Supervisor Observation 4

Backyard Biodiversity and Design Solutions for

Biodiversity Activities
1. Description of the Setting: What characteristics of the classroom or setting are important to the
lesson? (e.g., grade level, physical set-up of classroom, number of students, adult supports, etc.)
Grade level: 11th – 12th Grade
Classroom description: When you enter the room the first thing you will notice is that the room is structured
more longitudinally in its design. There are two doors for entrance into the class with one positioned at the
front, and one at the back. It is made from cement blocks and has two windows on the far wall facing a small
alleyway. The room itself is divided arbitrary into two sections. One half is set up with wooden tables with
black tops for lab set up. There are four short stools per set up, and two tables push together longways. In
total there are six pairs of tables with four tables per group. Underneath each table cluster is a power strip that
plugs into an outlet on the floor. Along the walls on this side of the classroom are cabinets for storage,
microscopes, skeletal models, diagrams of the human body, and a taxidermized hawk. There is also an
emergency shower positioned close to the door, with a first aid cabinet, fire blanket, and sinks placed in
varied locations. The other half of the room is set up for lecture activities and is comprised of student desks
organized in clusters. Each desk is made of wood and a plastic material that has chairs that are detached from
the desk. Each desk is clustered into groups of four or five and is evenly spaced out in the room. There is a
white board at the “front” of the room with a smart board and a smart TV. On this half of the room there are
more cabinets for storage and student made posters of varied body systems, coloring pages, inspirational
posters as well as other student created projects. On the wall with the windows there is another small
whiteboard for the class agenda, as well as the teacher’s desk and computer. In the middle of the room there is
an instructors table with some drawers for storage and a projector device that connects to the smart board and
smart TV.
Adult support: For this room the only teacher supports are Mr. Edwards and me. Though there are a few
students with an IEP and 504, they do not require paraprofessionals. As usual there are other teachers in the
department available for help as well as administration, resource officers, and various teachers’ assistants. As
this is the science hall there are also other teachers around for support if necessary.
Class time: 90 minutes
Number of students: 17

2. Description of the Learners: What do you know about the learners that have influenced your
decisions in planning this lesson? (e.g., learners with disabilities, ELLs, gifted learners, experiential
background knowledge of the learners, cultural diversity of the learners, etc.)

These students are either juniors or seniors and have already taken physics and chemistry as prerequisites to
the course. Each student is required to take three years of science for graduation, and this is their last required
semester for the subject. Those students who have not passed first semester biology will continue to take this
class but will need to retake first semester during summer school. Most of these students are from the suburbs
with some students from the inner city and are brought to school via taxi.
In this class there are 17 students in total and four of them have a listed IEP intervention. Two students, C.K
and M.S, both have alternative testing available as well as modified test. Both students have a speech
impediment and may choose to do more written assignments or videos with subtitles. For these students there
is a testing center in the library where there are staff available to read the test to them or allow for more time.
The modified tests consist of removing an incorrect multiple-choice question or shortening/removing short
answer questions from the exam.
Student J.W is hearing impaired and wears a hearing aid. What is listed in her IEP is to talk clearly and sit her
toward the front of the classroom. If there are any videos for instruction, the use of subtitles is also utilized.
Seating close to the source of instruction may also be necessary but normally not an issue with this student.
Student A.H has an IEP that indicated he is on the autistic spectrum and has social anxiety listed as a
behavioral trigger. Preferred seating near the instructor is required and the ability to leave the room for
decompression may be necessary. This student is also diabetic and will need to leave for the nurse at times
during the instruction. This student wears a blood sugar monitoring device that is connected to his phone and
will need to always have access to it. This device sends notifications to his phone as well as his guardians on
any change in his condition.

3. Standards/Quality Indicators/Skills: National, state, and/or local standards, quality indicators, and
skills addressed by this lesson.

 9-12.ESS3.C.2 Evaluate or refine a technological solution that reduces impacts of human

activities on natural systems in order to restore ability and or biodiversity of the ecosystem as
well as prevent their reoccurrences. [Clarification Statement: Examples of human activities
could include forest fires, acid rain, flooding, urban development, pollution, deforestation, and
introduction of an invasive species.]

4. Lesson Objective(s)
(Lesson objectives should contain observable and measurable target behavior, conditions under which the
target behavior should be performed and criteria for mastery.)
 How does this lesson fit into the larger instructional sequence?

 Official Objective: Students will use the application to correctly identify and find information
about different organisms in the Kirkwood campus environment. This will then connect to
solving challenges relating to biodiversity and human involvement. This will have a
competition grade of 100%.

