Shanna M. Grunewald EDU650 Instructor Sahud Sadik September 1, 2014

 Research is always a great way to gather relevant and effective information for anything. There is an abundance of great information available for teachers today so they don’t have to be limited to their required coursework (Newman, 2013). The internet provides an endless amount of resources and allows teachers to connect with other teachers through social media for support and information about effective lesson planning.  Developing clear learning objectives helps keep learning organized and helps students understand where they need to go and what they need to learn. Most importantly providing clear objectives in a lesson plan can challenge and prepare students for higher-level learning (Newman, 2013). ◦ Clarity  Completeness  Specificity

 They help students understand what to expect during the lesson and what they are expected to learn.  They are a means for evaluating students’ learning progress as well as teacher and curriculum effectiveness (University of New Mexico School of Medicine, 2005).

During this lesson students will develop basic knowledge about how plants grow and the importance of plant growth on earth. By the end of the lesson, students will be able to:  Describe the life cycles of a plant from seedling, germination, stems and roots, leaves, flowers, and pollination.  Explain how each cycle occurs, what it takes to move on to the next cycle.  Observe these changes plants make as they grow.  Explain how plant growth effects the earth.

 It is SMART- Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Targeted (University of New Mexico School of Medicine, 2005).  It is adaptable for grade levels K-3,  It can be completed within a scheduled time, &  It covers information and skills students will know after the lesson (Newman, 2013).

 Teachers focus on developing hands on activities that may not be challenging enough for all students. ◦ This can be avoided by providing examples and explanations during the activities or asking students questions about the subject of the lesson to ensure adequate learning is taking place. (Newman, 2013, Sec. 9.2)

 Teachers focus on covering all the required material without clear purpose because they assume that students and teachers need to work harder, faster, and cover more material to ensure success. ◦ To avoid this assumptions “Teachers should allow for time to think about what they want student to learn”. ◦ An effective lesson plan will create an organized pace that make learning more effective.

Newman (2013) describes backwards design planning as a three-stage process that begins with the end in mind (Sec. 9.3).

 As they develop their lesson plans, teachers should consider the standards that have to be taught and then determine what learning outcomes they need to meet.  Also, Rather than following the guidelines of a textbook, teachers should focus on the elements and questions of learning.

 The main purpose of the Common Core State Standards is to act as a “guidepost” for what teachers should teach and what students should learn.  The common Core State Standards outline subject areas and set grade-specific goals that teachers should focus their instruction time.  Teachers can take the outlined information from the standards and build their lesson plans on what these standards require.  (Common Core State Standards Initiative)

Traditional Model Process Backward Design Process Select Standards or topic to coverSelect standards to cover and learning outcome Begin with INPUTS – Develop learning experiences and activities for students to engage in. Begin with OUTPUTS- develop an assessment to determine student success for outcome TEACHDevelop learning experiences and activities for student to engage in Give an assessmentTEACH Determine results and give feedback to students Assess results using assessment developed in step 2 Give feedback Reteach topic or choose new topic (Newman, 2013, Sec. 9.2)

Established goals: During this lesson students will develop basic knowledge about how plants grow and the importance of plant growth on earth. Understandings: There are six cycles a plant goes through in its life. Through photosynthesis plants create oxygen. Growing plants help distribute and purify the Earth’s water. Essential Questions What is the first cycle plants go through? Second? Third? Etc… Why is the life cycle of plants so important to the Earth? Students will know : the different life cycles of plants- seedling, germination, stems and roots, leaves, flowers, and pollination. How the growth or lack of growth effects the Earth. Students will be able to: Describe the different cycle of plant life. Illustrate the life cycle of plants. Explain how the earth can be cleaner because of plant growth. Stage 1: Identify desired results Grade level: First Subject: Science Lesson: Life Cycle of Plants

Performance Tasks: At the end of the lesson students will take a quiz about the life cycles of plants. Students will need to identify these cycles with pictures provided on a worksheet. Other Evidence: Teacher will observe students as they work through the different life cycles of plants to ensure proper learning. Class will have a discussion about current knowledge of plant life and what has been learned over the lesson. Stage 2: Determine acceptable evidence Lesson Plan Using Backward Design (continued)

Stage 3: Plan learning experiences and instruction Learning Activities: Group Discussion: The class will discuss current knowledge or plant life and the teacher will discuss new knowledge that will increase student learning. Educational Video: The class will tap into the world wide web and find an educational video that explains and shows visualizations of the life cycle of plants. Reading Activity: The teacher will read students the book A Seed in Need: A First Look at the Plant Cycle by Sam Godwin. Then the teacher will answer any questions the students may have about what they have learned from the book. Lesson Plan Using Backward Design (continued)

Learning Activities (continued) Worksheet: The different life cycles will appear on a worksheet that students will have to cut out and paste in their appropriate order. Students can then color their work and turn it in. Homework: As homework students will look in their yards or at a park with a parent and take pictures or draw plants that are in each life cycle. This will be a digital homework assignment where parents will help students upload the pictures of plants they find. Students will come to class and share their findings with their classmates and teacher. Lesson Plan Using Backward Design (continued)

 Common Core State Standards Initiative (  Newman, R. (2013). Teaching and learning in the 21st century: Connecting the dots. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc.  University of New Mexico School of Medicine, Effective use of performance objectives of learning and assessment. Retrieved from