Why the table format?

First, the table with a column each for time, learning task and method or procedure builds into the planning process a consideration of various teaching methods.  Consistent with educational research, it is important for teachers to use multiple methods within a lesson in order to cater to different learning styles. 

Second, the table allows for a complex lesson plan objective to be divided into multiple, more simple concepts and/or skills.  Since we believe in challenging students to operate at higher levels on Bloom’s Taxonomy, particularly in middle and high school, it is necessary for teachers to break down a higher-level skill such as analysis either into its component parts, or to very deliberately go through the model-coach-fade instructional progression.  Furthermore, the “time” column leaves the flexibility for teachers to indicate how long they will spend on each learning task.  Again toward the end of helping students understand complex concepts or master complex skills, we believe lesson plans are best thought of as 2- to 4-day events.  The “time” column is therefore a place for the teacher to indicate not only how many class minutes they will spend on certain learning tasks, but also which day each learning task takes place.

Finally, completing the table demands a high level of instructional detail during the planning process.  While this can be overwhelming for teachers when they first begin to plan in this way, we have found with our teachers that their lessons are much more efficient and effective when planned minute by minute, and with attention to the logical progression of concepts or skills that build toward the lesson plan objective over the course of 2 to 4 days.  In fact, many of our teachers comment that when they fail to plan using this detailed format, their instruction and often even their classroom management suffer.

Number of Days:

2 Days
 

Prior Knowledge:

Students will be able to distinguish between different colors; distinguish between predators and prey.
 

Lesson Objective:

Students will be able to explain how camouflage helps animals survive.
 

Lesson Assessment:

Bar graph of Toothpick Hunt Activity
 

Benchmark or Standards:

Science: 4.1.8

Math: 4.3.3
 

Materials Needed:

Colored toothpicks, brown paper bags, markers/crayons, chart paper, rulers
 

Enrichment:

Allow student to write creative story about the camouflaged pencil from the perspective of the pencil, explaining how it was able to hide from view.
 

Accommodations:

1. Allow student with poor visual acuity to search for toothpicks with a buddy.

2. Allow visual learners to draw picture of camouflaged pencil while partner writes the plan.
 

Procedures:

Here the lesson author can reflect on changes for future years. After executing the lesson in the classroom, the member can edit this section of the wiki resource to describe changes for making the lesson more effective next time.
 

What Worked Well:

After executing the lesson in the classroom, edit the wiki resource to highlight particularly effective activities or assessments for reference in future years.

Number of Days:

3 days
 

Prior Knowledge:

Students will be able to write qualitative and quantitative observations, make basic measurements of length, volume and mass.
 

Lesson Objective:

Students will be able to articulate observations of the physical properties of matter (except density).
 

Lesson Assessment:

Whiteboard quizzes, exit card, quiz.
 

Background or Standards:

TEKS 6.2 A-D, 6.7B, 6.8A
 

Materials Needed:

Bucket of water, cup with crumpled piece of paper inside, balloon, triple beam balance, graphic organizer (double-sided), beakers of colored vinegar, petri dishes of sugar; piece of aluminum, piece of glass; warm water, styrofoam cups, plastic cups, metal cups, thermometers; water, milk, oil, strawberry drink mix, iron fillings.
 

Enrichment:

Students can be challenged to explain whether air is matter, based on the definition of matter explored in class.
 

Accommodations:

For student with auditory challenges, will provide written version of what is spoken by teacher in class.
 

Anticipated Problems:

Difficulty grasping the more abstract properties of conductivity and malleability; management & safety issues when students work in pairs with graduated cylinders.
 

Procedures:

Here the lesson author can reflect on changes for future years. After executing the lesson in the classroom, the member can edit this section of the wiki resource to deswcribe changes for making the lesson more effective next time.
 

What Worked Well:

After executing the lesson in the classroom, edit the wiki resource to highlight particularly effective activities or assessments for reference in future years.

Number of Days:

4 days
 

Prior Knowledge:

Students will be able to apply procedure to calculate medians.
 

Lesson Objective:

Students will be able to analyze data sets using box & whisker plots.
 

Lesson Assessment:

Given dataset on LSU scores in 2005 and 2006 season, find 5 number summary; represent in box and whisker plot; and compare/contrast results; create 7-item dataset with Q1=80, median=88, max=100.
 

Benchmark or Standards:

PS 1.1, 1.2
 

Materials Needed:

Handouts: LSU/ND football scores from 2006 season; Box and Whisker plot calculator guide; iPod dataset
 

Enrichment:

Students bring in another real-world dataset (besides football scores) they think could benefit from analysis using a box and whisker plot
 

Accommodations:

Input: present information about boxplot first lection before viewing with calculator (so the students know what they are looking at)
 

Anticipated Problems:

Confusion about different sized sections on the box and whisker plot each representing 25% of the data
 

Procedures:

Here the lesson author can reflect on changes for future years. After executing the lesson in the classroom, the member can edit this section of the wiki resource to describe changes for making the lesson more effective next time.
 