 Student Objective: Students will use their app to identify aspects of biodiversity in their
school environment. This will relate to another activity which will have a portion for solution
in biodiversity that will have a completion of 100%.

5. Assessment: Assessment(s) before, during, and after the lesson

Before: My before assessment will include talking to the students about what we have learned so far in
the unit. I want to see if they are able to verbally connect aspects of the unit together and are able to tell
me how important biodiversity is to an ecosystem. This will be a short assessment to see if there are
areas I should emphasize today during our lesson and our walk outside.

During: While students are walking around and getting information for their projects, I will be helping
with technology as well as answering questions. Depending what questions, they have will help me
determine if they need another day to collect images or not. I will also be considering their participation
during the time outside and using what I learned in the before assessment, I will stop to talk about
certain variations we see on the Kirkwood campus.

After: Once the outside portion is complete, we will be moving on to another worksheet inside that
correlates with what they have learned. This will turn their learned experience into quantitative data
and allow me to make an assessment on what we have covered for today. At this point as well, I will be
walking around the room to see if they need another day to collect data or if this lesson was sufficient.

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6. Lesson Procedures: Sequence of events of the lesson elements designed to introduce the lesson,
engage learners in the lesson content, and bring the lesson to a close.
 How will you engage the learners, review prior skills/content, and set a purpose for learning?
 In what ways will you explain the relevance of the lesson to the learners and/or link the lesson to
students' wonderings, experiences, or questions?
 In what ways will you demonstrate the processes you want the learners to follow as they participate in
the lesson?
 How will you structure the lesson so that students can gradually assume responsibility for learning?
 How will you provide feedback to students throughout the lesson and guide them to reflect on what
they learned and their own success in the learning process?
 How will you plan for the allocation of time to the different lesson activities?

Before class as usual I will be standing outside the door greeting students as they come in. This
way if there are any issue or problems the students are having, they can take these
opportunities to talk to me privately and solve any issue before class starts. Once the bell rings
I will walk in and greet the students and ask how their day is going so far. After gaining their
attention on me, we will talk about the agenda for the day and begin with the backyard
biodiversity activity. My explanation of the activity will be as follows.
“Today we will be going over biodiversity and looking at the different fauna and wildlife that
exists on campus. As we went through the other day, you should have the seek app on your
phone. Go ahead and open it on your phone so that I can go through the app with you one
more time before we go outside. How it works is you will take a picture of the
plant/animal/insect you see, but when you take this picture, you will hold the camera on the
image until all six dots are covered. Otherwise, you will not be given the information needed
to complete the worksheet on Schoology. You will need 2 plants, 2 animals/reptiles/birds, 2
insects or invertebrates. The app will give you all the information you need, unless you don’t
wait for it to give you all the dots needed to continue. We will be going to a few destinations
around the campus starting with the courtyard. There are areas along the way you can take
pictures, and areas you can’t because it’s muddy.

As we go outside, I have expectations that I want to go over that seem self-explanatory, but we
will be going over anyway. You need to stay in the area that is designated for the activity. In
the courtyard, there will be other classrooms and windows where I am sure you will see some
of your friends. Leave the windows alone and don’t be a distraction. If you are, I will write
you up. This is your warning and there won’t be any second chances. If you are next to
someone who is doing this, you will also be written up. I am not playing that game of who did
or didn’t do what. We will also be going near cars and walking near them. If you look in them,
mess with them, or touch them, I will write you up. This is your warning. We will all be staying
together, and this should take us about 30 minutes so bring your jacket if you get cold. When
we come back into the room, we will start our last activity for the day, and I will go over that
as well when we get there. Is there anything I need to clear up about my expectations while we
are outside?
Has everyone been able to get the app working on their phone? If not, you may share with a
friend if needed. We will walk together outside toward the courtyard. Leave everything behind
except your phone. Lets go.
Once outside, we will be walking around the campus to various location so that the students
can get their images on their app.
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When we are finished and walk back inside, I will show a short video to get the students to
settle down and act as a transition into the next activity. From here, we will start the
“designing solution to preserve biodiversity” activity. In this activity students will be put into
groups of 3-4 and work on part one in order to discover and solve problems relating to monk
seal populations. This system follows the HIPPO (Habitat loss, Invasive species, Pollution,
Population growth, and Overharvesting) structure and each group will cover one of these
areas. This project shows them how to design and present solutions that help address this
biodiversity threat by working together as a team/class. I will go through the directions in the
packet with the class to make sure everyone knows what to do. This activity involves a
presentation aspect and each group must present their findings as experts in their portion of the
plan to help the monk seal population. I will let the students know that we most likely will be
doing the presentations on Friday so that they can have more time to work. This will take us to
the end of class. Before class is over, I will be collecting their HIPPO sheets to use for next
time, and when the bell rings, they are free to leave.

