Name - Samantha Horne

Class - ELED 3221

Date – 3/19/2018

Indirect Instruction Lesson Plan Template

Wind and erosion

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Central Focus/Big Idea: There are natural forces that change the landscape of earth.

Subject of this lesson: Weathering/erosion

Grade Level: 4

NC Essential Standard(s):
4.E.2.3 Give examples of how the surface of the earth changes due to slow processes such as
erosion and weathering, and rapid processes such as landslides, volcanic eruptions, and
earthquakes.

21st Century Skills:

Communication - I chose communication because throughout the lesson, they will be explaining
the results of the experiment. It is communication also because students will understand that this
model is purely that. It is meant to represent how things work in the world.
Collaboration - Students will be discussing what they noticed by comparing and contrasting what
they each see. They will be collaborating to finish the worksheet that they must complete during
the experiment.
Critical Thinking – I chose critical thinking because at the end of the lesson, they have to create
their own invention based on what they learned in class. They have to describe their invention as
well as argue why they need it. Having them create their own invention has them thinking in
higher orders.

Academic Language Demand

● Language Function:

Analyze Argue Categorize Compare/contrast Describe Explain

Interpret Predict Question Retell Summarize

I chose argue and describe because the students are required to describe the invention that they
create as well as argue why we need it. In their writing, it is required that they use examples from
class that they saw or experienced in the wind experiment.

● Scientific Vocabulary: Erosion, weathering, rapid changes, slow changes,

Instructional Objective: Students will be able to understand how the surface of the earth
changes due to erosion, weathering, landslides, volcanic eruptions and earthquakes through the
use of the wind experiment and examples shown in class. They will show that they understand
the changes of earth by inventing something to make landslides or erosion on the shorelines less
impactful on the community. Students must earn 7/11 points to show mastery.

Prior Knowledge (student): Students should know how to effectively do an experiment in a

timely manner. Students should also know the rules of experiments.

Content Knowledge (teacher): Teachers must know what weathering and erosion is, they must
know how to effectively explain what happened on the coast of Cape Cod in the beginning
picture, they must know how to accurately run a science experiment in a timely manner.

Accommodations for special needs (individual and/or small group):

ELL – I will show pictures and use gestures to help explain what is expected of the students.

ASD – there is no feeling the “land” so there are no sensory issues in touching; they may fidget
as needed; I will repeat directions as needed; the student that needs to wear her headphones for
noise sensory issues is allowed to do so

Materials and Technology requirements:

To prepare for this lesson, teachers need to get shoeboxes (enough for 2 people to share – rougly
12-15), twigs, sand, clay, and straws. The teacher must put the box together previous to the
lesson.
We must also need google slides, SMARTboard, worksheets (30), and pencils.

If technology is not working, I have the pictures previously printed out to hand to the students.

Total Estimated Time: 30 minutes

Source of lesson: https://www.themailbox.com/magazines/science-center-wind-erosion-

weathering/wind-erosion-experiment

Safety considerations: I will control the noise for the student who has sound sensory issues. I
will also make sure no students touch the “land” inside the box.
 Content and Strategies (Procedure)

In your procedure, be sure to include all of the following 5 E’s. Your procedure should be
detailed enough for a colleague to follow. If you will be relying on technology (e.g., a YouTube
video), describe your back up plan thoroughly. Imagine your most novice colleague needing to
teach from your plan. Don’t just answer the questions. Additionally, I expect you to include
possible questions you could ask for each section. This needs to include higher-order questions.

Have materials placed on the desks previous to them coming in

Engage: On the board, I will put pictures up of a coast off of Cape Cod. Students will discuss in
table groups about what they notice.

Questions I will ask throughout the engage phase

● What happened to locations of the beaches? 3 min
● Why do you think that happened?
● What do you think it would look like in another 30 years?

* Explain the worksheet before explore phase *

Explore: In groups of 2 or 3, students will take turns blowing air through a straw into a
shoebox. In the shoebox, there will be sand, soil and twigs which we will refer to as the land.
Before they begin, they will fill out a sheet that has them make a hypothesis. If ____________
then _________. ** YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO TOUCH ANYTHING IN THE BOX **
When students blow air into the straw, they will leave the lid on. Once they are done blowing,
students will take off the top to notice how the sand, soil and twigs changed. They have 5
seconds to blow into the shoebox, 1 minute to discuss in their group and fill out the paper. They
will then move on to the next partner. The next student will then go without moving anything in
the box. Students will notice how drastic it changed from the first person to the last. There will 8-10
be same time frame. min

Questions I will ask throughout the explore phase –

● what did you notice about how the box changed from one person to the next?
● What did you notice about the change from the first person to the last?
● Why do you think that happened?
● What do you think will happen if we do it one more time?
● What moved easy and what didn’t?
Explanation: We see how there are rapid changes such as wind but there is also other rapid
changes such as volcanic eruptions, landslides and earthquake. There are slower changes such as
erosion. Weathering is when rocks are worn away and broken into smaller parts. Erosion is when
sediments are picked up and moved to another place due to ice, water wind or gravity (as I define
these words, I will write them on the board, so they can easily refer back to them). I will explain
how the experiment to begin with was just a representation of how wind impacts the earth’s
surface. I will put up the pictures from the beginning again and ask them to talk about it one
more time and ask them to use the new vocabulary words that we have learned. I will show them
one more land change in which they must do the same thing.
10
min

Questions I will ask them throughout the explanation phase:

● How did this land change?
● What do you think caused it?
● What are the similarities and differences of the Cape Cod erosion and this one?
● How do you think we can prevent things like this from happening?
● Do you think this is something that will ever stop happening?

