I would describe my teaching style as "21st century facilitator." As a true facilitator, I believe students should be responsible for their own learning and be more independent. I strive to allow my students to reach these goals by designing dynamic lessons, heavy on technology, with real world applicability. When I design my lessons, I stress this real world aspect, because I believe students must understand the basic purpose of a lesson before they will consider the message behind it.
I would describe my teaching style as "21st century facilitator." As a true facilitator, I believe students should be responsible for their own learning and be more independent. I strive to allow my students to reach these goals by designing dynamic lessons, heavy on technology, with real world applicability. When I design my lessons, I stress this real world aspect, because I believe students must understand the basic purpose of a lesson before they will consider the message behind it.
This is an extensive 12-page lesson plan packet using Star Wars to teach biomes.
I have used seven Star Wars films to teach students about biomes with great success.
The lesson plan includes a twelve-question assessment that (1) asks students watch scenes from the Star Wars films to identify real-world biomes including temperate deciduous forest, desert, Mediterranean chaparral, tropical rain forest, alpine, tundra, and temperate coniferous forest; and (2) then conduct research on these real backdrops to gain a deeper understanding of the delicacy of our world’s biomes.
George Lucas’ Star Wars movies are a delightful mix of heroic stories, wonderful characters and monsters, and dramatic action sequences. Millions of people – including many young adults – love these films. Look closely and you will see vibrant, natural worlds lying beneath the special effects. After all, Lucas chose many real backdrops for the Star Wars sagas – Whippendell Woods, United Kingdom, and Tozeur, Tunisia, for examples. Now, you can use them to teach biomes to your science or geography students.
I would suggest your students have at least a basic understanding of the biomes presented in this assignment beforehand. This assignment might work best after you have introduced biomes in your classroom and asked students to identify specific features of each.
Included please find the lesson plan, teacher’s scene guide, student identification assignment and answer key, guidelines for the research paper, and a rubric to evaluate the research paper.
