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Brendan T. Madden

Teacher Work Sample

May 1, 2011

9th

Grade Earth Sciences

Western Governors University

Contents Contextual factors ......................................................................................................................................... 4

Community ................................................................................................................................................ 4

District ....................................................................................................................................................... 5

School ........................................................................................................................................................ 5

Physical Features ....................................................................................................................................... 6

Availability of Technology Equipment and Resources .............................................................................. 7

Extent of Parental Involvement ................................................................................................................ 8

Living in China ........................................................................................................................................... 8

Student Contextual Factors ...................................................................................................................... 9

Student Skills ........................................................................................................................................... 12

School Demographics Survey .................................................................................................................. 14

Goals and objectives ................................................................................................................................... 15

Learning Goal 1 ....................................................................................................................................... 15

Learning Goal 2 ....................................................................................................................................... 16

Learning Goal 3 ....................................................................................................................................... 17

Learning Goal 4 ....................................................................................................................................... 18

Pre-assessment ........................................................................................................................................... 20

Post-assessment ......................................................................................................................................... 22

Assessment plan ......................................................................................................................................... 25

Assessment Plan Overview ..................................................................................................................... 29

Multiple Assessment Approaches and Forms ......................................................................................... 29

Authentically and Appropriately Measuring Student Learning .............................................................. 30

Adaptations for Assessments .................................................................................................................. 31

Alignment with Learning Goals, Objectives ............................................................................................ 32

Analysis of Assessments .......................................................................................................................... 33

Formative Assessments .......................................................................................................................... 35

Record Keeping System........................................................................................................................... 36

Lesson plans ................................................................................................................................................ 37

Introduction to Unit 3 the Dynamic Earth and Plate Tectonics .............................................................. 37

Evidence of the Theory of Plate Tectonics, Science ................................................................................ 42

Types of Plate Boundaries ....................................................................................................................... 48

Causes of Plate Movement ..................................................................................................................... 52

Plate Movement and Continental Growth ............................................................................................. 56

Data Analysis ............................................................................................................................................... 62

Pre-Assessment Evaluation ..................................................................................................................... 62

Post- Assessment Grades ........................................................................................................................ 63

Pre- and Post-Assessment Graphs .......................................................................................................... 64

Sub-Group Pre- and Post-Assessment Graphs ........................................................................................ 68

Selected Individuals ................................................................................................................................ 70

Analysis ................................................................................................................................................... 71

Subgroup Analysis: Sexes ........................................................................................................................ 73

Selected Individuals ................................................................................................................................ 74

Evaluation ................................................................................................................................................... 77

Daily Schedule Outline: ........................................................................................................................... 79

Adjusting Instructional Activity ............................................................................................................... 80

Works Cited ................................................................................................................................................. 82

4

Contextual factors

Community

The community that I teach in is in the city of Qingdao, China. Qingdao is located in on

the eastern coast of China in the Shandong Province. It is one of China’s largest port cities being

located adjacent to Jiaozhou Bay of the Yellow Sea. The city has seen tremendous growth since

the opening of China in the late 1970s. Since I arrived four years ago and mostly due to the 2008

Olympic Games, the sailing event was held in Qingdao, I have seen the city grow tremendously.

There are new skyscrapers, a new metro, a new airport, new hospitals, marinas, shopping centers

and the city is becoming more westernized with Starbucks, Pizza Hut, Subway, and hundreds of

other international stores. Qingdao has a population of approximately eight million people. With

a population of approximately 160,000 the Koreans are the largest minority. There are also high

numbers of Japanese, German, French, Russian, American, and Canadian expatriates in our

community due to international trade and businesses. While seven million is a large population,

the community of expatriates seems quite small and close. Qingdao boarders the Yellow Ocean

and most of the expatriates, and wealthy Chinese live within about three miles of the coast

making the community seem small. The majority of Qingdao’s Chinese population lives inland

where there are numerous farms and factories. While China is communist, Qingdao feels, and

looks like a capitalist’s dream. I believe that the diversity of the community allows for an endless

supply of lessons to teach and to learn from. An important application of this is that this diversity

allows different points of views to be heard and makes our classrooms culturally rich. I will try

to make sure that all of the students understand the concept of diversity and why it is important

throughout the year.

5

District

In our district there are four other international schools and a large number of Chinese

schools. Chinese law states, only students holding a foreign passport can attend an international

school. Therefore, the district is split into Chinese schools and international schools. The

international schools in the district consist of two Korean, one British, and one American school.

The district is governed by the city of Qingdao, the Shandong Provincial Government and the

Beijing Department of Education. Through sports, language, math, and science competitions, the

schools in the district have done some competitions that the students often study months for. In

addition, all of the students learning Chinese at these schools take the HSK Test, which

determines your level of Chinese. The students also have friends that go to the other schools and

students are often changing from one school to another. An important application of this is that,

as I am also learning Chinese, I can relate my difficulties to the students’ difficulties in Chinese

and English. We can relate better with each other knowing that we are all going through a

learning process.

School

Our school is located in the center of Qingdao overlooking the Yellow Sea. The school is

located between beach number two and May 4th

Square, the true center of town. The school

started in 2006 and has grown from 30 students to its current student population of 135. The

majority of the students, 82%, are Korean. The remaining students are from Japan, China (with

overseas passport) Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, America, Canada, and France. The core

subject teachers are all America. The Chinese language teachers and support staff are Chinese

and Korean. It is a private school and tuition is currently $12,000 USD per student per year.

Therefore, all of the parents of the students are wealthy.

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The school offers Kindergarten through 11th

grade and will add a 12th

grade in 2012. The

classrooms are all very well furnished with desks, supplies and even SmartBoards. All students

are enrolled in general education classes. ESL classes are held for those with low English ability

and Chinese classes are provided for those not requiring ESL help. All students are enrolled in

general education core curriculum subjects of: Math, Science, Language Arts, Social Studies and

Physical Science. Elective classes include: Guitar, Piano, and Art. Currently, the only intramural

sport is soccer.

The size of our school right now is small but it provides for very hands-on classes. The

most notable improvement from the students is how fast they learn English. I believe that this

comes from them being in small classes and not being able to hide among other students at the

back of the room. Every class I implement instruction that has all students speaking, reading,

listening, and writing.

Physical Features

My classroom is approximately 40 square meters. It is on the 4th

floor of the school and

has windows facing some of the tallest skyscrapers in Shandong Province. There are 5 large

desks that can sit up to 4 students each. An instructional application of the use of table space is

that the students need to be aware of their assigned seats but also realize that during different

activities the desks and seating arrangement can be changed. The chairs are plastic and just a

little smaller than they should be. There is a sink in the back of the room and several book

shelves. The book shelves at the back of the room have some laboratory materials including

weights, scales, rulers, safety goggles and many miscellaneous items including tape, string,

magnets and batteries. One book shelf at the front of the room contains all of my additional

7

reading materials such as National Geographic Magazines and my college science books Anther

shelf in the room is where I have set up baskets for each class to turn in and pick up work. My

desk is located in the front of the classroom to the students’ right of the Smartboard. There are

several extension cords in the room for student laptops and experiments. To the students’ right is

a wall of windows. On the back wall there is a rotating bulletin board that we update every

chapter, a word wall, and the skull of a Tibetan Antelope. On the students’ left side there are two

doors to the hallway, one at the back of the classroom and one at the front. In between there are

examples of students’ work. It is an excellent room and very easy to set up the classroom in

different configurations for different activities.

Availability of Technology Equipment and Resources

In our school, every student after fifth grade must have and use a laptop. The students

having laptops gives them an incredible tool to learn and store information. In my class, the

students all keep daily journals/notes in their laptops as Microsoft Word documents. The students

also record all their labs in their electronic notebooks. The entire school has wireless internet and

it is used often to show examples during lessons. The classroom is equipped with a Smartboard

which is a fantastic tool to use. It is very useful in giving students a more visual learning

experience. As mentioned above, there is some lab equipment in the room. Most of the heavy lab

equipment such as microscopes, hot plates, ring stands, and chemicals are located in the supply

room and must be checked out. An instruction implementation for this is that I must prepare the

labs before the class to make sure all the necessary equipment is ready. The students should not

waste time with me checking out materials. The materials should be ready when they arrive on

lab day. There is enough lab equipment for all students. When we are performing the labs, all

students are provided with safety glasses. The students work in pairs during most of the lab

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activities. Our school is located in the downtown not far from several beaches. I try to have

students work on projects on the beach and get them outside experiencing what they are learning

in real life. An example of this is collecting rock samples along the coastline and determining

what they are.

Extent of Parental Involvement

The level of parental involvement at our school is extremely low. The parents are often

wealthy and have their children enrolled in our school and then directly followed by an academy

school where they learn Korean or Japanese. Many times, through calls home or through student

inquiries we find out the student’s parents are gone. The student’s are left at home sometimes

with the house maid and sometimes with no one there. The father is usually overseas on business

and the mother is out with her friends. While this is a problem that we address on a case by case

basis, to help reduce this problem and/or to find out about it earlier, all of the students have a

homework notebook that must be signed by a parent every night. The notebook is checked by the

homeroom teacher every morning. Some of the students’ parents do get involved and come in

and ask questions, not just on parent teacher conference days. Every year we have several pot

luck BBQs and a charity run that the parents do get involved in. The most important instructional

application of the low parental involvement is the use of the homework notebook and the first

parent teacher meeting. During this parent teacher meeting, I need to make it more clear to the

parents that they need to be involved with their child’s education at home.

Living in China

Another classroom contextual factor is the fact that it is in China. Working and living in

China requires flexibility from the students and teachers. As China is developing rapidly there

are still many issues that come up throughout the school year that are directly related to being

9

located in China. Many of these events are small and can be dealt with quickly; however, some

events can cause major changes to a lesson plan with little prior notice. One example is that the

location of our school has changed four times in five years. Once, because the government

decided that the building we were in would be a good location for a seaport naval office, we

moved in the middle of a semester. Moving a school requires much more than moving of people.

Chairs, computers, posters, supplies, the library, everything must be moved. This move required

us teachers to help during the move while the students had a week off. At the end of the year we

were required to make up those days. Another instance of living in China, is in the winter the

classrooms are cold; very cold. During these times we allow the students to bring in heating pads,

warm water bottles and anything else they need to stay warm. This doesn’t make for an ideal

working environment but until the heating becomes more reliable, it is the best option. There

have also been issues with pipes breaking causing flooding of the building, not adequate

facilities for P.E., and communication with the locals. The most important instructional

implementation of this is to be prepared. If you are prepared in advance then if events like the

previously mentioned ones arise then you can be more flexible with how to react to them. Being

flexible to any situation and being prepared go far when teaching in China.

Student Contextual Factors

For my TWS I will be focusing on my 9th

grade Earth Science Class, which I will now give you a

brief introduction. There are currently 11 students in my class. There are eight males and three

females. Nine of the students are from Korea, one is from Japan and one is from America. The

students’ ages are between 13-15 years old. Five of the Korean students and the Japanese student

were in my 8th

grade Physics and Chemistry class last year. One instructional implication of this

is that the students that I had previously already know my routines and the procedures of my

10

classroom. I can often use them as role models when modeling activities at the beginning of the

year. The one student from America has been diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome. My class

period with them lasts 50 minutes and is their third period of the day.

Four student contextual factors that impact the design of instruction and assessment of

learning are their background, language, age, and special needs.

