UMF Unit-Wide Lesson Plan Template

Name: Haley Estabrook Program: Elementary Ed. Course: EDU 450

Lesson Topic / Title: Vertebrate Unit - Review
Lesson Date: October 10 Lesson Length: 60 minutes Grade/Age: Fourth Grade
Learning Objectives & Content Standard Alignment - Selects, creates, and sequences learning
experiences and performance tasks that support learners in reaching rigorous curriculum goals based on
content standards.
Learning Objective(s) Instructional Decisions / Reasoning
- I will be able to research and collect - The learning targets were selected to reflect
information about the five vertebrate the goals of the lesson. The lesson is
classification types. designed to provide the students with a
- I will be able to classify and describe the research experience that allows students to
inherited traits of animals in the five review the traits of the five vertebrate
vertebrate classifications. classifications.
- I will be able to compare the traits of - Students will be given links to two different
vertebrates. interactive websites where they will be
guided through with a variety of different
questions to allow the students to review
information and think deeply about the
traits of vertebrates.
Content Standard(s) Instructional Decisions / Reasoning
Maine Learning Results - This content standard was chosen because
E1 - Biodiversity Students compare living things students will be reviewing the information
based on their behaviors, external features, and taught throughout the unit. Students will be
environmental needs. practicing sorting the vertebrates and
Grades 3-5 a. Describe how living things can be answering questions that provide students
sorted in many ways, depending on which features with a deeper understanding of the traits of
or behaviors are used to sort them, and apply this each vertebrate.
understanding to sort living things. - Students will be investigating and review
the traits of the five vertebrate
classifications and the traits that help
scientists classify vertebrates.
Assessment - Uses assessment flexibly to expand and deepen understanding of learner performance and
determines best supports for continued learner growth.
Assessment Instructional Decisions / Reasoning
- The assessment in this lesson will be - During this lesson, students are working
formative. independently through their scavenger hunt,
completing the work at a pace that suits
 - The teacher will be assessing students by
observing their ability to stay on task and
complete the assignment.
- The teacher will collect the activity at the
end of the lesson and check through the
answers, looking for students to answer the
assignments correctly.
their learning style. Because of the nature of
the review activity, the teacher will be
walking around and monitoring student
progress to see how well they are
completing the assignments, and how
focused the students are.
- By collecting the worksheet completed by
the students, the teacher is able to assess
student progress during the lesson. By
completing the handout thoroughly and
correctly, the student is meeting the
learning objectives for the lesson.

Instructional Materials and Resources - Stays current in content knowledge and expands expertise in
reviewing instructional materials from the perspectives of both the discipline and individual learner needs.
Materials, Resources, and/or Technology Instructional Decisions / Reasoning
- Projector and teacher laptop (to model) - This lesson is a guided research activity for
- 18 Chromebooks for students the students to complete independently. The
- Vertebrate Scavenger Hunt worksheet only materials required to implement this
lesson are the protector and teacher laptop
to guide students through the beginning of
the process and refer back to during any
technological issues that may arise.

