Evolutionary Processes For Unit 5

Lesson 1: Pre-quiz and Notes

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: 48 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.LS4. A.1 Communicate scientific information that common ancestry and biological evolution are
supported by multiple lines of empirical evidence. (Clarification statement: Emphasis is on a conceptual
understanding of the role each line of evidence has relating to common ancestry and biological evolution.
Examples of evidence could include similarities in DNA sequences, anatomical structures, and order of
appearance of structures in embryological development. Communicating could mean written report, oral
discussion, etc.)

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 deconstruct aspects of Natural selection and evolution and identify
evidence based on real world examples for connection and understanding.

 Student Objective: Students will be able to identify Natural selection as the mechanism for
evolution.

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

Before: Before the students take their quiz on non-mendelian genetics, we will be going over questions that
are going to be similar to what is on their quiz for practice. How much the students interact and communicate
to me on how well the either understand or find some portions still challenging will determine how long the
review needs to be, and if I need to consider postponing the test, or acting further for better students’
competency. Moving into the new subunit of evolution will draw back on aspects of genetics and therefore
this pre-review of the quiz will help me determine how well the students previous knowledge is in order to
move on to the next level in the class room.

During: During the notes portion of the lesson I will be taking formative assessments from the students to
check understanding, asking them to collect in groups to discuss deeper thinking questions that focus on the
big ideas of natural selection and evolution. I can determine from here if I need to re-explain things to them in
a different format, or if we can move on from one subject to another. This could include using white boards,
google doc, or an addition to their guided notes.

After: After the lesson I will collect the student’s attention and ask another formative assessment along with
dome deeper thinking questions to determine what they understand of natural selection and evolution, and
what evidence they can give me that they either do, or don’t understand. This can be in the form of a thumbs
up/down/sideways on certain topics, questions written to me and sent in for me to read and address. This
again will let me know what to address in future lessons for better clarity.

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?

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  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?

As every day we have class I will be standing outside of the door greeting students as they walk in. this gives
students a chance to talk to me about anything before class starts which helps with the flow of the classroom
when class officially starts. When students do walk in there wont be a bell ringer on the board as today will be
a day to review for the quiz, and that takes the place of the bell ringers necessity. Once the bell has rung to
start class. I will go over the agenda with the students to let them know what it is we will be doing today. First
we will start of reviewing for their quiz on non-mendelian genetics, they will take their quiz, and then we will
move on to notes on natural selection and evolution. This will take us to the end of class today were we will
collect together and talk about what we understand and what we still have having trouble conceptualizing.

I will instruct the students to take out a sheet of paper, and a writing utensil and follow along with me as I
show examples of practice problems before the quiz. (LINK). At this point I will be going over sex-linked
traits, blook tying, and incomplete and codominance to the students. The google slides includes examples of
each, and their vocabulary words that I believe will help them to see and write down before they take their
quiz.
Once the students communicate to me that they are ready for their quiz I ask them to spread out in the room
and make sure that they are separated well through. Everything should be put away with the only thing
available is their computers and a writing utensil. I will be passing out scrap paper for them to do their
punnett squares on, to which they will throw away when finished.
I will remind them to tilt their computers down so that I know that they are finished, and I will give them the
password to enter the quiz.
As students are taking the quiz I will be walking around, answering questions, and maintaining expectations
from the students until everyone is finished with the quiz.

Once everyone has completed the quiz, I will call everyone back to their seats so that we can start notes.
I want to ask them how they felt about the quiz, if it was hard or the same level of difficulty as the other
quizzes we have taken. I will get a brief discussion from the students before I remind them that they are able
to retake their quiz again if they feel they need to.

Students should already have a copy of their guided notes as this portion of the subunit connects to the
genetics unit we just completed. I will ask them to take that out and put everything else away including their
computers and phones. On he board I will have up my google slides document that coincides with those notes
and we will start working through them together.
In my notes I have videos for the students to watch and write down highlighted aspects of, including evidence
of fossilization, embryology, natural selection, and DNA sequencing.

Time allocation for this lesson will take approximately 90 minutes.

Review for quiz: 10 minutes
Quiz: 15-20 minutes
Guided notes section: 45-55 minutes
Discussion: Last 5 minutes

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

1. Mrs. Warren Notes-Evolution by Natural Selection + Evidence.pptx - Google Slides

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

Today’s lesson will again rely on students’ computers given to them by the school district along with the
smart TV for note delivery, and various applications and videos for students engagement.
For physical objects I have also brought in some of my own personal fossil collection for students’
enrichment and connections to real world scenarios of conversation.

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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):

 Representation (what):

 Action and Expression (How):

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?

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

12. Lesson Evaluation and Reflection

 To what extent did the learners meet the lesson objectives?
 In what ways did you provide feedback to learners?
 Which activities or strategies did you find the most effective in the lesson?
 What adjustments will you make in future lessons?
 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