Viterbo University

Lesson Plan Template

Revised 8/26/2014
Effective Fall 2014

This lesson plan template includes all the Viterbo Essential Elements. For full instructions and examples of each of the lesson plan components, see the Viterbo
Essential Elements posted on Moodle in the Education Majors course. All items below will expand as needed to add text.
Name_***************__and Jim Ivory_______________________
Lesson Title__How Sustainable Are You?___________________________________

Date______8/10/2015_______
Grade Level ___12_________Time Frame__45 min____

Learner Profile and Contextual Factors:

Located in rural Wisconsin, De Soto high school has a total of 182 students in grades 9-12. Of the 182 students, 0.5% students are Asian or Pacific
Islander, 1.1% students are American Indian, 0.5% Black not Hispanic, 3.3% Hispanic, and 94.5% White not Hispanic. It is important to note that
42.9% of the population are economically disadvantaged. It is estimated that 12.1% of the school's population have a disability.

Curriculum Standards:
H.12.4 Advocate a solution or combination of solutions to a
problem in science or technology
H.12.5 Investigate how current plans or proposals concerning
resource management, scientific knowledge, or technological
development will have an impact on the environment,
ecology, and quality of life in a community or region.
CCR.SL.12.5 Make strategic use of digital media in
presentations to enhance understanding of findings, reasoning,
and evidence to add interest.
CCR.RH.12.7 Integrate and evaluate multiple sources of
information presented in diverse formats and media in order to

Unit Goal/Central Focus

Sustainability and Resources

Resources

Materials:
Unit Summative Assessment
Picture of Earth for board
Sustainability Project at home, student picks one Journals
resource to focus on and strive to lessen their
Computers in the computer lab
consumption of that resource for two weeks.
25 graphic organizer worksheets
People:
Computer Lab Teacher

address a question or solve a problem.

CCR.WHST.12.9 Draw on evidence from informal texts to
support analysis, reflection, and research.

Prior Student Knowledge:

By 8th grade, Wisconsin students will have completed the following standards that relate to sustainability: H.8.3 Understand the consequences of decisions
affecting personal health and safety. G.8.5 Investigate a specific local problem to which there has been a scientific or technological solution, including proposals
for alternative courses of action, the choices that were made, reasons for the choices, any new problems created, and subsequent community satisfaction.
The students will also need to understand the todays lesson will carry over to the rest of the unit and that we will continually be coming back to our ecological
footprints and the amount of resources that we use. Students will also use previous information learned about the sustainability unit to apply specific details to
their unit project.

Lesson Objectives:

Formative Assessment:

Given classroom discussion, TSW be able to list the categories that were
discussed that impact our ecological footprint with 90% accuracy.

Students will be assessed at the end of class to review the areas of resources
that we looked at.

Given the classroom discussion, TSW be able to demonstrate learning by

completing their graphic organizer categorizing ideas in each area of the
resources that are used with 75% accuracy.

Students will complete graphic organizer listing ideas in each category that
were discussed in class. Students will use these ideas to develop unit project.

After completing the online quiz, TSW be able to list resources they use that
impact their own ecological footprint with 90% accuracy.

Students will Turn and Talk with a neighbor and highlight the resources that
make up the most of their personal ecological footprint.

At the end of class, TSW be able to explain how an ecological footprint is

associated with sustainability with 75% accuracy.

Exit ticket sharing at least one suggestion they discovered from quiz results to
reduce their ecological footprint.

Academic Language:

What is the key language demand/function?

What academic language will you teach and/or develop? What is the key vocabulary and/or symbols?
What opportunities will you provide for students to practice content language and/or vocabulary and develop fluency?
What supports will you provide that will help students understand and successfully use the academic language?

Key Language demands and functions

Cause and effect, Summarizing
Academic Language
Ecological Footprint, Sustainability, sustainable development, ecosystems, stewardship, consumption, carbon, renewable, recovery, resources, acres
Practice
Journaling, Turn and Talk w/neighbor, whole class discussion, working through online quiz
Support
Read Aloud, online quiz, opportunity to talk to neighbor, board diagram and discussion, graphic organizer

INSTRUCTION
Lesson procedures reflect best practices that are research-based and have a direct and positive effect on the teaching/learning environment. You should
indicate the time needed for each component of the lesson. Lesson plans should be detailed enough that any teacher could teach the lesson from the plan.

Time

Intro/Motivation/Anticipatory Set:
When the students walk in the classroom, I will have a picture of the
Earth on the board and it will have the words food, shelter, travel,
goods and services all pointing to the Earth.

