Lesson Plan

General Description of Assignment

As part of Issues class you will design ONE lesson plan for a high school (9th - 12th grade) audience in rural northeastern IN.  This lesson plan will focus on the development and delivery of Climate Change as a content area while paying attention to learner mental health.  Additional emphasis will be placed on the efforts made to frame the content in a way that your audience will more likely understand and receive it.  Focus will also be on delivering your message with empathy and compassion.  Hope is essential but must be couched within a realistic framework that also acknowledges some of the tough work and hard situations ahead regarding climate change.  

Additional Details:

1. Broadly, you are expected to cover climate change as a topic...the details of which will be informed by multiple factors including:

   1. 1. 1. • What class you are conducting your lesson plan in (Biology, Env Science, etc.)

            • What type of standards you are trying to hit

              1. 1. • note...you may not be hitting a climate standard directly but instead will be giving a climate change "flavor" to some other classroom topic (i.e. allele frequencies) 

            • The audience characteristics (age, "memberships", demographics, etc.)

2. The mode of instruction is for your to choose.  Make sure that it can be realistically implemented (i.e. don't make it a full week field trip or require expensive or hard-to-find materials).  You should consider a wide range of possible approaches (i.e. videos, student-developed presentations, mock town-hall meetings on a hot-button topic, quiz bowls, demonstrations, activities, rotation through stations, etc.)

NOTE:  While this assignment is intended to be helpful for your climate residency...it is not actually required that your lesson plan completed during this assignment (for Issues) is related to the lesson planning you will be doing for your climate residency.  Depending on the information you have and what you are interested in - you may choose to relate your topic for this assignment directly to your climate residency work (again not required).  On the other hand, you may choose to focus on a preferred climate change topic of your own - one not focused on during your climate residency.  The choice is purely yours.

Assignment Rubric

For this assignment you will provide both a (i) written document as well as a (ii) demonstration of part of your lesson plan.  Please follow the rubric below:

Written Document [100pts]:

1. [10pts] Summary of your lesson plan

   1. • you will write a 2 to 3 paragraph summary narrative of your lesson plan. Include both what you want to do as well as your thinking behind why you want to do it.  Think of this as a short section that teachers could read if they were looking through a database of lesson plans and wanting to find one that would work for them.

2. [15pts] Learning Objectives

   1. • • They describe the main purpose of your lesson plan

        • They must be matched to audience (age, rigor, etc.)

        • Include with the objectives specific Indiana standards that they satisfy

3. [10pts] Assessment

   1. • • Plan for how you will determine if you adequately addressed your objectives in the classroom

        • Sample of your assessment tool (or description if done orally) must be included

4. [20pts] Instructional Strategies

   1. • • What developmentally appropriate strategies will you use to reach your learners?

        • Place your approach within sound educational theory (with references - 3 articles - do not need to be peer reviewed) - hands on, participatory, sensory rich, student led, etc.

        • Reflect your learning from the MAEE program

5. [15pts] Attention to Student Affect (i.e. mental health, emotion, etc.)

   1. • • In your lesson plan, how are you explicitly building in attention to the emotional/spiritual dynamic for high school learners surrounding climate change?

        • Lead with empathy and compassion, try to help learners find their empathy as well

        •  Pay attention to student "memberships" and approach them with understanding

        • Also include discussion of your own "Affective Arc" as you have been processing climate change realities

6. [10pts] Materials

   1. • • Any materials needed to carry out instruction are listed

        • Links to online resources are provided

7. [20pts] Writing & Organization

   1. • • prepared curriculum and resources are able to be plainly understood and used by others for teaching

        • sufficient detail throughout

        • clear writing without errors in spelling or grammar

        • well organized and formatted

In Class Demonstration [50pts]:

1. [10pts] Introduction

   1. 1. • clearly articulate the purpose of your demonstration

         • frame demonstration in light of at least one learning objective from your written materials

         • help the audience understand how the demonstration will progress (i.e. roadmap, etc.)

         • invite audience feedback and participation

2. [20pts] Instruction

   1. 1. • effectively demonstration a portion of your lesson plan as described in your written materials

         • keep the audience engaged and participative

         • demonstrate background knowledge in pedagogy learned throughout MAEE

3. [5pts] Assessment

   1. 1. • lead audience through abbreviated assessment protocol

         • provide time for sense-making as needed

4. [15pts] Style

   1. 1. • follow best practices in working with groups in EE contexts

         • good eye contact, clear and audible speech

         • clear and well structured presentation

         • all materials present and prepared

         • enthusiasm and modeling inquiry

         • within the 20 minute time limit

         • good at answering spontaneous questions "on your feet"