next.
The die for each station will present six potential scenarios corresponding to steps of
the water cycle that will allow the student to determine where he or she should go
next.
Engage -Introduction of the Lesson; How will you prepare students to engage in the lesson?
To introduce the lesson, I will facilitate a discussion with the whole class to brainstorm where
water is found on the Earth.
I will ask students questions, such as, What are major sources of water in our
communities? Do you know which of these water sources are connected?
I will encourage the students to think about water sources, such as rivers, streams, and
lakes. I will ask them what some major rivers, lakes, and oceans are located in and
around Virginia.
We will make a list, and once all of the nine examples that are used in the game are
identified, I will explain the game.
Implementation of the Lesson (specific procedures and directions for teacher and students) I
will tell students that today they are going to pretend that they are a droplet of water, or a
molecule.
I will explain that they will be traveling through the Earth and the atmosphere. I will
then show them each of the nine stations and explain that each student will roll the die
and use the die to determine where they will be going next, as represented by the step
in the water cycle.
Next, I will assign three or four students to each group. I will have them record their
first station on their record sheet, and will explain that they should record each
subsequent step.
Each student will record on their sheet which stations they visit, how many times they
visit each station, and how many times they stay and collect at a certain station.
Students will rotate stations depending on the rolling of their die and record the
outcome for about twenty minutes.
Closure To close the lesson, we will come together as a whole class and discuss the journeys
that we took as a water molecule.
We will discuss the different paths that we took and compare them with each other.
We will talk about how we traveled through each phase of the water cycle depending
on the water source our paths led us to.
In a subsequent lesson, the students can use their writing notebooks to write about
their journey as a water droplet.
Clean-Up (if required) Take down the station labels and collect the dice. Have students keep
their record sheets in their binders or writing notebooks.
I. DIFFERENTIATION
Describe how you have planned to meet the needs of all students in your classroom with varied
interest and learning readiness, English language proficiency, health, physical ability, etc. How will
you extend and enrich the learning of students who finish early? How will you support the learning of
children struggling with your objectives?
J. WHAT COULD GO WRONG WITH THIS LESSON AND WHAT WILL YOU DO ABOUT IT?
Think about this! It may help you avoid an embarrassing situation. This CANNOT include fire drills,
interruptions due to announcements, weather, or other emergencies.
There are several potential scenarios that could cause this lesson to go wrong. First, being that the
lesson is very active and hands-on, the students might be surprised or unsure how to participate in the lesson,
as they are not accustomed to moving around and traveling about the room for the duration of a lesson. This
could cause the students to become too excited and potentially get out of hand. To try and prevent this from
happening, I will separate the students into groups prior to the lesson, based on who will work well together,
and knowing who will be distractions to particular students. In addition, I will monitor the students progress
throughout the lesson by walking around the room and observing conversation and work to ensure the students
are staying on task and are communicating only about the topic of the lesson. Something else that could
prevent the lesson from running smoothly is some groups of students could finish before the rest of the class.
So that those students are not just waiting around with nothing to do, and to prevent them from becoming
bored or too out of hand, I will have a follow-up activity for them to work on. After the students have
completed their lesson, have traveled throughout all the stations, and have recorded their progress, I will have
them return to their seats and begin writing in their writing journals. I will give them a prompt that allows
them to think about what they would do if they were raindrops, and they will write a story based on their
experience as a water droplets journey throughout the water cycle. Hopefully through a follow-up activity,
and with close monitoring and observation throughout the lesson, potential disasters during this lesson will be
prevented.
Lesson Implementation Reflection
As soon as possible after teaching your lesson, think about the experience. Use the questions/prompts below to
guide your thinking. Be thorough in your reflection and use specific examples to support your insights.
I. How did your actual teaching of the lesson differ from your plans? Describe the changes and explain why
you made them.
There are several ways that my teaching of the lesson differed from my plans. First, the students showed a
better understanding of the water cycle, based on prior knowledge, than I thought they would. The students
were able to recall more of the steps in the water cycle than what I had assumed. Our initial discussion,
which I had planned on using as an introduction to the topic, was faster than I originally thought, because
students were able to answer my questions right away. As a result, the introduction of my lesson was
condensed, and we spent more time on the body of the lesson. I was careful, however, to monitor students
as they worked through the activity, to make sure their understanding of the water cycle was true and there
was not any confusion.
II. Student Work Sample Analysis: Based on the assessment you created, what can you conclude about your
impact on student learning? Did they learn? Who learned? What did they learn? What evidence can you
offer that your conclusions are valid?
