The first artifact I chose was the “Day at a Glance” assignment. We were given a fictional student’s daily schedule and IEP goals and were responsible for choosing which specific IEP goals worked for each blocked time in the schedule, as well as the specific accommodations that would best fit each part of the schedule. This would probably connect best with Standard 1 of the Common Core Teaching Standards, which had to do with understanding the different needs of each student. While a lot of these standards do not mention things like accommodations, this one makes the most sense because it has to do with individual differences and understanding how to give every student the best chance to succeed.
Since I want to be a secondary history teacher, an IEP assignment for an elementary school student may not fit perfectly with what my schedule is going to look like. However, this will still be helpful for my career as IEPs and accommodations are still needed in high school settings and it is my job as a teacher to understand these in order to promote equity in the classroom and give every student every opportunity to succeed.
The second artifact I chose was a lesson plan with accommodations built into it. The lesson itself is an elementary school life science and identifying the needs of a zebra. The second part required us to go over a fictional student’s IEP goals and implement them into the lesson as accommodations. This one would also connect to Standard 1 for the Common Core State Standards for similar reasons as the first artifact. All students learn differently, so understanding that and providing accommodations for those students so they have every chance to succeed in the classroom is important for my classes to succeed at the highest level.
Once again, an elementary lesson plan is not one that will carry over into my career, however, this was still a very important assignment. All teachers create lesson plans, so while mine will look different from this one, the format is still generally the same and it is something I will have to do. Practicing the implementation of IEP goals into a lesson plan is an important skill to learn before I actually have to for real.
