Lesson Plan for

Implementing NETS•S
Template with guiding questions
Teacher(s)
Name Tayler Simons

Position Teacher

School/District Lassiter High School/ Cobb County School District

Grade Level(s) 12th

Content Area Zoology

Time line 60 minutes

Standards
 What do you want students to know and be able to do?
 What knowledge, skills, and strategies do you expect students to gain?
 Are there connections to other curriculum areas and subject area benchmarks?
 Please put a summary of the standards you will be addressing rather than abbreviations and
numbers that indicate which standards were addressed.
Analyze and interpret data to explain patterns in structure and function and construct
a classification of representative animal taxa including: Porifera, Cnidaria,
Platyhelminthes, Nematoda, Annelida, Mollusca, Arthropoda, Echinodermata, and
Content Standards Chordata.

Students will demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge, and develop innovative
NETS*S Standards: products and processes using technology.

Overview (a short summary of the lesson or unit including assignment or expected or possible products)

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Zoology students have studied all of the animal phyla. Now they are to choose their favorite animal of our course
and create an infographic. Students will first create a concept map with their animal name in the middle. They will
include animal habitat, feeding habits, reproduction, anatomical structure, and adaptions to help organize their
information. Then they are to create an infographic using canva to make it engaging and creative. Lastly, they will
make a screencast of them reading their infographic to the class.

Essential Questions

 What essential question or learning are you addressing?

 What would students care or want to know about the topic?
 What are some questions to get students thinking about the topic or generate interest about the topic?
 What background or prior knowledge will you expect students to bring to this topic and build on?

Remember, essential questions are meant to guide the lesson by provoking inquiry. They should not be answered
with a simple “yes” or “no” and should have many acceptable answers.

What are the characteristics of your favorite animal?

What makes your animal unique from other animals?
Why is your animal an important part of its ecosystem?
Is your species endangered or threatened?
Are there human efforts ongoing to help conserve it?

Assessment

 What will students do or produce to illustrate their learning?

 What can students do to generate new knowledge?
 How will you assess how students are progressing (formative assessment)?
 How will you assess what they produce or do? How will you differentiate products?

You must attach copies of your assessment and/or rubrics. Include these in your presentation as well.

Students will create a concept map, canvas, and screencast their finished product. Students will be assessed
based on meeting the rubric requirements.

Resources

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  How does technology support student learning?
 What digital tools, and resources—online student tools, research sites, student handouts, tools, tutorials,
templates, assessment rubrics, etc—help elucidate or explain the content or allow students to interact
with the content?
 What opportunities did you have to collaborate with your students to discover and use new digital
resources to meet their learning goals? (Note: This meets part of ISTE standard 4.2)
 What previous technology skills should students have to complete this project?

Students are using educational websites such as national geographic to help them research their animal. They
are using bubbl.us to help them organize their information and create a digital concept map. They are using
canvas to make an infographic to make it engaging and creative. Then they are creating a screencast to present
their infographic to the class. Students will need to follow rubric provided to earn maximum amount of points. I
gave them a tutorial on each of the digital resources to help them know how to use. Students should have basic
knowledge of how to use a computer and build on that knowledge when learning the different programs. Have
previous skills in Microsoft word and powerpoint are helpful.

Instructional Plan and Preparation

 What student needs, interests, and prior learning provide a foundation for this lesson?
 How can you find out if students have this foundation?
 What difficulties might students have?

Students knowing how to copy and paste images and operate a computer is necessary for them to expound upon
their knowledge to create this infographic. However, students will have to follow along my tutorial of each of these
websites to help them create this.

Management-- Describe the classroom management strategies will you use to manage your students and the
use of digital tools and resources.

 How and where will your students work? (Small groups, whole group, individuals, classroom, lab, etc.)
 What strategies will you use to achieve equitable access to the Internet while completing this lesson?
 Describe what technical issues might arise during the Internet lesson.
 Explain how you worked with students to resolve or trouble-shoot them? (This meets part of ISTE
standard 4.2.)
 Please note: Trouble-shooting should occur prior to implementing the lesson as well as throughout the
process. Be sure to indicate how you prepared for problems and work through the issues that occurred as
you implemented and even after the lesson was completed.

Students are working with a partner. Students have access to the school wifi and charging stations. This will be an
in class project. There may be wifi issues or maintenance on some of the websites we are using. Alternate
websites can be used if those are not operating that perform the same functions.

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Instructional Strategies and Learning Activities – Describe the research-based instructional strategies you will
use with this lesson.

 How will your learning environment support these activities? What is your role? What are the students'
roles in the lesson?
 How can you ensure higher order thinking at the analysis, evaluation, or creativity levels of
Bloom’s Taxonomy?
 How can the technology support your teaching?
 What authentic, relevant, and meaningful learning activities and tasks will your students complete?
 How will they build knowledge and skills?
 How will students use digital tools and resources to communicate and collaborate with each other and
others?
 How will you facilitate the collaboration?

My role in this is to help inform students on how to effectively use bubbl.us, canvas, and screencast. I train them by
showing them tutorial videos and examples that I have done. Then I allow them to play around with it to get familiar
and ask questions. I act more as a facilitator and answering questions as they arise. This is a high level on Bloom’s
taxonomy because they are creating something. Technology helps support them in content and delivery for this
assignment. Students are creating an infographic of their favorite animal and sharing it with each other. This makes
it very personal and authentic for them especially after our zoo field trip. They will collaborate and research to build
knowledge and skills. I am having them partner up and work together to build their infographic in canvas and
deliver it in screencast. I will help facilitate this collaboration by making sure everyone is comfortable with the
programs they are using and are playing their part.

Differentiation

 How will you differentiate content and process to accommodate various learning styles and abilities?
 How will you help students learn independently and with others?
 How will you provide extensions and opportunities for enrichment?
 What assistive technologies will you need to provide?)

This assignment engages a variety of learning styles and abilities. For example for auditory and visual learners
research websites have videos and pictures on national geographic. For kinesthetic learners they are able to
create something using canvas. For verbal learners they are able to read about thei carious animals. This
engages a variety of learning styles and skills. Working with partners also helps them to combine their strengths,
styles, and preferences. Students will be able to research more in detail as enrichment and share stories of their
animals.

Reflection
 Will there be a closing event?
 Will students be asked to reflect upon their work?
 Will students be asked to provide feedback on the assignment itself?

Also answer the following questions:

 How will you know if the students found the lesson meaningful and worth completing?

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  In what ways do you think this lesson will be effective?
 Why do you think this?
 What problems do you anticipate and why?
 How would you design and/or teach this lesson differently if you had more time?
Students will show their screencast with their completed infographic with the class while the audience takes notes.
This will be the closing event. Students will reflect upon each others work by completing a guide when others are
presenting. Students are welcome to ask questions and give feedback that is kind and relevant afterwards. This
lesson is very fun for student and I will survey how much their enjoyed it afterwards. This lesson is meaningful and
effective for students because they are choosing their favorite animal which makes it personal and they are
creating their inforgraphic using their skills.

Closure: Anything else you would like to reflect upon regarding lessons learned and/or your experience with
implementing this lesson. What advice would you give others if they were to implement the lesson? Please
provide a quality reflection on your experience with this lesson and its implementation.
This lesson was very fun and creative. Students really enjoyed using canvas and sharing their product on
screencast. I would provide links to tutorial videos next time for students to help address the “how to’s.”

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