MICRO TEACH LESSON PLAN OUTLINE

JMU Elementary Education Program

A. ESSENTIAL(DRIVING) QUESTION/TYPE OF LESSON

● How do the various patterns and features of the ocean floor affect the organisms that inhabit it?

B. CONTEXT OF LESSON
This lesson will be implemented after the introduction activity for SOL 4.7. At this point, students have learned about important
geographic features in the ocean, such as the continental slope. During this lesson, students will be reviewing the features of the ocean floor
and begin to consider how those features impact the organisms that live within them. By the end of this lesson, we want students to think
about and compare and contrast how different geographic features in the ocean might affect organisms that live in the ocean. Students will
be researching ocean organisms that live in different parts of the ocean, and they will be able to explain why that organism lives in a certain
part of the ocean.
We know that this lesson fits well into the curriculum based on what students already know. In the third grade, students will have
learned about different aquatic ecosystems, and how these have biotic and abiotic components. Therefore, students will be prime to learn
more about ocean organisms and geography during this lesson. Students will also be able to think back upon this lesson once they learn
more about the ocean during their Earth Science courses.

C. IDENTIFY THE VIRGINIA STANDARDS OF LEARNING and the NEXT GENERATION SCIENCE STANDARDS (NGSS
NATIONAL STANDARDS
 4.7 The student will investigate and understand that the ocean environment has characteristics. Key characteristics include
a) geology of the ocean floor;
b) physical properties and movement of ocean water; and
c) interaction of organisms in the ocean.

4-ESS2-2 Analyze and interpret data from maps to describe patterns of Earth’s features. [Clarification Statement: Maps can include
topographic maps of Earth’s land and ocean floor, as well as maps of the locations of mountains, continental boundaries, volcanoes, and
earthquakes.]

D. OBJECTIVES
Understand – what are the broad
generalizations the students should
begin to develop? These are
typically difficult to assess in one
lesson. These should be written in
the form of “I understand”
statements.
I understand…
That the geology of the ocean floor is
made up of many features that have
an effect on the organisms that live
there.
Know – what are the facts, rules,
specific data the students will gain
through this lesson? These “knows”
must be assessed in your lesson. These
should be written in the form of “I know
that” statements.
I know…
That the continental shelf, continental
slope, continental rise, abyssal plain,
and ocean trenches are all features of the
ocean floor that vary in depth and
textures. The features of the ocean floor
all impact the way organisms adapt to
their environment.
Do – what are the objectives for the
lesson? Each objective will be assessed in
your lesson. One objective should be a
content-language objective. These should
be written in the form of “I can”
statements.
I can…
Analyze the cause and effect link between
the ocean environment and its organisms.
Content-language objective:
Students will compare and contrast, using
sentence frames, the characteristics of the
ocean floor and their impact on the
environment.

E. ASSESSING LEARNING
- Students will research a given organism that resides in one of the five ovenic features; continental shelf, continental rise, continental
slope, abyssal plain, or oceanic trench.
- Students will construct a biography of their organism using the designated template.
 - Students will conduct a presentation on their organism, teaching their class about its traits.

●Separate google slides/Jamboard—new slide for each group, students go to that slide and fill out a template on that organism
●Breakout rooms for each group—facilitators will join each room momentarily to do informal
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! Opportunities to Respond = Formative Assessments used, both formal and informal. Evidence is how
you expect students to respond whether, verbally, written response, etc.

Objectives (I can) Opportunities to Respond Evidence

I can analyze the cause and effect link
between the ocean environment and its
organisms.
Students will compare and contrast, using
sentence frames and/or a graphic organizer,
the characteristics of the ocean floor and
their impact on the environment.
I can do research and gather data on
organisms in the ocean. For example, where
this organism lives, what it feeds on, how it
contributes to the ecosystem, etc.
I can gather information on an ocean organism
and present that info to my classmates. For
example filling out my section with the
designated template.
Students in small (home) groups will
complete a jigsaw on various ocean
organisms and fill out a template on their
organisms biography.
Students will meet in small (away) groups to
present on their assigned organism. Students
will fill out a template to compare and
contrast each organism and their attributes.

F. MATERIALS NEEDED
The teacher will be responsible for securing all the items needed. Some items students should already have in their desk, like personal
computers, pencils, etc.
● Computer
● Projector
● Interactive Device (such as computer) for each student
● Powerpoint Slideshow

G. MISCONCEPTIONS or ALTERNATIVE CONCEPTIONS

Misconception/Alternative Conception:
● Any organism can live in any part of the ocean

Scientific explanation of the concept:

 ● The ocean is on average 3 miles deep and the water column is not uniform. Sections of the water column in the ocean are
differentiated by pressure, light, temperature, oxygen and mineral nutrients. It is because of these elements that certain sections of
the ocean only contain certain marine animals.

Addressed in Lesson:
● This misconception is addressed in the lesson as students begin to conduct research on a particular organism. As they search to
acquire information about their organism, they will see that they live in a particular part of the ocean and this habitat is chosen
because it suits their needs.