Go over App and expectations: 5-7 minutes

Outside: 30 -35 minutes
Instructions on Design Solutions Worksheet: 5-7 minutes
Design Solutions worksheet: 35-45 minutes
Discussion and collect worksheets: Last 3-5 minutes

7. Resources and Materials: List of materials used in planning and during the implementation of the
lesson

1. Smart TV
2. Videos for additional content explanation: Why is biodiversity so important? - Kim
Preshoff (youtube.com)

3. Google slides: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Q6ioltlHsruz

V2raO4TGXrrqySWJRDvM /edit?
usp=sharing&ouid=115379646125499869300 &rtpof=true&sd=true

4. Seek Application on mine and students phones.

5. Design Solutions to Biodiversity Worksheet: DesignSolutionsBiodiversity-StudentHO-

act.pdf

6. Printed out sheets of HIPPO:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Q6ioltlHsruzV2raO4TGXrrqySWJR DvM/edit?
usp=sharing&ouid=115379646125499869300&rtpof=true&sd=trueSchoology Links

Works Cited:

 YouTube. (2020, April 13). Why is biodiversity important. YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2J5v861CTI&ab_channel=NicoleLantz
 Libretexts. (2022, February 17). 4.2.1:Biodiversity in motion. Biology LibreTexts.
https://bio.libretexts.org/Courses/

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8. Embedded Technology: Instructional and/or assistive technology incorporated into the lesson to
enhance instruction, student learning, and assessment.

This lesson requires us to use a new application for learning called “seek”. This app will take an image of
either a plant, animal or insect identify it as well as give information on the organism. This app is free to use
and can be used anywhere the students need to for the activity. Each students needs to get this downloaded
onto their devise to participate, but partners will be allowed if needed, but it is not ideal. Otherwise, we will
be using the smart TV as well as Schoology, which the students are familiar with already.

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9. Differentiation/Accommodations/Modifications/Increase in Rigor: To help meet
the needs of all learners, learning differences, cultural and language differences, etc.
 How are you embedding Universal Design for Learning principles within the lesson?
 What specific accommodations are you providing for individual learners and how are
these being provided?
 How are you modifying the outcome, process, or product for individual learners?
Universal Design for Learning Principles:
 Engagement (why): This lesson will optimize individual choice by allowing for a
variety of species of organisms to identify. This will foster relevance by looking in a
local environment to show biodiversity. This also develops a motivation for real world
examples in this area of content.

 Representation (what): Both activities in the lesson will activate background

knowledge and promote understanding thought the use of technology. Using the app
“seek” helps to highlight patterns in big ideas relating to biodiversity in ecology.

 Action and Expression (How): This method will vary the methods for response and
navigation as well as optimize different technological tools. Using this will help me to
monitor progress while allowing students to differentiate their mode of submission.

10. Classroom Management: Strategies consistent with the learning needs of the lesson
that also meet student behavior needs to help keep learners on task and actively engaged
 How will you review classroom rules and procedures?
 What specific procedures will be in place to ensure smooth transitions between lesson
activities?
 How will you provide reinforcement or acknowledgment to the whole group or individual
learners for appropriate behavior?
 How are you using individualized behavior supports for individual learners?

We will be going outside for a portion of this lesson, and I will be making my expectations
very clear for our behavior outside. I have them listed in my procedures as well, but they will
be as follows.
 Stay with the class.
 Don’t pick any of the vegetation or pick up any bugs/animals.
 Don’t look/touch cars.
 Don’t be a distraction to other classes in their windows.
 Failure to follow these rules will be a write-up.

As far as general classroom management there are expectations that were discussed at the
beginning of the year that pertain to all forms of lecture and activities, they are as follows;
 To use the bathroom, you must ask permission to go.
 Cellphones are to be either face down on your desk, or in your bag put away.
 Food and drink are not allowed in the lab but can be eaten at your tables.
 Ear buds cannot be played while in lecture.

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  Students are not allowed in the lab at any time. Failure to follow this rule will require
detention and a write-up.
 Once students are completed with their work and if time allows, students may use their
phones as a reward.

