SINGLE SUBJECT CREDENTIAL PROGRAM

EDSC LESSON PLAN TEMPLATE

Revised 4.15
For directions on how to complete this form, see EDSC Lesson Plan Directions and Scoring Guide in the SSCP Handbook at
www.sscphandbook.org.

Name
Paula Alcantar
Class Title
Biology

CWID

Subject Area

890864739
Lesson Title
Reading Into
Photosynthesis

Science
Unit Title
Cell Dynamics

Grade Levels
9-11

Total Minutes
53

CLASS DESCRIPTION
The class consists of 36 students from varying backgrounds and ethnicities. There are 8 ELLs; 6 students home
language is Spanish, one students home language is Mandarin, and one students home language is Hindi. There are
also 2 students with special needs. Both students see a resource specialist and one of them also sees a speech
specialist. The classroom includes 38 desks in the lecture side of the room aligned in 6 rows that are all facing forward
toward the teachers desk and the projector. In the lab side of the room, there are 8 lab stations, each with 5 chairs
around the table. The classroom is quite large and has several inspirational and biology-related posters on the walls.
There is a designated section on the whiteboard for the daily agenda, which the teacher updates so students know
what theyre plan is for the days lesson.
STANDARDS AND LESSON OBJECTIVES
CCSS Math, CCSS ELA & Literacy History/Social
Studies, Science and Technical Subjects, NGSS, and
English Language Development Standards (ELD)
Content Standards
1. Exchanging Information/Ideas: Contribute to class,
group, and partner discussions, sustaining conversations
on a variety of age and grade-appropriate academic
Performance Expectation:
topics by following turn-taking rules, asking and
HS-LS1-5.Use a model to illustrate how photosynthesis
answering relevant, on-topic questions, affirming others,
transforms light energy into stored chemical energy
providing additional, relevant information, and
DCI:
paraphrasing key ideas.
6. Reading/viewing closely a. Explain ideas, phenomena,
The process of photosynthesis converts light
processes, and relationships within and across texts (e.g.,
energy to stored chemical energy by converting
compare/contrast, cause/effect, themes, evidence-based
carbon dioxide plus water into sugars plus released argument) based on close reading of a variety of gradeoxygen. (HS-LS1-5)
appropriate texts, presented in various print and
Cross Cutting Concepts:
multimedia formats, using increasingly detailed
sentences, and an increasing variety of general academic
Changes of energy and matter in a system can
and domain- specific words.
be described in terms of energy and matter flows c. Use knowledge of morphology (e.g., affixes, Greek and
into, out of, and within that system.
Latin roots), context, reference materials, and visual cues
to determine the meaning of unknown and multiplemeaning words on familiar and new topics.
Lesson Objective(s)
Evidence
Students will be able to demonstrate their understanding
The evidence for this lesson includes a completed Big
of photosynthesis by completing the Big Ideas handout
Ideas handout that will be checked at the end of the
using the Biology textbook.
lesson.
STUDENT ASSESSMENT
Purpose/Focus of
Type
Implementation
Feedback Strategy
How Informs Teaching
Assessment
The purpose of the
assessment is to prepare
students for a new topic:
The teacher will lead the
The teacher will instruct
photosynthesis. This
class in a discussion
This informs the teacher
students to take out their
introduces the topic in a
about the article and
how well students are
daily warm ups and
way that helps them
questions. Students will
able to retain information
follow along the
EL
make a real-world
share their responses
from a scientific article
PowerPoint as the
application. The
and the teacher will be
and deepen their own
teacher reads the article
comprehension
able to develop a
understanding through
out loud. Students will
questions help students
discussion based on their verbal discussion.
then answer questions.
begin thinking about the
responses.
importance of
photosynthesis.

PM

The purpose of this

assessment is to provide
support and direction for
students as they are
working through the
activity. Its also to
ensure that students are
remaining on task and
achieving the lessons
objective.

The purpose of this

assessment is to provide
students an opportunity
to review their work in
class and check to see if
they have reached the
objective for the lesson.

The teacher will walk

around as students are
working in pairs and
directly observing their
progress. She will ask
them facilitative
questions when they are
confused and help them
pronounce content
vocabulary that is new to
them.
The teacher will lead
students in a discussion
about what different
pairs of students came
up with for the big idea
of the photosynthesis
chapter. Students will be
able to share the
characteristics they
wrote down to support
the big idea to show
their thought process
through the activity.

