Endangered Species

by Lindsay Priday

Learning Objectives• I taught a shared reading lesson about endangered species to my

second grade students. I taught students the concepts of cause and effect, and I focused on teaching them about the cause of various animals’ endangerment (with the effect being that the animals are endangered).

• Here is how my lesson connects to the Utah Core Curriculum: 2nd Grade Language Arts State Core Standard #7: Comprehension-

Students understand, interpret, and analyze narrative and informational grade level text. Objective 3: Recognize and use features of narrative and informational text. Indicator d: Identify different structures in texts (e.g., compare/contrast, cause/effect).

Learning Objectives, cont.

Following are the basic concepts I taught:• Cause is the reason something happens; Effect

is the result, or what happens.• We can find the cause(s), or reason(s), that

certain animals are endangered by studying the text for details.

The Lesson

• After reading Will We Miss Them?, the story from the textbook, I led multiple discussions about the cause(s) of the animals’ endangerment and I organized a review game to provide them with greater practice identifying the various causes. I then assessed students about their knowledge of why the animals in the text are considered to be endangered. I decided that a Power Point presentation would be an excellent way to assess the students’ comprehension.

The Assessment• Prior to class, I had prepared a Power Point presentation about the

endangered animals studied in the text. Each slide contained a picture of the animal and the animal’s name, and the cause(s) for each animal’s endangerment. I programmed the presentation so that the cause appeared after the picture and name of each animal. During class, I presented the Power Point presentation. I stopped after the picture and name of each animal was displayed. I had the students work with the members of their table to determine at least one cause of endangerment for each animal. They wrote their answers on a worksheet I had created that provided blanks for them to write the animals’ names and cause(s) for endangerment. I provided students about 2 minutes after the slide showing each animal was displayed to form their answers. I brought the class back together and invited each group to share their answers. I then displayed the answers on the Power Point.

The Assessment in Action!

Assessment Photos, Continued!

Reflection

• This activity was visually appealing to the students, providing them with a fun approach to the assessment.

• The assessment was an excellent correlation to the concepts taught.

• Students were actively engaged in the lesson. • Although the students were on task, it was

difficult to bring everyone back together to discuss answers.

Future Lesson Implications

• I would definitely use this assessment to teach this lesson again. The students were given an assessment that was engaging and reflective of their newfound knowledge.

• Next time, I would make students aware of the time limit per question at the beginning, as this would allow students to better manage their time and prepare to follow my instructions about group sharing.

Principles of Technology Integration

• Student Use of Technology: I was using the technology to administer the assessment. Since there was only one laptop available, it would have been impossible for every student to use the technology.

• Technology Use is Essential: Although I could have come up with many different ways to assess the students’ knowledge of the animals’ endangerment, I found that a visual approach resulted in an engaging experience for the students that did not diminish the content assessed.

Principles of Technology Integration, cont.

• Focus on Learning Task: While I used technology to display the assessment prompts, students were certainly intellectually engaged. The assessment was the venue to administer the assessment, but students were forming the answers to a corresponding worksheet based on their knowledge of the content taught.

• Added Value: As stated above, the Power Point presentation was NOT necessary. However, it was a fun and creative way to engage the students in the assessment, and it was especially ideal for visual learners.

I enjoyed using this Power Point presentation for my assessment! I feel

that it really enhanced the lesson.