EDLD 5364 Week 3 Lesson Plan & Reflections
CAST’s UDL LESSON BUILDER
Lesson Overview
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Title:
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Biology Unit: Symbiotic relationships within the ecosystems.
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Author:
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Scott January
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Subject:
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Biology
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Grade Level(s):
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9th grade
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Duration:
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2 days
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Science
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Students will explore the biomes of the world and
living and nonliving features that characterize individual biomes. Students
will also explore limiting factors that may affect carrying capacity and
distinguish between the various types of symbiotic relationships between ecosystems.
As well as explore how organisms cycle energy and matter between one another
and the environment. Students will also determine how succession can lead to
ecosystem stability, how humans impact ecosystems, and how environmental
change impacts ecosystems.
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State Standards:
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B.2H, B.7E, B.12A, B.12B,
B.12D
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Goals
Unit Goals: |
1.
Students will identify living and nonliving factors in an ecosystem.
2.
Students will distinguish between various types of symbiotic relationships.
3.
Students will determine how energy flows in an ecosystem.
4.
Students will discover what factors affect the stability of an
ecosystem.
5.
Students will use various new technologies including: Glogster, Prezi
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Students will acquire an understanding of
symbiotic relationships within an ecosystem.
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Methods
Anticipatory Set: |
Initiate and facilitate a discussion over the
varying types of ecosystems, and the symbiotic relationships within them.
Discuss symbiotic relationships that impact the ecosystems and determine if
those relationships can be divided into different groups or categories.
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Introduce and Model New Knowledge: |
Show students a brief video on Symbiotic relationships within the ecosystems at:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrWk2g-ImkE |
Provide Guided Practice: |
Have students divide into 2 groups. Distribute two sets of ecosystem symbiotic relationship sort cards, 1 set to each group. Have the groups compete in seeing how many correct symbiotic relationships the groups can correctly match. Afterwards, compile the data from the 2 groups and facilitate a discussion between the 2 groups about the exercise as well as data gathered from both groups. |
Provide Independent Practice: |
Students will complete a
matching worksheet to review symbiotic relationships in ecosystems.
Adjustments/Modifications: |
Assessment
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Formative/Ongoing Assessment:
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As an Instructor I will monitor the class progress and encourage higher
thinking and discussion.
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For the end of lesson assessment, the students will have a project in
which they will create a short video showing symbiotic relationships in slide
format in regards to ecosystems.
Adjustments/Modifications:
Visual and Hearing impaired:
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Materials
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Teacher lecturn with computer and Internet access, mounted projector and
audio system. Interactive whiteboard
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Youtube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrWk2g-ImkE
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Computer lab with Internet access
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Symbiotic relationships within ecosystems sort cards (12 sets, laminated)
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Symbiotic realtionships Worksheet
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*Scope and Sequence and sort cards from the artist
formely known as CSCOPE.*
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UDL Lesson Reflection
This week’s assignments have been very challenging, and for
me, creating the lesson plan was at the top of the list. My role in my school is more of a support
role, so I do not do a whole lot of creating lesson plans. I will say that the UDL cast lesson builder
was very straightforward and easy to use.
There wasn’t very much to the actual process once I had all of the
information that I needed for the lesson.
I also found the UDL reading very informative. I also found the UDL reading very helpful
when I set out to put my lesson plan together in knowing what the needed
components would be. I am glad that I
have learned the process, but it sure has been a long week for me. This class has stretched me, but I know that
I will benefit in the future.
Week 3 Reading Reflections
Compared to all of the other weeks, I must say
that week 3 has been
the most hectic so far..
Even the reading assignments seemed very long in page length. It seems that there was a lot to cover in a
very short time. Maybe it is because of
the extra group work for the group projects that span this class.
I first watched a video about a new digital generation in
learning. The video itself was a bit
campy, but it got its point across about crossing into the digital
threshold. When we crossed from analogue
systems to digital systems, it did indeed create more options for the technology
using it. Because the video is older, it
was cool to compare it to the here and now and see how far we have come
technology wise in just a short time.