As previously mentioned, the background of most of the students in my class and, in fact

the entire school, is Korean and many others are from Asia. Having this background especially

with previously attending Asian schools has a large impact on the design of instruction and

assessment of learning. I have noticed that students who come to our school directly from a

Korean school or Chinese school is that they do not speak up, raise their hand, or volunteer

answers. The students’ previous education has been based on keeping quiet, taking notes, not

speaking up, and trying to be just like everyone else in the class. Many of the students have also

been taught using memorization techniques instead of more problem-solving based techniques as

used in western education. Direct impacts on the class are planning for classroom behavior

training at the beginning of the year. This includes telling them my expectations during

classroom discussions. I tell them at the beginning of the year that right answers and well-

thought wrong answers will get them high participation points in my class, however, blank stares

will result in blank grades. During class I also have to allow for longer wait times when the

students answer questions, allow them to consult their dictionaries or if necessary allow them to

cooperate with a partner. I have noticed that the students do lack problem solving questions

because of their previous education focused on rogue memorization. Therefore, I try to teach

them these skills though lab experiments and giving them abstract questions that have no known

answer. These lessons usually start out very slow but by the end of the lesson, most of the

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students start creatively using their brain. During my formative assessments during class, I often

allow a longer wait time, and guide some of their answers if I can see that they know the answer

but have a hard time telling me about it. During my summative assessments, which usually

consist of a chapter test, I always include a question or two about the unit’s lab and/or a problem

solving question.

Another student contextual factor that impacts the design of instruction and assessment of

learning is their language. For most of the students in the school and in my class, English is their

second language. This means that for many of my assignments I have to create additional

assignments that help them understand unknown vocabulary. I rarely give them an assignment

completely translated. More often I allow them to ask me questions, ask me if they can speak in

their native language to a classmate, and/or let them use their computer or electronic dictionary

to determine the meaning of the word. For new vocabulary words, the class writes the word

down on a piece of paper and puts it up on our word wall located at the back of the classroom.

The students also type the word in their electronic notebook and I have them type the word in

their first language as well. An important instructional implementation for this is to allow them

the extra time to understand the word and to create tests that allow them to use their dictionaries.

A third student contextual factor that impacts the design of instruction and assessment of

learning is the students’ ages. For my 9th

grade Earth Science class the students are between 13-

15 years old. At this age they are quite concerned about their peer’s perception of them. Many

times the students will not answer questions in class because they are afraid they will get the

question wrong and their peers will laugh at them. The instructional implementation of this is to

make the classroom a safe learning environment for everyone. As mentioned before, at the

beginning of the year I encourage students to not be afraid of giving wrong answers.

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Finally, a fourth student contextual factor that impacts the design of instruction and

assessment of learning is students with special needs. In my class I have a young man from

America who has been diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome which is a mild form of autism.

Our school is small and we do not have the proper aids in the school or the class to help this

student focus so most of the accommodations I make have to be done directly through my

instructional implementation. One advantage to the procedures that I set up at the beginning of

the year is that the student is very good with procedures and actually not good when we do not

follow them. Because of him in the class, most of my lessons include time for students to work in

groups and much of my time is spent with the special needs students. The most prevalent

instructional implementation for having him in my class is that I must always have an activity for

the other students to do if I find myself spending a majority of my time with him. That being

said, the students in the class are fantastic at helping the special needs student focus, understand,

and complete assignments.

Student Skills

As most classrooms my 9th

grade Earth Science class has a wide range of skills that the

students have and lack.

One of my students is from Korea and at the head of this class. He gets very engaged in

the lessons and has a great ability to problem-solve. He always completes his assignments on

time and with a great amount of accuracy. One of his weaknesses is his ability to write perfect

sentences in English. However, his English is improving every day.

Another student in the class is very enthusiastic about everything and is an amazing

guitar and soccer player. He is very social and very popular. However, when it comes to

assignments in class, I often see him in the hall scrambling to get assignments done, he often

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leaves his book in my class when they have an assignment in the book that night, and I have had

several meetings with his mother over the last two years. After a meeting with his parents he

tends to excel for a month and then drop back to his old habits. However, over the last 2 years he

has gone from a C- student to a B student.

A third student is very shy. She doesn’t like to speak out in front of the class and when

she does she can barely be heard. Her study skills and knowledge of the content in the lesson is

superb but she does not participate or contribute when doing in class especially during group

work.

These skills have influenced the development of my learning goals, instruction and

assessment. The learning goals of the lessons are very similar to what they would be for any

class as they are the desired outcome of completing this lesson. However, with this class I will

also be focusing some of my learning goals on improving English, mainly writing and speaking.

In order to accomplish these goals I will design my instruction to help the students have a better

understanding of the lesson and the English involved by arranging lots of group work, projects,

labs and other hands-on activities. Because of their skills, and skills that need to be improved,

their final assessment will be based on their participation during the classes, formative

assessments of their projects and a summative chapter test.

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School Demographics Survey

15

Goals and objectives

Learning Goals

The following four learning goals with appropriate objectives will guide my two-week

unit of instruction based on Chapter 8: Plate Tectonics from McDougall Littell’s 2005 Earth

Science textbook. The learning goals are aligned with the State of Utah’s Core Curriculum

Standards. For each leaning goal I will relate its appropriateness to the State of Utah’s Core

Curriculum Standards.

Learning Goal 1

The students will be able to understand the theory of plate tectonics.

Objectives:

Given a list of ten forms of evidence, students will be able to identify the three

forms of evidence that Alfred Wegener used to support his idea of continental

drift with 66% accuracy.

Given two questions students will be able to explain how the theory of plate

tectonics helps to predict the locations of earthquakes and volcanoes, listing at

least three examples, with 100% accuracy.

Given a chance to make a visual diagram, students will be able to give four

pieces of evidence that support the theory of plate tectonics, with 90%

accuracy.

Utah State Core Curriculum Standards:

Standard 3: Students will understand that gravity, density, and convection move Earth’s plates

and this movement causes the plates to impact other Earth systems. (Utah, 2007)

Appropriateness:

The goal of understanding the theory of plate tectonics is a fundamental cornerstone of

Earth Science. Under the Utah State Core Curriculum Standard’s finer points section it

specifically states that students should be able to ―identify Alfred Wegener’s contributions to

plate tectonics and be able to make the connection between the locations of volcanoes and

earthquakes in relation to plate boundaries (Utah, 2007).‖ The students will reach this goal

through text reading, a laboratory exercise and online visualizations. The text reading will

16

improve the students’ literacy, vocabulary and, as the text will be discussed in class, it will help

them with social interactions and public speaking. The time in the laboratory will allow the

student to use hands-on visualization of plate tectonics and the online visualizations will further

support their learning. This lesson also allows the student to improve their understanding of plate

tectonics, is able to communicate what they have learned, and it is one of the first steps in

understanding the relationship that other earth processes have with plate tectonics.

Learning Goal 2

The students will be able to compare and contrast the types of plate

boundaries.

Objectives:

Given a matching list, students will be able to match the plate boundary with

its corresponding explanation with 80% accuracy.

Given a list of 12 characteristics, students will be able to identify which

characteristics of belong to which convergent plate boundary with 83%

accuracy.




Appropriateness:

A deeper goal than just understanding the theory of plate tectonics is for the students to

understand the inner workings of plate tectonics. This learning goal of understanding plate

boundaries is important because so many of Earth’s systems are affected by movements and

activities along the plate boundaries. Under the Utah State Core Curriculum Standard’s finer

points section it specifically states that students should be able to: ―Compare the movement and

results of movement along convergent, divergent, and transform plate boundaries (Utah, 2007).‖

The students will reach this goal through text reading, a map exercise and online visualizations.

The text reading will improve the students’ literacy, vocabulary and, as the text will be discussed

17

in class, it will help them with social interactions and public speaking. Working with the maps

and globes, student’s geography skills and ability to identify locations of plate boundaries

because of the features they leave on Earth’s surface will improve. The online visualizations will

further support their learning. This lesson also allows the student to communicate what they have

learned, and more intimately know the results of how the movement of tectonic plates affects the

Earth.

Learning Goal 3

The students will be able to identify the causes of plate movement.

Objectives:

Given a diagram, students will be able to label the parts and directional flow

of mantle convection, with 75% accuracy.

In a paragraph, students will be able explain the differences between a ridge

push and a slab pull, with 85% accuracy.




Appropriateness:

Once students understand that plates move and the results of their movement at the plate

boundaries, the question arises: How do entire plates move? The learning goal of students

understanding the causes of plate movement allow them to fill-in more of their mental picture of

the inner workings of the Earth especially plate tectonics. Convection is an excellent vocabulary

word for the students to understand in that it is used in many instances other than plate

movement. The concept of convection in the Earth’s mantle is fairly abstract and the students

will have to look at all the evidence for self confirmation of understanding. Being able to think

abstractly shows higher levels of learning and shows a step forward in scientific thinking. Under

the Utah State Core Curriculum Standard’s finer points section it specifically states that students

18

should be able to: ―Compare the movement and results of movement along convergent, divergent,

and transform plate boundaries (Utah, 2007).‖ The students will reach this goal through text

reading, a lab demonstration and online visualizations. The text reading will improve the

students’ literacy, vocabulary and, as the text will be discussed in class, it will help them with

social interactions and public speaking. Seeing the in-class lab demonstration will allow students

to clearly see the relation of heat and convection. The online visualizations will further support

their learning. This lesson also allows the student to communicate what they have learned, and

how something as huge as a plate can move.

Learning Goal 4

The students will be able to understand the relationship between plate

movement and continental growth.

Objectives:

In a paragraph, students will be able explain how Earth’s landmasses have

changed positions over the past 200 million years, including the formation and

breakup of Pangaea, using at least 4 sentences.

Given the Chapter 8 Exam questions, the students will be able to pass the test

with 70% accuracy.




Appropriateness:

Through the understanding of plate tectonics, plate boundaries, and movement, students

can then understand how geologists have determined what the Earth’s surface looked like

millions of years ago and what the future has in store. The learning goal of students

understanding plate movements and continental growth gives them a comprehensive view of

plate tectonics, how it has affected the pass and what affects it can have on the future of Earth’s

surface. This learning goal will help them build further on their understanding of plate tectonics

19

and might even interest them in new plate tectonic technology such as measuring plate

movement using Satellite Laser Ranging. Under the Utah State Core Curriculum Standard’s finer

points section it specifically states that students should be able to: ―Compare the movement and

results of movement along convergent, divergent, and transform plate boundaries (Utah, 2007).‖

The students will reach this goal through text reading, map work and online visualizations. The

text reading will improve the students’ literacy, vocabulary and, as the text will be discussed in

class, it will help them with social interactions and public speaking. Working with maps will

improve their geography skills and the online visualizations will further support their learning.

This lesson also allows the student to communicate what they have learned, and see how the

Earth’s surface has changed and will continue to change.

20

Pre-assessment

LG1 Pre-Assessment Instrument: To be written on Smartboard when students walk into the

room

Please answer the following questions:

1. Who was Alfred Wagener and what was he famous for?

2. What is the theory of plate tectonics?

3. List places that are famous for volcanoes.

4. List places that are famous for earthquakes.

5. Is there anything similar about these places?

Key :

1. Alfred Wegener was a German Scientist who in 1912 proposed the theory of Plate

Tectonics.

2. A theory that describes the formation, movement and interactions of these plates.

3. Places that are famous for earthquakes are California, Alaska, Japan, Costa Rica etc.

4. Places that are famous for volcanoes include Washington, Japan Chile, Indonesia, Peru

etc.

5. Yes. Earthquakes and Volcanoes can be found along plate boundaries.

LG2 Pre-Assessment Instrument: First without your book, try to draw three different ways that plates can share

boundaries. Answers will vary as this is a drawing and students’ original languages are different.

1. Divergent

2. Convergent

3. Transform

Key : See Drawings

LG3 Pre-Assessment Instrument: Internet Research

In pairs, please use the internet to answer the following questions:

1. What is convection?

2. What is the translation of convection in your first language?

3. Where can examples of convection be found?

Observation: As I walk around the class observing their work I will ask students what a ridge push is and what a slab

pull is. I will mark down their ability to identify these motions.

Key:

1. Convection is the movement of fluids rising from a warm area, then cooling, sinking and eventually

warming and rising again.

2. Answers will vary

3. Ovens, coffee pots, atmosphere, oceans, the Earth’s mantle

LG4 Pre-Assessment Instrument: Continent Cut Out

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Cut out the continents on the worksheet provided. Then, with the continents cut out paste them on a piece of

construction paper as you think they should fit together.

