Standard #10
Leadership and Collaboration
The teacher seeks appropriate leadership roles and opportunities to take responsibility for student learning, to collaborate with learners, families, colleagues, other school professionals, and community members to ensure learner growth, and to advance the profession.
What the Standard Means?
This standard requires teachers to go beyond the daily instructional tasks of a classroom teacher and collaborate with other educators and community members to seek out and promote extra educational learning and leadership opportunities. By doing so, teachers show that they are aware of the important role that parents, community members, and other school professionals play in a student's education. The standard also explains that as professionals it is critical that teachers are advocates for their students, the school and school district they serve, and the teaching profession.
Artifacts
What the Standard Means?
This standard requires teachers to go beyond the daily instructional tasks of a classroom teacher and collaborate with other educators and community members to seek out and promote extra educational learning and leadership opportunities. By doing so, teachers show that they are aware of the important role that parents, community members, and other school professionals play in a student's education. The standard also explains that as professionals it is critical that teachers are advocates for their students, the school and school district they serve, and the teaching profession.
Artifacts
Artifact #1
Artifact #2
Why the artifact was chosen and how it is an appropriate representation of the standard?
The first artifact above displays pictures taken from the family STEM festival held at the University of Dubuque. Prior to the event, I volunteered as a STEM Champion, which required me to promote the festival to the Marshall students and staff through sending a classroom newsletter home, hanging up posters around the school, adding the date to the school calendar, and volunteering the day of the event. During this process, I collaborated with another STEM Champion, a fellow student teacher in the building, and our science content leader.
At the festival, local area organizations came together to provide free educational learning experiences for children related to the fields of science, technology, engineering, and math. A variety of local organizations brought exhibits to display for the kids. For example, a local business, Alliant Energy, challenged students to find the optimal angle to place windmill blades for them to turn productively, Keystone AEA brought iPads with educational games for students to play, and John Deere brought legos for students to design and create objects with. As I walked around, I noticed that students were enjoying themselves and learning through the hands-on activities that community members designed.
Promoting and attending the STEM Festival displays my performance of 10(e), "Working with school colleagues, the teacher builds ongoing connections with community resources to enhance student learning and well being," and 10(i), "The teacher seeks appropriate opportunities to model effective practice for colleagues, to lead professional learning activities, and to serve in other leadership roles." Many of the activities that the students participated in were different than what they do in the classroom, therefore, the STEM festival enhanced their learning and provided me with the opportunity to serve in a leadership role.
The second artifact is a picture taken from a Multi-Tiered Systems of Supports (MTSS) meeting with the school's instructional coach, my cooperating teacher, and myself and pictures of the Individualized Education Plan (IEP) put into place as a result of our collaboration. I participate in MTSS meetings weekly to discuss and address any students concerns, particularly students that are struggling with academics and behaviors.
In this specific picture, we are looking at the data from the DIBBLES assessments and discussing a student's academic performance in relation to his 1st grade peers. Unfortunately from the data collection, we observed that his math and reading interventions were not indicating much progress. So, we agreed that the next step was to request parent consent to proceed with an academic evaluation to be completed by a school psychologist from Keystone AEA. After parent consent and evaluation, it was determined that this child qualified and would benefit from special education services. Without the collaboration between myself, my cooperating teacher, the instructional coach, and the school psychologist it would have been challenging to access the resources needed to meet the needs of this student. This is just one example of how I have collaborate with other professionals in my building to best meet the needs of my students.
The collaboration between various school professionals that MTSS meetings promote align with 10(b), "The teacher works with other school professionals to plan and jointly facilitate learning on how to meet diverse needs of learners," and 10(n), "The teacher knows how to work with other adults and has developed skills in collaborative interaction appropriate for both face-to-face and virtual contexts."
How the artifact represents growth and development as a teacher.
