Lesson Plan for

Implementing NETS•S
Template with guiding questions
Teacher(s)
Name Sunni Bradford

Position EIP teacher

School/District South Columbia Elementary School/ Columbia County

Grade Level(s) 3rd

Content Area ELA, Science

Time line 1 week

Standards
 What do you want students to know and be able to do?
 What knowledge, skills, and strategies do you expect students to gain?
 Are there connections to other curriculum areas and subject area benchmarks?
 Please put a summary of the standards you will be addressing rather than abbreviations and
numbers that indicate which standards were addressed.
S3E2. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information on how fossils provide evidence of
Content Standards past organisms.
Students demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge, and develop innovative
products and
processes using technology.
a. Apply existing knowledge to generate new ideas, products, or processes
b. Create original works as a means of personal or group expression
Students use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively,
including at a
distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others.
a. Interact, collaborate, and publish with peers, experts, or others employing a variety of
digital
NETS*S Standards: environments and media

Overview (a short summary of the lesson or unit including assignment or expected or possible products)

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 In this lesson students will be learning about fossils and identifying how they tell us about the past. To
engage students, we will begin with a google expedition to fossil sites where paleontologist are
digging. Students will then become mini scientist and make observations about what they see, and
think is happening. Students will think about why fossils and paleontology is important. Next, I will
guide students in how to use a variety of tools and facilitate a discussion about fossils and how they
can teach us about the past. Students will then create their own podcasts with a partner to explain what
we can learn from fossils based on where they are found Finally, students will create a presentation on
adobe spark or google slides describing the process and conditions necessary for an organism to
become fossilized.

Essential Questions

 What essential question or learning are you addressing?

 What would students care or want to know about the topic?
 What are some questions to get students thinking about the topic or generate interest about the topic?
 What background or prior knowledge will you expect students to bring to this topic and build on?

Remember, essential questions are meant to guide the lesson by provoking inquiry. They should not be answered
with a simple “yes” or “no” and should have many acceptable answers.

Essential Questions:
1. What can fossils teach us about the past?
2. What steps occur for an organism to become a fossil?
3. How can fossils reveal information about organisms that are not alive today?

Guiding Questions
1. Based on the location of the fossil, what can we infer about the past?
2. If we do not have proof of what the environment was like here, how can we use fossil remains to help
us learn about the past?
3. Why is it important to dig for fossils? 
4. What can we discover from fossils?
5. Why is important to study the past?

In the previous unit students learned about the five regions of Georgia as well as the habitats of
animals and plants that live there. Additionally, they have used their knowledge of rocks and minerals
to make observations about the environment.

Assessment

 What will students do or produce to illustrate their learning?

 What can students do to generate new knowledge?

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  How will you assess how students are progressing (formative assessment)?
 How will you assess what they produce or do? How will you differentiate products?

You must attach copies of your assessment and/or rubrics. Include these in your presentation as well.

I will assess students using formative assessments such as ticket out the door and questions posed on our
discussion board throughout the lesson. Students will also demonstrate their learning through a partner created
podcast, they will be given a fossil discovery scenario where they know what and where was discovered. In the
podcast, students will make inferences about the past based on the information provided and what they have
learned about fossils so far. Students will also create an Adobe Spark presentation to further demonstrate
learning about the steps organisms go through to become fossilized. Rubrics will be used for both the podcast
as well as the presentation so that students know what is expected of them to effectively demonstrate
understanding.
Podcast rubric
Adobe Spark Rubric

Resources

 How does technology support student learning?

 What digital tools, and resources—online student tools, research sites, student handouts, tools, tutorials,
templates, assessment rubrics, etc—help elucidate or explain the content or allow students to interact
with the content?
 What opportunities did you have to collaborate with your students to discover and use new digital
resources to meet their learning goals? (Note: This meets part of ISTE standard 4.2)
 What previous technology skills should students have to complete this project?

Technology supports student learning through presentations and interactive lessons using iPad, laptops, and
the smart board. It is also used to support students through their assessment products of podcasts and adobe
spark presentation. Students will research, create, and publish their final products using laptops and iPad.
Students should come with the skills to login to the computer, obtain access to google classroom, adobe
sparks, and Podbean, as well as use search engines to research and create their presentation.

Instructional Plan and Preparation

 What student needs, interests, and prior learning provide a foundation for this lesson?
 How can you find out if students have this foundation?
 What difficulties might students have?

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 To get an understanding of each student’s background knowledge prior to the unit, I would have them fill out a
digital KWL chart. Students would only complete the first two slides as they are what do you already
know about the topic and what do you want to know. This will give me insight to their interest in the
topic and help guide the lessons and increase engagement. Occasionally students have demonstrated
difficulty working in pairs or groups there for I will set expectations before they begin collaborating.
Adobe spark is a program we have used from time to time to publish our writing in the classroom
however not all students have had the experience and exposure to the program. Some students may
require more assistance in creating their presentation.

Management-- Describe the classroom management strategies will you use to manage your students and the
use of digital tools and resources.

