Do

• Identify the part(s) of your plan you were able to implement.

Because I have taught these ideas for two years, I have implemented almost all of my Clovis Child lesson. The Montana Historical Society Foot Locker Stones and Bones is one of my favorite pieces of this lesson. These are hands-on activities and I had to have students choose which activity they wanted to participate in. If one was to actually teach the entire foot locker contents, that would take at least 3 to 5 days on its own. I have not yet done any of the assessment and look forward to doing them this coming year. These assessments would be an additional 2-3 days in the lesson.

• How successful was your plan of action at addressing the challenge?

Due to Covid, I was unable to teach the lesson I created in full. As I stated previously, I have taught my ideas informally the last 3 years. I do know that even the informal ideas I incorporated into my ancient history lesson was well received by my students. I was able to give my students the pre-assessment (needs assessment) and they were surprised how little they knew about the Montana Native Americans. I wish I had been able to carry this lesson out in full so I could answer this question in regards to how successful my plan of action of was.

Which stakeholders and practice or program were impacted?

Since I was able to teach parts of my lesson and have my guest speaker, I was able to impact roughly 180 sixth grade students in the fall of 2019. I was also able to present The Clovis Child lesson during the IEFA Symposium, via zoom. The following is the link for our Symposium Agenda (32):

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1WpZQ42YqsVuJKRZ8p2R-hvUrb8qyf7GzAwh8Bj9upDE/edit#gid=0

I need to mention that I invited a guest speaker, who is an archeologist and does work every summer teaching groups of people about Clovis Child and the history of United States Native Americas. She is a special education aide at my school and will be getting her education degree. My principal agreed to covering her normal schedule and allowed her to spend the entire school day in my classroom.

How do you know (site evidence)?

My teaching partner and I taught the informal, rough draft of my Clovis Child lesson. There were approximately 180 students in total for all of our classes who were exposed to this lesson and also were able to listen to our guest speaker presentation.

There were 32 teachers that participated in the zoom presentation for the IEFA Symposium. I presented for approximately twenty minutes. The link to my Clovis Child lesson was disseminated by one of the BPS IEFA Coaches.

As a side note, the Clovis Child lesson will be added to the Montana Office of Public Instruction Classroom Resources. It has not been added as of July 21, 2020 however, I will add the link in the hopes it will be added by the time my TLI Capstone is assessed (33):

http://opi.mt.gov/Educators/Teaching-Learning/Indian-Education-for-All/Indian-Education-Classroom-Resources#852719246-grades-6-8

• How were your four chosen competencies used in the implementation of your project?

1. Reflective Practice: I gave two surveys by means of google forms. The first survey was to gauge how many of my students knew details about the Montana Native Americas. I used this data to determine how and what I needed to teach to my students. The second survey I gave, I had sent to all of the teachers in the building I teach at. I got zero responses. I then emailed my social studies department (4 people) and two responded. I served as an IEFA Teacher Leader for my district and developed a lesson to share. I also met with an IEFA Coach to develop monthly IEFA lessons.

2. Personal Effectiveness: First I must say that I was more effective in my previous district. The principal I worked for encouraged her staff to collaborate on projects and lead committees. She guided us and supported us in all of our efforts. I was the 6th Grade Team Leader and held weekly meetings. wrote social studies curriculum, wrote English assessments and assisted in the development of city and state writing assessment rubrics based on the 6 Traits of Writing, under the direction of Montana OPI Director of Assessment. I was also part of the training of teachers on how to grade writing assessments. I do not have any documentation or evidence as this was in the 1990's and we did not have the technology we do now.

This past year I was able to rethink and further develop my teacher leadership skills and converse with stakeholders in regard to being on the IEFA Leadership Team and being a TLI Fellow. I was able to provide my Clovis Child lesson for professional development during the IEFA Symposium.

3. Explore and Challenge Inequity: I had to explore and challenge my own biases and challenge the inequity and white privilege I did not believe I had. One of the implicit bias tests I took was that of Native IAT and my results were that I had a strong association for white Americans. I knew at this time that there was divine intervention working through me. I had already met with an IEFA coach to help me develop monthly lessons for my social studies classes. When she and I met, I had the opportunity to have a heart to heart with her in regards to my own bias and ask her for clarification of my feelings. I spent the rest of the school year, which ended early during to COVID, making certain I was interacting fairly with all of my students. I made certain that I gave each and every student what they needed to be successful. I also allowed students from other cultures to share their rich histories. Even though it was a short year, it was full of growth for me personally. Along with my own personal growth, I was invited to work with the IEFA Leadership Team to develop IEFA lessons to be integrated in social studies.

4. Diversity-Equity-Cultural Competence: Coaching and Mentoring: My teaching partner, who is now retired, was a master teacher. Many times I would ask her to critique my lessons to be certain they encompassed all necessary parts. We also would share our lessons with two other social studies teachers to make sure we were preparing our 6th graders for 7th and 8th grade curriculum. We did this mostly during our PLC time. There were some difficulties with a trustworthy environment. Hopefully this year I can find ways to create a more welcoming environment.

• What obstacles, if any, did you encounter?

I do not feel I had any obstacles in the creation of and implementation of the Clovis Child lesson. In fact, I feel I have had much support from all stake holders. The one concern I had and still have, is that of other teachers being willing and finding the time to implement IEFA lessons. I sent a google form to the staff at my school, and I only got 2 responses. The lack of concern and response is in itself a response: teachers are not interested (Evidence: (36). https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1olDrFF7OAVyozBKvk54OnvgKawPdjBQz7cyy8wK1Swo/edit#responses

How did you address them?

I have not addressed this concern yet. With the closure of school I was unable to discuss these results with my IEFA coaches to determine a plan of action. I feel this issue is too large for me to bring a change of mind to teachers in the district. I am concerned that many others do not see the need to implement IEFA lessons.

• Given the outcomes, describe any changes you might make to the Capstone project plan of action.

I am beyond thrilled with how my idea of the Clovis Child lesson has bloomed over the last two years. This year, because of IEFA and TLI, I was able to solidify a formal lesson plan based on the 5 E model (Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, Evaluate). At this time, I do not see any changes I want to make. My hopes are that more teachers use this lesson and I can get feedback of any pieces that did or did not work. I will need to create a google form for those teachers who use this lesson.