UMF Secondary Education Lesson Plan/Learning Event Template

Name: Iris Morgan Program: Student Course: CP Biology

Teaching

Unit Topic: Succession

Lesson Topic / Title: Succession Guided Notes

Lesson Date: 10-7-21 Lesson Length: 80 minutes Grade/Grade Range: 10

Learning Objectives & Content Standard Alignment - Selects, creates, and sequences learning
experiences and performance tasks that support learners in reaching rigorous curriculum goals based
on content standards and desired understandings.

Learning Objective(s) Instructional Decisions / Reasoning

-Understand the stages of Primary and Secondary
Succession
-Understand there are real world scenarios where
succession has shaped the current state of the
location
-Guided notes encourages the students to
actively watch the slide show and listen to what
I’m saying to fill in the missing parts of the
notes in their version of the printed slide show.
Information presented helps the students to
understand the stages of primary and
secondary Succession.
-The video about Chernobyl is a quick video to
show the students a real life situation that has
been shaped by succession.

Content Standard(s) Instructional Decisions / Reasoning

-Curriculum for the 10th grade science classes

HS-LS2-6 Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and
Dynamics Evaluate claims, evidence, and
reasoning that the complex interactions in
ecosystems maintain relatively consistent
numbers and types of organisms in stable
conditions, but changing conditions may result
in a new ecosystem.
-It is important for students to recognize the different
ways that ecosystems change and progress. These
changes often result in new ecosystems. It is
important that students understand what
disturbances like a forest fire, or a hurricane will do
to ecosystems.
Assessment - Uses assessment flexibly to expand and deepen understanding of learner performance
and determines best supports for continued learner growth.

Assessments Instructional Decisions / Reasoning

-Formative assessment -When stopping to ask the class what they
already know about the part of the subject
being presented it is a formative assessment
for me to know how much of the information
they understand.
- A deeper understanding is demonstrated if
students are able to make connections
between what has already been presented and
the larger concepts of what primary and
secondary succession have in common and as
differences.

Instructional Materials and Resources - Stays current in content knowledge and expands expertise in
reviewing instructional materials from the perspectives of both the discipline and individual learner
needs.

Materials, Resources, and / or Technology Instructional Decisions / Reasoning

Student Copy of Ecological slide Show printed copies
Teacher Copy of Slide Show electronic version
Internet Connection
Screen, projector, and connections to projector for
display
-Students expressed that they liked the format
of guided notes in their getting to know you
questions. I chose to try this format to see if
they would listen to, and learn from this format.
-It is an opportunity for me to see if the
students are able to make the deeper
connections required to understand and
verbalize the similarities and differences of
primary and secondary succession.

Instructional Methods: Selects, creates, and sequences learning experiences and performance tasks
by using a variety of instructional approaches, strategies, and technologies that make learning
accessible to all learners and support learners in reaching rigorous curriculum goals.
(Include any documents associated with the plan: graphic organizers, sets of questions, sample
problems, activity directions, content knowledge reference notes, etc.)
 Teaching and Learning Sequence
-Welcome students and take attendance. (2 mins)
-Check work from previous class was completed (5 minutes)
-Guided notes (55 mins))
- One thing you learned (10 mins)
-Chernobyl Succession video (7 mins)
Meeting students’ needs (differentiation, extensions,
modifications, accommodations)
-Slides are presented in written format, with the words then read
by me.
-Closed captioning will be turned on in the Chernobyl video
-Slide show on the drop down big screen, and the Chernobyl video
shown on the Promethean board.
Field Courses Only – Post lesson
Instructional Decisions / Reasoning
-Start class off on a positive note
-Formative assessment when quickly looking at the work to
place grades in the computer for previous assignments.
- Lecture/ note taking with breaks that doesn’t require the
students to write a lot down. Allows opportunities to talk
about what is being presented in the slide show of
information.
-Closing activity. Allows the students a mini thinking break
while they wait for their turn to tell what they learned during
the day’s lesson.
- Way to end the class that is informative and relevant to
succession, shows a larger world connection to a situation
that some students have heard of, but may not have
thought of the connection to succession that the area is at
30 plus years later.
Instructional Decisions / Reasoning
-Verbally provide the students what they need
to write in their own notes to complete the
information for their notes. The written words
are on the screen. I will repeat the missing
parts of the notes multiple times, pausing in
between spoken times. Repeat until I can see
that all students have stopped writing. Allows
two different ways for students to interact with
the information.
-Allows the students the opportunity for written to go along
with the verbal of the video incase that makes following
along easier.
-Changing media presentation modes allows the students a
brief break from the screen to give their eyes a rest. The
pixelation, brightness, and sound are different between the
two types of presentation offering a chance to see if either
is preferable to the students. The drop down screen is
larger for the written words. The extra large size of the
screen is not needed for viewing a video, and the
Promethean board displays videos like watching a
television.
Reflection
Overall this lesson went well. Students were engaged in the material presented, writing
down the missing parts of the notes, and participating in answering questions asked
when the slides allowed for the opportunity to answer questions that were built into the
slide show. The students knew the answers indicating they were understanding what
was being presented to them and making the connections they needed to make to
encourage deeper thinking.
My teaching of the material significantly improved after the first class of students
appeared to have lost interest midway through when I just talked through the slides as
they came in order, speaking the information presented. In an effort to not lose the 2nd
class I attached a sticky note with different flora parts in succession to their guided
notes. At the natural break in the slides between primary and secondary succession I
had the students stand in the middle of the room, and place themselves in order of
primary succession. This activity woke them up, and they worked well together to find
the correct sequence of plants, and when we returned to the slide show they were at
least awake again.

Teaching Standards and Rationale

Standard #3 Learning Environments The teacher works with learners to create
environments that support individual and collaborative learning, encouraging positive
social interaction, active engagement in learning, and self motivation. 3 (d) Manages
the learning environment to actively and equitably engage learners by organizing,
allocating, and coordinating the resources of time, space, and learners’ attention.
Rationale- Noticing that the students in the first class were losing motivation to pay
attention I added the activity to place the stages of primary succession in order that had
the entire class up and moving. This fast change in the lesson plans had the students
more alert and less zoned in the section of the slide show that was on secondary
succession.
Standard #5 Innovative Applications of Content The teacher understands how to
connect concepts and use differing perspectives to engage learners in critical/creative
thinking and collaborative problem solving related to authentic local and global issues. 5
(c) Facilitates learners’ use of content tools and resources to maximize content
learning in varied contexts.
Rationale- By showing the video about Chernobyl it teaches the students that
succession occurs in circumstances that are real world, and happens in situations other
than the forest fires and avalanches we have been speaking of in class.