I then watched another video about a student who embraces
technology and has become sort of a mentor to those around him. I liked the fact that the student not only
learned the new technology, but even started to teach his parents how to use it
as well. It would be interesting to see
where he is now in his learning journey.
Another video that was part of our videos to be watched was about
a boy named Cameron found ways to excel in learning by using video for visual
learning. He even created a green screen
on the wall in his garage where he would spend countless hours creating visual
effects to show his teachers and fellow classmates. I enjoyed hearing the enthusiasm in his voice
for using video to learn in new ways. It
does make me wonder with some of the above-mentioned stories as to how do they
keep their momentum and not lose their passion for learning. I have seen many with great gifts in using
technology that have become stagnant over the years.
In exploring this week’s readings, the one that really grabbed my
attention was “using technology for technology’s sake isn’t a good application
of time or funding, and it is unlikely to improve student achievement” (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, &
Malenoski, 2001, p. 217). When I
read this particular passage, I thought of all of horrible fad technology that
I have been forced to support over the years, and the frustration that it has
caused myself as well as instructors.
If any of you have ever had to use a Crestron room, then you know
why the above quote rings so true. Our
school decided to buy this technology because at the push of a button, multiple
things would happen at once – lights would dim, screen would lower and
projector system would come on – sounds cool right? Well, the ugly little secret to this magical
classroom technology is that it costs 5 times as much to maintain, and when the
system goes down, it takes the whole room hostage, and it is very
temperamental. It did not take long for everyone to realize that this
technology was not practical, and it hampered student learning because the
devices in the room only worked part of the time, which would ruin a class
(especially if the lights would not even come on). These technologies were eventually replaced
with more tradition and practical technologies that were not as flashy, but
they worked every time that you used them.
Sometimes less really is more.
References
Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn,
M., & Malenoski, K. (2001). Using
Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works. Denver Colorado: Mcrel.
This week I attended the web conference on Saturday. I actually attended from my car on the way home from the college. I had to teach a class and was able to pop in and catch most of the class. It is always good to check in and listen to questions from my classmates. Usually, one of them will ask a question that I already have, so I almost always wind up getting my answer before I can even ask the question. This particular web conference was hard for me to listen to because I found out that my group had put fourth way more work than was necessary. If there was a silver lining to this I guess that it would be that I did learn a lot in the process of working myself to the near brink of death. It was interesting to use the UDL lesson builder and ebook builder. I was happy when I was able to complete both of those tasks. Of course, Dr. A answered all of our questions, as well as offered some encouragement to those of us who were down trodden for lack of a better term. Dr. A had mentioned that she was the 3rd or 4th person to teach this class, and that she was making changes to the assignments. in spite of the beating that we took this week in regards to the ton of work that we completed, Dr. A did say that even though many of us had already done the work this week, she would be able to at least make weeks 4 and 5 a little less stressful, and I will be grateful any help in that area.
Week 3 Web Conference Reflection
This week I attended the web conference on Saturday. I actually attended from my car on the way home from the college. I had to teach a class and was able to pop in and catch most of the class. It is always good to check in and listen to questions from my classmates. Usually, one of them will ask a question that I already have, so I almost always wind up getting my answer before I can even ask the question. This particular web conference was hard for me to listen to because I found out that my group had put fourth way more work than was necessary. If there was a silver lining to this I guess that it would be that I did learn a lot in the process of working myself to the near brink of death. It was interesting to use the UDL lesson builder and ebook builder. I was happy when I was able to complete both of those tasks. Of course, Dr. A answered all of our questions, as well as offered some encouragement to those of us who were down trodden for lack of a better term. Dr. A had mentioned that she was the 3rd or 4th person to teach this class, and that she was making changes to the assignments. in spite of the beating that we took this week in regards to the ton of work that we completed, Dr. A did say that even though many of us had already done the work this week, she would be able to at least make weeks 4 and 5 a little less stressful, and I will be grateful any help in that area.
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