11. Supplementary Activities: Activities for early finishers or if the lesson is completed
early that extend learners' understanding of and thinking about the lesson objectives by
applying their new knowledge in a different way

In case it rains, we will be doing the second portion of the activity where students will
draw their back yards either on paper or a digital version. This will take approximately
the same amount of time as the outdoor walk, and we will do this on Friday instead.
Again, if necessary, if there are any students who can’t get their application to load,
they may work in partners.
If there are any students who are finished, they may work on their missing work from
the unit.

12. Lesson Evaluation and Reflection

1. To what extent did the learners meet the lesson objectives?
2. In what ways did you provide feedback to learners?
3. Which activities or strategies did you find the most effective in the lesson?
4. What adjustments will you make in future lessons?
5. How will you build on today's learning in your next lesson?

Additional Information
Any area or lesson component that may not have been covered by this format that you think
is vital to include in this lesson

Below is an image of the back yard biodiversity project, the other links are in the list of materials
listed above. Item is listed as number five.

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 Backyard Biodiversity Project
Introduction:

Biodiversity is critical in any self-sustaining environment. Complex and diverse ecological systems are
made up of many organisms and a huge variety of interactions. Simple ecosystems have few organisms,
few interactions, and are often fragile. All ecosystems, whether diverse or sparse, involve an intimate
interaction of living things with their abiotic environment. Biodiversity implies variety, and variety in an
ecosystem often ensures a greater chance of survival in a changing world.

The Earth is losing its biodiversity at a worrisome rate. Humans simplify ecosystems for many reasons: to
increase the agricultural base, to make way for cities and industrial zones, or for aesthetic reasons, such as
making lawns and gardens. This practice has direct effects upon many abiotic factors within an
environment. The air temperatures found in cities, for instance, are usually significantly higher than that
in surrounding, non-urbanized areas. Such cities are said to produce heat islands. An area’s biodiversity
has profound effects upon the physical and biological makeup of an ecosystem.

When scientists speak of the variety of organisms (and their genes) in an ecosystem, they refer to it as
biodiversity. A biologically diverse ecosystem, such as an old growth forest or tropical rain forest, is
healthy, complex and stable. Nature tends to increase diversity through the process of succession. The
opposite of biodiversity is referred to as monoculture, or the growing of one species of organism, such as
a lawn, a wheat field or corn field. Because all of the species are identical, there are few complex food
webs and disease can spread quickly. Monoculture is like a banquet table for disease organisms.
Monoculture often requires extensive use of pesticides and herbicides (to fight nature's tendency to
diversify communities) and is very labor and energy intensive (fighting nature is tough). Humans often
try to reduce diversity because it is easier to harvest a crop (whether it is wheat, corn , a lawn or a
secondary forest) if it all contains the same species, but this obviously creates serious problems.

Objectives:
 Determine how animal diversity changes in different environments.
 Observe and document varying biodiversity using the Seek App
 Create a map of surveyed areas of biodiversity

Seek Application:
You will need to download the Seek Application on Google play store or Apple App Store. Please use the
following presentation to understand how to use the Seek App

Map of the Area:

Draw/create to scale the area that you have collected species from in your seek app. You will need to
create a map from your backyard and the school with the following information:
1. Map created/drawn of the area including a scale in Square feet/yard
2. Pictures representing each of the 6 different species documented in the local found
3. Key labeling the different species

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Example:

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Part 1: Biodiversity around Kirkwood High School

Examine different areas of biodiversity around Kirkwood High School. Using the iNaturalist App take
pictures and identify the following:
 At least 2 different plant species
 At least 2 different insects, or invertebrates
 At least 2 different aves, reptiles, or mammals

Need to include 6 screen shots from your Seek Application (Species, Image, About, Range, &
Taxonomy):
 2 different plant species

 2 different insects, or invertebrates

 2 different aves, reptiles, or mammals

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Include a Map with a key of the area of Kirkwood high school that you surveyed. This can be either
hand drawn or digital.

Part 2: Biodiversity in your backyard

Examine different areas of biodiversity in your backyard. Using the iNaturalist App take pictures and
identify the following:
 At least 2 different plant species
 At least 2 different insects, or invertebrates
 At least 2 different aves, reptiles, or mammals

Need to include 6 screen shots from your Seek Application (Species, Image, About, Range, &
Taxonomy):

 2 different plant species

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 2 different insects, or invertebrates

 2 different aves, reptiles, or mammals

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Include a Map with a key of the area or your backyard that you surveyed. This can be either hand
drawn or digital.

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