Elaborate: We know things are naturally formed by erosion and weathering, such as the Grand
Canyon. As we see, things can affect the shape of shorelines and other things on the earth's
surface. I want you guys to invent a way to combat erosion on shorelines or ways to make
landslides less impactful to the community around it. (What does impactful mean?) You must
explain what your invention is and argue why the earth's surface needs it. You must use
examples of things we have seen in class and your response must be at least a paragraph. (Ask
what a paragraph is). As students are working, I will be walking around, answering questions.
They are allowed to draw first to help them write.
They will use the rest of class time to finish this and if they don’t, it will be homework.

Evaluate: Formative assessment: I will ask questions throughout the lesson to assess their
knowledge and understanding.

Summative assessment:

Student does not meet Student somewhat Student meets

benchmark meets benchmark benchmark
Length of response The response is N/A The response is at
shorter then a least a paragraph (1
paragraph (0 points) point)
Examples There are not N/A There are examples of
examples of what we what we have seen in
have seen in class (0 class (5 points)
points)
Reasoning There is no reasoning There is somewhat of The reasoning is
on why we need this a reasoning on why clearly stated with
 invention (0 points) we need this detail or support on
invention. The why we need it (5
reasoning is lacking points)
detail or support (2
points)

To be completed after the lesson is taught as appropriate

Assessment Results of all objectives/skills:

11/11 – 14 students
8/11 – 3 students (They received this grade because their lack of reasoning on why we need the
invention. They provided some reasoning but there was not sufficient detail)
6/11 – 5 students (They received this grade because they did not have any reasoning on why we
need this invention)
1/11 – 1 student (They received this grade because it was longer then a paragraph. However,
there was nothing about anything we learned in class and no reasoning. There
was not even an invention. It was describing what they world looks like. I am
unsure of why they put this. I am wondering if they were referring to what the
picture of the before mudslide looked like.)
0/11 – 2 students (They received this grade because it was just the invention. But it was less than
a paragraph, there was no examples from class and no reasoning on why we
needed this invention)

Reflection on lesson:
This lesson did not go anywhere near planned. I had to pass out all materials previous to
the lesson due to time restraints, but they messed with the materials way too much. I had to call
on multiple student’s multiple times to stop messing with things. The students don’t do much
experiments so there were no guidelines in place for them to abide by.
This lesson was well implemented and had a good flow. Students grasped this content
very easily and was able to see how the experiment was a representation of real life. I was very
pleased with how well the content and the experiment went well together.
In the experiment, students found out how wind can impact the soil, sand, twigs rocks
and gravel travel on earth’s surface. During the experiment, I asked things such as “What moved
easy? What didn’t?” “What changed from before you blew the ‘wind’ to after?” I had the
students in groups of 3 doing the same thing and I think this well. Originally, I thought about
having them in groups of 2 but I went with groups of 3. This ended up being better and more
effective. The students saw more of a change and were able to talk about it more. I explained the
worksheet before-hand, but we should have done the “if _______ then _______” section
together. I also would have worded the worksheet a little more clearly. It made sense to me but
did not make sense to the students.
After the investigation, we looked at more erosion and a mudslide on earth’s surface. I
asked them to compare similarities and differences in the original erosion picture and this
mudslide one. Some students also took it upon themselves to compare it to the experiment which
I think I will add on to next time. In the original plan, I was going to write the definition of
Weathering and Erosion on the board during the lesson but due to time constraints, I decided ot
go ahead and write it on the board previous to the lesson. The students then had to come up with
an invention to combat erosion or landslides. I should have shown them an example that I did so
they have a reference of what the paragraph should consist of. I think that since I did not show
them an example they were confused on what the reasoning portion of the paragraph was to look
like. However, they were really excited to create their own invention. I believe I will implement
that in other lessons also.
If I could do this lesson again, I would find a way to have them in rotations. I think that
would have been more effectives and given me better control over the class. I would have been
able to integrate technology effectively instead of just using it to display pictures for them to
compare and discuss about.
As a learner and a teacher, I discovered how much students thrive on hands-on
experiments. As a teacher, I need to learn how to better set guidelines for experiments. As a
learner, I saw how much you can connect to one subject. I could have picked only NC geography
to connect to what they learned in social studies – which I didn’t think about that until after so
that is also something I would do in the future.
However, they would not stop talking the whole class time. I kept using management
skills that I saw the teachers use, however, they still did not listen. I was looking for direction
and help from my clinical teacher but offered me no assistance. I think that really impacted the
lesson. I was so frustrated and distracted that I didn’t say a lot of what I should have for the
lesson.

CT signature/confirmation: _________________________________ Date: ________________