IEP Reflection

Abstract: The goal of this assignment was to create an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) for myself, which would increase my knowledge and skills of incorporating technology into the classroom. This was a challenging task, as I have often tried to incorporate technology into my Yaakoosge Daakahidi classroom and it has, more often than not, proven unsuccessful. Thankfully, and not a moment too soon, I was afforded the opportunity to spend the final quarter of my internship at Dzantik'i Heeni Middle School. I was welcomed into a Language Arts/Social Studies class, mixed with seventh and eighth graders, and they were beginning to study the Westward Movement. Lance (my new mentor) and I decided to divide the subject up into two sections to be taught by each of us separately. I was to teach students about the American perspective and history of the Westward Movement and Lance was going to teach the Native American perspective and history. I decided that it would be a beneficial assignment, for my students (and myself) to improve on our technology skills, if I incorporated technology into the classroom for the unit project by having the students make digital stories about events and persons of the West that we had not discussed in class. My unit had to be condensed (the Sparknotes edition of the West if you will) and thus I wasn’t able to teach and discuss with the students all of the fascinating history (fact and fiction) of the west. It was these topics (i.e. Billy the Kid, Wyatt Earp, Cowboys, California Gold Rush) that students would create digital stories about.

Click here to read my reflection of my IEP project in its entirety