Key : The students’ final map should look like Pangaea

22

Post-assessment

LG1 Post-Assessment Instrument: Based on textbook (Spaulding , 2005)

Answer the following questions in complete sentences:

1. (4 points)What are three observations that support the continental drift hypothesis?

2. (2 points) How do observations of earthquake and volcanic activity support the theory of

plate tectonics?

3. (3 points) Name the three pieces of evidence that support the theory of plate tectonics that

came from studying the ocean floor?

4. (3 points) Out of the following pieces of evidence, underline three that help support

Alfred Wegener theory of continental drift?

a. Fossil evidence

b. Wikipedia supported his theory

c. His model of the lithosphere

d. Similarities in the shapes of the continents

e. The waves on separate beaches are the same

f. He saw many volcanoes

g. Distinctive rock formations found on continents that were together

h. Climate change evidence

i. Oil is found in countries that were together

j. Satellite pictures

Key :

1. Answers may include any of the following: shapes of continental coastlines, similar

fossils, climate change evidence, rock formations

2. Earthquakes and volcanoes are located in areas where plate boundaries are located.

3. Evidence from the ocean floor that provides evidence of plate tectonics is magnetic

reversals in rocks on either side of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, heat flow along the ridge, and

the youngest rocks are located near the ridge.

6. Correct answers may be: a, d, g, and h


1. Using your notes and what has been filled in already, complete the following chart (one answer per blank

box): (12 pts.)

Type of Boundary Process Involved Characteristic Features Examples

-mid ocean ridges

Convergent -islands of Indonesia

-Mariana Islands

ocean-continental

subduction

-High continental

mountain chains

-Earthquakes

-San Andres Fault

-North Anatolian

23

Fault

-fracture zones along

mid-ocean ridges

2. Match the type of plate boundary with its definition by putting the number from the word box next to the

definition (2 points each):

______A boundary between two plates that are sliding past eachother.

______A boundary between two plates that are moving toward each other. Examples of this are

subduction boundaries and collision boundaries

______A boundary between two lithospheric plates that are moving apart. Sometimes they are

called spreading centers.

Key: (Answers may very slightly):

Type of Boundary Process Involved Characteristic Features Examples

Divergent

sea-floor spreading

-mid ocean ridges

Mid-Atlantic Ridge

or

East Pacific Rise

Convergent ocean-ocean

subduction

deep-sea trenches

or

volcanic island arcs

or

earthquake activity

-islands of Indonesia

-Mariana Islands

ocean-continental

subduction

deep-sea trench bordering

continent

or

volcanoes along coast of

continent

or

earthquake activity

Western coast of

South America

or

Japan

or

Western coast of

USA and Canada

continental-

continental

subduction

-high continental mountain

chains

-earthquakes

Himalayas

Transform

plates sliding past

each other

earthquakes

-San Andres Fault

-North Anatolian

Fault

-fracture zones along

mid-ocean ridges

1. Match the type of plate boundary with its definition by putting the number from the word box next to the

definition (2 points each):

___3___A boundary between two plates that are sliding past each other.

___2___A boundary between two plates that are moving toward each other. Examples of this are

subduction boundaries and collision boundaries

____1__A boundary between two lithospheric plates that are moving apart. Sometimes they are

called spreading centers.


Plate Boundaries:

1. Divergent

2. Convergent

3. Transform

4. Construction

24

1. (4 points) What is the difference between a Ridge Push and a Slab Pull?

2. (8 points) Place the corresponding number from the Earth’s Mantle Convection Graphic next to the feature

it is closest too from the list below:

Deep-Sea Trench ______

Inner Core ______

Mid-Atlantic Ridge ______


Convection Cell ______

Mantle ______

Outer Core ______


Key:

1. A ridge push occurs when newly formed rock cools and expands pushing the plates on

the opposite sides of the ridge apart. A slab pull is the force that a sinking edge of a

subducting plate has because it is heavier than the continental plate.

2.

Deep-Sea Trench __1 or 3____

Inner Core _8____

Mid-Atlantic Ridge ___2__

Deep-Sea Trench __1 or 3____

Convection Cell __4 or 5____

Mantle ___6___

Outer Core ___7___

Convection Cell __4 or 5____

LG4 Post-Assessment Instrument: Chapter 8 Exam based on Formal Assessment (Spaulding , 2005)

See attachment for Chapter 8 Exam and Key

Specifically LG4 is assessed in question 21 of the Chapter Exam which states:

In a paragraph, explain how Earth’s landmasses have changed

positions over the past 200 million years, including the formation

and breakup of Pangaea. (Use at least for sentences) (4 points)

Answer:

200 million years ago Earth’s landmasses were welded together. 20

million years later Pangaea began to break apart into two separate

landmasses. Then 65 million years ago the positions of the

continents began to resemble what they look like today. After all of

the plate movement we have the continents they way they look today,

although they continue to drift.

25

Assessment plan

Learning Goal #1: Students will be able to understand the theory of plate tectonics

Learning Goals Assessments Format of Assessment Adaptations

Learning Goal 1:

Students will be

able to

understand the

theory of plate

tectonics.

Pre-assessment Bellwork Questions:

Who was Alfred Wegener and

what is he famous for?

What is the theory of plate

tectonics?

List places that are famous for

volcanoes

List places that are famous for

earthquakes.

While the students are working on

their Bellwork questions, I will be

circulating through the classroom

helping those ELL students that need

help with any language. I will also

be checking with the student

diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome

and making sure that he is on task.

Formative

assessment Paired Reading with questioning

Recording main ideas and

Chapter outline in their

notebooks

Internet Investigations

www.classzone.com

Ocean Floor Magnetism

Visualization

www.classzone.com

Ocean Floor Magnetism Mini-

Lab

Challenge Activity: Where

would you find evidence of

climate change if the plates did

in fact drift apart?

Throughout this lesson I will be

pairing the students together. A high

level English speaker will be paired

with a low level English speaker. The

student with Asperger’s will be in a

group of three people that work well

with him. I will also be circulating

through the class checking for

understanding, guiding learning and

keeping the students on task. For

students having difficulty with new

vocabulary I will have them write in

their electronic notebooks the

translation and meaning in their

mother language. If students

complete the activity early I will have

them do a challenge activity.

Post-

assessment Chapter 8.1 Section Review

Homework Questions from

textbook revised per my

objectives

The review of the test will be held in

class. Students who get wrong

answers will be assigned a short

assignment to review the questions

they got wrong. At this time, if

students do not understand, I will

have to determine if it is due to lack

of language or lack of concept

understanding.

http://www.classzone.com/


26

Learning Goal #2: The students will be able to compare and contrast the types of plate

boundaries.


Learning Goal 2:

The students will

be able to

compare and

contrast the types

of plate

boundaries.

Pre-assessment Drawing Exercise: Students

will divide a piece of paper in

three and draw an example of

each of the three types of plate

boundaries: Divergent,

Convergent, and Transform. In

their native language they will

translate the meanings of the

three plate boundaries.

While the students are drawing, I will

give them creative space on exactly

how they want to divide and draw their

examples. Since many of my students

are ELL students, I will ask them to

translate the three words and have them

labeled next to their picture. This task

will be done individually and will take

enough time for me to circulate through

the classroom checking for

understanding. The student with

Asperger’s Syndrome cannot draw

smooth lines, therefore I will provide

him with cutouts of different plate

boundary examples and I will give him

three envelopes. His task will to be to

label the envelopes and put each picture

in its correct envelope. If he finishes

early I will mix up the pictures and

have him practice again.

Formative

assessment Filling in diagram of the types

of plate boundaries on their

own worksheets and my

Smartboard

In class observations

Section 8.2 Section Review


working individually with the students

and as an entire class. They will receive

a printout of a plate boundary graphic

and together we will fill in the arrows

for direction of movement and also

label the different parts. For students

with lower English levels I will remind

them that they can use their electronic

dictionaries or, with my permission,

another students translation of the

concept.

Post-

assessment Students will be given a chart

where they will be instructed

to fill in information about the

three types of plate boundaries

including: Process involved,

Characteristics, and Examples

The chart will be filled in, in-class and

they will only be allowed to use their

notes. For students who have trouble

filling in the table, I will assess whether

it is because of language ability or

problems with the concepts. Those with

language difficulty will be allowed to

write the answers in their mother

language and then translate them. Those

with problems with the concepts will be

asked to review the readings and

assignments, add information to their

notes, and fill in the chart again.

27

Learning Goal #3: The students will be able to identify the causes of plate movement.


Learning Goal 3:

The students will

be able to

identify the

causes of plate

movement.

Pre-assessment Paired Internet Research

What is convection?

What is the translation of

convection in your first

language?

Where can examples of

convection be found?

Informal Questioning as I

circulate through the room:

What is a ridge push?

What is a slab pull?

While the students are working together

finding the answers to the questions on

the internet I will be circulating through

the room checking for understanding

and making sure they are using the

internet for the task and not other

activities. I pair the student with

Asperger’s Syndrome with another

class mate that works well with him and

keeps him on task.

Formative

assessment Informal observations of

student work in class

Oral description of Lab

Demonstration


working individually with the students

and as an entire class. They will receive

a printout of a plate boundary graphic

and together we will fill in the arrows

for direction of movement and also

label the different parts. For students

with lower English levels I will remind

them that they can use their electronic

dictionaries or, with my permission,

another students translation of the

concept.

Post-

assessment Students will be given a

graphic of Earth’s mantle

convection and will need to

label with vocabulary words

the different features of

convection.

In a short sentence, students

will explain the difference

between a Ridge Push and a

Slab Pull

The vocabulary words will be on the

plate movement graphic. This will help

with all ELL students and the student

with Asperger’s.

28

Learning Goal #4: The students will be able to understand the relationship between

plate movement and continental growth.


Learning Goal 4:

The students will

be able to

understand the

relationship

between plate

movement and

continental

growth.

Pre-assessment Continental Cut-Out Activity

This pre-assessment is hands-on and

will not require any adaptation for my

ELL students. However, the student

with Asperger’s is not very skilled at

cutting with scissors; therefore, I will

have the continents pre-cut for him to

use.

Formative

assessment Internet visualization: Break

up of Pangaea and future

locations of continents:

www.classzone.com

Paired reading and notebook

outline

Notebook Check

As this is the last section of the lesson

the students will be asked to turn in

their notebooks. I will individually

check all the notebooks of my ELL

students to make sure they are

complete. I will do the same for my

student with Asperger’s.

Post-

assessment Chapter 8 Exam

If the students have questions on the

wording or do not understand some

vocabulary on the exam they are

allowed to consult with me. If I feel that

it is a question that involves a language

barrier I will help them understand the

word. The student with Asperger’s will

also be given his lunch break and after

school to finish the test as he usually

takes much longer than the other

students.


29

Assessment Plan Overview

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Chapter 8 Notebook

Setup and Introduction

of 8.1 objectives and

purpose

Pre-Assessment

Bellwork

Paired Reading and

note taking pages 172-

173

Lead the students in

Plate Tectonics Song

and give them a copy

of the recording

(Lyrical Learning,

2003)

What is the Earth’s

crust like? Internet

Investigation

Class discussion on

evidences of plate

tectonics

Homework: Reading

and note-taking

pages 174 – 175

Magnetism in the

Ocean Floor Internet

Visualization

Mini Lab

Post-Assessment

Homework: Section

8.1Review Questions

Review homework

Introduction of 8.2

objectives and

purpose

Pre-Assessment

Drawing Exercise

Popcorn reading

and note taking

pages 176-179

Homework Section

8.2 Review

Questions

Research: What type

of evidence is there in

your country of plate

movement?

Internet Animation of

plate boundaries

Post-Assessment

Fill in Plate Boundary

Chart

Introduction of 8.3

objectives and

purpose

Pre-assessment:

Paired Internet

Research: What is

Convection?

Teacher Reading

students taking

notes pages 180-181

Internet

visualization Earth’s

Convection

Convection Lab

Demonstration

Post-Assessment

Homework Section

8.3 read pages 183-

185 and Plate

Movement

Convection Graphic

Review Homework

Introduction of 8.4

objectives and

purpose

Pre-Assessment:

Continent Cut-Out

Pangaea animation on

Smartboard

Class discussion

*Future of plate

tectonics and Satellite

ranging technology

Homework: Read

pages 186-187

Review homework

Observe animation:

growth of a continent

Have students review

notebooks and ask

questions

Have students begin

to work on Page 190-

191 Chapter 8

Review

Chapter 8 Map

Activity

Finish and review

Chapter 8 review

questions

Review what questions

will be on the Chapter

Exam

Post-Assessment

Chapter 8 Exam

Multiple Assessment Approaches and Forms

My assessment plan uses multiple assessments, approaches and forms to measure student

learning before, during and after instruction. All of my learning goals were written based directly

on the State of Utah’s Core Curriculum. My pre-assessments consist of the following

assessments: bellwork questions, a drawing exercise, a paired internet research activity and a

hands-on map activity. These activities are all completely different and allow students of varied

learning styles to excel. How I assess each of these activities will also vary. When it is straight

30

forward such as the bellwork question it will be easy to determine the level of the students

understanding. However, with the drawing exercise the assessment will be made on the

comprehension of the concept and not necessarily the quality of the drawing. This will be true

with my assessments during class and my post assessments.

During instruction I have also varied the activities to allow for multiple learners to

become engaged and succeed. There are reading activities, labs, internet investigations, a song

about plate tectonics, discussions and presentations.

Finally, I have also designed my post assessments to be varied but still be able to measure

students learning. The post-assessments include questions, identifying parts on a model drawing,

filling in a chart, and a Chapter 8 Exam. The Chapter 8 Exam has been written with multiple

choice questions, a short sentence section and model identification.

Authentically and Appropriately Measuring Student Learning

The goal of understanding the theory of plate tectonics is a fundamental cornerstone of

Earth Science. Under the Utah State Core Curriculum Standard's finer points section it

specifically states that students should be able to identify Alfred Wegener's contributions to plate

tectonics and be able to make the connection between the locations of volcanoes and earthquakes

in relation to plate boundaries. The students will reach this goal through text reading, a

laboratory exercise and online visualizations. The text reading will improve the students' literacy,

vocabulary and, as the text will be discussed in class, it will help them with social interactions

and public speaking. The time in the laboratory will allow the student to use hands-on

visualization of plate tectonics and the online visualizations will further support their learning.

This lesson also allows the student to improve their understanding of plate tectonics, is able to

31

communicate what they have learned, and it is one of the first steps in understanding the

relationship that other earth processes have with plate tectonics.

Adaptations for Assessments

Most of my students are second language learners and therefore I have made several

adaptations for them and my student with Asperger’s syndrome. One of the major ways adapt to

their needs is allowing them to use electronic dictionaries during their assessments. Many of my

assessments also include word boxes. These are boxes on the assessment that have the answers in

them. Many times my ELL students know the word but don’t know how to spell it. The word

box allows them to recognize the word and put it into context. When I am grading short answer

questions, I take off a very small amount of points per grammar mistake. I tell the students that

while we are working on English in our class, the focus is on learning the concepts and being

able to express the ideas. Several of the assessments that I created were designed to

accommodate for those with language difficulty. The cut-out map assignment and the drawing

assignment can be done without complete understanding of the language. Many of the students

are slow, and it takes them a little bit longer to finish so I allow the students to come in during

lunch and after school to finish assessments. They are also allowed to consult me for any words

that are on the test that they are unfamiliar with. For the student with Asperger’s syndrome there

are several accommodations I have made, as outlined in the assessment plan. These include:

allowing him to skip any activities that require dexterity by providing him materials that are

already prepared. I will also work with him on his assessments to promote true understanding

and retention.

32

Alignment with Learning Goals, Objectives

My learning goals are directly aligned with the state standards in the Utah Core

Curriculum. When I determined what I wanted to teach, I researched the Utah State Standards.

Once I found those standards. The State’s standards for Plate Tectonics are very detailed and I

based my learning goals and objectives off these State standards.

For an example, one of the State standards was:

Standard 3: Students will understand that gravity, density, and convection move Earth's

plates and this movement causes the plates to impact other Earth systems. (Utah, 2007)

This standard covers Chapter 8 of McDougall Littell’s 9th

grade Earth Science book.

Once I understood this standard, I structured the learning goals based on these standards. For the

second half of the standard I aligned with the first learning goal:


Under this learning goal I developed my objectives:

Given a list of ten forms of evidence, students will be able to identify the three forms of

evidence that Alfred Wegener used to support his idea of continental drift with 66%

accuracy.

In a paragraph, students will be able to explain how the theory of plate tectonics helps to

predict the locations of earthquakes and volcanoes, listing at least three examples, with

100% accuracy.

Given a chance to make a visual diagram, students will be able to give four pieces of

evidence that support the theory of plate tectonics, with 90% accuracy.

Given a list of four questions about plate tectonics and Alfred Wegener, students will be

able to answer them with 75% accuracy.

Then from my objectives I determined my pre- and post-assessment tools. Aligning my

assessment tools according to a hierarchy of objectives, goals, and standards, they were sure to

align.

33

Analysis of Assessments

Pre-assessment:

Learning Goal 1 Learning Goal 2 Learning Goal 3 Learning Goal 4

Pre

-Ass

essm

ent

Obje

ctiv

es

Th

e st

ud

ents

kn

ow

wh

o A

lfre

d W

egen

er

was

an

d w

hat

he

was

fam

ou

s fo

r.

Th

e st

ud

ent

is f

amil

iar

wit

h t

he

theo

ry o

f

pla

te t

ecto

nic

s.

Th

e st

ud

ent

reco

gn

izes

th

at e

arth

qu

akes

and

vo

lcan

oes

are

lo

cate

d a

lon

g p

late

bo

un

dar

ies.

Th

e st

ud

ent

can

id

enti

fy t

he

thre

e ty

pes

of

pla

te b

ou

nd

arie

s.

Th

e st

ud

ent

kn

ow

s w

hat

co

nv

ecti

on

is.

Th

e st

ud

ent

wil

l k

no

w w

hat

a r

idg

e

pu

sh a

nd

a s

lab p

ull

are

.

Th

e st

ud

ent

reco

gn

izes

ho

w P

ang

aea

was

form

ed.

Points +/- +/- +/- 3 3 +/- +/-

Chris

Cloud

Erica

Esther

Jake

Jimmy

Kenta

Kevin

Klein

Raul

Sally

34

Post-assessment results

Learning Goal 1 Learning Goal 2 Learning Goal

3

Learning Goal 4

Post

- A

sses

smen

t O

bje

ctiv

es

Giv

en a

lis

t o

f 1

0 f

orm

s o

f ev

iden

ce t

he

stu

den

t

iden

tifi

ed 3

fo

rms

of

evid

ence

that

Alf

red

Weg

ener

use

d t

o s

up

po

rt h

is i

dea

of

con

tin

enta

l dri

ft w

ith

66

%

accu

racy

. (Q

ues

. #

4)

. Giv

en t

wo q

ues

tio

ns

the

stu

den

t ex

pla

ined

the

theo

ry

of

pla

te t

ecto

nic

s h

elp

s to

pre

dic

t th

e lo

cati

on

s o

f

eart

hq

uak

es a

nd

vo

lcan

oes

, li

stin

g a

t le

ast

thre

e

exam

ple

s, w

ith

10

0%

acc

ura

cy.

(Ques

. #s

2 &

3)

Giv

en a

ch

ance

to m

ake

a vis

ual

dia

gra

m, st

ud

ents

wil

l be

able

to g

ive

fou

r p

iece

s of

evid

ence

that

sup

po

rt t

he

theo

ry o

f p

late

tec

ton

ics

spec

ific

ally

con

tin

enta

l dri

ft, w

ith

75

% a

ccura

cy.

(Ques

. #1

)

Giv

en a

mat

chin

g l

ist,

stu

den

ts w

ill

be

able

to

mat

ch t

he

pla

te b

ou

nd

ary w

ith

its

corr

espo

nd

ing

exp

lan

atio

n w

ith

80

% a

ccura

cy.

Giv

en a

lis

t o

f 1

2 c

har

acte

rist

ics,

stu

den

ts w

ill

be

able

to i

den

tify

wh

ich

char

acte

rist

ics

of

bel

on

g t

o

wh

ich

con

ver

gen

t pla

te b

ou

nd

ary w

ith

83

%

accu

racy

.

Giv

en a

dia

gra

m, st

ud

ents

wil

l be

able

to

lab

el

the

par

ts a

nd

dir

ecti

on

al f

low

of

man

tle

con

vec

tio

n, w

ith

75

% a

ccura

cy.

In a

par

agra

ph

, st

ud

ents

wil

l be

able

ex

pla

in t

he

dif

fere

nce

s b

etw

een

a r

idg

e pu

sh a

nd

a s

lab

pu

ll,

wit

h 7

5%

acc

ura

cy.

In a

par

agra

ph

, st

ud

ents

wil

l be

able

ex

pla

in h

ow

Ear

th’s

lan

dm

asse

s h

ave

chan

ged

posi

tio

ns

ov

er

the

pas

t 20

0 m

illi

on

yea

rs, in

clu

din

g t

he

form

atio

n a

nd

bre

aku

p o

f P

ang

aea,

usi

ng

at

leas

t

4 s

ente

nce

s.

Giv

en t

he

Ch

apte

r 8

Ex

am,

the

stu

den

ts w

ill

be

able

to

pas

s w

ith 7

0%

acc

ura

cy.

Possible

Points 3 5 4 6 12 8 4 8 100

Meets

Objective 2 4 3 4 8 6 3 6 70

Chris

Cloud

Erica

Esther

Jake

Jimmy

Kenta

Kevin

Klein

Raul

Sally

The above pre- and post-assessment analysis tables are designed to make it easier to

assess the learning that is occurring in the classroom. The pre assessment is an indicator to

determine where the students understanding currently are and what their background knowledge

is on the topic. These assessments are done with The candidate provides a credible and well-

supported explanation of how pre- and post assessments will be analyzed or scored, including the

criteria used to determine if each student’s performance meets defined learning goals.

35

Formative Assessments

During my two-week standards based instructional unit I have used many formative

assessments to measure student progress. A formative assessment is an assessment that is used to

determine what else a student needs to master a skill, objective, or content (Wong, 2004). Most

of my assessments are based on a student mastering content-based objectives.

The first formative assessment is four short sentence questions from the end of the first

lesson which are based on questions found in the Earth Science textbook. The questions are

designed to test the key information from the chapter and the learning objectives. If the student

gets the first question wrong he/she needs practice understanding continental drift. Once I

recognize this I can have the student make a graphic organizer that compares Continental Drift

and Plate Tectonics. This should help the student to come to the correct answers. If the student

gets the second question wrong I know that they are having difficulty with physical tell-tale signs

of plate boundaries. In this case I could have the student compare a map of plate boundaries with

a map of earthquakes and volcano locations. If the student gets the third question wrong, I will

have them review their mini lab. Finally, if they get the fourth question wrong I will have them

do internet research on Alfred Wegener.

The second formative assessment is a matching exercise. In this exercise the student will

match the correct plate boundary picture with its name. If the student gets these questions wrong

I will have them do a total physical response activity where they use their hands to show the

difference between the plate boundaries.

A third formative assessment that I use is a model of the interior of the Earth. This

formative assessment lets me know which students understand the interior workings of the Earth.

This goes above and beyond language ability as I have included a word box with the diagram If

the students label the diagram incorrectly, I will have them first label it in their native language,

36

then try to find the root words that are present in the new vocabulary. For example: convection,

deep, and ridge. If they can recognize these fundamental features, their knowledge of the Earth’s

interior will grow.

