Abby

Prichard
EDUC-L 517
Tuesday, June 27, 2017
TAR 2
Genetics: Traits & Introduction to Genetic Material

Unit: Genetics
Course: 8th Grade Life Science
Element Description
Duration 60 minute class
Bell Ringer (5 minutes)
Opening Video (3 minutes)
Discussion: Key terms from video (10 minutes)
Transition (2 minutes)
Popcorn Reading & Discussion: Inherited v. Acquired Traits (15 minutes)
Transition (5 minutes)
Individual Reading & Found Poems (20 minutes)
Learner -Students will be able to differentiate between inherited and acquired traits.
Outcomes/ -Students will be able to correctly identify chromatin, a chromosome, and
Benchmarks/ DNA.
Objectives -Students will complete an independent reading related to genetics and
demonstrate learning through a composed found poem over their reading.
Transition After discussing terms introduced in the video, the teacher will pass out the
popcorn reading to the students. Two minutes are allotted for this transition.
After discussing the popcorn reading, students will select one of the pre-
selected readings over which to complete a found poem. Five minutes have
been allotted for this transition.
Standards 8.LS.4 - Differentiate between and provide examples of acquired and
genetically inherited traits
8.LS.6 Create models to show how the structures of chromatin,
chromosomes, chromatids, genes, alleles, and DNA are related and differ
Daily Projector, YouTube, computer, white board, dry erase markers, eraser,
Materials pencils, notebooks
Needed To Print: Popcorn reading, reading selection printouts
Anticipatory Genetics video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVk0twJYL6Y
Set The teacher will introduce the topic of genetics through the bell ringer and a
YouTube video. Each of these will serve to focus the students attention and
ready them for the topics that will be covered in the new unit, genetics.
These will also serve to refresh prior knowledge of genetics that the students
have learned elsewhere.
Pre- The students will be formatively assessed using a bell ringer. This set of
Assessment questions covers some basic information regarding genetics that the students
may have been exposed to before in previous classes, or outside of school.
Teaching the As students enter the classroom, the bell ringer questions will be on the
Lesson white board, and the genetics video will be ready to go on the projector. As a
part of their normal routine, they know to start working on the bell ringer
 Abby Prichard
EDUC-L 517
Tuesday, June 27, 2017
TAR 2
immediately. Student will have a few moments to finish their bell ringer
while the teacher takes attendance. The teacher will briefly go over the bell
ringer with the students by asking for their thoughts, then clarifying answers.

Next, The teacher will switch to the video. Before the video is started, the
students will be asked to write down words they hear during the video that
seem important. A short discussion will ensue after the video ends. The
students will be asked to share the words they wrote down, and to take
notes over their words and others words as we discuss them. Expected
terms to introduce are heritable, genes, DNA, double helix, base pairs,
chromosomes, proteins, and genome. Since this is just an introduction to the
unit, only definitions and moderate clarifications will be made according to
the depth of the video. 15 minutes are anticipated to play and discuss the
video, and transition to the next task, popcorn reading.

Once the popcorn reading has been handed out, the teacher will draw from
the classroom popsicle sticks to call on readers as the story progresses.
Seven readers will be required. The reading will introduce inherited and
acquired traits, and should take about 5 minutes to read. At the conclusion
of the reading, the teacher will prompt the students to provide examples of
inherited and acquired traits they have observed in their personal lives, in
animals, and in plants. The discussion is allotted 10 minutes of class time.

The class will then transition into individual reading time. The teacher has 10
pre selected readings of varying levels and different topics related to genetics
from which students can choose to write their found poem. The students will
have 20 minutes to select, read, and begin writing their poem. If they do not
finish it, they will complete the assignment as homework.
Guided A found poem will be written by each student over their selected reading.
Practice/ The teacher will provide instructions and model the exercise for the students.
Instructional
Strategies Students may choose short biographical readings about Mendel, Watson,
Crick, or Franklin; or they may choose from articles about genetics in the
news, how DNAs structure and function was a conglomeration of scientists
work culminating in one theory, how Mendel experimented with his plants,
or how DNA is packaged into such a small space.

Some of the readings are much longer and/or more difficult than others. The
teacher will work with each student to select a portion of their reading to
focus their found poem on.
Post The found poem will serve as a post assessment. This will let me know if
Assessment & students are picking up on main concepts and important terminology.
 Abby Prichard
EDUC-L 517
Tuesday, June 27, 2017
TAR 2
Theory Additionally, if poems tell an inaccurate story, I can pinpoint areas of
confusion. Found poems require students to read their text more carefully
and actively seek the most important points. This process helps students
prioritize information, and improve their ability to focus on the important
points while not being distracted by smaller bits of information. Additionally,
the creative aspect of the found poem requires students to put the reading in
their own words. This is a vital task that helps solidify information in their
minds. The process of working around the story to create a poem helps
students internalize the reading, and improves recall. Since found poems rely
on students to find main words, it is great for vocabulary reinforcement. This
unit encompasses a host of seemingly difficult words. Each reading utilizes
some (or many) of these vocabulary words, and should help to reinforce
meaning as the students compose their poems.
Closure The lesson will close by announcing that the students need to finish their
found poems for homework if they havent already done so. Also, they will
be assigned vocabulary for homework. Their list of vocabulary words will be
provided per procedure on the class site. This lessons words include:
genetics, trait, heredity, genome, gene, allele, DNA, chromosomes,
chromatin, and chromatid.
Independent Students will complete their vocabulary for homework. As per normal
Practice classroom policy, they may complete their vocabulary in the manner that
helps them best learn the words. Students generally use a concept map,
flashcards, or drawings/illustrations with labeled parts where appropriate.
Summarize, The class I taught today was at the end of the day, and the student was
Evaluate & distracted by thoughts of being out of school. The student seemed receptive
Reflect of the bell ringer at the beginning of class and remarked that it was validating
for him to know some of the bonus answers. Reviewing the bell ringer took a
couple more minutes than originally planned, so we lost some time at the
end of class for found poem composition.

The video also seemed to be understood and found to be interesting. The
discussion after the video led to a great introduction to key vocabulary words
for the rest of the unit. The student asked intriguing questions that were
highly relevant to material that will be covered towards the end of the class.
I took the opportunity to briefly discuss his point to try to promote continued
interest in the subject, and also told them that his questions would be more
thoroughly answered as we progressed through the unit.

The inherited versus acquired traits reading was generally successful. The
discussion following the reading was challenging for me, personally. I
received many examples of traits; however, I was unsure of how to classify
some of the traits that were brought up. I expressed my initial thoughts on
 Abby Prichard
EDUC-L 517
Tuesday, June 27, 2017
TAR 2
the subject, then made a note to myself to research those issues further, and
to clarify them during the next class period.

The lesson had many repetitions build into it. This seemed to work well to
reinforce the vocabulary multiple times throughout the lesson. Each time
words such as chromosome or gene came up, the student seemed to recall
the meanings quicker, and quicker.

The found poems initially yielded an exasperated reaction from the student.
I continued with my plan, though, and explained and modeled the process
that they would be performing. The student seemed confused at first;
however, once he started trying to write the poem, he began to understand
what the exercise was doing, and was able to continue creating his poem.
The student was also an experienced poetry writer, and was frustrated by the
assignment, as it did not conform to his idea of poetry. I worked with him
and we altered the exercise to provide them with more open guidelines to
allow them to write about their reading in their own style of poetry.