Lesson Plan for Implementing

NETS•S—Template I
(More Directed Learning Activities)
Template with guiding questions
Teacher(s)
Name Sarah Miller

Position Teacher/Instructional Technology Support

School/District Brantley County Middle School

E-mail

Phone

Grade Level(s) 7th Grade

Content Area Life Science

Time line One Week

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 S7L2b: relate cell structures (cell membrane, nucleus, etc.) to basic cell functions

NETS*S Standards: 6.a and 6.b: clearly express themselves using digital media appropriate to their goals

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

Students will compete in an Organelle Campaign. Students will have to argue that without their organelle, the cell
and its organism will collapse. Students are arguing this in hopes to win the title, “The Most Important Organelle in
the Universe.” Students will first compete against others on our academic team before competing with others on
other teams in a grade-level competition. Students will have the opportunity to choose how they will deliver their
arguments: speech or poster and pamphlet. The speech will be recorded and edited on devices of their choice,
and the posters/pamphlets will be either digital or paper. However, the delivery of the content to the students is all
digital. Students will refer to a “To-Do List” Padlet for their step-by-step instructions, then refer to a class wiki page
to access the Choice Board, Group Assignments, Rubrics, and Tech Help Tips.

The goal of this project is to have students realize that ALL organelles are important, as the cell cannot survive
without any of the organelles because they all have a very specific purpose. To achieve this goal, students will
use a variety of technology to communicate and express themselves using digital media of their choice.

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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.

What is the function of your assigned organelle?

What is the importance of your assigned organelle, or what will happen if the cell did not have your organelle?
Which other organelles directly depend on your assigned organelle and why?

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 have two choices to illustrate their learning: speech or poster/pamphlet. I will assess the progression of
the project through a formative assessment: “Campaign Outline.” In the outline, students will address the basic
information of their project: function/job of organelle, why it’s important to the cell, and their campaign slogan or
hashtag. To assess their final projects, I will use the rubrics attached. Only the students who earn 100% on the
rubric will move on to the next phase of the campaign competition (team and grade-level).

Resources (How does technology support student learning? What digital tools, and resources—online student
tools, research sites, student handouts, tools, tutorials, templates, assessment rubrics, etc—help elucidate or
explain the content or allow students to interact with the content? What previous technology skills should students
have to complete this project?)

Students will use a wiki page to access all of the resources they will need to complete the project. The wiki page
houses: Choice Board, Group Assignments, Rubrics, and Tech Help. The Tech Help page on the wiki provides
students with tutorials on how to carryout parts of the assignment (i.e. how to upload videos/photos from devices
to Google Drive). In addition to the wiki page, students will have access to a “To-Do List” Padlet, which gives step-
by-step instructions with links and relevant videos. Students will also have access to sample Organelle Campaign
speeches and posters via Padlet.

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 the cell theory and biological levels of organization. These concepts will
help reinforce the importance of organelles within the cell, which leads to the importance of cells themselves. I
also learned the overall personality of my classes. The two classes participating in this project are very
competitive and interested in competition, which is why I think having the “voting” element in this project will gain
student engagement.

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

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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.

My students will be completing this project with assigned groups. Because most students do not have consistent
access to the internet at home, I have to plan for the whole assignment to be completed during class time. While all
of the resources are on the wiki page, I did make multiple copies of each in case we were unable to access them.
Additionally, students were given options in their delivery, so if they prefer digital media, they could use it, or if they
prefer paper media, they could use it instead. To best avoid troubleshooting issues, I will check all sites to ensure
they are not blocked by our school’s filter. Additionally, I will reserve our Chromebook cart that houses 30
Chromebooks. This means I will have extra Chromebooks in each class. If there are major issues, the student may
swap and send the other for repair.

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 Bloom’s 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?

The learning environment in which this project takes place is my classroom, the hallways, and the media center.
Within my classroom, though, students are working with their groups in a variety of ways: collaboratively on
Chromebooks, using their devices, or even coloring on posters. Students will use Google products to collaborate
with each other. Because students have to argue what will happen to the cell if their organelle were not there,
students are having to evaluate their organelle’s function/job. The campaign and voting itself lends to relevancy and
engagement since we have just experienced a presidential election. Additionally, the Choice Board makes this
student-centered.

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?)

The Choice Board aspect of this project is the main differentiation piece. Not only do students have a choice in
“speech” or “poster/pamphlet,” but also in delivery of each option. In addition to “choice,” students are grouped
based on ability first, behavior second. Students who earn 100% on the provided rubric will participate in a team
and grade-level campaign in which the principal and members of the local BOE will vote. This will serve as an
extension, as I will aid in their preparation.

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?)

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For reflection, I will ask my students to participate in a survey via Google Forms. This is a normal practice for
anything new that happens in my class, so they will typically answer honestly. Survey is attached.

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.
The first two days of our project (the most important, in my opinion), I was absent from school, speaking at a
conference. Because of my absence, students had a substitute. I did my absolute best to compensate by
providing an introductory video in which I explained the project as I would if I were there. While I was able to
answer emails from students, things would have run more smoothly if I were there for at least the first day.
Otherwise, I think things went smoothly. I truly enjoyed seeing the creativity pour from my students as they were
creating their speeches. Connecting with them through their creativity was memorable.

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