 How and where will your students work? (Small groups, whole group, individuals, classroom, lab, etc.)
 What strategies will you use to achieve equitable access to the Internet while completing this lesson?
 Describe what technical issues might arise during the Internet lesson.
 Explain how you worked with students to resolve or trouble-shoot them? (This meets part of ISTE
standard 4.2.)
 Please note: Trouble-shooting should occur prior to implementing the lesson as well as throughout the
process. Be sure to indicate how you prepared for problems and work through the issues that occurred as
you implemented and even after the lesson was completed.

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 Before beginning this lesson clear expectations for the use of digital tools will have been established. I will
review the rules and expectations as needed and talk about any new expectations that make come with this
lesson. Additionally, I will spend time teaching digital citizenship lessons to teach appropriate research
strategies. With the goal being that students are going to reputable and appropriate sites in order to obtain
information needed.
1. Respect the tool. 
2. Respect yourself and others while using the tool. 
3. Use the tool for learning only, they are tools not toys. 

For the podcast students will be given a planning sheet to help them manage what needs to be
included and who is responsible for each task. This will ensure no one student is doing all of the work
and each student is doing their part. Students will use either the ipads or student laptops provided by
the school.

Students will use their school designated laptop to create Adobe Spark Presentations. They will work
independently from a space that best suits their learning needs. All students will be able to use the
internet for the entirety of the working session.

In the event that there are issues while students are creating their projects I will troubleshoot as best
possible. Internet connectivity can be an issue throughout the school and in that case, students will use
paper and pencil to draft their project. Also, students will be able to write down any questions they
have and want to know more about with the intention of keeping them actively engaged in learning
while troubleshooting the problem. I will utilize the technology support personnel at our school to
assist me with a resolution.

Instructional Strategies and Learning Activities – Describe the research-based instructional strategies you will
use with this lesson.

 How will your learning environment support these activities? What is your role? What are the students'
roles in the lesson?
 How can you ensure higher order thinking at the analysis, evaluation, or creativity levels of
Bloom’s Taxonomy?
 How can the technology support your teaching?
 What authentic, relevant, and meaningful learning activities and tasks will your students complete?
 How will they build knowledge and skills?
 How will students use digital tools and resources to communicate and collaborate with each other and
others?
 How will you facilitate the collaboration?

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 The uses of technology will increase student engagement, rigor, and creativity. Students will work
collaboratively on an ipad or laptop to create their podcast assignment. They will also use their school laptop to
make an Adobe Spark presentation. As always I am an available resource for student support. I will facilitate
learning throughout the project. Students will assume the responsibility of completing the projects
independently as I facilitate learning and support them. Blooms Taxonomy is supported through the use of
techonology. Learning will become more student centered where students guide the learning process and
demonstrate their knowledge through creative projects. Tasks will be authentic and meaningful by providing
real life situations and having students problem solve.

Students will use digital tools to communicate and collaborate by sharing their ideas, and knowledge with all
students. The Podcasts could be shared between other third grade classes which supports collaboration and
authentic learning beyond the classroom.

Differentiation

 How will you differentiate content and process to accommodate various learning styles and abilities?
 How will you help students learn independently and with others?
 How will you provide extensions and opportunities for enrichment?
 What assistive technologies will you need to provide?)

For differentiation, I will provide my lower level learners with sentence frames, and a word bank. For the
Podcast presentation I will pair students that are on different learning levels so that they can support each
other. I will also strategically pair them so that all students can participate in the learning tasks. 

Using Google extensions can support my learners. If students need something read to them while doing their
research, they can use the google extension that supports this. I will also provide some students with websites
that they can go to if research is a new skill. Students that need a challenge will conduct their own research
with some guidelines and instruction on effective research. 

Reflection
 Will there be a closing event?
 Will students be asked to reflect upon their work?
 Will students be asked to provide feedback on the assignment itself?

Also answer the following questions:

 How will you know if the students found the lesson meaningful and worth completing?
 In what ways do you think this lesson will be effective?
 Why do you think this?
 What problems do you anticipate and why?
 How would you design and/or teach this lesson differently if you had more time?

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 After the lesson, I will have my students fill out a Google form reflecting on the projects. This form will ask for
feedback on how well they think the project went, how they felt about their work on the projects and if they were
able to learn and feel successful as a result of the projects. Through this form, I will be able to reflect on how
well the projects went overall. 

I believe this lesson will be highly effective because it gives students a voice, a purpose for their learning and a
chance to be creative while showing their knowledge gained during the week. 

If there are any problems during these lessons, I anticipate it will happen during the partner task. Some
students have difficulty working with others. To address the problems that could occur, I will make sure to go
over expectations before students begin the task. 

Closure: Anything else you would like to reflect upon regarding lessons learned and/or your experience with
implementing this lesson. What advice would you give others if they were to implement the lesson? Please
provide a quality reflection on your experience with this lesson and its implementation.
From what I observed from my students’ work, I should have made been more detailed with my rubrics and
expectations for the project.  Pacing has always been difficult for me so in the future I would chunk this project
better and make sure students are completing each part in a timely manner as the project has kind of drug out.
If I were to give advice to others, I would tell them to make sure they are clear on their expectations for each
project. I would even consider providing students with an example and template to use for their projects. 

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