2. Unit Rationale: Enduring Understandings & Essential Questions
What is important about unit? Why does unit matter? How does unit fit into your course?
This unit is important for students because it provides a foundation for them to understand ecological and climate change issues that are happening in life outside of school and in the future. They will eventually become voters and environmental issues are a major political issue. They need to be able to understand what the issues are before they can decide how they want to interact with a particular issue.
Enduring Understandings (EU)
Students will understand that ecologists study the relationships of living organisms between one another and between living organisms and their environment. Students will understand that natural phenomena affect environmental issues and that the actions of humans impact the environment.
Essential Questions
What does an ecologist do? How do changes in relationship between organisms or changes in the environment of those organisms affect a given species? What affect do humans have on the environment?
3. STANDARDS
California content standard 6:
Stability in an ecosystem is a balance between competing effects. As a basis for understanding this concept:
a. Students know biodiversity is the sum total of different kinds of organisms and is affected by alterations of habitats.
b. Students know how to analyze changes in an ecosystem resulting from changes in climate, human activity, introduction of nonnative species, or changes in popula¬tion size.
ELD Standards
A.1. Collaborative: Exchanging information/ideas
“Contribute to class, group, and partner discussions, sustaining conversations on a variety of age and grade‐appropriate academic topics by following turn‐taking rules, asking and answering relevant, on‐topic questions, affirming others, and providing coherent and well‐articulated comments and additional information.”
AND
C.9. Productive: presenting
9. “Plan and deliver a variety of oral presentations and reports on grade‐appropriate topics that express complex and abstract ideas, well supported by evidence and reasoning, and are delivered using an appropriate level of formality and understanding of register.”
I chose to focus on the bridging level standards as my ELL students are long-term ELLs.
4. UNIT OBJECTIVES
1. Students will be able to classify given organisms according to levels of biological organization after taking cornel notes and filling out a graphic organizer on the subject.
Type: cognitive Standard #: Preparatory for 3.a.
2. Students will be able to describe the biodiversity of and basic characteristics of biomes after making a group presentation about their chosen biome.
Type: cognitive Standard #: 3.a.
3. Students will be able to describe how a given change in climate, human activity, invasive species, or change in population size may change an ecosystem.
Type: cognitive Standard #: 3.b.
5. ASSESSMENT PLAN
Check-in questions – all objectives/standards
Informal
Formative
I will provide feedback orally to students. I will insert questions in lectures or activities and randomly pick students to answer. I will provide feedback to them immediately so they know if they are on the right track. I will also use their responses to clarify anything that is unclear.
Homework – all objectives/ content standards
Formal (graded for completeness)
Formative
Expectations of homework will be the same as has been communicated to the students by my co-teacher in the first several weeks of class.
Homework will be graded for completion by myself. I will also read student answers to critical thinking/application questions and interact with their answers to let them know they are on the right track or to point them in the right direction. Students that show evidence of critical thinking will receive credit regardless of the correctness of their answer.
Graphic organizer : Concept map– Unit objective # 1; ELD standard A.1.
Formal
Formative
My students have used concept maps before. I will model making a concept map for the first couple levels of organization before students finish the concept map.
Students will follow the format of “concept map” graphic organizer to represent the different levels of biological organization. I will model how to use the graphic organizer for the students before they make their own. I will ask students to work with their neighbors to come up with ideas for the organizer.
I will assess students based on their effort and their ability to use their information in a way that makes sense to them. I will check in with students as they make graphic organizers and dialogue with students whose organizers don’t make sense to me to make sure they see the relationships between the levels. I will provide written feedback to students when I grade this assignment.
Presentation – Unit objectives # 2-3 and ELD standards A.1. and C.9.
Formal
Summative of the unit
Students will be assigned into groups of three to pick a biome and create a presentation on their biome. They will create a presentation on their biome that includes information on the biotic, abiotic, environmental, and conservation factors impacting their biome. They will also include information on how their biome is impacted by human activity.
Students will self-assess using the biome presentation rubric. They will give me their self-assessed rubric and I will use it to grade their presentation. My co-teacher will explain the rubric to students on a Monday. I will also assess ELD standard A.1. and C.9. informally during both the planning and presenting period for each group.
6. STEPS OF INSTRUCTION
(See “WHERE TO” in Understanding by Design PPT.)
