My technology IEP

For this assignment I was to find an aspect or piece of technology that I was unfamiliar with or wanted to learn more about and create an IEP for myself and meet my IEP goals to achieve a goal of better understanding or mastery of a technology skill. I chose to use iMovie and creating digital stories because I want to be an expert with these applications and really be able to utilize them well in my classrooms, so practice, practice, practice is the key for me with these programs.

The iLife website and Jason Ohler's website, his book "Digital Story Telling in the Classroom" as well as support information and links to other MAT blogs given at the MAT Blogspot were integral in incorporating the iMovie and digital storytelling into my lesson.
I also found some useful information at this site about using digital stories and creating ePortfolios

I decided to incorporate the digital story into the Alaska Native Unit I was teaching.
The lesson culminates with the creation of an Alaska Native Digital Museum.

Students would create a Digital Museum incorporating one of the following themes:

--Comparing and contrasting beliefs systems of at least 3 Alaska Native groups

--How Geography shaped the culture of an Alaska Native group

--A in-depth showcase of an aspect (art, weapons, housing, food, lifestyle etc.) of one Native cultural group.

The links below are to the lesson plans I used that culminated in the creation of a digital story based on Alaska Natives.

AK Native lesson/Day 1

AK native lesson/Day 2

AK Native lesson/Day 3

AK Native lesson/Day 4

AK Native lesson/Day 5

AK Native Digital Story Lesson/ Day 6 & 7

AK Native Cultures grid

AK Native beliefs grid

AK Native Museum in the Classroom sheet

Numbers for AK Native Museum items

AK Native Culture Questions

The following is link to one of the Digital Stories I used as an example for this project : The Raven Story ©2007 WGBH Educational Foundation. All rights reserved. Video footage courtesy of Blueberry Productions. Teachers' Domain Collection funded by Education through Cultural and Historical Organizations (ECHO) and the US Department of Education. Downloaded from Teachers' Domain, http://www.teachersdomain.org

Here is another example of an Alaska Native Legend Digital Story.

I would like to take the lesson further in the future and have students create a Personal Digital Museum where they create a digital story of their own histories using artifacts, pictures, relatives and stories of their families.