5 step lesson plan - Tectonic Boundaries

Step 1:Question:  What are the tectonic boundaries?

Quick Google image search for “plate tectonic map”, use  Picture

Step 2: Answer: Tectonic plate boundaries can be divergent, convergent, or transform.

(gesture: Stick out thumbs and move them away from each other, move pointer fingers towards each other, slide palms against each other in opposite directions)

Step 3: Explore: Intro video

Online simulator and simulation videos and simulations and interactive website

Table on SMART board. Pairs use simulator to predict/analyze plate movements, and fill in chart.

When plates move towards each other...	When plates move away from each other...	When plates move past each other...

Step 4: Quick Test (QT) using SMART Response clickers

1. Convergent boundaries form when plates move towards each other.
2. Tectonic boundaries are things that move.
3. A tectonic boundary is a place where two plates interact.
4. Divergent plates can cause earthquakes.
5. Transform plates create a large amount of friction.
6. All tectonic boundaries occur because of the asthenosphere’s movement.
7. Convergent boundaries can make mountains.
8. Divergent boundaries make new crust.
9. A subduction zone happens when one plate goes beneath another plate and becomes part of the mantle.
10. A collision between two pieces of oceanic crust will form a subduction zone.

Step 5: Write/ Critical Thinking: Genius Paragraph

Extender sentence with two detail adders giving evidence: Plates move slowly towards each other at a convergent boundary. Two plates come together and crash into each other.

Starter blah sentence: Plates move.

Paragraph Objective: Write one extender with detail adder that gives evidence

Use whiteboard to share sentences with the class. Use oral writing with capital letter gesture (one arm raised up in the air, other arm low to the ground) and period gesture (eeek sound as hand moves forward).

Power Pix for Tectonic Boundaries

Exit Slip: Andes mountains in South America, earthquakes in California, mid-ocean ridge in the Atlantic Ocean

5 Step Lesson Plan - Independent Variable

Science and Engineering Practices from The Next Generation Science Standards:

Middle School Standard: Plan an investigation individually and collaboratively, and in the design: identify independent  and dependent variables and controls, what tools are needed to do the gathering, how measurements will be recorded, and how many data are needed to support a claim.

Step 1: QUESTION: What is an independent variable?

Step 2: ANSWER: An independent variable is what the scientist changes in an experiment, to find out which one is the “best”.

Gesture: Point both thumbs towards yourself (for scientist) , use one pointer finger and point out three times out in front of you (for which, is, best).

Step 3: EXPLORE/EXPAND:

Show picture

Teach-OK to find the independent variable

*Water Temperature

-Briefly explain that you wouldn’t want to add different amounts food coloring AND change the temperature of the water. That would make for an unfair test because you are changing more than one thing at a time. Only one variable should be changed at time. That variable is the independent variable. Teach-OK.

Show picture

Teach-OK to find the independent variable

*Strain (medication) given to each mouse

-Briefly explain that the scientist changes the one aspect of the experiment, and then watches and measures what happens. What the scientist changes in each trial is the independent variable. Teach-OK

Show picture

Teach OK to find the independent variable

*Type of candy bar

-Briefly explain that the scientist decides how many trials will be carried out in the experiment. The scientist can choose to test 3, 12, or 2000 different candy bars. The independent variable is the type of candy bar. Teach-OK

Show picture

Teach OK to find the independent variable

*shooting position

-Briefly explain that when the experiment data is graphed, the independent variable is shown on the x-axis. This is the bottom of the graph, labeling each bar of a bar graph or point of a line graph. Each bar, point, or pie piece represents a change in the independent variable. The data collected, which is another type of variable, depends on the independent variable. Teach-OK

Step 4: TEST: Options: Students put heads down with thumbs up for true or thumbs down for false. Students (heads up) use red/green card: show green side for true and red side for false. Students use SMART Response clickers, or an assessment app like Socrative.

1. It’s OK to change many things at one time during an experiment. (False)
2. After the independent variable is changed, the scientist waits and watches to collect data. (True)  
3. The independent variable is placed on the y-axis of a bar graph. (False)
4. The independent variable is the only type of variable in an experiment. (False)
5. A variable is anything that can change. (True)
6. As the scientists, you decide to change the independent variable. (True)
7. Data collected during your experiment depends on the independent variable. (True)
8. A gamer thinks that having the right type of chair will help him get a better score on his video games. He tries out several different chairs, plays each game several times, and records the score he gets each time. The independent variable is the type of chair. (True)
9. A farmer needs wants to find a new type of seed that will grow well in his field. He has several new seeds that he wants to try out. He plants one row of each type in a field, and measures the growth of each plant for the entire season. The independent variable is the growth of each plant. (False)
10.  An inventor is trying to figure out how to create a new type of closet organizer that will automatically fold and put away clean laundry in the appropriate place. The inventor tries several different designs, and tests to see how accurately the machine works. The independent variable is the design of the machine. (True)

Step 5: WRITE/CRITICAL THINKING:

Show this sentence frame on the board: “ Which type of ______ is ______?” Explain that the first blank is for the independent variable, and the second blank is for what you want that variable to do. Teach OK to explain what each blank is for in the sentence frame.