CALENDAR
Unit Calendar
ANTICIPATORY SET
My anticipatory set will be a video chosen to get students thinking about how ecology is a study of relationships:
Leopard video
I will explain that ecology is the study of relationships between organisms. I will ask students to think about the relationships they see as they watch the video. I will ask students to explain the relationships they noticed. I will then explain that ecologists study the relationships between organisms and between organisms and their environment. I will ask students how they could learn more about the relationships they noticed in the video.
CLOSURE
Students will give their presentations to the class. I will lead the class in a discussion about what they found most interesting about each presentation. I will begin to ask leading questions to transition students to beginning to think about the next unit which will be on nutrient cycles and energy webs. My questions will lead students to beginning to form explanations on why human activities impact ecosystems. I may need to prompt students but the goal is for them to make the link between chemical changes or changes in species and habitat loss. From there I will begin to ask questions asking students what they know about nutrient cycles and energy webs in general terms.
WEEK OF LESSON PLANS
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1khM5l2AYcx13Pxw4-mxy7LuphcUk_AW4jhvFVZRaRa4/edit?usp=sharing
7. MATERIALS/RESOURCES
Ecology PowerPoint
Unit Calendar
Anticipatory set video
Levels of organization concept map
Biome presentation rubric
8. REFLECTION
I differentiated instruction to include ELD standards. I also have differentiated to include a PowerPoint lecture with visuals for my hard-of-hearing and ELL students. I also will use flexible grouping to ensure my students who have had issues in group work are equipped to grow in this ability and that my ELL students can help each other grow in their English proficiency. One strength I see in my plan is that students are actively learning. The only lecture I have will utilize visuals and ask students to stop and think about material throughout. Limitations I see include students’ grades being based largely on group work. While students will develop their team work abilities, I know some students have also learned how to participate in group work so that they don’t actually have to learn the material. My plan will not allow me to check that all students in a group equally have mastered the material their group presents. My assessments will help me measure the effectiveness of my unit. One thing I have learned from developing this unit is that I need to develop more strategies for engaging high-level students. I have come up with differentiations for my ELL, special education, and low/average level students. I had a very difficult time coming up with differentiations to keep high-level students engaged.
9. RUBRIC WITH SELF-ASSESSMENT
Rubric did not paste correctly into Google Drive so I made a separate Word file for my self-assessed rubric:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7pDLHvHGUYaSmg4dnE3WGtJckE/view?usp=sharing
What is important about unit? Why does unit matter? How does unit fit into your course?
This unit is important for students because it provides a foundation for them to understand ecological and climate change issues that are happening in life outside of school and in the future. They will eventually become voters and environmental issues are a major political issue. They need to be able to understand what the issues are before they can decide how they want to interact with a particular issue.
Enduring Understandings (EU)
Students will understand that ecologists study the relationships of living organisms between one another and between living organisms and their environment. Students will understand that natural phenomena affect environmental issues and that the actions of humans impact the environment.
Essential Questions
What does an ecologist do? How do changes in relationship between organisms or changes in the environment of those organisms affect a given species? What affect do humans have on the environment?
3. STANDARDS
California content standard 6:
Stability in an ecosystem is a balance between competing effects. As a basis for understanding this concept:
a. Students know biodiversity is the sum total of different kinds of organisms and is affected by alterations of habitats.
b. Students know how to analyze changes in an ecosystem resulting from changes in climate, human activity, introduction of nonnative species, or changes in popula¬tion size.
ELD Standards
A.1. Collaborative: Exchanging information/ideas
“Contribute to class, group, and partner discussions, sustaining conversations on a variety of age and grade‐appropriate academic topics by following turn‐taking rules, asking and answering relevant, on‐topic questions, affirming others, and providing coherent and well‐articulated comments and additional information.”
AND
C.9. Productive: presenting
9. “Plan and deliver a variety of oral presentations and reports on grade‐appropriate topics that express complex and abstract ideas, well supported by evidence and reasoning, and are delivered using an appropriate level of formality and understanding of register.”
I chose to focus on the bridging level standards as my ELL students are long-term ELLs.
4. UNIT OBJECTIVES
1. Students will be able to classify given organisms according to levels of biological organization after taking cornel notes and filling out a graphic organizer on the subject.
Type: cognitive Standard #: Preparatory for 3.a.
2. Students will be able to describe the biodiversity of and basic characteristics of biomes after making a group presentation about their chosen biome.
Type: cognitive Standard #: 3.a.
3. Students will be able to describe how a given change in climate, human activity, invasive species, or change in population size may change an ecosystem.
Type: cognitive Standard #: 3.b.