The teacher will have

verbal discussions with
students to assure them
that they are on the right
track or redirect students
that are either confused
or off task.

This informs the teacher

of how well students are
able to read new
information with a
scaffolding handout.
Some of the information
may be confusing for
students

The teacher will be able

to let students know
verbally if they achieved
the lessons objective.

This will inform the

teacher of how well
students are able to work
together when
approaching scientific
text about new
information. It can often
be overwhelming for
students, but by
providing them
scaffolding throughout
the process, they are
able to do it.

INSTRUCTION
Instructional Strategies
Direct Observation
Lesson Introduction/Anticipatory Set
Time
Teacher Does
The teacher will instruct students to take out their
daily warm ups while she pulls up a PowerPoint that
includes a modified version of an article entitled
Plants Gobbling Up CO2 45% More Than Thought
(http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/09/29/plantsgobbling-up-co2-45-more-than-thought/). This article
10
needs to be modified so that students at the high
mins.
school reading level are able to understand the
content. After reading the article while students are
following along, the teacher will have students
answer 2-3 comprehension questions that students
must answer. The teacher will review the responses
during a whole-class discussion and ask for answers
from different students for each question.
Lesson Body
Time
Teacher Does
The teacher will start by having students access the
class set of Biology textbooks and open up to the
appropriate chapter on photosynthesis. The teacher
will pass out the Big Ideas handout and review it with
the class. The teacher will model how students can
negotiate text by reading through the components of
the handout out loud and reading through the first
38
page of the photosynthesis chapter. The teacher will
mins.
instruct students to work with their neighbor to read
through the chapter and pull out the important
information that they think is relevant. The teacher
will walk around and monitor students as they work
together, provide support when students are
confused, and redirect students who are getting off
task.
Lesson Closure
Time
Teacher Does
5 mins. During the last few minutes of class, the teacher will
direct students to put their textbooks under their
desk and prepare for a discussion. The teacher will
lead students in reviewing the content of the chapter

Student Does

The students will take out their warm ups and follow
along as the teacher reads the article out loud.
Students will then answer questions about the article
that shows that they were following along. Students
will be able to share their responses and ask
questions during the whole-class discussion.

Student Does

Students will be working in pairs to deepen their

understanding of photosynthesis by reading the
appropriate chapter in the class textbook and
describing the main idea in the Big Idea handout.

Student Does
Students will review what they wrote in their Big Idea
handout as the teacher leads a whole-class
discussion on the photosynthesis chapter and what
different pairs of students decided was the big idea.

and having students talk about what they wrote for

their big ideas. When students have different
responses, the teacher will have them and their
partner discuss some of the points they wrote down
to describe their big idea. The teacher will tell
students to keep this paper since it will be their
reference for future lessons on photosynthesis.
Instructional Materials, Equipment, and Multimedia
Biology Textbook, Exploring Informational Text handout, Modified Article about plant uptake of atmospheric CO2 (warm
up)
Co-Teaching Strategies
Tag Teaching, One Teach One Assist
DIFFERENTIATION
English Learners

Striving Readers

Students with Special

Needs

Advanced Students

EL students will be
encouraged to have a
Students with special needs Advanced students can
vocabulary log out as
will be directly observed by
include as many
theyre reading so that they
Striving readers will benefit
the teacher regularly and
characteristics of the Big
can have additional
by being paired with a
have their work checked
idea as possible to
practice with the new
strong reader and be able
throughout the period to
strengthen their own
terms. The teacher will also
to use a dictionary if
ensure that they are
understanding of the topic
check on EL students
needed as theyre reading.
remaining on task and have and help the teacher lead
regularly and help them
the opportunity to ask
the discussion towards the
pronounce new words and
questions.
end of class.
check their work as they
go.
REFLECTION: SUMMARY, RATIONALE, AND IMPLEMENTATION
This lesson engages students in the epistemic practice of negotiating scientific text. For this lesson, they will be
approaching their textbooks with a Big Ideas handout that will help them focus on the important details in the
photosynthesis chapter. This will help them pinpoint concepts that are important enough to be on a test and essentially
remove the fluff from the textbook. Students will be working in pairs throughout the lesson.