Some good example could be: “Which type of paper towels is strongest?”, “Which type of chocolate is sweetest?”, “Which type of game controller is the best for getting high scores?”.  

Teach OK and have students complete this sentence frame as many times as possible (orally).

Have each student choose one of their sentences from their Teach OK to use as a topic sentence. The target word of this topic sentence is their independent variable (from the first blank). Students should then add 3 detail adders about this target word.

Technology, the Core 4, and the 5 step Lesson Plan

 By way of a colleague, I've come across a great app for classroom use called NearPod. This app allows you to control student i-devices using your iPad.

Now, first let me explain that I have one iPad and 5 iPods in my classroom due to our E2T2 technology grant. There are also iPods for checkout in all libraries in our district. I checked-out the 10 iPods from our library, and the 15 iPods from our high school's library,. Yes, I am an iPod hoarder! This allowed me to hav eone device for every student.

Nearpod allows me to create an presentation including content slides as well as interactive slides where students can draw, answer questions, take a poll, watch videos, browse a webpage, and take a quiz. There are other features too, but that's all that's available on the free app (pretty awesome even without paying!). The great part about NearPod is that I have all of the control. The students only see what I send to their iPod. So all student look at the content slide until I swipe my iPod to the next slide.

Big Point Coming...

The Core Four allowed me to have such amazing control of my classroom, even while using amazing technology!

Let me explain by showing you a glimpse into the lesson presentation that I created for NearPod, and what I had the students do...

Slide 1: Question - Teach OK using the question on the slide
Class-Yes, Scoreboard rule #1

Slide 2: Vocab Review  - Teach OK using the facts on the slide
Class-Yes, Mirror the vocabulary gestures learned previously

Slide 3: Pretest - interactive quiz to assess prior knowledge, students don't see their scores, but I instantly can on my iPad
Class-Yes Scoreboard for  rule #1

Slide 4: Answer - Video: Mr. Parr on YouTube has great parodies of current songs linked to science concepts
Class-Yes, Scoreboard for following Rule #5 (smiling.dancing during the video! fun!) Teach OK
Class-Yes

Slide 6: Expand Answer - Mirror with gestures to explain the H-R diagram (graphs a star's temperature and luminosity), Hands and eyes to show how to plot one star on the diagram, Teach OK
Class-Yes Scoreboard for rule #1

Slide 5: Drawing - with an H-R Diagram background, students plot specific stars by drawing right onto their screen.. Choose one drawing, slide it to all students' iPods and have that student prove with because-clapper why it was plotted correctly. 10 finger woo of course!
Class-Yes Scoreboard for rule #4

Slide 6 Assess: Q&A with various questions relating to the H-R diagram, question asked, students respond, I am send out one student's correct answer for all students to see, and class can see summary of class responses. Teach OK Scoreboard for rule #4

The critical thinking part of the lesson plan happens with the homework activity that students complete showing why certain stars are plotted on certain parts of the diagram.

LOVE Nearpod and WBT!

Power Pix

Wow - Two posts in two days! I know, you're super impressed, right? Ha!  I figured I would take a moment to show off my PowerPix wall and blog about it.




For me, the Power Pix are the central factor that connect WBT with core curriculum. Most of the other core ideas help to provide spectacular classroom management so that content can be taught without distraction. The Power Pix are a way to infuse brain research right into the content. The strategy revolutionizes fact memorization.

Since I teach 6th grade, I have had to create my own Power Pix. So far this year I have created 9. Three for the metric system, three for variables, and three for Earth processes. Our science standards are in flux right now due to the awaited release of the Next Generation Science Standards. Even though they are not finalized, I am using these to direct both my instruction and my creation of Power Pix.

Creating these on my own has really helped me to focus in on the core concepts that I want my kids to learn. Doing this allows me to cut out some of the extra "fluff" and add in time for more critical thinking. Learning basic concepts and getting kids to understand them at a higher level, to me, is much more important that covering a large number of topics. Creating gestures for each Power Pix also helps me to set up my five step lesson plan. In the "answer" section (step 2) I introduce the power pix gesture, then we can expand on that during step 3.

Five Step Lesson Plan: Earth Layers Example

Step 1: Question: What are the characteristics of  Earth's layers?
Post this question on the board. Have students tell their partners how excited they are to learn more about the Earth. Mirror with words: I know a lot about the Earth! Last year, in 5th grade, I made a model of the Earth from clay and cut it to show the crust, mantle and core! I have learned about the crust, mantle, and core before! Teach! (OK!)

