Lesson Plan for Implementing

NETSSTemplate I
(More Directed Learning Activities)
Template with guiding questions
Teacher(s)
Name

Ieshia Wilkerson

Grade Level(s)

6th Grade

Content Area

Science

Time line

15 Days of taking picture: 10 forty minute classroom sessions

Standards (What do you want students to know and be able to do? What knowledge, skills, and strategies do you
expect students to gain? Are there connections to other curriculum areas and subject area benchmarks? ) Please
put a summary of the standards you will be addressing rather than abbreviations and numbers that indicate which
standards were addressed.

Content
Standards:
NETS*S
Standards:

Students will obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about the

effects of the relative positions of the sun, Earth, and moon.
Students use digital media and environments to communicate and work
collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual learning and
contribute to the learning of others.

Overview (a short summary of the lesson or unit including assignment or expected or possible products)

This lesson presents and ongoing activity that students will conduct over the course of 15 days. Students
will work together in a group to observe the effects of the relative positions of the sun, Earth, and moon,
while also completing a data sheet on their physical features. Students will be placed in groups of 4 and
will receive the roles of an astronaut, sun, moon, or Earth. Student are responsible for studying and
distinguishing the 8 phases of the Moon that revolve around Earth and determining how long it takes
Earth and the Moon to orbit the Sun. Students must document all their finding in a google document, so
that other members within the group can add or edit information as needed. Students will create a tab on
the classs Symbaloo, create a post on the classs Weebly, or add a blog in their folder to the classs
Seesaw account of videos, links, and other information they want to distribute. At the end of the activity
students will present their finding from a YouTube video, by acting out their individual roles, followed
by attaching the video to their Symbaloo account, or embedding it in their Weebly account. If students
choose to use Seesaw they can create a post a video within the web 2.0 tools. Presentation must include
students acting in their respective roles demonstrating relative position, photos of the various moon
phases, and a Venn Diagram explaining similarities and differences of the sun, Earth, and moon.

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Essential Questions (What essential question or learning are you addressing? What would students care or
want to know about the topic? What are some questions to get students thinking about the topic or generate
interest about the topic? Additionally, what questions can you ask students to help them focus on important
aspects of the topic? (Guiding questions) What background or prior knowledge will you expect students to bring
to this topic and build on?) Remember, essential questions are meant to guide the lesson by provoking inquiry.
They should not be answered with a simple yes or no and should have many acceptable answers.

How can you explain the effects of relative position of the sun, Earth, and moon?
How can you describe major characteristic of the sun, Earth, and moon?
How can you implement digital technology to support your learning you allocate others?
Assessment (What will students do or produce to illustrate their learning? What can students do to generate new
knowledge? How will you assess how students are progressing (formative assessment)? How will you assess
what they produce or do? How will you differentiate products?) You must attach copies of your assessment and/or
rubrics. Include these in your presentation as well.

Students will create a video presentation that includes each member acting out a specific role, a physical
model to complement their findings, and photos they will take over the 15 days they are allotted to
conduct this activity. Students will receive a checklist of information they will need to provide in their
final submission to receive full credit for this activity. Students should reflect on prior knowledge of
shadows, stars, and phases of the moon. The rubric will assess students understanding of relative
position of the sun, Earth, and moon. Differentiation will occur as the teacher provides students with
various roles; some roles do not require as much information, while the teacher will also assist students
who need assistance. Students are exposed to technology tools daily, each student in the group will be
responsible for adding information to a tool provided.
Resources (How does technology support student learning? What digital tools, and resourcesonline student
tools, research sites, student handouts, tools, tutorials, templates, assessment rubrics, etchelp elucidate or
explain the content or allow students to interact with the content? What previous technology skills should students
have to complete this project?)

This activity allows students to share their learning that is standards-based, create their own presentation
which is meaningful and authentic, while also taking on the role of explorers, teachers, and producers.
Technology supports student learning daily, so students have the options to implement Seesaw, Weebly,
Symbaloo, Flocabulary, and YouTube. Students know how to research information on the internet,
however they may need assistance uploading or hyperlinking information to the respected web 2.0 tools.
Instructional Plan Preparation (What student needs, interests, and prior learning provide a foundation for this
lesson? How can you find out if students have this foundation? What difficulties might students have?)

Students should have prior knowledge of shadow, stars, moon, Earth, and the solar system. Student are
often excited about the use of web 2.0 tools especially when they play a role in their education. Students
have 4 desktops they can share and an entire iPad cart for students to use as one-to-one devices. Students
have been exposed to most the web 2.0 tools suggested, since the start month of September. I do not
believe they will need assistance using the tools, but they may need guidance hyperlinking from one
source to the next. Students are provided a choice of tools they want to implement to provide students
with comfort.
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Management Describe the classroom management strategies will you use to manage your students and the use
of digital tools and resources. How and where will your students work? (Small groups, whole group, individuals,
classroom, lab, etc.) What strategies will you use to achieve equitable access to the Internet while completing this
lesson? Describe what technical issues might arise during the Internet lesson and explain how you will resolve or
trouble-shoot them? Please note: Trouble-shooting should occur prior to implementing the lesson as well as
throughout the process. Be sure to indicate how you prepared for problems and work through the issues that
occurred as you implemented and even after the lesson was completed.

