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.

For my first placement of Student Teaching in Bradford, PA my teacher asked me to plan out an entire unit that I would be teaching throughout my placement. The Unit that I planned was Chapter 5,  Polynomials for the Algebra 2 classroom. For this I had to read the textbook that is used at Bradford and look at all of the key topics of polynomials to then break the chapter into lessons and plan how long each learning segment would take to complete in the classroom. For each topic I then developed all of the notes and material that we would cover in Chapter 5 with the help of my Cooperating teacher. This unit plan included all lessons, assessments, projects, and reviews in all of Chapter 5. After I wrote the Unit Plan my teacher and I looked over it and he gave me feedback on which topics take longer for students, which topics may need less time, where is the best time for assessment, and other feedback. I took all of this feedback and was able to edit my unit plan before I taught the lessons during the placement. This shows that I take responsibility for student learning and can collaborate with colleagues to ensure learner growth through this planning and editing of the unit plan.

Artifact 2 - Collaboration with Parents

During my first placement in Bradford PA students were required to complete a common core project on a real life mathematical problem that incorporated topics they learned from all of Chapter 5. Several students had not finished this project and it was 2 weeks past due. I collaborated with my cooperating teacher on how I could help students complete this project to then bring up their grade. I had already informed the student they were missing the project and offered my help in free periods and before and after school to work on it with them. My cooperating teacher encouraged me to reach out to parents letting them know the ramifications of the project and how it might harm their child's grade in Algebra. My teacher had a good relationship with the student parents prior to this so he encouraged me to reach out. I emailed parents about their child's grade and how the project could help bring it up. I gave them all the information about the submission date, additional help if needed, and points that may be taken off for late submission. All the families were thankful that we let them know their child's situation and offered their help with getting the child to attempt the project. This shows my ability to take responsibility and collaborate with first the students then the families to ensure that this student has the best chances of learner growth and success.