The experiences mentioned above have been unique to my student teaching placement and have expanded my knowledge of the amount of school and community resources available to enhance and support students' learning. Specifically, I experienced the valuable role that an instructional coach and an Area Education Agency (AEA) plays in supporting teachers and students. With an AEA's employees ranging from school psychologists to behavioral specialists, they have the experience, background, and skills to support teachers with any concerns that arise in the classroom. Awareness of and willingness to collaborate with these types of school and community resources shows that helping my students achieve success is at the center of my teaching philosophy. Thus, I admit that I may not always have the answers, especially as a new teacher, but I am committed and willing to seek out professional guidance and support if it will benefit a student's learning.
The first artifact above displays pictures taken from the family STEM festival held at the University of Dubuque. Prior to the event, I volunteered as a STEM Champion, which required me to promote the festival to the Marshall students and staff through sending a classroom newsletter home, hanging up posters around the school, adding the date to the school calendar, and volunteering the day of the event. During this process, I collaborated with another STEM Champion, a fellow student teacher in the building, and our science content leader.
At the festival, local area organizations came together to provide free educational learning experiences for children related to the fields of science, technology, engineering, and math. A variety of local organizations brought exhibits to display for the kids. For example, a local business, Alliant Energy, challenged students to find the optimal angle to place windmill blades for them to turn productively, Keystone AEA brought iPads with educational games for students to play, and John Deere brought legos for students to design and create objects with. As I walked around, I noticed that students were enjoying themselves and learning through the hands-on activities that community members designed.
Promoting and attending the STEM Festival displays my performance of 10(e), "Working with school colleagues, the teacher builds ongoing connections with community resources to enhance student learning and well being," and 10(i), "The teacher seeks appropriate opportunities to model effective practice for colleagues, to lead professional learning activities, and to serve in other leadership roles." Many of the activities that the students participated in were different than what they do in the classroom, therefore, the STEM festival enhanced their learning and provided me with the opportunity to serve in a leadership role.
The second artifact is a picture taken from a Multi-Tiered Systems of Supports (MTSS) meeting with the school's instructional coach, my cooperating teacher, and myself and pictures of the Individualized Education Plan (IEP) put into place as a result of our collaboration. I participate in MTSS meetings weekly to discuss and address any students concerns, particularly students that are struggling with academics and behaviors.
In this specific picture, we are looking at the data from the DIBBLES assessments and discussing a student's academic performance in relation to his 1st grade peers. Unfortunately from the data collection, we observed that his math and reading interventions were not indicating much progress. So, we agreed that the next step was to request parent consent to proceed with an academic evaluation to be completed by a school psychologist from Keystone AEA. After parent consent and evaluation, it was determined that this child qualified and would benefit from special education services. Without the collaboration between myself, my cooperating teacher, the instructional coach, and the school psychologist it would have been challenging to access the resources needed to meet the needs of this student. This is just one example of how I have collaborate with other professionals in my building to best meet the needs of my students.
The collaboration between various school professionals that MTSS meetings promote align with 10(b), "The teacher works with other school professionals to plan and jointly facilitate learning on how to meet diverse needs of learners," and 10(n), "The teacher knows how to work with other adults and has developed skills in collaborative interaction appropriate for both face-to-face and virtual contexts."
How the artifact represents growth and development as a teacher.
The experiences mentioned above have been unique to my student teaching placement and have expanded my knowledge of the amount of school and community resources available to enhance and support students' learning. Specifically, I experienced the valuable role that an instructional coach and an Area Education Agency (AEA) plays in supporting teachers and students. With an AEA's employees ranging from school psychologists to behavioral specialists, they have the experience, background, and skills to support teachers with any concerns that arise in the classroom. Awareness of and willingness to collaborate with these types of school and community resources shows that helping my students achieve success is at the center of my teaching philosophy. Thus, I admit that I may not always have the answers, especially as a new teacher, but I am committed and willing to seek out professional guidance and support if it will benefit a student's learning.