The objective of this lesson is for students to understand the purpose of the unit. The introductory lesson is important because it will clearly lay out objectives, use visual images to create anchors in students' minds, and ignite their curiosity. Anchoring is a practice used by many different teachers in a wide variety of classrooms. In this practice, students are shown a short video clip on the topic they will be reading. This creates a visual "file" in students' minds that allows them to anchor new information and develop interest in the coming topic. It is like the practice of exploring prior knowledge in order to make connections and is especially useful with students who may have few life experiences to relate with the material. This is a six-minute clip that uses a model to point out where the brainstem, thalamus, occipital, parietal, temporal, frontal, and cerebellum reside. It also shows the parts of a brain cell, the soma, nucleus, dendrites, myelin sheath, axon, and axon terminals and how they work. I would have them label a blank diagram the following day. That could be done as a whole class, in pairs as a scavenger hunt on the computer, or individually depending on students' needs. The assessment would be a written paragraph answering the question: What will we study in this unit? (In this unit, we will study the brain and how it works and how it learns.) What is the purpose for the unit and why it is important? (The purpose is for me to understand my metacognitive process and learn strategies to make my brain work more efficiently.)