It is important to keep supporting evidence of the formative evaluations because it shows

the students’ strengths and weaknesses. It is a tool that can be used to show what and how the

students are learning. Supporting evidence is also used for proving accountability. Showing that

you have been teaching and the students have been learning is an excellent way to show your

own strengths and identify your weaknesses as a teacher.

Record Keeping System

The record keeping system that I will be using is a program called Gradebook. It is a

fantastic grading system that is all on my computer. However, during classroom activities I will

be using printouts of charts like the ones that can be found in the assessment analysis section of

this paper. In these charts, I can mark down the students’ grade for each assignment. In addition,

each assignment has the learning objectives that are associated with that assignment and below

each assignment is a possible amount of points that can be earned and what the level is for

meeting the objective. When using this system, if a student is having difficulty with a particular

skill area it can be identified in the chart. From this determination, a plan can be made to help

improve the student’s deficiency. This system clearly outlines the objectives which were written

based on the Utah State Core Curriculum Standards.

37

Lesson plans

Introduction to Unit 3 the Dynamic Earth and Plate Tectonics

Utilizing a Teacher-Led Activity: Singing

Topic or Unit of Study: Earth Science

Instructional Setting: This lesson is made for a class of eleven 9th

grade students. The class has

one student who has been diagnosed with Asperger’s. As an emergency plan, if there are any

outbursts that occur, the student will be asked to go to the hall and have a time out. If the

outbursts continue the student will be sent to the principal’s office. The principal will be notified

prior to this lesson about the emergency plan. The students in the class all have laptop

computers. they are seated around two square tables. There is an interactive Smartboard at the

front of the class and a white board with the date and daily objective written in black erasable ink

to the students left. There are two large posters in the room. One is of the Himalayan Mountain

Range and the other is of the Atlantic Ocean seafloor.

STANDARDS AND OBJECTIVES

State Core Curriculum/Student Achievement Standard(s):

Standard 3: Students will understand that gravity, density, and convection move Earth’s

plates and this movement causes the plates to impact other Earth systems.

Lesson Objective(s):

Given a chance to practice singing a song, the students will be able to recite the song with

70% accuracy.

MATERIALS AND RESOURCES

Instructional Materials:

Spaulding, N. & Namowitz, S. (2005). Earth Science. Evanston, IL: McDougal

Littell.

Individual Laptops

Internet Connection

Guitar

Lyrics to the Plate Tectonic Song

Two desks

38

Resources:

McDougal Littell. (2005). Observe an animation showing the origin of the solar system.

www.classzone.com Retrieved April 6, 2010, from

http://www.classzone.com/books/earth_science/terc/content/visualizations/es0401/es0401page01

.cfm

Lyrical Learning. (2003). Plate Tectonics: Teaching about Movement of Earth’s Plates.

Retrieved on February 11, 2011 from

http://www.songsforteaching.com/lyricallifesciencelearning/platetectonics.htm

INSTRUCTIONAL PLAN

Sequence of Instructional Procedures/Activities/Events:

1. Identification of Student Prerequisite Skills Needed for Lesson:

The anticipatory set of information will come at the beginning of the class in two quick

Bellwork questions. The Bellwork questions will be ―What evidence do you see around

you that that forces to change Earth’s surface?‖ and ―When and where was the last

Earthquake you heard about?‖ As the students are working on our bellwork, I will talk

with the student with a disability and quickly tell him the plan for the class. I will also

remind him that we are keeping track of when they are not paying attention by putting

a mark in their homework notebook; three or more marks results in detention. I will

also be checking if he is prepared for class with all the appropriate materials. After the

Bellwork is discussed, we will read through pages 168-169 of the Earth Science

textbook which probes for more background knowledge on plate tectonics. The

purpose of this lesson for the students is to learn new terms that we will be using

throughout this chapter in a song. The lesson will begin with Bellwork that connects

students to what they have learned previously about the make-up of the Earth.

2. Presentation of New Information or Modeling:

In the discussion of the Bellwork we will review words that they have seen before but

are difficult for ELL students such as: the mid-ocean ridge, lithosphere and

asthenosphere. I will work quickly with the student with a disability to make sure he

redefines the above words in his notebook. Then the students will be instructed to copy

down the objectives of the day into their notes.

Objectives:

a. Students will be able to sing the Plate Tectonic Song! Yeah!


http://www.classzone.com/books/earth_science/terc/content/visualizations/es0401/es0401page01.cfm



39

In this lesson, the learning disabled student will be paired with a student whose English

is below grade level. In this lesson the student with a learning disability has an

advantage as he is incredible at remembering song lyrics and English is his first

language.

After the students get into their groups of two, I will pass out the lyrics to the Plate

Tectonic song and we will read through the lyrics together. Then in their groups they

will be instructed to go through the song and in their notebooks define any unknown

words.

Lyrics (Lyrical Learning, 2003):

Continental plates of crust of thinner lithosphere

And heavy oceanic plates above asthenosphere

Tectonic plates seem all to move and the continents to drift

And in valleys and the ocean floor the spreading causes rift.

The Mid-Atlantic Ridge is from divergent boundary plates

New crust forms and pulls apart where they separate

But volcanic vents called hot spots in New Zealand and Galapagos

Hawaii and in Iceland, and in Yellowstone

Tectonic plates converging, oceanic plate subducts

Under lighter continent—bends down then it melts

Pacific Rim’s a ―ring of fire‖: volcanoes and earthquakes

Convergent boundaries where you’ll find those subducting plates

Tectonic plates instead may move more from side to side

At a transform boundary, strike-slip fault; at lateral faults they slide

California’s San Andreas fault is where you’ll find

One of the examples of movement of this kind

Then I will take out my guitar and play and sing to the students. This will be the first

time that they actually hear the melody.

3. Guided Practice:

Then I will give the students each an .mp3 of the song without lyrics. Each of them will

have the song on their lap tops and practice with headphones on individually for 10

minutes. While they are practicing I will be circulating through the room checking for

pronunciation and understanding.

I anticipate that the students will be shy at first. However, I will build their confidence

and compare the activity to KTV which they all love.

40

4. Independent Student Practice:

After the students have practiced on their own, they will get back in their groups of two

and practice for another 10 minutes.

5. Culminating Procedure/Activity/Event:

Finally, at the end of the class, I will have students, in groups of two, come to the front

of the class and sing the song with me.

Homework: Sing the Plate Tectonics Song to Your Parents.

Pedagogical Strategy (or Strategies):

This class will incorporate several different pedagogical strategies. The lesson will begin

with a discussion of the upcoming lesson based on the bellwork questions followed by

partner reading. The focus will then switch back to direct instruction while I am singing the

song to the students and reviewing the new vocabulary words. The students will then have

time for individual learning and partner learning. Finally, the lesson will culminate with a

presentation.

Differentiated Instruction:

The instruction will be differentiated to create a positive learning environment for several

different learners. For English Language learners, I will encourage them to use their

electronic dictionaries to create a word list that will have the new vocabulary terms in their

native language. Several words that are in the song that they may have trouble with such as:

tectonics, lithosphere, asthenosphere, thinner, and convergent. For the student with

Asperger’s during this lesson he will excel. However, I will also be making sure that he

understands the meaning of what he is singing while I circulate through the classroom.

Student Assessment/Rubrics:

I will be able to determine if the students have met the objective of this lesson though

several facets. The way I will be able to tell is when I am circling through the class checking

for understanding. The second way I will be able to tell they are meeting the objective is

through their ability to recite the plate tectonic song. This learning will also be assessed

during a summative chapter test at the end of the two-week lesson:

41

The following rubric will be used to grade their singing.

Criteria 4 points 3 points (2-0 pts) Totals

Volume The student’s

voice can heard at

the back of the

classroom, it is

heard through the

entire song, and is

not yelling.

One or two of

these elements is

missing or

incomplete.

All three of these

elements are

missing or

incomplete.

Poise The student is

confident,

standing up

straight and

making eye

contact with the

class/not hiding

behind the lyric

sheet.

One or two of

these elements

are missing or

incomplete.

All elements are

missing or

incomplete.

Clarity The student

pronounces the

words correctly,

clearly, and

throughout the

entire song,

One or two of

these elements

are missing or

incomplete.

All elements are

missing or

incomplete.

Effort during

learning

The student

understands the

vocabulary,

worked well

during class, and

helped others to

learn

One or two of

these elements

are missing or

incomplete.

All elements are

missing or

incomplete.

Total= ______/16

42

Evidence of the Theory of Plate Tectonics, Science






Given a chance to make a visual diagram, students will be able to give four pieces of

evidence that support the theory of plate tectonics, with 90% accuracy.




Littell.

Individual Laptops

Internet Connection

MS Explorer

MS Word

Poster board

Markers

Paper

Ruler

Two desks

Resources:




.cfm

PBS. (2010). A Science Odyssey: Mountain Maker, Earth Shaker. www.pbs.org. Retrieved on

April 9, 2010, from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/tryit/tectonics/intro.html

INSTRUCTIONAL PLAN




http://www.pbs.org/

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/tryit/tectonics/intro.html

43



The anticipatory set of information will come at the beginning of the class in two quick

Bellwork questions. The Bellwork questions will be ―What are the main layers of the

Earth?‖ and ―What is the difference between magma and lava?‖ As the students are

working on our bellwork, I will talk with the student with disabilities and quickly tell

him the plan for the class. I will also remind him that I am keeping track of when he is

not paying attention by putting a mark next to his name in his homework notebook and

that three or more marks results in detention. I will also be checking if he is prepared

for class with all the appropriate materials. After the Bellwork is discussed, we will

review definitions of the terms we will be using such as plate tectonics, continental

drift, and mid-ocean ridge. The purpose of this lesson for the students is to understand

some of the evidence that Alfred Wegener used to support his theory of continental

drift, how the theory of plate tectonics helps predict the locations of earthquakes and

volcanoes, and magnetism of the ocean floor and its relationship to sea floor spreading.

All of these objectives give evidence that support the plate tectonics theory. The lesson

will begin with Bellwork that connects students to what they have learned previously

about the make-up of the Earth.


In the discussion of the Bellwork we will also make sure everyone knows the location

and characteristics of the mid-ocean ridge, lithosphere and asthenosphere. The student

with Asperger’s will also be given a handout that has pictures and the definition for

those three words. Then the students will be instructed to copy down the objectives of

the day into their notes.

Objectives:

a. Students will be able to discuss some of the evidence that Alfred Wegener used to

support his idea of continental drift.

b. Students will be able to explain how the theory of plate tectonics helps to predict

the locations of earthquakes and volcanoes.

c. Students will relate the magnetism of the ocean floor with the concept of sea floor

They will be instructed to read in pairs pages 172 and 175. The student with

Asperger’s will be paired with a student that is performing above grade level and can

help focus the student and help them to understand. In addition, the steps for how the

plate tectonics work will appear on their handout. While they are reading they will try

to answer the question: “What is the theory of plate tectonics and what types of

evidence support this theory?”

44

During the first page of reading I will direct students to

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/tryit/tectonics/intro.html . Students will have a chance to

review this website in pairs. While reviewing this website together we will examine

the animations of Pangaea and answer the following questions:

What is Pangaea?

How long ago do scientists think Pangaea existed?

What four types of boundaries have occurred because of the movement of

plates?

After the reading, three main pieces of evidence that support the plate tectonic theory:

continental drift, locations of earthquakes and volcanoes, and magnetism and the ocean

floor. Students will be directed to the www.classzone.com website and asked to look at

the animation at keycode ES0801. I will show the animation on the Smartboard and as

a class we will discuss and look at the locations of volcanoes, earthquakes and folded

mountains in an attempt to understand, in detail, the Earth’s lithosphere. As I walk

around the room and check for understanding, I will spend more time with the learning

disabled student if he is falling behind.

3. Guided Practice:

Using the internet and the Smartboard I will show the students www.classzone.com

ES0802, How old is the Atlantic Ocean, and ES0803, Magnetic Polarity on the Ocean

Floor. The learning disabled student will have a seat at the front of the classroom.