Instructional Methods: Selects, creates, and sequences learning experiences and performance tasks by
using a variety of instructional approaches, strategies, and technologies that make learning accessible to
all learners and support learners in reaching rigorous curriculum goals.
Teaching and Learning Sequence Instructional Decisions / Reasoning
- Introduce the overview of the lesson.
- Introduce the learning objectives for the
lesson and explain to students that they will
demonstrate meeting these objectives by
submitting their worksheet at the end of the
lesson. - Ask two students who are tech wizards
- Call students by table to go out in the hall who would like to help their peers with and
and get a laptop from the cart. computer problems or questions that may
- Ask students to log into their laptops, and come up.
wait as the students open up a browser. - Make sure to remind students to carry
laptop close to chest like a pizza box.
 Students will indicate they are ready by
holding a thumbs up and voices are off.
- Open up the first tab, and ask students to
type in Sheppards Software Kids Corner
into their browser.
- Explain the first step of the scavenger hunt
worksheet, and then provide students time
to complete the first part of the worksheet
independently.
- When most students have completed the
first part of the worksheet, bring the class
back together and model how to get to the
second website by asking students to open a
new tab.
- Explain the second half of the class
worksheet and allow students to begin their
research process.
- Conclude the lesson by allowing students to
share out their research with each other in
table groups.
- Collect worksheets to assess.
Meeting students needs (differentiation,
extensions, modifications, accommodations)
- AH will need frequent monitoring as
students are logging onto the website. ELL
sometimes creates a barrier for the student
to access instruction, resulting in the student
falling behind or not accessing the
necessary information to learn the material.
This student will also require frequent
check-ins during the independent work,
because there are multiple steps in the
process, and the student often falls behind
where there are multiple steps in the
lessons.
- AM will need frequent monitoring as the
independent work continues. This student
can sometimes get distracted or power off
during independent work. By checking in
with the student and monitoring progress
- As students are coming in, remind students
the correct use of laptops - they should only
be on the website provided to them, and are
not changing any settings on the laptop.
- Teacher is modeling instructions on the
projector.
- Type Sheppards Software Animals into
browser.
Instructional Decisions / Reasoning
- It is important to be constantly monitoring
the entire class during this activity,
specifically the students who require more
supports during independent work periods.
The teacher must keep a pulse on the
classroom as the students are working
through the lesson. This is important to
make sure that students are on task to they
are able to access the information and make
the guided research activity a quality use of
students time and effort.
- The differentiation in the lesson is
implemented to provide different learners
with different ways to access material.
Visual learners will be supported as all
directions will be modeled in front of the
classroom in a slow step by step teaching
style. The independent work allows
 the teacher will be able to keep this student students to deviate from their peers and
on task and allow them to demonstrate their learn more about their specific interests,
understanding and benefit from the review. creating a more individualized lesson while
still helping each student meet their
Differentiation: learning objectives for the lesson.
- Teacher modeling
- Whole class instruction
- Independent work
- Online investigation/research
- Guided research
- Small group work

Field Course Only Post lesson

Reflection
Going into the lesson, I was nervous about how a technology based lesson would work. More often than
not when a thorough technology lesson is planned, something goes wrong on the technology end,
preventing the lesson from running smoothly and allowing the students to gain as much as possible from
the lesson. That being said, this lesson ran very smoothly with the exception of one part. The directions
on the guided worksheet were clear and easy to follow for the students, so they were able to maneuver the
website with ease, not taking away from their ability to gain information. The only part of the website that
did not work for students was the review game at the end of Part I of the worksheet. This was an
interactive game that allowed students to review what they had learned and practice identifying the traits
of the vertebrates. Luckily, it was a small part of the activity so we were able to compromise and students
could complete the activity together at the end of the class by projecting it to the front of the room.
If I were to teach this lesson again, I would absolutely use the same websites and activities. Students were
incredibly engaged and on task with few reminders. The worksheet guided students through the website
and made sure that students were getting the necessary information out of each
Teaching Standards and Rationale
Standard 1:
Paraphrase: The teacher is able to demonstrate understanding of how students learn. The teacher
understands that each student learns and develops differently in cognitive, linguistic, social, emotional,
and physical areas. With that knowledge of individual learners, the teacher can create developmentally
appropriate and challenging classroom experiences.

Rationale: This lesson was developmentally appropriate for all learners in the classroom. When the lesson
was created, each learner in the classroom was taken into account. After regularly assessing each student
at the end of each lesson, the teacher was able to determine what the next step should be in the unit. The
instruction was developmentally appropriate because it help students review the vertebrate classifications
and allowed the students to advance their understanding by guided them through material and prompting
deep thinking about the vertebrates.

Standard 2:
Paraphrase: The teacher understands that each student learns differently and each student comes from a
diverse culture. The teacher applies that knowledge to create a classroom community that is an inclusive
learning environment.

Rationale: The lesson took into account the individual differences between learners in the classroom. The
students needs were a priority in creating this lesson, as students were allowed to work independently
through the guided research activity. Students will be able to work through the assignment at a pace that
suits their learning needs. This allows students who are slower readers to be able to take their time
through the website and still be able to access all the information.

Standard 3:
Paraphrase: The teacher works with learners in the classroom to foster a collaborative learning
environment that encourages positive interactions with peers, and actively engaged, self-motivated
learners.

Rationale: This lesson encourages positive social interaction because it validated students ideas. At the
end of the lesson, students will be able to share out their learnings and research. Students are able to
select a vertebrate to focus on, and students were enthusiastic and engaged in this part of the lesson
because it gave them the freedom to choose something they were interested in. This also allowed to active
listening when the students were able to share out because students were interested in hearing what
animals were selected and the interesting facts surrounding those animals.

Standard 4:
Paraphrase: The teacher understands the material that is being delivered to students. The teacher creates
classroom experiences that allow learners to access and create meaningful connections to the material.

