Please find attached a sample lesson plan from previous years as a guide to create your lesson plan. This is not perfect; the vocabulary and differentiation sections are lacking, (especially since spe

I wanted to further explain the lesson planning process as it pertains to your final assignment in this class. I will go over the parts that I feel are not necessarily self-explanatory; these include: Standards; Essential Questions; and the Instructional Sequence.

Overview
This lesson plan is inter-disciplinary, meaning it will involve two or more disciplines or content areas, including Language Arts/Writing and at least one other discipline. There are two potential ways to start the brainstorming process, both involving starting with the standards. I would highly recommend that you visit two websites:

http://www.p12.nysed.gov/ciai/standards.html

http://www.corestandards.org/read-the-standards/

One option is to begin with the New York State Standards for a content area such as social studies or science. Find a grade level of your choice, and determine what topics/standards interest you to serve as a foundation for this lesson plan (e.g., phases of matter- 3rd grade science. Standard X- Students will identify the three phases of matter).

Then, you will think about the content covered in EDU3215 and consider how students could apply skills in ELA to facilitate their learning of the phases of matter (e.g., focus could be on one or more of standards related to: vocabulary, informational writing, oral language, genre, or anything else we have covered this semester. Find an ELA standard and record it as you did for the disciplinary standard above.

Consider the following guidelines when writing your Essential Questions:

1. Is open-ended; that is, it typically will not have a single, final, and correct answer.

2. Is thought-provoking and intellectually engaging, often sparking discussion and debate.

3. Calls for higher-order thinking, such as analysis, inference, evaluation, prediction. It cannot be effectively answered by recall alone.

4. Points toward important, transferable ideas within (and sometimes across) disciplines.

5. Raises additional questions and sparks further inquiry.

6. Requires support and justification, not just an answer.

7. Recurs over time; that is, the question can and should be revisited again and again.

Instructional Sequence

The instructional sequence is the rhythmic pattern of the lesson. How does it start? What comes next? What will the teacher be doing, and what are the students doing throughout the lesson? One such model for which you can use, but certainly don’t have to (use what fits your lesson) is:

Starting with some direct instruction on content related to topic and/or skills of focus.

Then following that stint with some opportunities for guided practice to continue the gradual release of instruction model (also known as scaffolding or releasing the responsibility or onus for learning towards the students).

And then some opportunities for independent practice as applicable.

Other considerations that are particularly relevant are the incorporation of assessment (both progress monitoring and summative assessment as applicable). Some type of assessment is required to fulfill the requirements for this lesson to measure what was already known (pretest), what is or is not being learned (progress monitoring), and what has been gleaned in terms of skills or content (summative assessment). You may know these principles as assessment of learning, for learning, and with learning.

The boxes provided allow you to allocate x minutes to each component of the lesson, while also articulating what the teacher and students are doing throughout the activities and assessment(s).