While explaining the three main theories that support plate tectonics, I will continually

check for understand by asking the students questions such as:

What are the three main theories that support plate tectonics?

What does Mesosaurus have to do with continental drift?

What do the location of earthquakes and volcanoes show?

I anticipate that the students will ask if the sea floor is spreading in the Atlantic Ocean,

where does it go? The answer to the question has to deal with convergent boundaries and

subduction zones. I will inform them that we will learn more about that in the next

chapter.


The students will demonstrate the idea of sea floor spreading and ocean magnetism by

doing the following mini lab:

Materials: paper, scissors, two different colored markers, two desks.

Procedure:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/tryit/tectonics/intro.html



45

i. Students will fold the paper in the middle and place it between two desks

folding the top left end and the top right end over the top of the table.

ii. They will color the strips that are laying on the table.

iii. They will then pull up the paper, press the right and left sides down on the

right and left table, respectively and color the new flaps a different color.

iv. They will repeat the last step four times.

Conclusion: Students will answer the following questions:

What landform does the slit represent?

What do the stripes represent?

How might you make this model more realistic?

While they are working on this project I will walk around the room checking for

understanding, answering questions, and monitoring progress. I will make sure to

spend time with the learning disabled student to make sure he understands and is

having fun with the hands on activity.

5. Culminating Procedure/Activity/Event:

Then, I will carefully put the students into groups of 2 to 3 people. The student with

Asperger’s will be placed in the group of three with two higher-level students so he can

receive help from fellow students and in a way that maintains a safe environment for

the student. The disabled student will have a checklist of the steps he needs to perform.

Then the students will use create a poster that shows the evidence that supports the

theory of plate tectonics. Students will be urged to draw pictures similar to what they

found during their internet investigation and include captions for each of their pictures.

Finally, the students will be placed and directed to use their poster to write a

presentation that defends the theory of plate tectonics. The students will then, in front

of the class, give their quick explanation of their posters. They will be encouraged to

use new vocabulary and will be graded according to the attached rubric below.

The students watching will have the opportunity to ask the presenters questions about

their findings.

Homework: Students will be required to answer the Section Review Questions on

page 175.



with direct instruction of the topic followed by partner reading. The focus will then switch

back to direct instruction while I am explaining the four explaining the three main evidences

that support the plate tectonic theory. The students will then do small group activities as they

make their posters and present their findings.

46



different learners. For English Language learners, I will create a word list that has several

words that are in the reading that they may have trouble with such as: tectonics, lithosphere,

asthenosphere, interactions. For the learning disabled student, I have created this lesson with

many opportunities for me to walk around the room and check for understanding. During this

time I will be sure to check on the learning disabled student to ensure their understanding.


I will be able to determine if the students have met the objective of this lesson though

several facets. The way I will be able to tell is when I am circling through the class checking

for understanding. The second way I will be able to tell they are meeting the objective is

through their lab and posters. Finally, the presentation will show that the students have

mastered the objective. On a formal, summative chapter test, the students will be asked:

What are three pieces of evidence that support the plate tectonic theory?

47

The following rubric will be used to grade their posters.

Criteria 4 points 3 points (2-0 pts) Totals

Title The title

communicates the

subject of the

poster. It is

clearly readable

from a distance,

and it has no

spelling errors.

One or two of

these elements is

missing or

incomplete.

All three of these

elements are

missing or

incomplete.

Three evidences

that support the

plate tectonic

theory

Clearly visible

from a distance.

Students

accurately provide

examples of three

evidences that

support the plate

tectonic theory.

One or two of

these elements

are missing or

incomplete.

All elements are

missing or

incomplete.

Captions Clearly visible

from a distance.

Provides a clear

explanation to

each one of the

three evidences

that support the

plate tectonic

theory. There are

no spelling or

grammar mistakes.

One or two of

these elements

are missing or

incomplete.

All elements are

missing or

incomplete.

Scenes/Drawings

Are colorful and

clearly visible

from a distance.

Clearly illustrate

all information in

their labels.

One or two of

these elements

are missing or

incomplete.

All elements are

missing or

incomplete.

Total= ______/16

48

Types of Plate Boundaries






Given a matching list, students will be able to match the plate boundary with its

corresponding explanation with 100% accuracy.




Littell.

Individual Laptops

Internet Connection

MS Explorer

MS Word

Construction paper

Colored pencils

Resources:




.cfm

INSTRUCTIONAL PLAN



The anticipatory set of information will come at the beginning of the class in a

Bellwork question. The Bellwork question will be ―In 2001, a large earthquake related




49

to the movements of two plates occurred about 20 kilometers northeast of Olympia,

Washington. Use the map on pages 712-713 to identify the plates and the type of

boundary they share.‖ As the students are working on our bellwork, I will talk with the

student with disabilities and quickly tell him the plan for the class. I will also remind

him that I am keeping track of when he is not paying attention by putting a mark next

to his name in his homework notebook and that three or more marks results in

detention. I will also be checking if he is prepared for class with all the appropriate

materials. After the Bellwork is discussed, we will review homework from the day

before which are questions 1-3 from page 175. I will call on different students to tell

me their answers. I will use this as a formative assessment. The lesson will begin with

Bellwork that connects students to what they have learned previously learned about

plate tectonics.


After the bellwork assignment the students will be instructed to copy the following

objective in their electronic notebooks:

Objectives:

a. Students will be able to compare and contrast the different types of plate

boundaries.

We will review the Key Vocabulary terms together. They are

divergent boundary

rift valley

rift

convergent boundary

subduction boundary

deep-sea trench

collision boundary

transform boundary

I will read the first page of the chapter 176 to the students, modeling correct

pronunciation and discussing divergent boundaries. I will have them locate the divergent

boundary in the picture on page 176-177 and have them orally answer the following

questions:

What type of landform is found at a divergent boundary on the ocean floor?

Where is a rift valley in relation to the ridge?

Name a divergent boundary.

50

After I feel like the students have understood the divergent boundary we will do popcorn

reading for the rest of the chapter.

3. Guided Practice:

Students will be given a large piece of construction paper to create a three-part graphic

organizer. They will be instructed to draw and label the three types of plate boundaries.

For the student with Asperger’s, I will provide him with the drawings and he will just

color them in and label them as it is hard for him to draw. A the students are drawing, I

will circulate through the class checking for understanding and making sure that the

students are labeling the parts of the drawings comprehensively and correctly.

I anticipate that the students may get confused when it comes to remembering

divergent and convergent boundaries. For this, I will help them to create a mnemonic

device that will help them remember the difference. An example of this I will write a

sentence and underline the parts that will help them remember the difference:

Plates come together at convergent boundaries. Plates spread apart at divergent

boundaries.


In their computers, the students will create a chart that looks similar to the chart on

page 179. They assignment will be to complete the chart using English, their native

language and pictures from the internet. The students will work individually. For the

student with Asperger’s I will help him make his chart in his notebook and then he will

be able to fill the chart in.

While the students are working on their charts, I will circulate through the room

checking for understanding, answering questions, and monitoring progress. I will

encourage the students to be creative with their charts and make them so that they

understand the meaning of each section.

5. Culminating or Closing Procedure/Activity/Event:

With five minutes remaining in the class I will pass out a piece of paper to each of the

students. The piece of paper will have a matching activity on it and a word box. The

students will be told to fill in the blank with the corresponding number. Once the

students finish the matching exercise, they will be instructed to turn in the paper and

then they are excused from class.

The following is the matching exercise:

Match the type of plate boundary with its definition by putting the number from the word box

next to the definition (2 points each):

______A boundary between two plates that are sliding past eachother.

51

______A boundary between two plates that are moving toward each other.

Examples of this are subduction boundaries and collision boundaries

______A boundary between two lithospheric plates that are moving apart.

Sometimes they are called spreading centers.

Homework: Students will be required to answer the Section Review Questions on page 175.



with direct instruction of the topic and the teacher modeling will be done as I read the chapter

out loud. Then the students will practice reading out loud through popcorn reading. Through

the guided practice section of the lesson, the students will be working individually on their

graphic organizers. Students will then continue to work independently on their Types of

Plate Boundaries Charts. Finally, at the end of the class students will individually complete

the matching exercise.



different learners. For English Language learners, they will be encouraged to use their

electronic dictionaries throughout the lesson. I have also provided a word box to help them

complete the final matching activity. For the student with Asperger’s I have allotted time for

individual instruction with him and will have a chart prepared that he can start working on so

that he does not waste time creating his chart.


I will be able to determine if the students have met the objective of this lesson though the

matching activity at the end of the class:

See LG2 Post-Assessment

Plate Boundaries:

5. Divergent

6. Convergent

7. Transform

8. Construction

52

Causes of Plate Movement






Given a diagram, students will be able to label the parts and directional flow of

mantle convection, with 75% accuracy.

In a paragraph, students will be able explain the differences between a ridge push and

a slab pull, with 85% accuracy.




Littell.

Individual Laptops

Internet Connection

MS Explorer

MS Word

Resources:




.cfm

INSTRUCTIONAL PLAN

Sequence of Instructional Procedures/Activities/Events :


In order to start this lesson it is best if the students have a solid understanding of the

Theory of Plate Tectonics and the types of plate boundaries. Mastery of the first two




53

subchapters of this lesson will create a strong foundation for completing this upcoming

section. The anticipatory set of information will come at the beginning of the class by

replacing their bellwork questions with an internet investigation and visit

www.classzone.com ES0805 for internet visualizations.


During their internet visualizations through www.classzone.com, the students will be

asked to draw a model in their electronic notebooks that represents what they saw in

the visualization. They will also be asked to caption the picture and be able to verbally

state what convection is. Then the students will be instructed to copy the Objectives in

their notebook.

Objectives:

You will be able to label the parts and directional flow of mantle convection.

In a paragraph, you will be able explain the differences between a ridge push

and a slab pull.

Once the students have finished the visualization and note taking in their electronic

notebooks I will instruct them to get out their books and turn to page 180-181. I will

read the two pages to them and ask them to make an outline of the chapter in their

notebooks. I will check for understanding by asking ―why would it be better to call the

ridge push, gravitational sliding?‖ because the ridge is not actually pushing the plates,

gravity is pulls the plates downhill and away from the ridge.

3. Guided Practice:

I will then use a Convection Lab Demonstration to further illustrate the idea of

convection. Using a hot plate a transparent coffee cup and half a coup of rice I will ask

the students to describe the motion in their notebooks.


I will put the students in pairs and have them do internet research:

In pairs, please use the internet to answer the following questions:

1. What is convection?

2. What is the translation of convection in your first language?

3. Where can examples of convection be found?

I anticipate that the students may have a tough time describing the motion of convection

in their notebooks and at that time in the class I will be circulating and guiding them to

the correct answers.



54

While they are working on this project I will walk around the room checking for

understanding, answering questions, and monitoring progress. I will make sure to spend

time with the learning disabled student to make sure he understands and is having fun

with the hands on activity.


At the end of the class the students will be given a worksheet with the following

questions

1. (4 points) What is the difference between a Ridge Push and a Slab Pull?

2. (8 points) Place the corresponding number from the Earth’s Mantle Convection

Graphic next to the feature it is closest too from the list below:


Inner Core ______

Mid-Atlantic Ridge ______



Mantle ______

Outer Core ______




with an independent learning activity using the internet visualization. Then I will be giving

the students direct instruction through my reading and convection lab demonstration. The

students will then be put into pairs for internet research and conclude the class with an

independent post-assessment.



different learners. For English Language learners, I am having them put several of the words

into their native language and allowing them to use their electronic dictionaries. For the

learning disabled student, I have created this lesson with many opportunities for me to walk

around the room and check for understanding. During this time I will be sure to check on the

learning disabled student to ensure their understanding.


55

I will be able to determine if the students have met the objective of this lesson though several

facets. I will assess the students through the pre-assessment internet question and though

their understanding of the convection lab. Finally, a post-assessment work sheet will check

for understanding.