Step 2: Answer
Mirror with words: Crust, mantle and core! The crust is thin, made of rock. This rock is either basalt or granite, depending on the type of crust. Continental crust is made of granite. Oceanic crust is made of basalt. Teach! (OK!)
Mirror with words: Crust, mantle, and core! The crust is thin, made of either basalt or granite, depending on the type of crust. The mantle is made of rock. This rock is mostly a mixture of iron and magnesium. No one has ever drilled down to the mantle. Teach! (OK!)
Mirror with words:  Crust, mantle, and core! The crust is thin, made of either basalt or granite, depending on the type of crust.  The mantle is made of iron and magnesium. The core is made of metal. The metal is mostly iron. Teach! (OK!)

Step 3: Expand answer
Hands and eyes. Explain that the lithosphere is made of the crust and upper mantle. It is broken into tectonic plates."Litho-" means rigid. The asthenosphere flows slowly, and causes the tectonic plates to move. Have students close their eyes and imagine they are in a large bath tub full of small, yellow, rubber duckies. When they stay very still in the bath tub, the duckies don't move. Ask students to imagine that they start moving their arms and legs around underwater. What happens? The duckies move! The water is the asthenosphere, the duckies are the tectonic plates! Teach! (OK!)
Mirror with words: The lithosphere is rigid and the asthenosphere is weak. Explain that the mesosphere is the strong part of the lower mantle. The core is divided into two parts: the outer core is liquid and the inner core is solid. Teach! (OK!)
Play the You Tube video. Teach! (OK!)

Step 4: Assessment
Explain that you will read a statement, and students have to agree (yes) or disagree (no way). Ask students to come up with gesture for "yes" and for "no way".

1. All of the crust is made of granite. (no way)
2. The mantle and core are made of different materials. (yes)
3. A tectonic plate is made of both the crust and the upper mantle. (yes)
4. The inner core gives the Earth its magnetic field. (no way)
5. The farther into the Earth you go, the greater the heat and pressure. (yes)
After each statement have a student stand and use a because clapper to explain their answer: The statement is a "yes" because... or The statement is a "no way" because... Use lots of ten finger woo's!

Step 5: Critical Thinking
Have students complete a pie piece drawing. You could use the points on the scoreboard to add/remove items to this activity. After students have completed the activity, have them stand with a Class-Yes and Mirror with words to explain one step of the activity. Repeat with different students for each step of the activity.

Five Step Lesson Plan Example

The five step lesson plan is an amazingly simple tool because is allows the teacher to focus in on what is really

important. Chunking material, using gestures, and ending with critical thinking, for example, are all part of this 
lesson plan that make it so amazing. here is one example of how I put it to use in my sixth-grade science class.

Step 1: Question
In this first step of the five step lesson plan, you present the students with a question. You want to engage 
students\ in the content and get them excited about what they are going to learn about.
EXAMPLE:
Class-Yes. Pose a question to the class: What is a biome? Students tell their partner how excited they are to 
learn about biomes! Do a Teach-OK and tell your table partner everything that you know about the Earth, 
ecosystems, biomes, and the environment.

Step 2: Answer
In this step you want to give students a short, consice answer to the question. You will expand on it late, but
here you give the basics. This would be a great place to introduce a Power Pix. You can have students mirror
or mirror  with words as you explain this short chunk of information.
Example:
Class-Yes. As a review from the day before, explain that an ecosystem is a group of living and nonliving things
that interact. Mirror with words. Give gestures to show the sun being used by plants, plants being eaten by 
animals, animals being eaten by other animals, plants and animals using water, climate affecting all living things,
 etc. Teach-OK. Assess during the teach-ok, if students don't completely understand the definition of an 
ecosystem, go back and review again. When students are ready, move on to step 3.

Step 3: Expand the answer
This step gives students the bulk of the details for this concept. For complex concepts, you may have several
chunks of info to explain. If you do have multiple chunks, explain one piece and then do a Teach-OK for
 students to process the information.
Example:
Class-Yes. Have students close their eyes and imagine themselves as a forest. They are made of trees with 
leaves that turn color every fall, squirrels, insects, and coyotes, with warm summers and cold winters. Tell
them that all of the living and nonliving things inside them are in a perfect balance. There are enough resources
in your forest to keep all of the living things happy. Now have students open their eyes and look around. Tell
them that each person is an ecosystem Ask students who is a forest in Illinois? Who is a forest in California?
In Canada? In Australia? (When they raise their hand doesn't matter, this is just showing that similar forests 
can be found all over the world) Whose forest ad ten trees? Whose as a thousand trees? (Again, it doesn't' 
matter when they raise their hand, this is just showing that some ecosystems are small and some are big). 
Have students look all around the room, at each person, imagining that they are looking at similar forests from 
all around the world, some big, others small, but all with similar characteristics. With gestures, explain that a
biome is made of separate ecosystems from all over the world that have similar climate, animals, plants, etc. 
So if each student represents a deciduous forest from a different place in the world, then all of the students in
the class together make a biome. Teach-OK. Assess, reteach, and move on to step 4 when ready.

