Note for students: This lesson plan template matches the model that is recommended in Preparing to Use Technology: A Practical Guide for Technology Integration. For support, consult your book to develop an original lesson plan.

Lesson Title:Let's cook tacos
Lesson Author:Kara Godfrey
Grade Level:Seventh Grade / Subject Area:Cooking a nutritious meal
Time Allotted for the Lesson: Express in number of class meetings and/or number of hours.
One class that is 60 minutes long.
Short Description of Lesson: Write a brief, yet concise, description of what occurs in this lesson (50 words).
In this lesson, the students will learn how to cook tacos. The steps are outlined in an interactive cooking wheel that displays a graphic of the activity coupled with an explanation.
The teacher will recall previous lessons. The teacher will use the interactive visual and describe each step to the students. Then, the students will use this visual to become more familiar with the lesson. The teacher will ask the students who have cooked tacos in the past to become team leaders for their group. The team lead along with a teacher's assistant will help determine who is assigned what tasks. The students will eat the tacos they made. Lastly, the students will do a blog entry.
Classroom Layout and Grouping of Students: Where will learning take place? How will the room be organized? How will students be grouped? (whole group, individuals, pairs, small groups, etc).
Where: classroom
Organized: computer workstations/desks facing the front of the room. The teacher will be in the front of the class and then will roam after initial presentation of the interactive visual of food groups.
Students grouped: 20 students total who will be grouped in small groups of 4 students (5 total groups)
State Curriculum Standards met in this lesson: Go to the state curriculum standards at
(use state standards where you are in preparation) and select the grade content/level appropriate standards that are being met in this lesson. Copy and paste below:
Grade Seven
Students are able to relate health choices (e.g., nutritional, physical activity) to alertness, feelings, and performance at school or during physical activity. Students exhibit a healthy lifestyle, interpret health information, and promote good health/good eating.

Knowledge and Skills

7.1The student will use knowledge of health concepts to make decisions related to personal safety and wellness, including nutrition. Key concepts/skills include
a)alternatives to gang-related behaviors and acts of violence;
b)recognition of harmful and risky behaviors;
c)the benefits of stress management and stress-reduction techniques;
d)development of strategies for coping with disappointment;
e)factors that affect school success;
f)the impact of difficult family situations;
g)development of healthy interpersonal relationships.
7.2The student will describe and exhibit the behaviors associated with a physically active and healthy lifestyles. Key concepts/skills include
a)the effects of nutrition on daily performance;
b)the importance of participating in recreational and leisure activities;
c)strategies for avoiding drugs, alcohol, tobacco, inhalants, and other harmful substances;
d)the impact healthy eating.

Information Access and Use

7.3The student will investigate and analyze the various factors that guide an individual’s decisions about health and wellness. Key concepts/skills include
a)the types of advertising techniques used to influence adolescents’ decisions;
b)the validity of information from different resources;
c)family practices and customs.

Community Health and Wellness

7.4The student will describe how family and community priorities influence an individual’s ability to reduce diseases and other health problems. Key concepts/skills include
a)the relationship of social and environmental factors to individual and community health;
b)the community’s financial resources dedicated to promoting health;
c)the community’s support of health services and partnerships;
7.5The student will work cooperatively with others to support and promote healthy schools, families, and communities. Key concepts/skills include
a)implementation of safe and healthy practices and behaviors;
advocacy and use of appropriate methods of expressing opinions on health issues;
National Education Technology Standards for Students (NETS•S) met in this lesson:Go to the and select NETS•S 2007 grade level profile (K-2, 3-5, 6-8, 9-12) the appropriate indicator(s) and standard) that are being met in this lesson. Copy and paste below.
Grade 7
The following experiences with technology and digital resources are examples of learning activities in which students might engage during Grades 6-8 (Ages 11-14):
1. / Gather data, examine patterns, and apply information for decision making using digital tools and resources. (1,4)
2. / Participate in a cooperative learning project in an online learning community. (2)
3. / Evaluate digital resources to determine the credibility of the author and publisher and the timeliness and accuracy of the content. (3)
4. / Select and use the appropriate tools and digital resources to accomplish a variety of tasks and to solve problems. (3,4,6)
5. / Use collaborative electronic authoring tools to explore common curriculum content from multicultural perspectives with other learners. (2,3,4,5)
6. / Integrate a variety of file types to create and illustrate a document or presentation. (1,6)
7. / Independently develop and apply strategies for identifying and solving routine hardware and software problems. (4,6)
Instructional Objective(s): Each instructional objective [learning outcome] for this lesson should identify the A, B, C and D – Audience, Behavior, Condition, and Degree. (Activities are NOT learning outcomes).
  1. Once the learners are presented with the data, 95% of them will be successfully work in team to cook and then enjoy homemade tacos.