See LG3 Post-Assessment Instruments above.

56

Plate Movement and Continental Growth






Given a chapter exam with multiple choice, short answer, and labeling questions,

students will be correctly answer these questions, with 70% accuracy.




Littell.

Individual Laptops

Internet Connection

MS Explorer

MS Word

Scissors

Continent worksheet

Resources:




.cfm

INSTRUCTIONAL PLAN



The anticipatory set of information will come at the beginning of the class when I hand

out three copies of a continental map to each one of the students. They will be asked to

create one map that shows how the continents were when it was Pangaea, keep one

they way it is and then predict what the continents could look like in the future. The

students should already have an understanding of plate tectonics and plate boundaries

before starting this chapter. The student with disabilities is not adept at using scissors.




57

Therefore, I will have an envelope with pre-cut continents that he can use to past

together on a separate sheet of paper. I will also remind him that I am keeping track of

when he is not paying attention by putting a mark next to his name in his homework

notebook and that three or more marks results in detention. I will also be checking if he

is prepared for class with all the appropriate materials. After the students complete

their ne continental arrangements, I will ask a couple to explain the example of the past

and a couple to explain why they arranged the continents the way they did for the

future.


I will direct students to post their continental arrangement on a bulletin board and then

I will ask them to take their seats, open their notebooks and observe the animation on

the Smartboard. First on the smart board I will have the objectives written that I will

ask for them to type into their electronic notebooks. The objectives are as follows:

Objectives:

a. Students will be able to explain how Earth’s land masses have changed positions

of over the past 200 million years.

After completing writing the objective in the notebook I will direct the students’

attention to the Smartboard. On the Smartboard I will be playing a repeating image of

the breakup of Pangaea from www.classzone.com ES0806. I will read to them the four

main steps and will have them use their own words to describe what is happening in

four steps.

3. Guided Practice:

In partners, the students will read pages 182 and 185. As they are reading I will

circulate through the classroom and take a look at the four steps that they wrote down

for the breakup of Pangaea. I will guide them through the language on page 184 and

185 and help them get their steps concise and, most importantly, so they understand

what they are writing. As this is the last lesson in Chapter 8 I will also be looking at

their notebooks which will be graded after the Chapter 8 Test.


Once the students have finished reading, updating their notebooks, and fixed their steps

of Pangaea breakup, I will direct them to their assignment on page 184. The students

will take a look at an internet visualization, www.classzone.com ES0807, of predicted

plate movements. They will answer the following questions:

a. How does your prediction of future plate movement differ from what is shown in

the visualization?

b. Are South America and Africa closer or farther apart? Why?



58

For homework, the students will be required to read pages 186-187 and answer the

questions at the bottom of page 187.


The next day we will review the homework questions in class. We will also take that

class period to review for the Chapter 8 test. We will do this by working in pairs on the

Chapter 8 review found at the end of the chapter. As they are working on this I will be

helping the student with Asperger’s prepare his notebook to turn in and help him

prepare for the test by reviewing questions with him. The final test will be worth 100

points and is attached below.



with a student hands-on independent learning and predicting activity followed by direct

instruction when I show them the breakup of Pangaea. Then the students will be learning

through guided learning and internet visualizations. Finally, the students will take a

summative Chapter 8 test.



different learners. For English Language learners, the first activity is a hands on activity that

lower language ability students can easily contribute too. They will also be orally telling the

class about their predictions of continental movement. I will encourage them to use language

that they know to explain their creation. They will be encouraged to continue to use their

electronic dictionaries for the rest of the class work and translate any words they do not know

into their native language. For the learning disabled student, I have created this lesson with

many opportunities for me to walk around the room and check for understanding. I have also

created sets of the continents that are pre-cut so that he can immediately begin the

continental cut-out activity.


I will be able to determine if the students have met the objective of this lesson and all other

lessons in this Chapter on the final Chapter test. The grading scale at our school is as follows:

90-100% - A

80-89.9% - B

70-79.9% – C

60-69.9% – D

Below 60% - F

62

Data Analysis

Pre-Assessment Evaluation

Learning Goal 1 Learning Goal 2 Learning Goal 3 Learning Goal 4

Pre

-Ass

essm

ent

Obje

ctiv

es

Th

e st

ud

ents

kn

ow

wh

o A

lfre

d W

egen

er

was

an

d w

hat

he

was

fam

ou

s fo

r.

Th

e st

ud

ent

is f

amil

iar

wit

h t

he

theo

ry o

f

pla

te t

ecto

nic

s.

Th

e st

ud

ent

reco

gn

izes

th

at e

arth

qu

akes

and

vo

lcan

oes

are

lo

cate

d a

lon

g p

late

bo

un

dar

ies.

Th

e st

ud

ent

can

id

enti

fy t

he

thre

e ty

pes

of

pla

te b

ou

nd

arie

s.

Th

e st

ud

ent

kn

ow

s w

hat

co

nv

ecti

on

is.

Th

e st

ud

ent

kn

ow

s w

hat

a r

idg

e p

ush

and

a s

lab

pu

ll a

re.

Th

e st

ud

ent

reco

gn

izes

ho

w P

ang

aea

was

form

ed.

Points +/- +/- +/- 3 3 +/- +/-

Chris - - + 1 0 - -

Cloud - - - 0 0 - -

Erica - - + 2 0 - -

Esther - + + 3 1 - +

Jake - - - 0 0 - -

Jimmy - - + 3 0 - +

Kenta + + + 3 2 - -

Kevin + + + 3 2 - +

Klein - + + 2 0 - -

Raul - - - 1 0 - -

Sally - - + 0 0 - -

63

Post- Assessment Grades

Learning Goal 1 Learning Goal 2 Learning Goal

3

Learning Goal 4

Post

- A

sses

smen

t O

bje

ctiv

es

Giv

en a

lis

t o

f 1

0 f

orm

s o

f ev

iden

ce t

he

stu

den

t

iden

tifi

ed 3

fo

rms

of

evid

ence

that

Alf

red

Weg

ener

use

d t

o s

up

po

rt h

is i

dea

of

con

tin

enta

l dri

ft w

ith

66

%

accu

racy

. (Q

ues

. #

4)

. Giv

en t

wo q

ues

tio

ns

the

stu

den

t ex

pla

ined

the

theo

ry

of

pla

te t

ecto

nic

s h

elp

s to

pre

dic

t th

e lo

cati

on

s o

f

eart

hq

uak

es a

nd

vo

lcan

oes

, li

stin

g a

t le

ast

thre

e

exam

ple

s, w

ith

10

0%

acc

ura

cy.

(Ques

. #s

2 &

3)

Giv

en a

ch

ance

to m

ake

a vis

ual

dia

gra

m, st

ud

ents

wil

l be

able

to g

ive

fou

r p

iece

s of

evid

ence

that

sup

po

rt t

he

theo

ry o

f p

late

tec

ton

ics

spec

ific

ally

con

tin

enta

l dri

ft, w

ith

75

% a

ccura

cy.

(Ques

. #1

)

Giv

en a

mat

chin

g l

ist,

stu

den

ts w

ill

be

able

to

mat

ch t

he

pla

te b

ou

nd

ary w

ith

its

corr

espo

nd

ing

exp

lan

atio

n w

ith

80

% a

ccura

cy.

Giv

en a

lis

t o

f 1

2 c

har

acte

rist

ics,

stu

den

ts w

ill

be

able

to i

den

tify

wh

ich

char

acte

rist

ics

of

bel

on

g t

o

wh

ich

con

ver

gen

t pla

te b

ou

nd

ary w

ith

83

%

accu

racy

.

Giv

en a

dia

gra

m, st

ud

ents

wil

l be

able

to

lab

el

the

par

ts a

nd

dir

ecti

on

al f

low

of

man

tle

con

vec

tio

n, w

ith

75

% a

ccura

cy.

In a

par

agra

ph

, st

ud

ents

wil

l be

able

ex

pla

in t

he

dif

fere

nce

s b

etw

een

a r

idg

e pu

sh a

nd

a s

lab

pu

ll,

wit

h 7

5%

acc

ura

cy.

In a

par

agra

ph

, st

ud

ents

wil

l be

able

ex

pla

in h

ow

Ear

th’s

lan

dm

asse

s h

ave

chan

ged

posi

tio

ns

ov

er

the

pas

t 20

0 m

illi

on

yea

rs, in

clu

din

g t

he

form

atio

n a

nd

bre

aku

p o

f P

ang

aea,

usi

ng

at

leas

t

4 s

ente

nce

s.

Giv

en t

he

Ch

apte

r 8

Ex

am,

the

stu

den

ts w

ill

be

able

to

pas

s w

ith 7

0%

acc

ura

cy.

Possible

Points 3 5 4 6 12 8 4 8 100

Meets

Objective 2 4 3 4 8 6 3 6 70

Chris 2 3 4 4 6 6 2 4 64

Cloud 2 4 4 6 9 8 4 6 88

Erica 2 5 4 4 8 8 2 6 82

Esther 2 4 4 5 10 8 4 7 91

Jake 2 3 4 6 8 8 4 6 76

Jimmy 1 4 4 6 8 7 4 7 72

Kenta 3 4 4 6 11 8 4 8 94

Kevin 3 5 4 6 12 8 4 8 98

Klein 3 4 4 4 12 7 4 5 89

Raul 2 4 4 4 11 8 4 6 91

Sally 0 0 3 2 8 7 3 5 60

Highlighted scores have NOT met learning objective

64

Pre- and Post-Assessment Graphs


65


boundaries.

66


67



68

Sub-Group Pre- and Post-Assessment Graphs



boundaries.

69




70

Selected Individuals

Kevin Pre-Assessment

Sally Pre-Assessment

Kevin Post-assessment

Sally Post-Assessment

71

Analysis


It did not come as a surprise to me that so many of the students did not meet the first objective of

the first learning goal as it was to be able to explain who Alfred Wegener was and what he was

famous for. In fact, I was so surprised any of the students got the answer that I spoke with the

two students who did know who Alfred Wegener was. One of the students said that he had read

ahead in the book and knew who Alfred Wegener was though his reading. The other student said

he noticed that the next chapter was on Plate Tectonics and figured that Alfred Wegener was

responsible for the theory. Looking at the overall class progress, as indicated in the graphs, out of

two objectives in the pre-assessment, only 27% of the students met the learning goal. However,

in the post-assessment 28 out of 33 individual objectives were met which is 85%. The students

that did not meet the objective are in fact the lowest level English speakers in the class. For

learning goal 1 the objective that most students had difficulty with was the ability to explain how

the theory of plate tectonics helps predict where earthquakes and volcanoes are located. I think

that this question was difficult for the students to explain in English as most of them are English

Language Learners. After the assessment I asked the students who did not meet that objective if

they could explain it to me or draw it on a piece of paper. Two of the three students were able to

use hand signals and their English vocabulary to give the answer with partial accuracy. The

overall evidence that the graphs and that my post- post-assessment questioning revealed was that

the majority of the students did learn and understand the theory of plate tectonics.


boundaries.

72

The graphs for learning goal #2 look a little different than the first graph for the main reason that

the students seemed to be more familiar with the pre-assessment questions than in learning goal

#1. The pre-assessment question that 73% of the students got correct was a matching exercise

that used pictures of the three main plate boundaries and their corresponding names. One of the

reasons the students succeeded on this task was that it was a matching exercise and even with

limited English language proficiency the students could still identify the pictures and match the

words. The post-assessment was much harder than the pre-assessment and therefore I allowed

the students to use their notes. I was actually surprised that 91% of the objectives were met. This

is outstanding. I believe that this is one section of the chapter that the students enjoy because of

the detailed visualizations both in the book and online. Another way to see this progress though

is the students just took really good notes. The two students who only met one of the objectives

each was the student with the lowest level of English proficiency and the student with Asperger’s.


