STEPP Lesson Plan Form

Teacher: Molly MacDougall

School:
Windsor High School
Area: Earth Science Systems

Date: 10/8/15
Grade Level: Freshmen

Content

Title: Star Box Wrap-Up and Expansion lab

Lesson #: 2

Content Standard(s) addressed by this lesson:

directly from the standard)

(Write Content Standards

Earth Science 1- The history of the universe, solar system, and Earth can be inferred
from evidence left from past events.
c. Analyze and interpret data regarding Earths history using direct and
indirect evidence.
Understandings: (Big Ideas)
Students will understand that universe is expanding as evidenced by historical time
shots of stars.
Inquiry Questions: (Essential questions relating knowledge at end of the unit of
instruction, select applicable questions from standard)
Why do we care about the history of the universe?
Why would a photograph of the stars taken a billion years ago be different than a
photograph of the stars taken today?
Why is expansion of the universe evidence of the big bang?
Evidence Outcomes: (Learning Targets)
Every student will be able to: (Create your own lesson objectives from the
standard, follow the ABCD format, using student voice)
I can: communicate how the universe is expanding and how quickly
This means: I can analyze and interpret the arrangement of galaxies from one
billion years ago and from now to determine how the speed at which the universe is
expanding.
List of Assessments: (Write the number of the learning target associated with
each assessment)
Action Research quiz about groups
Kahoot to prepare for test (Monday)
Worksheet for universe expansion (for standard)

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Planned Lesson Activities

Name and Purpose of Lesson
Should be a creative title for you and the
students to associate with the activity.
Think of the purpose as the mini-rationale
for what you are trying to accomplish
through this lesson.
Approx. Time and Materials
How long do you expect the activity to
last and what materials will you need?

Anticipatory Set
The hook to grab students attention.
These are actions and statements by the
teacher to relate the experiences of the
students to the objectives of the lesson,
To put students into a receptive frame of
mind.
To focus student attention on the
lesson.
To create an organizing framework
for the ideas, principles, or
information that is to follow
(advanced organizers)
An anticipatory set is used any time a
different activity or new concept is to be
introduced.
Procedures
(Include a play-by-play account of what
students and teacher will do from the
minute they arrive to the minute they
leave your classroom. Indicate the length

Name: Star box wrap-up and Universe Expansion

Purpose: To have students peer evaluate other groups star boxes and
to teach how the universe is expanding and how quickly based off of
data.
Time: 90 minutes
Materials:
Google form research survey
Expansion lab worksheets
Kahoot form
Chrome books
(minute 0-5) Have the students do a warm up when they enter the
classroom. It will be to go to a link on Mr. Katers homepage to complete
my action research form about their groups from the star box project.
When theyre done with that questionnaire they will be thinking about
the question:
A few weeks ago in lecture we mentioned the universe is expanding.
How did we discover that? What proof have you seen of that theory?
while everyone else is finishing the from.
They will set their chrome books aside because they will need them at
the end of the class and I dont want to waste that much time for a
redundant transition.

When the students are done with their form Ill say well be answering
that question after your last in class work time. Then Ill explain what
were doing for the day.
(minute 5-35) They have half an hour to work on their star box with

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of each segment of the lesson. List actual
minutes.)
Indicate whether each is:
-teacher input
-modeling
-questioning strategies
-guided/unguided:
-whole-class practice
-group practice
-individual practice
-check for understanding
-other

their group in class. Say it will be due on Monday before the quest. If
they need to meet outside of school its appropriate to take out phones
now to exchange contact information. Say after half an hour we will set
aside the boxes and not touch them for the rest of the class because we
have an activity and a kahoot to due to prepare for the quest on
Monday.
(minute 35-70) They will be working on their expansion activity
individually for the next 35 minutes. They are welcome to talk with their
group and think out loud but they must complete the assignment and
with your own language (no copying your neighbors thoughts). If we
have extra time (unlikely) we will have a class discussion about their
results.
Before they begin I will explain the activity and answer questions. They
wont need their chromebooks but they can use them for music, so
after they make their music selection put it at the 45 so I dont mistake
them for being off task.
The assignment is due on Monday before the test so use your time to
finish this in the class time given. Feel free to turn it in early. If you do
you can review for the quest because working on the boxes would be
too disruptive.

