Melissa’s Blog

NOTE: Each of the checkpoints below are links to examples

Your notes

1. Provide options for perception (examples)

1.1 Customize the display of information

Keeping each base the same color throughout the lesson, from bookbuilder, student activity, 2D and 3D models of DNA, customizes this. During the lesson, the teacher should inflect meaning and exaggerate his or her voice to emphasize areas of importance.

1.2 Provide alternatives for auditory information

While giving directions for the student activity and homework, the teacher will write the steps on the board. This will allow students to visually see the directions. In addition, students who have low working capacity will have a reference point.

1.3 Provide alternatives for visual information

This should be addressed by having a 3-D, touchable model of DNA. Perhaps one as big as Watson and Crick’s model.

2. Provide options for language and symbols (examples)

2.1 Define vocabulary and symbols

During the lesson students will reference bookbuilder with its embedded glossary, pictures and explanation of the structure of DNA. In addition, the picture of Kevin Millar and Kevin Youkilis pre-teaches the students what a pair on base is to access students’ prior knowledge. One drawback to this is that all my students may not know baseball or the history of the Red Sox.

2.2 Clarify syntax and structure

Clarifying structure of DNA is the whole lesson! The student activity and modeling highlights structural relations. The relationships between the bases are explicit and are a less complex than the double helix.

2.3 Decode text and mathematical notation

The DNA Structure book in bookbuilder uses automated text to speech and a human voice describing coaches to decode the information and provide equal access to the material for the students.

2.4 Promote cross-linguistic understanding

N/A

2.5 Illustrate key concepts non-linguistically

This is done many times throughout the lesson, from the 3-D touchable model of DNA to the student activity to student generated models. In addition, bookbuilder has many visuals and animations to represent base pairings.

3. Provide options for comprehension (examples)

3.1 Provide or activate background knowledge

This is done through the pair of Kevins picture (see 2.1), the lecture of the structure of DNA the previous day and the integration of bookbuilder the day before and of the lesson.

3.2 Highlight critical features, big ideas, and relationships

I made the color codes of the bases consistent between the lesson on book-builder, students as bases and folded exercise. This highlights the key point of the lesson, base pairing.

3.3 Guide information processing

This is done in two ways. First, the lesson is broken down into 4 discrete steps. This allows for multiple entry points. The second is the use of three types of interactive models to convey the information.

3.4 Support memory and transfer

By allowing my students to practice with the concepts of base pairing of DNA two times, they have spaced review and practice. This allows them a solid start from going from a beginner to expert.