LESSON PLAN TEMPLATE

Your Name:Daniel Scott

Title of Lesson: Creating a Stand on GMOs
Grade: 7th Grade
STANDARDS
Arizona College and Career Ready Standard (7.W.1)
Write arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence.
Provide a concluding statement or section that follows from and supports the argument presented.
HS-ETS1-1.
Analyze a major global challenge to specify qualitative and quantitative criteria and
constraints for solutions that account for societal needs and wants.
LESSON SUMMARY/OVERVIEW
Students will explore alternate viewpoints on genetically modified organisms, then create a thesis statement
that either supports or opposes genetically modified organisms. They will do this by reading an article that
supports GMOs, then watch video clips that oppose GMOs. They have to decipher the information provided
and determine their position to this issue.
OBJECTIVES
Students will be able to evaluate text and video clips to build on an argument
Students will be able to create a thesis statement using the two sources, plus an additional source of their own
that either supports or opposes GMOs
ASSESSMENT/EVALUATION
All students will come in the next day, with a fully developed thesis statement based on the ideas generated
around the topic that will be used to write their argumentative essay. It will be with 90 % percent accuracy
that the students will have done this correctly for homework, or will have the chance to fix it because the
teacher the next day will check whether they have finished it or not, will check if it has at least three
supporting details that will be used to expand on their argument, and if it is written with proper sentence
fluency. If the thesis statement is incorrect, students will have a chance to fix it at the moment it is checked,
but teachers will move on after everyone has been checked for accuracy. This thesis statement is the
beginning to a chain of assignments that will produce an overall argumentative essay. If a student does not do
it, the student will receive a zero for incompletion, however can still write the overall paper where that will be
scored separately. This assignment is worth 30 points and will be an integral part of their overall grade for
the argumentative essay which also consists of a persuasion map, rough draft, and final draft.
PREREQUISITE KNOWLEDGE
Students will need to know key terms and the history to why genetically modified organisms were created.
MATERIALS
List of required materials.
VOCABULARY/KEY WORDS
Thesis statement: A thesis statement is usually one sentence that appears at the end of the first paragraph of
an essay, though it may occur as more than one. The thesis statement is developed, supported, and explained
in the course of the paper by means of examples and evidence.
Genetically Modified Organisms: An organism whose genetic material has been altered using genetic
engineering techniques.
Annotations: A note while reading or reviewing text that explains or summarizes what the text was about, or
what it meant to you.

TEACHING PROCEDURES
This is a co-taught lesson
The teacher will begin by stating there is constant debate within science on sustainability.
The teacher will ask if any of the students can think of any related topics in the science world that is
constantly in the headlines or being debated.
If it is not brought up, the teacher will state that genetically modified organisms is always a controversial
issue to many people and explain why.
The teacher will show the class Birk Baehrs Ted talk called Whats Wrong With Our Food System, and
ask the class what they believe this young boys stance on GMOs is.
Then the teacher will state what the students are doing today which is creating a stance of their own.
The class will then be split into two groups.
Once the class is split, one group will go with one teacher either outside or in the hallway, and the other group
will stay inside the classroom.
The teacher that is not in the classroom will read The Debate About GMO Safety Is Over, Thanks To A New
Trillion-Meal Study, by Jon Entine with their students. The students will popcorn read this GMO support
article. The teacher will stop often to discuss what is happening in the article, and some of the studies
provided in the article that will help them with their position choosing.
The co-teacher inside will show video clips that oppose genetically modified organisms from Food Inc., a
documentary based around the negative impacts of industrial food and their contributions to our planet and
society.
The students will be taking notes on these clips. Once the videos are done, the co-teacher will lead a discussion
on what they liked about the videos, what they did not like, what they agreed with or disagreed with. This will
give the co-teacher the opportunity to go over facts stated in the video that will benefit their thesis statements.
After each group is done they will switch and the teachers will repeat the process.
Once both groups will have had the opportunity to view both sides of the argument, they will discuss with
both teachers what they feel like they are leaning towards in regards to their stance on the argument.
They will discuss with each other briefly what they liked and did not like about the articles, what they agreed
with or disagreed with, and then come together as a class to share with the teachers. I will then assign the
homework.
The homework, as stated above in the evidence of mastery, is to create a thesis statement on which side the
students will be arguing. The student must be for, or against genetically modified organisms, and provide
three reasons why, which will be expanded on in their argumentative essay.
The teachers provided two sources, however it is up to the students to each obtain a third or more sources
from the internet, library, etc. They must use this source to eventually write their argumentative essay, and to
further build and solidify their thesis statement.
RESOURCES
Baehr B., (2010, August). Whats Wrong With Our Food System. Ted Talks Next Generation:
Asheville Retrieved from:
http://www.ted.com/talks/birke_baehr_what_s_wrong_with_our_food_system?language=en

Food, Inc [Motion picture]. (2009). Magnolia Home Entertainment.

Entine, J. (2014, September 17). The Debate About GMO Safety Is Over, Thanks To A New TrillionMeal Study. Forbes. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/jonentine/2014/09/17/the-debate-about-gmosafety-is-over-thanks-to-a-new-trillion-meal-study/2/
WAYS OF THINKING CONNECTION
This lesson connects to values thinking. Ultimately, it will be up to the students to decide which opposing side
aligns with their values more. Will they choose more local and organic non-biologically engineered food, or
will they choose food genetically modified that is cheaper, and lasts longer. Both types of foods have a
community and global impact that they can also use to either support or oppose GMOs. This is values
thinking because they are looking at the positive and negative consequences to genetically modified
organisms, and seeing which ends up balancing itself out more.