8 mins Then a discussion will begin with the students as to what they think
are involved in each of the categories when it comes to the resources
we use. As students come up with ideas, when called on, they can
come and write the idea on the board next to the resource area.
Instructional Procedures/Developmental Lesson/Universal Core:
1. We will be focusing on and discussing our own environmental and
resource impact today. Has anyone ever heard of an environmental
impact footprint? Today we will each be taking a quiz to determine
our ecological footprint. In the quiz it will tell you at the end how
many Earths of resources would be needed if everyone on the Earth
30
mins lived like you.
2. First, I want you to each write in your science journal and predict
how many Earths you will come up with at the end of your quiz.
3. Before we leave to go to the computer lab, I will explain what will
happen. We will all line up quietly and walk to the high school
computer lab together. Once we are there, find a seat at a computer
where you will be able to focus and not be distracted by your
neighbor. Log onto the computer, go into google and search for the
website that will be listed on the board. Once there, wait until further
directions from me. We will take the quiz together as a class, in case
there are any questions as we take the quiz.
4. Gather all of your things because we will not be coming back to
class. Line up and we will walk to the computer lab.
5. We will then go through the Ecological footprint quiz on
http://footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/GFN/page/calculators/. I
will read all the questions and we will continue through the quiz
together.
6. Once the students have taken the quiz, they will look at their
predicted results and actual results and compare them. Students will
then do a Turn and Talk and share their results with someone sitting

Differentiation for All / Multiple Pathways/Alternative Teaching

Approaches

Multiple Pathways/Multiple Intelligences:

Naturalist: We are discussing natural resources of the Earth.
Intrapersonal: Journal activities are done individually
Interpersonal: Students will brainstorm together the aspects of each
resources category at the beginning of class
Logical/Mathematical: Students will have to interpret data compiled by
their ecological footprint quiz.
Linguistic: Homework is written in the form of a graphic organizer
Kinesthetic: Students will be moving twice during this lesson, once to write
brainstorming ideas on the board at the beginning of class and then once to
walk to the computer lab.
Differentiation for All:
Reading the ecological footprint quiz out loud to accommodate students with
special needs.
Providing a graphic organizer with categories discussed in class to aid in the
brainstorming process for their sustainability project.

next to them. Students should discuss areas of their lives that

contributed most to their ecological footprint and also what surprised
them about the quiz. After that, we will discuss the results in class
and talk about what categories of resources were used the most and
what we can do to improve our ecological footprint in that area. At
the end of the quiz it will also give the students ideas of small things
they can do to diminish their resource consumption based on their
habits. Do you think there are areas in your life you could change to
reduce your footprint?
7. Explain project that will be taking place next week for the
sustainability unit (they will pick one thing to change for 2 weeks in
their home to reduce the resources they use).
Closure:
To prepare for the project, over the weekend I would like you to talk
to your parents/guardians and brainstorm ideas on what you can do
for your sustainability project. To help you with this, I have a graphic
7 mins
organizer where you can write down your ideas based on the
categories we discussed at the beginning of class. What was each of
those categories we talked about? (Food, shelter, travel, goods and
services). From these lists of ideas, you will then pick one thing to do
to be more sustainable for two weeks (ex. Recycle all plastic and
aluminum cans used). Does anyone have any questions?
Ask student to fill out Exit Ticket by sharing at least one suggestion
they discovered from quiz results to reduce their ecological footprint
and hand in on the way out of class.
IEP Requirements

Below are a few examples of such modifications and adaptations:

Instruct and provide directions using a step-by-step process (will be doing this with the whole class)
Use visual displays and graphic organizers (will be assigned as homework)
Encourage feedback to check for understanding.
Provide all information in a logically organized and sequential format.
Vary the level of questions during class discussion to include all students.

Connect to students prior knowledge.

Incorporate active learning strategies.
Give immediate reinforcement of correct response.
Give immediate correction of errors.
Provide individual student instruction when needed.
Extend processing time.
Visual, written, verbal, physical, pictures prompts and cues
Preferential seating
State directions in multiple ways (ie. restate, paraphrase, written etc.).

Rationale/Theoretical Reasoning/ Research:

Turn-to-your-Neighbor (Brozo & Simpson, 2007) Strategy to aid in processing information by discussing responses with another person.
Journaling (Brozo & Simpson, 2007) This strategy is used to engage the students minds in thinking about the ecological footprint activity they are about to
participate in.
Graphic Organizer (Marzano, 2007) This is used to help students organize the knowledge from the lesson in order to pick a specific topic for their final unit
project.
http://footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/GFN/page/calculators/ This website was chosen to synthesize concepts discussed in class by visually depicting students
choices of resources they use and how these personal choices effect the world around them.

Brozo, W., & Simpson, M. (2007). Content literacy for todays adolescents: Honoring diversity and building competence. (5th ed.). Upper Saddle
River, N.J.: Merrill Prentice Hall.
Marzano, R.J. (2007). Art and Science of Teaching: A Comprehensive Framework for Effective Instruction. Alexandria, VA.:ACSD.
Mulligan, M. (2014). An Introduction to Sustainability: Environmental, social and personal perspectives. New York City, New York: Routledge.

Management/Safety Issues:

Classroom Management: In order for this lesson to effective and meaningful to the students, they need to understand first why we are taking the quiz and
why we need to go to the computer lab. Students will be given directions multiple times throughout the lesson to ensure understanding of expectations.
Safety: All students will quietly walk to the computer lab in an organized manner. Students will also be monitored while on the computers by me and the
computer lab teacher(s). Classroom and computer lab room doors will remain closed and locked while students are working.

Analysis: Include quantitative (numerical) and qualitative (descriptive) data which address the questions: Did the students attain each objective? How do you
know? What is your evidence?

Reflection/Future Modifications: Provide specific, evidence-based example, not generalizations.

To what extent did the class learn what you intended them to learn? Provide specific, evidence-based examples of student learning?
What did you learn about your students as learners?
What will be your next instructional steps?
What have you learned about yourself as a teacher?