Closure
Those actions or statements by a teacher
that are designed to bring a lesson
presentation to an appropriate conclusion.
Used to help students bring things
together in their own minds, to make
sense out of what has just been taught.
Any Questions? No. OK, lets move on is
not closure. Closure is used:
To cue students to the fact that
they have arrived at an important
point in the lesson or the end of a

(minute 70-90) I will strictly end the assignment at the 70 th minute to

ensure plenty of time for the review kahoot before they leave. They will
grab their chromebooks from the corner of their desk and complete the
kahoot.
If theres extra time at the end of class (doubt it) they will either
complete their expansion assignment or study.

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lesson.
To help organize student learning
To help form a coherent picture and to
consolidate.
Differentiation
To modify: If the activity is too advanced
for a child, how will you modify it so that
they can be successful?
To extend: If the activity is too easy for a
child, how will you extend it to develop
their emerging skills?
Assessment
How will you know if students met the
learning targets? Write a description of
what you were looking for in each
assessment.

The expansion activity could be completed much earlier than needed

so if they finish early they can utilize their time to study for the exam
on Monday/Tuesday. If they are confused they can stay at ELO or come
in before or after class since there are limited materials and I will have
time to walk around the class and answer questions and monitor
confusion.
There are a couple assessments, one is my action research form about
groups which will help evaluate how the students feel about the project
as well informally.
The kahoot will be good because I get immediate feedback on the areas
where the misconceptions are for the exam on Monday. I left extra time
in there so I can clear up misconceptions right away or stress areas that
they should visit while theyre studying over the weekend.

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Post Lesson Reflection

1. To what extent were lesson objectives achieved? (Utilize
assessment data to justify your level of achievement)
Because learning targets arent habit at Windsor, I forgot to announce the
learning target at the beginning of the lesson. However, I feel like I did well
talking to the students at the beginning of the day about what theyll be
doing that day and for what purpose. At the top of the expansion worksheet I
had the purpose clearly stated that was aligned with the standard and their
learning target and I explained the worksheet in such a way that justified its
purpose.

2. What changes, omissions, or additions to the lesson would

you make if you were to teach again?
I think I could have been more prepared for what I wanted to say front
loading the assignment. I rambled a little bit and it was hard standing up
there trying to find my words on the spot. But I wasnt embarrassed or
stressed, which is a good sign about how comfortable I feel in front of the
classroom.
I think next time I would have led a class discussion about the warm-up
question and see what they had to say about that before they went to finish
up their projects. It would have justified why they do those warm-up
questions more and it would have put them into a better mindset for doing
the activity I think.
I also would have front loaded my action research questionnaire to reassure
them that grades arent attached to it, nobody except the teachers will see
the results, and to calm any anxieties they would have over it, which is a
great reflection because that is something I will clarify before the next time I
administer that questionnaire.
But I feel like my timing was actually very lucky. The reworked activity took
the perfect about of time so that it didnt eat into the Kahoots timing which
is really important because it gave important feedback to the kids about
where theyre sitting for the test on Monday. I gave plenty of time for clean
up because I knew it was going to take forever for the students to want to
put down their scissors and get phone numbers to work on it over the
weekend.

3. What do you envision for the next lesson? (Continued practice,

reteach content, etc.)
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Next lesson (in the day if I had taught it) I would have had a better idea of
how I wanted to front load the activity. I would have tried to continue the
perfect timing I had but would have maybe given them more star box time
since I knew the activity wouldnt have taken as long as I thought it would.
For the next lesson that I teach I think Im going to continue trying to just feel
comfortable in front of the kids. Working on classroom management and
transitions I think is very important to experience, because thats the only
way to learn it. So Ill always try to have a rich composition of activities to
get experience with those transitions.

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