The pre-assessment for learning goal #3 got the least amount of correct answers. Out of the 22

possible instances of meeting the presented objective, it was only met twice. This shows that

only 9% of the students could meet the goal of the pre-assessment. As far as teaching, this was

the hardest lesson goal to meet because the students began at such a low level. Therefore, it was

a pleasant surprise that all students met the first objective and only two students did not meet the

second objective. Again, I do believe that one of the reasons that the two students did not meet

the 2nd

objective was because they were asked to write a paragraph which is difficult for ELL

students and those with Asperger’s. However, this learning goal showed a tremendous amount

of student learning was taking place.

73

Learning Goal #4: The students will be able to understand the relationship between plate

movement and continental growth.

The pre-assessment for learning goal #4 showed that only 3 of the 11 students had prior

knowledge of Pangaea. This pre-assessment transcends language barriers as it is a map that the

students have to cut out. Therefore, only 8 of the students had not heard of Pangaea, neither in

their native language or English. The post-assessment for this learning goal came in the form of a

paragraph question at the end of their Chapter 8 test. The results of the post-assessment were the

exact opposite of the pre-assessment. On the post assessment 8 of the students met the learning

goal and 3 did not.

Subgroup Analysis: Sexes

The subgroup characteristic I chose to examine was the difference between the male scores and

the female scores for learning goal number three, that students will be able to identify the causes

of plate movement. in this analysis the pre-assessment was based on my observations and

questioning the students as they did a warm up activity that consisted of researching information

about convection, slab-pull and ridge-push on the internet. The post-assessment was a matching

exercise that tested the students’ ability to correctly identify the different parts of mantle

convection.

This examination of the two different groups is just because although there are only three

females in the class their English ability and background match those of the entire class. The

female students are all from Korean. Their English ability is also reflective of the entire class as

there is one female with excellent English, one student with conversational English, and one

74

student with poor English. by examining the difference between the sexes would allow me to

determine if my lessons and lesson delivery are or are not gender specific.

According to the analysis and graph the data collected from learning goal three, none of the

females were familiar with the pre-assessment while two of the males were familiar with the

term convection and none were familiar with push ridge-push and slab-pull. This gave the

females a 0% passing rate on the pre-assessment and the males had a passing rate of 10%. As

both of these scores are relatively low, I do not believe that the pre-assessment questions were

gender-biased. The post-assessment showed that 83% of the females and 94% of the males met

the learning goal. Only one female and one male did not meet the learning goal for the post-

assessment. This analysis shows that overall student learning was occurring for both male and

female students. with such a small number of female students in the class the data can seemed

skewed because if one student doesn’t meet the requirement then that brings down the

percentage by 33%. However, I do feel that this analysis has showed me that I need to spend

more time with the students who are performing at lower levels. It seems that the students that

are performing at the medium and upper level in the class are succeeding tremendously while the

lower level students are not succeeding as much. The students that performed very poorly on the

pre-assessment continue to perform poorly on the post-assessment.

Selected Individuals

The following to students demonstrated different levels of performance on both the pre- and

post-assessment for learning goal number 1. The first student, ―Kevin,‖ is 15 years old. He was

born in Korea and has been living in China for the last 5 years. He has been in international

schools since he has lived in China. He has been studying English for 8 years and Chinese for 5.

75

His spoken English is the best in the class for an English Language Learner. While he is friends

with everyone in the class he isn’t the most popular, however, even the popular students look up

to him as he excels in all of his subjects.

The second student, ―Sally,‖ is also Korean and has lived in China for one year. Among the

Koreans, she is the most popular girl in school. Her English level is extremely low and the effort

she puts into learning is also very low. Her parents are constantly away on business or out

shopping. She gets very little support at home. She has made improvements in her attitude

throughout the year but often relapses back into complacence.

It is important to understand the learning proficiencies of the two students because of their

difference in English ability. I believe that the difference in their English ability is the reason that

―Kevin‖ is excelling and ―Sally‖ is having an extremely difficult time. For ―Kevin,‖ he is

outgoing and not afraid to answer questions in class. He even volunteers to help other students

and always has his homework done and done well. He can clearly explain his ideas, which makes

him more eager to continue to excel. ―Sally,‖ on the other hand does not have the English ability

to express herself. Therefore, in class she is quiet and reserved. She does not speak out and often

is not paying attention, probably because she does not understand very well. Admittedly, they are

both at ages where ―image‖ is extremely important. ―Sally‖ does not want to put herself in a

position to look stupid to her peers. However, this attitude only further hampers her ability to

learn. Sally is very intelligent, however I believe she does not like their current situation living

in China, parents always gone and enrolled in a school where she must learn a foreign language.

76

The students reached different levels of this learning goal. ―Kevin‖ had met the pre-assessment

with only a few grammar and one spelling mistake. His answers were in complete sentences and

showed that he had previously studied this topic, perhaps in his native language. ―Sally‖ did not

meet the pre-assessment target. Two questions she did not even attempt an answer or a guess.

Her answer to the first question was in a complete sentence which was good and she also

received partial credit for listing one place that is famous for volcanoes and one place that is

famous for earthquakes. For the post-assessment and evidence that the students met the learning

goals, ―Kevin‖ showed mastery. Each question he answered was in a complete sentence. His

answers were similar to what we had been studying in class and he only missed one point out of

12. It is clear that he had attained the learning goals. Again, ―Sally‖ had a difficult time on the

post-assessment. She got one of the three learning goals correct in that she identified three

observations that support the continental drift hypothesis, with spelling and punctuation errors.

For the rest of the questions she left them blank or did not answer them correctly. This shows

that she did not meet the learning goal.

77

Evaluation

The learning goal with which my students were most successful was Learning Goal #2 which

was: The students will be able to compare and contrast the types of plate boundaries. The

learning goal had two objectives. The first required the students to identify the definitions of

each plate boundary and the second required the students to identify characteristics of plate

boundaries. On the post-assessment, 10 out of the 11 students met both objectives. On the first

objective five students showed mastery of the subject matter while five other students showed

understanding. Only one student did not meet the standards. On the second objective, two

students showed complete understanding while the other eight students that met the objective

showed a reasonable level of understanding. There are three main reasons that I believe led to the

students’ success. The first reason is during the instruction of this unit I used many visual aids.

With most of the students being English Language Learners, using visual aids are extremely

helpful to making the students understand. Throughout this lesson we used pictures in the book,

online visualizations, and in-class posters. The second reason that the students may have done

well is because of my use of Total Physical Response. By their nature, plate boundaries move.

Having this quality it is easy to set up a Total Physical Response activity. In class we used hand

movements and even demonstrated different plate boundaries by moving blocks. Again, as the

students are ELLs the physical activities help them gain an understanding regardless of their

language ability. Finally, in this lesson we used a graphic organizer that mimicked that which

was used in the post assessment. The graphic organizer gave the students a visual way to study

the information. We reviewed this information in the graphic organizer several times before the

post-assessment was given. One way that the students reviewed the information was by covering

78

different parts of the graphic organizer with post-it notes and then trying to remember the

information.

The learning goal in which the students were the least successful was Learning Goal #4 which

stated: The students will be able to understand the relationship between plate movement and

continental growth. The first objective which was to write a paragraph that explained how

Earth’s landmasses have changed positions over the past 200 million years, including the

formation and breakup of Pangaea. Out of the 11 students, eight met the learning objective.

Three possible reasons the students did not do too well on this learning goal was because of their

English ability, the complexity of the question, and how the question was asked. The question

required the students to write four sentences. For an English language learner this can be very

important especially when they must discuss complex movements of continental plates. Many of

the students lost points on the post-assessment because their sentences were not complete and

riddled with mistakes. The result of these two aspects was that the students’ answers were

unclear. A second reason the students might not have done so well on this learning goal was that

the question was very complex. In class we studied the break-up of Pangaea using the book,

online visualizations, and a hands-on activity. I believe that if the students were asked to use a

model to show the break-up of Pangaea then they would have been more successful. However,

describing these movements as the question asked them to do, was too difficult. Finally, a third

reason that the students may not have done so well was because the question was located on the

back side of their chapter test. As we were rushed at the end of this unit the only time that I could

administer the post-assessment was on their final exam for the chapter. This was the essay

section of the test and was located on the third page. By the time the students got to the question

they may have been thinking about the previous questions they answered. In addition, when

79

studying for this post-assessment it was also necessary for them to study all the previous

information from the chapter.

If I was to give this post-assessment again, I would not make it an essay question. I would have

the students’ show how Pangaea broke up by using a model. I believe that this would improve

student performance for three reasons. The first reason is that the students are ELLs therefore,

they may understand this concept but don’t know how to express it in words. Another reason is

that, now that I think about it, that all of our work in class was based on visual information and

not as much on written information about Pangaea. The students were not prepared with the

correct vocabulary to explain the movements. Finally, I would make sure to have extra time to

review this specific question and not include it on the comprehensive chapter final. This would

allow the students more time to understand, review, and complete the post-assessment.

Daily Schedule Outline:

Time Activity

10:30 Bellwork Question and discussion

10:35 Review the previous night’s homework

10:40 Write the daily objective and preview new vocabulary

10:45 Teacher led reading followed by questioning

10:50 Hands on activity

11:00 Independent Learning – Graphic Organizer

11:15 Post-Assessment

11:20 Class dismissed

The above schedule is a model of the majority of my classes. The first way I maximized learning

is by using Bellwork, also known as a warm up. This is a procedure that I start at the beginning

of every school year and use it every day for the entire school year. As soon as the students get

into class, they see their daily Bellwork activity on the board and get to work. While they are

doing their Bellwork activity, I have time to take roll and finish any last minute preparations for

the lesson without wasting any class time. Secondly, we review the students’ homework from the

80

night before, fairly quickly. I then collect their homework to grade at another time. Finally, the

rest of the class is packed with activities that consist of direct instruction, guided practice and

independent learning. This maximizes student learning time and my ability to circulate through

the classroom and check for understanding.

Adjusting Instructional Activity

One situation where I had to adjust the length of time during the instructional activity in order to

more closely match student skill levels and attention spans was during the first day that we began

the chapter on plate tectonics. The lesson included a long introduction using direct instruction.

The direct instruction included having the students learn new vocabulary, reading, and a

visualization activity shown on the Smartboard. Then the guided practice section of the lesson

consisted of an internet investigation. Originally, I had designed the first part of this lesson to last

approximately 30 minutes. As I was going through the lesson, I noticed that my direct reading

instruction and the students paired reading were going by really quickly. One pair finished in

about half of the time that the other groups did. I was not prepared for them to finish so fast so I

just asked them to make a short outline for the chapter in their note books while the other

students finished. With only 10 minutes gone by, the class was starting their guided practice. For

guided practice the students were asked to look at an online visualization while I asked questions

and had various students answer the questions by writing them on the Smartboard. This activity

also went by faster than I anticipated. This left about 30 minutes for the class to complete the lab.

Instead of just having them do the lab and the lab write up. I asked the students that once they

were finishing up their lab, which consisted of demonstrating sea-floor spreading, that each

student would be responsible for demonstrating and explaining to me how the lab represented

81

sea-floor spreading. This adjustment in the class helped the students get more involved in the lab

and also allowed them to speak out lou.

82

Works Cited

Lyrical Learning. (2003). Plate Tectonics: Teaching about Movement of Earth’s Plates.

Retrieved on February 11, 2011 from


Spaulding, N. & Namowitz, S. (2005). Earth Science. Evanston, IL: McDougall Littell.

Utah State Core Curriculum Standards. (2007). Region: UT- Utah Core Curriculum ,

www.taskstream.com. Retrieved from http://www.taskstream.com/Main/main_frame.asp

on January 4, 2011.

Wong, H.K. and Wong, R.T. (2005). How To Be an Effective Teacher, The First Days of School.

Mountain View, CA. Harry K. Wong Publications, Inc.


http://www.taskstream.com/

http://www.taskstream.com/Main/main_frame.asp%20on%20January%204

http://www.taskstream.com/Main/main_frame.asp%20on%20January%204

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