H. SAFETY
N/A

I. AMBITIOUS SCIENCE TEACHING CORE PRACTICE:

For our science lesson, we chose to incorporate Ambitious Science Teaching’s second core practice: eliciting students’ ideas. This
core practice is extremely important because the teacher needs to know what the students are thinking in order to guide future instruction.
The text states, “Even the youngest of learners possesses a wide range of existing conceptions, prior experiences, and information that they
use to make sense of any and all ideas introduced in the classroom” (Windschitl et al, 2018, p. 85). As a result, we wanted to make sure that
we were very intentional about fostering discussion during our lesson, so that we could see exactly what our peers were thinking. We help
students represent their thinking by asking a variety of pressing questions throughout the discussion. For example, during the “explore”
portion of our lesson, students will be asked to make observations about the interesting phenomenon video that they will watch about
bioluminescence. Students will also be asked to represent their thinking during the “explain” portion of the lesson, where they will work
together in breakout rooms to research why their assigned organism lives in a specific part of the ocean. Students will then share what they
learned during the final whole-group discussion at the end of the lesson.

Engage: How will this experience be introduced to learners? How do you build background and connect to students’ prior knowledge and
experiences?
Activity & What the Teacher Does and Says Anticipated Student DIFFERENTIATION: Describe how you have planned to meet the
Time Responses 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?
Setting Teachers will remind students to stay Students will give a thumbs
Behavior engaged and focused, have their up in response.
Expectations cameras on, and have their
(1 minute) microphones muted. Teacher will
ask if there are any questions about
those directions. “Give me a thumbs
up if you do not have any questions
and you are ready to move on”.
Introduction Teacher will review vocabulary from Students will give a thumbs We are reading each objective aloud so that the lesson
to the Lesson the previous lesson. Teacher will up in response. objective is clearly communicated.
(5 minutes) show the objectives for the lesson.
“Give me a thumbs up if you are
ready to move on”.
Explore: Description of methods students will likely use to explore problems and potential solutions. Note that this may not be a linear
progression and not all students may use all methods.
Activity & What the Teacher Does and Says Anticipated Student Differentiation
Time Responses
Video of Students will watch a video of an Students will note This video is a form of differentiation by offering a visual aid to
Phenomenon interesting phenomenon observations they had from the topic. We will include closed captioning on the video to
(2 minutes) (bioluminescence) to start thinking the video in the chat or out provide differentiated audio support.
about why and how organisms live in loud.
Alt. Video certain areas of the ocean
https://youtu -What did you notice?
.be/iD_6d2y -What surprised you?
N3g0 -What do you wonder?

Explain: Description of methods for moving from exploration to understanding through discussion. Supporting students' use of the science
concepts in reading, writing, listening and/or speaking will figure prominently here. How will students share their information, solutions, and/or
strategies?
Activity & What the Teacher Does and Says Anticipated Student Differentiation
Time Responses

Vocab Teacher will review the features of Students will mirror the Using whole brain teaching is a way to support multilingual
Review the ocean; continental shelf, motions designated for learners with a way to represent scientific language that they
(2-3 minutes) continental slope, continental rise, each feature. may not have mastered yet. It also is an engaging way to learn
abyssal plain, and ocean trench. and retain terminology.
Let’s go over the terminology we
learned for this unit. We will also be
using whole brain teaching by
pairing a hand symbol with each of
these words to help us remember its
characteristics. I will model these
symbols as I go over each word,
mirror the symbol back to me when I
show you.
Breakout Teacher will explain the activity: Students will work Teachers will provide the links to each species in order to aid
Rooms Each student will be sent into a together in groups to students in their research of each species. This group setting
(10 minutes) breakout room where they will be research where their of instruction is a form of support for student learning.
tasked with researching a specific organism lives, why it lives
species and where they live, why there, and how it has
they live there, and how they have adapted to that part of the
adapted to their environment. ocean.

Group 1- Plankton
Group 2- Grey Reef Shark
Group 3- Clams
Group 4- Puffer Fish
Group 5- Sea Urchin
Evaluate: In this section every student demonstrates learning via your formative assessment. How are you wrapping up discussion to review
what was learned

Activity & Time What the Teacher Does and Anticipated Student Differentiation
Says Responses
Breakout Rooms and Teacher will ask the class to Students will take turns
Whole Group take turns sharing what presenting their slide and Questions’ text will be posted as a slide as a form of
Discussion they learned throughout explain to the class what they additional visual support.
(20 minutes) - 10 each their research. learned.
● Can one person
from the first
breakout room
share something
about their
organism?
● After speaking in
the second
breakout room,
what is something
you learned from
your peers? What is
a key take away?
● If you were to teach
this to a friend,
what would you
include?
Closure: (revisit objective, Teacher will show Students will share their Throughout the slide deck we used enlarged font sizes and
IQ’s and make real world objectives again and state biggest takeaways from the clear contrasting colors to avoid confusion and support
connections) how we addressed them lesson out loud or in the chat. learners with visual impairments.
throughout the lesson. Students will also be given the
(1 minute)
 Teacher will ask students chance to say what they
what their biggest liked/didn’t like from the
takeaway from the lesson lesson.
was, and how this lesson
connects to things they
have observed in real life.
References Used:

Windschitl, M., Thompson, J. J., & Braaten, M. L. (2018). Ambitious science teaching.

Appendix B: CONCEPT MAP