Overarching Competencies

Reflective Practice

Communication

Overarching Competenies: Reflective practice, Communication,

ARTIFACT Module 3

Competency 1 Creating an environment encouraging reflectionWhat strategy (or strategies) did you use to guide your stakeholders to respond, react, and reflect chosen Competency 1?During collaboration time in math we were discussing students lacking skills which were interfering with their division skills. We reflected on past teaching of division and multiplication in the lower grades, which was helpful because one teacher looped with her kids. We then enrolled in a class that focused on misconceptions in division to respond to the need we saw in our assessments.
How did you guide the stakeholders to respond, react, and reflect through chosen Competency 1?I attempted to guide my fellow team members to respond to the need of backtracking of strategies for our students by using assessment data to reflect on errors and misconceptions students showed and tried to lead them to understand moving through a pacing guide without understanding of previous concepts will get us only surface knowledge and students who know tricks of math but do not understand the true meaning behind the functions.
Why did you choose these strategy (or strategies) to guide the stakeholders to respond, react, and reflect through chosen Competency 1? We chose to take a class through the Teaching Learning Hub to guide our team on Math strategies and misunderstandings because we as a team learned that we all didn’t have the same understandings in math and we needed a common language and common set of teaching strategies in order to give all students the same opportunities. We also discussed how we can only teach what we understand so we need to understand what may not have been taught to us in the past so we can be better teachers.
What intentional leadership decisions did you make to address issues of diversity, equity, and cultural competence?I would say the only decision I made to address the issue of equity was to encourage my team to take the class on Division strategies. There are three of us on the team and we all come from a varied educational background, mine being highly focused on math and science, while one received her teaching credentials online, and another was from a rural school with a one room school house. Due to our diversity in our own educational background it was important for us to find a common ground to build on.
Competency 2: Create a shared vision based on student needs
What strategy (or strategies) did you use to guide your stakeholders to respond, react, and reflect chosen Competency 2?This was a difficult conversation with my team due to the differences of opinions on the pacing guide. Our school coach is adamant about following our pacing guide so we have been put in what i like to call a band-aid situation where we push forward whether students grasp the concept or not. To be able to stop and build understanding on concepts that are needed to progress forward, is a big step. Leading my team to reflect on their frustrations with students low scores and develop a plan of improvement and or a shared vision based on the needs of the students.
How did you guide the stakeholders to respond, react, and reflect through chosen Competency 2?I used the current assessments we had given students from the curriculum as well as the standardized testing we do through the school year. The assessments show students lack the basic facts to support more difficult math problems is inhibiting their forward progress in math. We had to have the discussion that we can not move to other concepts that rely on multiplication and division if the students are still needing a multiplication chart to figure out their facts. How can we teach fractions when students do not understand what division means. By enrolling in the class together we have been able to have productive discussions on what we understand about math and then form a team plan for improvement.
Why did you choose these strategy (or strategies) to guide the stakeholders to respond, react, and reflect through chosen Competency 2? I worked with another team member to develop this plan due to her being more open to discussing the struggles our students are facing. Then we were able to attend our grade level collaboration and bring to data to the table to show our third team member the need.
What intentional leadership decisions did you make to address issues of diversity, equity, and cultural competence?The intentional leadership decision I made was to use time in my carpool with my team member to reflect on the math skills my students are showing. This then encouraged her to reflect which made it easier to go to our third team member and have her look at her data and question her strategies for instruction. Again the diversity of our background as teachers makes the knowledge we have for a subject area different and in order to make sure our students receive an equitable education we need to work together. This also brought up the need for our culturally diverse group of learners to have an opportunity to work through the stages of learning, starting with manipulative due to a cultural significance of hands on learning.

Reflection:

First Overarching Competency:

When I began the Teacher Leadership process I chose to work on the competency of Reflective Practice. I placed myself on the scale as Emerging. Although Reflection is something I am plagued with, it is not something I do a good job of encouraging in others.

