9. Collaborative Relationships

9.) Collaborative Relationships: I must make good connections with the community. (Colleagues, parents, employers, etc.)

The teacher understands the role of the community in education and develops and maintains collaborative relationships with colleagues, parents/guardians, and the community to support student learning and well-being.

Knowledge Indicators - The competent teacher:

9A. understands schools as organizations within the larger community context.

9B. understands the benefits, barriers, and techniques involved in parent/family relationships.

9C. understands school- and work-based learning environments and the need for collaboration with business organizations in the community.

9D. understands the collaborative process.

9E. understands collaborative skills which are necessary to carry out the collaborative process.

9F. understands concerns of parents of individuals with disabilities and knows appropriate strategies to collaborate with parents in addressing these concerns.

9G. understands roles of individuals with disabilities, parents, teachers, and other school and community personnel in planning individualized education programs for students with disabilities.

9N. collaborates in the development of comprehensive individualized education programs for students with disabilities.

9O. coordinates and/or collaborates in directing the activities of a classroom para-educator, volunteer, or peer tutor.

9P. collaborates with the student and family in setting instructional goals and charting progress of students with disabilities.

9Q. communicates with team members about characteristics and needs of individuals with specific disabilities.

9R. implements and monitors individual students’ programs, working in collaboration with team members.

9S. demonstrates the ability to co-teach and co-plan.

Performance Indicators - The competent teacher:

9H. initiates collaboration with others and creates situations where collaboration with others will enhance students’ learning.

9I. works with colleagues to develop an effective learning climate within the school.

9J. participates in collaborative decision-making and problem-solving with other professionals to achieve success for students.

9K. develops relationships with parents and guardians to acquire an understanding of the students’ lives outside of the school in a professional manner that is fair and equitable.

9L. works effectively with parents/guardians and other members of the community from diverse home and community situations and seeks to develop cooperative partnerships in order to promote students’ learning and well-being.

9M. identifies and uses community resources to enhance students’ learning and to provideopportunities for students to explore career opportunities.

The film The Principal Story is a documentary following the daily lives of two principals. One, a veteran principal with an established program and the other, a 2^nd year principal at an unstable elementary school with brand new faculty. This documentary depicts the hardships experienced by teachers and administration in schools where the majority of students come from low-income families.

a. Everything that both of these principals do is stewardship to their respective visions. This is especially evident in Kerry Purcell’s (the veteran principal) actions. One of her visions was that every student increases their reading speed. She would go sit with students in the cafeteria and tell them how much they improved their words read per minute.

b. Kerry Purcell is also a great leader of instructional improvement. This is shown in the film when she is seen quizzing students with math flash cards. The students had to get the correct answer before they were allowed to go to recess.

c. Tresa Dunbar (the 2^nd year principal) created an amazing instructional environment. In the film, she attempts to help a struggling teacher by bringing in a veteran teacher to kind of “show her the ropes”. When this proved ineffective, Tresa had no choice but to replace the struggling teacher with someone more competent.

d. The example used in question “c” is also a fantastic example of Tresa Dunbar holding people accountable. Ms. Dunbar held Mrs. Dubin (the struggling teacher) accountable for not being able to control her classroom. Even after Ms. Dunbar sent an experienced teacher to help Mrs. Dubin with class management strategies, there was still no improvement. Because of this, Ms. Dunbar had to hold Mrs. Dubin responsible and replaced her.

Implementing a “Teach your parents how to Play” program into either of the schools depicted in “The Principal Story” would be somewhat of a difficult task.

a. The concept behind ‘teach your parents to play’ is just as you would expect; the student uses everything they learn in class from their teacher, and goes home to teach their own parents how to play their instrument.

b. In a low-income school, every student may not have an instrument to take home. This is a problem because it is pretty hard to teach some one to play violin… with no violin. Every student will need to have an instrument to take home or the project will not be successful. Not only is the instrument a factor, many of the parents in these areas may be working and not have time to participate in these activities. To accommodate, I can have the students teach other family members with more availability (older siblings, aunts, uncles, grandparents, or even older family friends etc.) If push comes to shove I can even ask my colleagues to participate and be a student in this project.

c. For my students to succeed, I must first give them a clear understanding of how to play their instrument themselves. You cannot teach what you don’t know. I will not limit myself to teach the students the just “how” to play the instrument, I will also teach them “why” the “how” works. With this deeper understanding they will easily be able to teach anyone else how to play.

d. This ability to teach and the experience gained by doing so will also reinforce their ability to play. This will ensure maximum achievement.

This is big world we live in and even though we think we can do everything by ourselves; we can't. Even if one could do everything by themselves, it would definitely be a lot easier if we had some help. This is why collaboration plays a huge part in making any good program, especially for one such as music where you can easily have 120+ kids in one class. Making good connections with the community is a big help, especially when you need any help with financial matters (fundraisers, etc) and setting up event. The more help you can get the better everything will be.

*The below picture was taken at a fundraising event that I participated in during high school. This event was the Jam for Sudan Fundraiser. This event invited a number of bands to perform in a festival style setting on our high school campus (Del Sol High School) in Las Vegas, NV. Half the proceeds went to school and the other half was sent to a charity to help those suffering in Sudan, Africa.