5. ASSESSMENT PLAN
Check-in questions – all objectives/standards
Informal
Formative
I will provide feedback orally to students. I will insert questions in lectures or activities and randomly pick students to answer. I will provide feedback to them immediately so they know if they are on the right track. I will also use their responses to clarify anything that is unclear.
Homework – all objectives/ content standards
Formal (graded for completeness)
Formative
Expectations of homework will be the same as has been communicated to the students by my co-teacher in the first several weeks of class.
Homework will be graded for completion by myself. I will also read student answers to critical thinking/application questions and interact with their answers to let them know they are on the right track or to point them in the right direction. Students that show evidence of critical thinking will receive credit regardless of the correctness of their answer.
Graphic organizer : Concept map– Unit objective # 1; ELD standard A.1.
Formal
Formative
My students have used concept maps before. I will model making a concept map for the first couple levels of organization before students finish the concept map.
Students will follow the format of “concept map” graphic organizer to represent the different levels of biological organization. I will model how to use the graphic organizer for the students before they make their own. I will ask students to work with their neighbors to come up with ideas for the organizer.
I will assess students based on their effort and their ability to use their information in a way that makes sense to them. I will check in with students as they make graphic organizers and dialogue with students whose organizers don’t make sense to me to make sure they see the relationships between the levels. I will provide written feedback to students when I grade this assignment.
Presentation – Unit objectives # 2-3 and ELD standards A.1. and C.9.
Formal
Summative of the unit
Students will be assigned into groups of three to pick a biome and create a presentation on their biome. They will create a presentation on their biome that includes information on the biotic, abiotic, environmental, and conservation factors impacting their biome. They will also include information on how their biome is impacted by human activity.
Students will self-assess using the biome presentation rubric. They will give me their self-assessed rubric and I will use it to grade their presentation. My co-teacher will explain the rubric to students on a Monday. I will also assess ELD standard A.1. and C.9. informally during both the planning and presenting period for each group.
6. STEPS OF INSTRUCTION
(See “WHERE TO” in Understanding by Design PPT.)
CALENDAR
Unit Calendar
ANTICIPATORY SET
My anticipatory set will be a video chosen to get students thinking about how ecology is a study of relationships:
Leopard video
I will explain that ecology is the study of relationships between organisms. I will ask students to think about the relationships they see as they watch the video. I will ask students to explain the relationships they noticed. I will then explain that ecologists study the relationships between organisms and between organisms and their environment. I will ask students how they could learn more about the relationships they noticed in the video.
CLOSURE
Students will give their presentations to the class. I will lead the class in a discussion about what they found most interesting about each presentation. I will begin to ask leading questions to transition students to beginning to think about the next unit which will be on nutrient cycles and energy webs. My questions will lead students to beginning to form explanations on why human activities impact ecosystems. I may need to prompt students but the goal is for them to make the link between chemical changes or changes in species and habitat loss. From there I will begin to ask questions asking students what they know about nutrient cycles and energy webs in general terms.
WEEK OF LESSON PLANS
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1khM5l2AYcx13Pxw4-mxy7LuphcUk_AW4jhvFVZRaRa4/edit?usp=sharing
7. MATERIALS/RESOURCES
Ecology PowerPoint
Unit Calendar
Anticipatory set video
Levels of organization concept map
Biome presentation rubric
8. REFLECTION
I differentiated instruction to include ELD standards. I also have differentiated to include a PowerPoint lecture with visuals for my hard-of-hearing and ELL students. I also will use flexible grouping to ensure my students who have had issues in group work are equipped to grow in this ability and that my ELL students can help each other grow in their English proficiency. One strength I see in my plan is that students are actively learning. The only lecture I have will utilize visuals and ask students to stop and think about material throughout. Limitations I see include students’ grades being based largely on group work. While students will develop their team work abilities, I know some students have also learned how to participate in group work so that they don’t actually have to learn the material. My plan will not allow me to check that all students in a group equally have mastered the material their group presents. My assessments will help me measure the effectiveness of my unit. One thing I have learned from developing this unit is that I need to develop more strategies for engaging high-level students. I have come up with differentiations for my ELL, special education, and low/average level students. I had a very difficult time coming up with differentiations to keep high-level students engaged.
9. RUBRIC WITH SELF-ASSESSMENT
Rubric did not paste correctly into Google Drive so I made a separate Word file for my self-assessed rubric:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7pDLHvHGUYaSmg4dnE3WGtJckE/view?usp=sharing