Students will complete this activity in small group settings. The activity will mainly be completed at
school, but students will need to take pictures of the moon when the sun sets at home. Students can
receive extra support from the classroom teacher, interrelated resource (IRR) teacher, or 2
paraprofessionals inside the classroom setting. Students have 4 desktops computers they can use or a
full class set of iPads to choose from. The teacher will provide students with websites to research their
information and assist struggling readers by showing them how the share button works. The share
button will read the text on the screen to readers. Student can record their videos on an iPad, phone, or
other handheld device followed by uploading it to YouTube, if they opt out of recording in Seesaw. If
researching on the internet becomes an issue, the teacher can request books on the provided standard for
students to complete their research.
Instructional Strategies and Learning Activities Describe the research-based instructional strategies you will
use with this lesson. How will your learning environment support these activities? What is your role? What are the
students' roles in the lesson? How can you ensure higher order thinking at the analysis, evaluation, or
creativity levels of Blooms Taxonomy? How can the technology support your teaching? What authentic,
relevant, and meaningful learning activities and tasks will your students complete? How will they build knowledge
and skills? How will students use digital tools and resources to communicate and collaborate with each other
and others? How will you facilitate the collaboration?

Students will participate in this activity that allows them to collaborate with one another, teach one
another, and create authentic work. Students will receive feedback from the teacher, who will also
provide students added assistance when needed. Student should critique and make edits to their work
prior to the deadline. Student are creating their own presentation, analysis characters of the sun, Earth,
and moon in relation to relative positions, and evaluate their how other groups provide the final work
sample in comparison to their own group. I can record steps students need to follow and post them to our
Seesaw account, which will benefit student who struggle with retaining information or lose their
checklist. I can also scan and place a copy of the student checklist on the classs Seesaw account for
students to obtain as needed. Students will use web 2.0 tools to communicate and document their
information as they discover it. As the facilitator, I will provide students with compliments, suggestions,
and questions to challenge understanding of information.
Differentiation (How will you differentiate content and process to accommodate various learning styles and
abilities? How will you help students learn independently and with others? How will you provide extensions and
opportunities for enrichment? What assistive technologies will you need to provide?)

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Students will first be provided a role based on their ability level. Each small group will have 1
distinguished learner, 2 proficient learners, and 1 beginning or developing learner. The groups that include
beginning learners will have a paraprofessional to assist their group more specifically the beginning
learner. The steps to complete this activity will be recorded and placed in our Seesaw account to assist the
students who have some hearing loss. The steps will also be typed and sent to one students Tobii device,
so she can reference it as needed. Students will pick a technology that best fits the groups needs and each
student in the group will have mastered a specific technology, so they can teach their peers or add the
information to the that technology. I will teach small groups to master specific technology and assist the
individual and groups as needed. Students are more than welcomed to have a working lunch for an
enrichment opportunity. Some students may need assistive devices to record their video, so I can provide a
tablet, recorder, or monitor use of a smartphone device while at school.
Reflection (Will there be a closing event? Will students be asked to reflect upon their work? Will students be
asked to provide feedback on the assignment itself? What will be your process for answering the following
questions?
Did students find the lesson meaningful and worth completing?
In what ways was this lesson effective?
What went well and why?
What did not go well and why?
How would you teach this lesson differently?)

The closing event will occur when students present the videos to their classmates. Students will be asked
to reflect on their work and compare it to the work of their peers. Students will need to offer suggestions
they think will make the activity more enjoyable and effective, while also suggesting ways they believe
they may have improved on their presentations. I will conduct a discussion asking students to provide me
with genuine feedback on the activitys meaningfulness and whether they thought it was worth
completing. I will create a Padlet allowing students to express what did work well or was did not work so
well about the activity, followed by expressing why they believe this is so. Students will also explain
how the lesson was effective and how they may choose to teach it to their peers in a different manner.
Closure: Anything else you would like to reflect upon regarding lessons learned and/or your experience with
implementing this lesson. What advice would you give others if they were to implement the lesson? Please
provide a quality reflection on your experience with this lesson and its implementation.

I created this activity with a collaborator who is a middle school teacher. Reflecting back, I would make
sure anyone participating in the production of this lesson clearly understands what the standard requires.
Since I am an elementary school teacher I was working on a standard that I am not familiar with, but my
collaborator did provide me with a clear description of what the standard encompasses. I think that
placing the students in small groups like we did was a great idea because we had 4 teachers and 5 groups
to assist. Placing 1 distinguished learner in each group allowed the teachers time to collaborate as
needed, make changes as needed, and when we were busy the distinguished learner was available to
assist his or her groups. In the future, I will most likely complete the assignment in 9-10 days versus the
15 days the students were provided, I noticed several groups finished ahead of schedule. One major
change I will make in the future is allowing students to incorporate technology of their choice and
provide those who need suggestions a list of items only when needed. Both my collaborator and I believe
the activity was very engaging and authentic for the students, but there are several minor changes that
need to be made before either of us would suggest this lesson to someone to implement as is.
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