Step 4: Assess
There are several variations to this assessment step. The key is to do it quickly so that you get information 
quickly as to whether or not your class has learned the concept. Stand up/sit down, thumbs up/down, and 
whiteboards are all great low-tech ways to assess. SMART response clickers are another great way to
assess quickly if you have them in your classroom.
Example:
Class-Yes. Use thumbs up for true, thumbs down for false. Give 5-8 statements and ask students to thumbs
up/down for each statement. You may have students put heads down during this step. If reteaching is
necessary, go back to step 3. When students are ready, go on to step 5.

Step 5: Critical Thinking
This is, arguably, the most important step. It is in this step that students take the concept and internalize it. 
They make it their own. This is a great time to do writing (oral or on paper).
Example:
Class-Yes. Have pairs of students complete a because clapper sentence on a small whiteboard. Deserts are a
biome because... The pond in my backyard is not a biome because... When pairs finish, have them decide on
roles (one partner plays Smarty, the other plays Doofus) and have a conversation about the question "what is a
biome". When students are all finished, pair two groups up to work together, assign one group to be a "one"
and the other would be a "two". One's read their because clapper to the the two's. Two's then need to come 
up with an example popper to go with the sentence that the one's just shared. Then groups switch. Twos read
 their because clapper, one's give an example popper.

Five Step Lesson Plan

Another interesting part of WBT is the five step lesson plan. It's built on a very simple idea that I find works well with the lessons and activities that I have developed over the years. I have been teaching for 12 years, 9 of that in my current position in sixth-grade science. Each year I have tweaked and adjusted the units and activities that I use, trying to improve them to have a better impact on my students. I am continuing to improve them now, using both the five step lesson plan and the new generation science standards as a guide.

 In the past, I have tried to tie my lessons to the state learning standards. I know most teachers moan and groan when anyone talks about the standards, but I like to use them as a starting place. Even though the new gen science standards are still in the development phase, I have already been working with them to try and match my lessons up with these new standards. This has given me the opportunity to manipulate my lessons into the five step format at the same time.

The first step of the lesson plan is to ask a question. Turning the new gen standard that correlates with my lesson into a question has been a great jumping off point. Sometimes I need to turn the standard into several questions for multiple lessons, while other times it works well to keep it as one question and use several days to cover that one lesson. I also started to post the questions in the room for students to see, which helps to keep students focused throughout the entire unit. Reviewing these questions, as well as the power pix, is a constant reminder of the scope and sequence of our month long unit.

The second step of the lesson plan is to answer the question.  When planning, this is the step that really requires the most finesse. It's sounds easy, but as the concepts and content get more complex, being able to verbalize a concise answer takes a lot of work. To help with this process, I have been creating power pix to match this step. Actually creating a picture, gesture, and phrase have helped to focus my thoughts in the correct place, and has ultimately helped me to more clearly explain complex information in a simpler way.

The third step of the lesson plan is to expand upon the answer. My focus through this step has been to create several shorter sequences of details. Keeping the WBT mantra the more we talk the less they learn in mind, I don't want to fall into the lecture trap. I know I could go on for days about some topics, but I will lose the majority of my kids as soon as I do. It's in this step that I utilize the teach-ok the most. This technique allows me to break up my explanation into segments interrupted by several occurrences of student interaction. This helps to keep students on task, engaged, and allows for multiple assessments as you listen to their teach-ok discussions.

The fourth step is for a more formal type of assessment. As mentioned above, I asses often during each teach-ok. This step is a more concrete type of assessment. I do many variations of data collection during this step to add variation to this predictable step in the plan. Some examples of activities that I have done to very quickly assess students are thumbs up thumbs down, stand up sit down, and white boards. I also love using SMART response clickers and These are several variations that allow for instant data collection. The "instant" part is the key. You should be able to very quickly collect data so that you know if you have to go back and reteach or if students are ready for step five.

The final, and most important step, is for critical thinking. This step gives students a chance to take what I have just taught them to the next level. Higher order thinking skills, real-life application, and Bloom's taxonomy all come into play during this step.

Manipulating the five step lesson plan to fit my needs has been a task that has made me reflect more fully on my own teaching strategies. It has also allowed me the freedom to change up what I do everyday and give students the variation they crave while still being predictable so  that students always know what is coming next. I am still working on perfecting this lesson plan style, but am really enjoying the process itself.