What Worked Well:

Using the LSU football score dataset

Probability & Statistics-College Prep (Grade 12)

Unit Number:
2

Estimated Duration:
20 days

Unit Rationale:
This unit establishes standard statistics used throughout the course, building on the students' prior knowledge of averages. Real-world data sets and graphical representations of the data (including box-and-whisker plots) are incorporated throughout the unit. In addition to pencil and paper calculations, the calculator and computer are heavily utilized to analyze data sets numerically and graphically. Students are challenged to answer questions including "Why are descriptive statistics needed at all?" and "Why can't averages alone be used to describe data?" (Understanding Basic Statistics, 3e, Brase&Brase: Ch. 3.1, 3.2, 3.3)

Unit Goal:
SWBAT analyze data sets using measures of central tendency and measures of variation.          

Prior Knowledge:
SWBAT apply arithmetic skills with sums, squares, and square roots.   

Unit Assessment:
Analyze the Titanic dataset (taken from http://biostat.mc.vanderbilt.edu/twiki/bin/view/Main/DataSets) in order to determine whether or not the philosophy "women and children first" was actually followed when boarding the lifeboats.   

Lesson Plans:

Probability & Statistics-College Prep (Grade 12)

Unit Number:
6

Estimated Duration:
19 days

Unit Rationale:
The second semester of Prob/Stats focuses on probability distributions and inferential statistics, so it is natural that it begins with the normal probability distribution. This is the most common distribution curve and the distribution that is often familiar to students under the 'bell-curve' title. The students are prompted to ask and answer questions like "What are the characteristics of a normal curve?", "Given a normal distribution, how are probabilities/areas calculated?", "Do normal curves appear in real-world data?" [yes!]. This unit establishes the basis for the next unit on the Central Limit Theorem (which demonstrates the true power and versatility of the normal distribution curve). The skills used to analyze the normal distribution in this unit could also be extended in a future stats class to other types of distributions. (Understanding Basic Statistics, 3e, Brase&Brase: Ch. 7.1, 7.2, 7.3)

Unit Goal:
SWBAT analyze normal and standardized normal distributions.             

Prior Knowledge:
SWBAT calculate population mean (expected value) and standard deviation.   

Unit Assessment:
Analyze the normal distribution of ACT scores in Louisiana and USA.        

Lesson Plans:

High School Biology (designed for 9th grade)

Unit Number:
7

Estimated Duration:
18 days

Unit Rationale:
This unit occurs after a parallel unit on the structure and function of animals and their component parts.  Since students tend to be more interested in and knowledgeable about animals, the course introduces to students some of the vocabulary and scientific process skills of labs within the context of the more familiar animal kingdom. The unit also provides an important knowledge base for the next unit on evolution, allowing students to draw on declarative knowledge in both the plant and animal kingdoms in order to understand varied examples of natural selection and broader evolutionary trends over geologic time.

The unit addresses the following NSTA high school standards:   Evolution: Biological classifications are based on how organisms are related. Organisms are classified into a hierarchy of groups and subgroups based on similarities which reflect their relationships. Cells: Cells have particular structures that underlie their functions. Cells carry out such functions as energy production, transport of molecules, waste disposal, synthesis of new molecules, and storage. Cells: Plant cells contain chloroplasts, the site of photosynthesis. Plants use solar energy to combine molecules of carbon dioxide and water into complex, energy rich organic compounds, and release oxygen into the environment. This process of photosynthesis provides a vital connection between the sun and the energy needs of living systems. Matter, Energy, and Organization: The complexity and organization of organisms accommodates the need for obtaining, transforming, transporting, releasing, and eliminating the matter and energy used to sustain the organism.  Behavior: Organisms have behavioral responses to internal changes and to external stimuli. Reponses to external stimuli can result from environmental changes. Plants also respond to stimuli; Specialized cells can detect light, sound, and specific chemicals, and enable living things to monitor what is going on in the world around them. Physiology: Students know hormones provide internal feedback at the cellular level, and in whole organisms.  Ecology: Students know how to analyze changes in an ecosystem resulting from changes in climate and human activity.

Unit Goal:
SWBAT compare and contrast the structure and function of different plants and plant parts with respect to a plant's environment.        

Prior Knowledge:
SWBAT make and test a hypothesis.           

Unit Assessment:
SWBAT analyze the effects of acid rain on the growth and development of different types of plants and their component parts.       

Lesson Plans: