Guided Practice: What activities or exercises will the students complete with teacher guidance?
1. Provide each student with a printed copy of the article "The Invasive Squirrel That Wasn't."
2. Provide each student with a vocabulary note-taking guide.
3. Have students complete this guide during or after their first reading of the article. Students can work individually, in pairs, or in small groups. Make sure to provide print or online dictionaries for students to use. Teachers should provide support and guidance as students work.
- Note: Based on the needs and skills of students, teachers can decrease or increase the number of academic or domain-specific vocabulary students will define on the note-taking guide.
4. For academic vocabulary, students will likely be able to use a variety of vocabulary strategies to define the meaning of the words. For domain-specific (in other words, subject-specific) vocabulary, students will typically need to draw on prior knowledge, use context clues, and/or use a dictionary to define the words.
5. Teachers can check students' understanding by collecting their answers to the note-taking guides, checking their work, providing written feedback, and maybe grading the assignment. As another option, teachers can have students share out their responses and the teacher can provide verbal corrective feedback, allowing students to make corrections to their work during the discussion.
6. Teachers may use the sample answer key provided with the note-taking guide to evaluate student responses.
Common errors/misconceptions to anticipate and how to respond:
- Students often think animals are the only invasive species. Invasive species also include plants, fungus, protists, and bacteria.
- There is much debate about whether or not all invasive species are harmful to the environment. This National Geographic article "Opinion: It's Time to Stop Thinking all Non-Native Species are Evil" may enhance discussion of this topic.
Summative Assessment
1. Students will individually respond to the writing prompt. They should be directed to respond with a multi-paragraph response, with a clear introduction, body section, and conclusion. Students will have to refer back to the text as they construct their response.
2. Provide students with a copy of the rubric and go over it with them so they will know how their written responses will be assessed.
3. Go over the writing prompt with students and make sure students understand what the prompt is asking them to address. Encourage students to underline key parts of the prompt as the teacher goes over it so they will remember to answer all the required parts:
- In the text, this quote implies the team of scientists found evidence in the midden that did not support what they previously believed: "we all thought that squirrels and foxes were a historic introduction... and we found squirrel bones in an ancient midden." How did this new information change scientists' perception of Arctic Ground Squirrels on Chirikof Island?