Rationale: The teacher demonstrated understanding the content being taught by using multiple
representations of the material that allows the learners to understand the skills that are being taught. The
review lesson was mainly independent work, as students were allowed to complete the activity at their
own pace. The online scavenger hunt guided students through the material to ensure they were reviewing
and thinking about the important material learned throughout the unit. This review lesson created an
opportunity for students to practice with the material presented to them during the unit, and allowed
students to work towards mastery of the overarching learning goals.
Standard 5:
Paraphrase: The teacher is able to connect concepts during instruction and engage students in deeper
thinking by using and encouraging different perspectives. The teacher creates a learning environment that
fosters critical and creative thinking, connecting material to local and global issues.

Rationale: This lesson uses innovative applications of content because students are asked to become
researchers and dive deep into the content that they are learning about. After a review worksheet that was
the same for each student, the students were allowed to branch out in different directions, applying their
knowledge of vertebrates and transferring it into researching about an animal of their choosing. This tied
back into the unit because students were able to research the traits of the specific animal to defend why
the animal was classified as a vertebrate and what vertebrate classification that animal fell under.

Standard 6:
Paraphrase: The teacher is able to apply multiple methods of assessment to aid students in becoming more
aware of the progress they are making. The teacher is able to analyze assessment data to inform planning
and instruction.

Rationale: The lesson implements different forms of assessment to monitor student understanding. While
this lesson is done mostly independently, the teacher is still checking in with each learner to make sure
they are understanding the material and staying on task. The teacher will also be looking at student work
as they are doing the second section of the worksheet for the class. This lesson prepared students for the
format and demands of the assessment that they will be taking the following day.

Standard 7:
Paraphrase: The teacher draws upon multiple factors such as learner development, knowledge of content,
and pedagogy to develop lessons that supports and challenges each learner in the classroom.

Rationale: This lesson was carefully planned out to help students meet their learning goals. Students were
given a guided worksheet that led them through their research to make sure that they were getting the
important information that they needed. The lesson was appropriately sequenced allow students to work
at their own pace and fully understand the material before the summative assessment - calling on prior
knowledge, learning new information, and synthesizing the new information into the students own
words.

Standard 8:
Paraphrase: The teacher is able to implement multiple instructional strategies to promote deep
understanding of content and material by helping students create connections and build skills to access
and apply information.
Rationale: The teacher implements many different teaching and instructional styles into the lesson to
encourage learners to develop a deep understanding of the material. Examples of the different
instructional strategies implemented in the lesson are: Teacher modeling, whole class instruction,
independent work, online investigation/research, guided research, small group work.

Standard 9:
Paraphrase: The teacher is a reflective practitioner that is always evaluating their teaching practice and
interactions with individuals. The teacher is continuously seeking opportunities improve their practice to
meet the needs of their learners.

Rationale: The teacher demonstrates reflection and continuous growth in this lesson by sitting down after
the lesson is taught and analyzing student assessment data, student participation, and instructional
practices. The teacher thinks about what went well during the lesson that helped the students meet the
learning goals, and what could be changed in the future to allow students to be more successful in
meeting their learning objectives.

Standard 10:
Paraphrase: The teacher finds opportunities to take on leadership roles and opportunities to take
responsibility for student learning. The teacher collaborates with students, parents, community members,
and other professionals to advance the profession and foster learner growth.

Rationale: In this lesson, the teacher demonstrated collaboration by meeting with their mentor teacher to
ensure that the lesson was meeting the needs of all the learners in the classroom. This allowed the teacher
to effectively differentiate the lesson and develop strategies that allowed the teacher to meet the needs of
all the learners in the classroom and encourage achievement. By collaborating with professionals, the
teacher is able to receive helpful feedback to improve their practice.

ISTE 11.5:
Paraphrase: The teacher continuously improves their professional practice, models lifelong learning, and
promotes and demonstrates effective use of digital resources.

Rationale: The teacher demonstrates engaging in professional growth and leadership by creating an
interactive lesson for students to enjoy and learn with. Before the lesson was created, the teacher
collaborated with their mentor teacher as well as the fourth grade team to create a meaningful lesson to
integrate technology and develop the technology skills of the students in the classroom. The teacher
participated in shared decision making to implement more technology into the classroom and expose the
students to different applications of technology. The teacher also shared the created activity, document,
and technology resources with the fourth grade team.