Materials, Resources and Technology:
List all materials (textbook, other books, maps, crayons, research guides) technology resources (computers, printer, scanner, internet connection, cameras, etc) and web addresses that are needed for this lesson. If you are using copyrighted materials, you must include title, author, date, city and publisher.
Materials and resources needed for this lesson.
  1. Taco recipe
  2. Lean ground beef (5 lbs)
  3. Grated low fat cheese (5 cups)
  4. Low fat sour cream (1 pint)
  5. Five bags of pre-washed lettuce
  6. Fresh tomatoes (10)
  7. Salsa in a jar (5 jars)
  8. Tortillas (25)
  9. Taco seasoning packets (5)
  10. Plates
  11. Spoons
  12. Knives
  13. Napkins
  14. Potholders
  15. Cutting boards
  16. Colored aprons
Technology resources needed for this lesson
1.Shared PC and mouse
2. MS Word
3. Internet access
4. Search engine
5. Printer and paper
6. projector
Web Addresses needed for this lesson:
Website name (e.g. Yahoo), followed by the site’s complete web address (e.g.
1. n/a
Student’s Present level of Performance and Knowledge: Do the students have the adequate knowledge to complete the lesson successfully? What pre-requisite skills must the students have to complete the lesson content? Include technology skills.
Students will need to have basic computer, using the Internet, typing, and processing information skills.
Instructional Procedures
Lesson Set:
How will you open the lesson to motivate the students? How will you relate this lesson to previous learning & to real life experiences, to explain the importance of the learning to the students? (requires student involvement)
The lesson will open with a shared presentation, given by the teacher, that will explain that they all learned about proper nutrition and now it is time to move onto cooking a meal. Now that the students have learned the basic steps in cooking, they can make their own meal. Assigned team leaders will work with the teacher to follow the recipe (slowly as a class but to remain in groups). After the students eat their tacos they will update their blog with what they learned. The students will be encouraged to cook at home.
Techniques and Activities:
List the step-by-step activities in sequential order as they occur in the lesson. They clearly identify whatis to take place in the lesson. Within the procedures a variety of classroom teaching strategies (methods) are identified. Student centered activities are included as well as guided practice of the learning is included.
1. Watch and listen to the teacher's introductory presentation.
2. Students will use the interactive visual graphic to get involved.
3. Students will actually prep and cook tacos in this lesson.
Lesson Closure:
How will the lesson come to a close? The content should be summarized and related to future lessons, and actively involve the students.
This is the final lesson in this plan. The students will close with eating the nutritious tacos. While eating the tacos the teacher will lead discussions on previous lessons surrounding nutrition. The teacher will also discuss preparing additional healthy meals during the semester. The students will provide verbal feedback as well as in their blogs.
Adaptations for Special Learners: How will you adapt the learning/equipment for students with special needs?
To accommodate special learners, support will be given by teacher aides one-on-one.
Supplemental Activities - Extension and Remediation:Extensions are additional activities to expand learning on the lesson content. Remediation activities include methods to re-teach the learning for students who need more instruction/practice.
The extension for this lesson series is to involve the students in future healthy cooking activities. That way, those who struggled with the first cooking lesson and practice more when subsequent cooking activities.
Assessment/Evaluation:How will you measure the student’s success? Formally or informally? Formal evaluation of student work requires that a grade is taken while informal might be monitoring of work, or class discussion. This section should contain a description of the assessment process, the criteria for achievement, and performance levels. The criteria should directly align to objectives and instruction. Describe your plan for providing feedback to your students.
The student's success will be informally measured for this lesson. The student will be measure by the fact that they actively participated in preparing and cooking the tacos. Teacher feedback will be verbally to the class and/or one-on-one for those who need more guidance (or who did not pay attention). The teacher will grade the blogs at the end of the week on a pass/fail basis.
Student Products:What artifact(s) or products will result from the lesson? (such as a report, newsletter, diagram, slideshow, drawing, etc.)
The students will blog using MS Word, entering what they learned in this lesson. This blog will be used in the subsequent lessons on different lessons.
Adapted from PDF: Preparing to Use Technology: A Practical Guide to Curriculum Integration (2007)