Nicholas Wall Middle/High School Content Literacy Final Lesson Plan Learner Profile/Contextual Factors: This lesson is taught

at Chetek-Weyerhauser High School in Chetek, WI. There are 23 students in this class. The total enrollment for Chetek-Weyerhauser High School is 295 students in 2012-13. There are 74 students in 10th grade. The distribution of students with disabilities are 83.7% without disability, 3.7% other primary disability, 9.2% specific learning disability, 1.4% emotional behavior disability, 1.7% cognitive disability, and 0.3% speech or language impairment. This lesson is taught in a high school advanced biology classroom, and is an elective class for sophomore level students. This lesson is part of the unit of the history of biological diversity, and is taught in the middle of the unit. Three students are HPL or high performance learners. Goal(s): The student will understand the fossil record of dinosaurs. The student will also comprehend the biology of a dinosaur and explain possible reasons behind their extinction. Common Core Standards: B.12.1 Show how cultures and individuals have contributed to the development of major ideas in the earth and space, life and environmental, and physical sciences. B.12.5 Explain how science is based on assumptions about the natural world and themes that describe the natural world. Objectives Content objective: TSW watch a short movie clip about dinosaurs and paleontology. TSW define extinction. TSW choose an extinct reptile and identify their creature, its biology, and deduce why it is now extinct. Time Frame: 45 minutes Resources/Materials: Movie clip of Jurassic Park, projector, paper, library People: Media specialist in case of technical difficulties, HPL specialist, library specialist Instructional Procedure Class will begin with students in their seats and answering the question on the board in their notebooks, How do animals go extinct? We will discuss this question in small groups and then share our thoughts with the class. This will take approximately 5 minutes. I will then show the class a short video clip about dinosaurs in a present day setting. We will then discuss specific points of this video clip as a large group class discussion, notably about how scientists know about the biology of extinct animals and if what the movie is proposing (cloning dinosaurs) would not only be possible, but ethical as well. This will take approximately 10 minutes. Following this discussion, I will introduce the next assignment for the students. They will be assigned a project where they are to choose an extinct dinosaur from any era. With their dinosaur, they much explain its basic anatomy and what it looked like, when and where it lived, how it lived (diet, mating, herds, etc), and what they think caused it to become extinct. They must also hypothesize what the world would be like if someone found their dinosaur still alive somewhere. The students will have free reign to complete their project in any medium they choose, as long as they include the necessary details about their dinosaur in their format. A rubric will be given to

the students so they know what to include in their project. If students want to work together on a creative project such as making a movie or play involving all of their dinosaurs together, they are free to do so, as long as all the students demonstrate all of the details of their individual dinosaurs in the project. Introducing the requirements for their project will take approximately 10 minutes, and the rest of the class time will be used as work time. I will have made arrangements with the library to be open if any students would like to work on their research there. The students will be encouraged to check out the library for books on dinosaurs to help them choose which dinosaur they want to use for their project. If any students have questions, I will be available to help during the rest of the period. I will also offer suggestions to students if they have trouble choosing which dinosaur to make their project on by having a box of toy dinosaurs they can look through and play with if they would like a 3D color reference. The students will be expected to use the rest of class time to write down what they would like to include in their project, and what dinosaur they choose. I will make a caveat that no one is allowed to choose T. Rex or Triceratops, but other than that, they are allowed to choose any dinosaur (and/or plesiosaur) they choose. They will share their projects with the rest of the class at the end of the unit. At the end of the class period, all students will be expected to return to class and their seats, so I can recap what is expected of them for this project. I will reiterate the expected requirements for their dinosaur as explained in the rubric, as well as to tell them that we will spend the next two class periods doing research and working on their projects as well. The three high performance learners in the class will also be expected to include in their project a portion on how society would change if their dinosaur were still alive as seen through the eyes of the dinosaur. This is often a difficult perspective for students, to empathize with others and imagine how things look from a different viewpoint. This would provide an extra challenge for the HPL students, as there is really no way of knowing how a dinosaur would react to being in 2013, considering no human was alive when they ruled the planet. Thus, this extra requirement will provide the extra cognitive challenge to help push these students toward learning. Assessment: Each student will be informally assessed by myself as I gauge interest in the project by walking around the room and seeing who has questions and appears to be engaged in discussion. This assignment will be formally assessed as a grade in their gradebook, and is due in two weeks time. The assignment will be graded based on the rubric that each student was given a copy of. There will also be a unit exam on the History of Biological Diversity in three weeks time, which will be formally assessed as well.