Indicator 2: Teachers participate in meetings that establish policy.
While Student Teaching, I have participated in all Staff Development meets as well as Grade Level meetings. The Staff Development meetings often established school wide policies, such as a new Cafeteria system I helped to enforce. Grade Level meetings generally established what content was going to be covered in the next weeks as well as what school policies would benefit second grade. In addition to these meetings, I have also attended Individualized Education Plan meetings as well as Student Support Team meetings. These meetings are intended to serve students who require Special Education Services and or programs. Much of the processes involved with an IEP or an SST meeting is legal and confidential and establishes which services are best for the student.
Indicator 3: Teachers communicate with parents, guardians, and caretakers to build partnerships between home and school.
During my Student Teaching internship, I met with nearly every parent at a parent teacher conference with my cooperating teacher, Janice Morgan. During this time I always introduced myself and discussed with them things that I had noticed about their child's academic performance and made suggestions that the parent could do at home. Janice or I would also always ask what the parents noticed at the child at home, and ask if there were any suggestions they would like to make for us as teachers for their child. Giving parents a chance to be an active participant in their child's education really helps for them to feel as if their opinions are valuable. This is the type of relationship that I plan to build with parents, guardians, and care-takers of my future classroom.
Indicator 4: Teachers participate in the selection of textbooks and resource materials that augment the elementary curriculum such as atlases, maps, children’s literature, and software.
Often times while teaching, I have incorporated children's literature into the lesson. I have chosen which texts to select using the school's library, my personal library, as well as Janice Morgan's personal library. I have also incorporated tools, such as maps, thermometers, and globes into the classroom environment.
Indicator 5: Teachers communicate with administrators concerning their needs including funds for field trips and guest speakers, materials unique to specific subjects and special projects, and professional development study and travel.
During this internship, the Second Grade Team adopted a new Writing Program, Lucy Calkins. Assistant Principal Tina Rembach and Instructional Resource Teacher Wanda McCorkle met with us to teach the program and distribute the books that were required to follow the program. The administrators distributed the books and I had a copy as well. When it became apparent that we would need more resources, Janice and I asked the administrators for the tools that the program required, and they happily assisted in providing those tools.
Indicator 6: Teachers welcome classroom observation by other professionals and initiate professional dialogue regarding teaching methods and instructional delivery.
Throughout Student Teaching, I was observed by Mary-Jo Lentz. These observations resulted in formal evaluations as well as professional conversation regarding my personal performances. In addition to Ms. Lentz observations, Janice Morgan also observed, evaluated and discussed my teaching performances. Each Thursday, Janice Morgan and I met to discuss the next week's lessons, as well as the past week's performances. Ms. Morgan also completed and discussed with me a Midterm and Final Evaluation of my performances.
Indicator 7: Teachers encourage participation in civic and volunteer activities.
I have always believed in being active in the community and being available during volunteer situations as a teacher. While Student Teaching, I have volunteered my time for an After School Spring Concert. Prior to the concert I checked students and parents into the school. Before the students went on stage, I monitored their behavior, as well as prepared them for the show (made sure costumes were on and we practiced the songs.) After the show, I checked the students out with their parents and then helped to clean up the chairs and stage after everyone had left. I feel that being there for the students was important. It told them that I was proud of them, and that I wanted to be a part of their personal lives.
Indicator 8: Teachers research and learn to apply best practices in elementary education and participate in the dissemination of those ideas.
During this internship, I have used many resources in order to approach different topics. In Writing, the Grade Level has adopted a new program, Lucy Calkins Writing Workshops, which has been proven to be an effective method of writing instruction. As a grade level we have been reading and researching and practicing this type of instruction, helping us to best disseminate the lessons in the text. In addition to Lucy Calkins, I have found other teachers as an appropriate resource for myself as a new teacher. They are aware of what can work and what is unreasonable in the classroom because of their prior experience. One question I ask a lot to Janice Morgan as well as other teacher regards to how much time things should take with students. Because I am a new teacher, time is an issue that I am finding to be very challenging, but asking teachers has helped me a lot in making these decisions appropriately.
Indicator 9: Teachers understand the importance of collaborating with colleagues to strengthen content, research, and pedagogy as well as with the community to provide quality instruction that meets state competencies.
I have attended Grade Level as well as School Improvement meetings during this internship. I have frequently been made aware of the necessity of cooperation between teachers and staff to help strengthen the quality of the students' education. When teachers on the grade level work together to create common assessments and even common course work, the students across the grade receive a more balanced education between classes. This process also helps the teachers because they are not required to develop every single lesson plan on their own. Using their colleagues as resources, I have noticed, it is helpful for timely and creative planning. When teachers have used common assessments, it is easy for administrators to analyze the data across the grade level because the students were taking the same assessment. Rather than trying to decipher assessments objective by objective and than comparing objectives between classes, it is very easy to look at each problem or the whole test and compare the scores; increasing the validity of this comparison.
Indicator 10: Teachers advocate for the rights and welfare of their students by involving appropriate school and community human resources in meeting the individual needs of each students.
During this internship, I have had the opportunity to be a part of the referral process for a student who qualified for special services with in the school. The child had emotional issues due to a death in the family as well as social and academic areas of concern. I attended Student Support Team meetings that allowed the student access to services with the school Guidance Councilor including Social Skills Training, One on One Support, as well as Weekly Lunches with her peers. In addition to receiving services with the Guidance Councilor, she was referred to an Individualized Education Plan Team meeting. At this meeting we discussed services that would benefit the student, such as and Occupational Therapist evaluation for fine motor skills and balance areas. She also was referred for evaluation for Special Education Services in Math and Language Arts. Being a part of these series of meetings has helped me to learn the processes for serving the needs of every student in my classroom. Students who would benefit from these services and resources need teachers who are willing to take the time to go through the processes and referrals to make them available to the student. </FONT>
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