Based on the assessment I created, including discussions, observations, and concrete data, such as record
sheets and the students writing notebooks, I can conclude that all students displayed a fairly high
understanding of the learning objectives. Based on my observations as the students rotated stations, I
noticed that, for the most part, they did not have difficulty figuring out where to rotate next. The students
on a lower level of readiness struggled slightly at the beginning. I believe this was a result of reading
comprehension and problem solving difficulty. However, I noticed that after placing the students in
groups, with different levels of readiness in each group, students were able to work together to discuss and
solve each problem. I can conclude that in this way, the students developed a better understanding of the
steps in the water cycle, but they also learned how to work together through each given scenario. In
addition, the students stories in their writing notebooks allowed me to assess whether or not they
understood the process of the water cycle enough to create their own journey as a water droplet. Based on
their creations, I was able to conclude that they did understand that the water cycle is a process, and using
their notes and record sheets, they were able to correctly identify each step in the process.
Look at the assessment data and identify 2 students who appear to fall into these 3 categories: (1) Gets it;
(2) Has some good ideas, but theres still room for learning and (3) Does not get it. Organize your
responses to the following questions in a chart/table form similar to the one below.
c. What questions might you want to ask each student to clarify what you know about the students
understanding?
I would encourage the students to review on the activity by asking questions that prompted
discussion about how they decided to move from station to station in their groups. I would ask
questions like, Can you tell me similarities and differences between snow and rain? What do you
think happens during the water cycle when snow falls? Is it the same process? What happens when
the process reaches precipitation? Does it start over? Is it a continuous process? I would prompt
questions that would allow them to think deeper about their responses and their decisions throughout
the activity. I would carefully choose which questions to ask, based on students confusion in certain
areas. These questions would allow students to think more about what they might not understand, and
give them the opportunity to ask questions back.
III. Describe at least one way you could incorporate developmentally appropriate practice in a better or more
thorough way if you were to teach this lesson again.
If I were to teach this lesson again, I would incorporate developmentally appropriate practice more
thoroughly by having students work in their groups to debrief after the activity was over. I found that the
small groups during the activity benefited all students, specifically those on a lower level of readiness. By
placing this students with those on a higher level of readiness, students were able to work together to solve
problems and better understand the content. I would continue to have the students work in groups after the
activity to allow them to review, debrief, and reflect before they started their individual writing activity.
This would hopefully allow the students to answer questions they may have, and prevent further confusion
or misunderstanding from taking place.
IV. Based on the assessment data you collected, what would you do/teach next if you were the classroom
teacher?
Based on the data I collected, I would spend a day or two reviewing the water cycle, specifically each
step and the process as a continual one. I would emphasize that precipitation means all precipitation,
including rain, snow, sleet, and hail. This would allow students to be exposed several times to instruction,
and would hopefully prevent them from further confusion. In addition, I would use this review as a
transition into water conservation. Given the students developed knowledge of the water cycle, I would
find this an appropriate time to talk about the importance of conserving water and the benefits of using it
efficiently.
V. As a result of planning and teaching this lesson, what have you learned or had reinforced about young
children as learners?
This lesson has reinforced to me that children learn the best through repeated instruction. Although the
students surprised me at first by how much they knew about the water cycle, specifically their ability to
recall all three steps, it soon occurred to me that not all students knew that the process was constant and
continuous, and that the cycle is true for all forms of precipitation. In fact, it took multiple attempts of
instruction and discussion to instill in students that these concepts are true. This solidified to me that as a
teacher, I cannot make assumptions from what appears to be a good understanding of all students at the
beginning. Instead, I need to be careful that I am doing my part to allow several opportunities for learning
and promoting understanding.
VI. As a result of planning and teaching this lesson, what have you learned or had reinforced about teaching?
Similar to my previous response, this lesson made me realize that although it may appear to be true for
all students initially, not all students will be familiar with, or will grasp a concept, right away. Thus, as a
teacher, you cannot assume that all students are on the same level of readiness, nor do they have the same
prior knowledge. It is important to pre-assess your students to gather a better understanding of which
students are on a certain level, and which students may need a little more assistance. This lesson proved to
be a little bit of a challenge at first, but after I took a step back, and walked the students who were
struggling back through the lesson with more examples and elaboration, I felt more relief knowing they
were really grasping the concept.
VII. As a result of planning and teaching this lesson, what have you learned or had reinforced about yourself?
This lesson really tested my patience, however, it allowed me to reflect upon my choice to become a
teacher. Though I found myself becoming frustrated at times, I took a step back and thought about how
frustrated my students might be if I was frustrated. It solidified to me that I am capable of being patient
and understanding, and those are the reasons I am in this profession. If I am unable to work closely with
the students and give them a more in depth explanation when they are confused, they are never going to
learn. This lesson provided a challenge for me, but when reflecting on it, it reinforced the characteristics I
found in myself to encourage me to become a teacher.