Second Overarching Competency:

The second competency I chose was Facilitating Collaborative Relationships through Communication. Being somewhat new to the community of teachers I am currently working with I placed myself at the Emerging level. I am in need of building relationships with not only my grade level team members but also teachers in the building as a whole as well as the district. The current situation between the 'town' schools and the 'reservation' school is one of a lot of misconstrued feelings and little to no interactions and collaboration. In order to encourage reflective practices for the benefit of the unique learners at my school it is imperative I develop trusting relationships and a collaborative culture with my peers as well as administration and instructors at the school where my students will transition.

Moving Forward:

My first steps in the process of moving toward Developing in both of these areas was to build my relationships with not only my team members but teachers at my grade level in our second elementary school and administration beyond my school. The building I work at is fifteen minutes from the District office and the other elementary school. I have reached out to learn the key players in administration, stopping by the district office once a month to pick up copies for our building and to casually introduce myself to the curriculum director, human resources, and our new superintendent. I have reached out the fifth grade team at our second elementary school but finding collabarative time is difficult. I have brought the graduation rate graphics to the attention of my administrator and looked at how enrollment goes down as the grade level rises. Looking at the data students begin to drop out in tenth grade and we think it is because of poor understanding of the school system. I have reached out to the administration and counselor at the Middle School, where my students will transition, and have had successful interaction with them. (Aritfact: Emails in Do Section)

We were able to adjust the Middle School visitation to better meet our students needs as well as have continued to talk through email and telephone conversations. (Artifact: https://sites.google.com/s/1oHHLqnKTn3CR35U2D1KouGKRZX5KWI0v/p/1zWKugnHR1TpOmGGi0RlgW6w2iegzkrPk/edit Video of Fifth Grade orientation)

Within my own building I am a co-leadership member for fifth grade and have helped begin a bi-weekly collaboration time after school. I have also engaged in before school collaboration with one member of my team but find my relationship with my second member to still be in the building relationship stage and it has not moved to an educational conversation, or reflection phase. I am a member of the Montana Behavior Team for my building and represent my grade level. We have successful meetings which allow us to reflect on behavioral data and have good conversations using the data to reflect on the reasons behind the issues we are tracking, however the conversations are currently not moving forward to the staff in order to discuss school-wide shifts. I am a part of two math groups in the state which collaborate monthly to share ideas to better meet the needs of our rural students, as well as I am collaborating with organizations in my nearby community to bring additional science resources into my building.

What I can do:

Remaining stagnant as the rest of the district, school, parents, wait for someone to make a move and ponder the possibilities isn't a direction I am able to take. Reflecting on current curriculum, teaching practices, and students makes it impossible for me to provide an equitable environment for learning without making some changes. Luckily I have been able to work closely with one of my teammates and a consultant from a reading grant. In addition I currently am in charge of new hire support and we have been given permission to move away from our Basal reader to better meet the needs of our students with resources more relevant to their lives. This has given us the opportunity to discuss issues facing our students in our current culture. We have diverted our social studies curriculum to encompass the path of the Native Americans in our country, specifically the native nation our school resides on. This has, in turn, drove my students to create POD casts ( Artifact Context: Who they are) to inform students around the country that Native American kids have the same likes, dislikes, and dreams.

Artifact : Module 1 Reflection

What did you learn?

Answer Submitted

*Design thinking is larger than the small idea of design * We can't define people by one story. We must see a variety of stories to understand a culture as a whole. *think and work together in new ways to experience life differently. We are not able to figure things out alone

How will you apply this understanding to your leadership growth?

Answer Submitted

*I will understand the importance of this group and working together to grow and solve problems. *I will understand everyone has a story and that story is filled with chapters that need to be read before I can understand them as a person. *Thinking small gives us small ideas, thinking large gives us large and great ideas

How might your own biases and personal values impact your leadership skills and abilities?

Answer Submitted

Personal biases are directly related to the talk I listened to about "one story" So many of us have meant one person or maybe a few and have generalized all people from that city, culture, family, neighborhood, the same and haven't looked beyond the bias and or values of that small group.

Review commentsConnie, these answers are just as amazing as the others you submitted, but I think you may have submitted more than once. I still love your thoughts. In the future you only need to fill this out one time, after the virtual webinar.

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