Standards:
#9 – Professional Learning and Ethical Practice: The teacher engages in ongoing professional learning and uses evidence to continually evaluate his/her practice, particularly the effects of his/her choices and actions on others (learners, families, other professionals, and the community), and adapts practice to meet the needs of each learner.
#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.
Evidence:
#9: ST Professional Development Plan, ST Classroom Environment, ST 15 Week Reflective Journal, Why Does California Shake While Maine Doesn't?, NOTESHEET Wabanaki Involvement in the Revolutionary War
#11: ST Unit Plan Mentor Feedback Form, ST 15 Week Reflective Journal, Sample Communication w/ Families
Reflective Statements:
Professional Learning & Ethical Practice: One aspect I couldn’t include in the evidence column is that every Friday is a half-day for IIS students, whereas for staff, the normal school day hours (7-3) remain. This overlap, where the students aren’t here, is dedicated to cultural professional development, PLC groups, or mandated training. During an in-service day, we received active shooter training, which resulted in me obtaining a certification. I’ve maintained relationships with community members by attending cultural events outside of the school day, such as community days, senate hearings, and community service events. Being culturally aware, accurate, and responsive is very important in maintaining the preservation of this community. I’m taking a class on campus right now alongside this internship in Wabanaki Contemporary Issues, taught by a community member, and I’ve inquired about certain cultural norms and practices when delivering violent history to my young students. He’s helped tremendously.
I was part of a conversation with the Wabanaki representative for the Maine DOE on an in-service day, where there was a discussion about how a lot of the interdisciplinary lessons had been lost with the retirement of a community knowledge keeper. So, I used this as an opportunity for me to create an interdisciplinary lesson using these resources, like my professor and other community members. I was tasked with creating an interdisciplinary lesson on Wabanaki Involvement in the Revolutionary War by my mentor teacher during this time, and it went so well.
A final professional development activity/training that I participated in was a monthly cultural professional development. The Wabanaki languages teacher, who also taught me Penobscot/Passamaquoddy/Wolastoqey at UMaine last year for my Native Studies minor, uses one Friday a month for teaching staff important phrases/words in the language. He is essentially living history and a testament to the strength of the Wabanaki people. His first language wasn’t English; it was Passamaquoddy, and he was born on the inland reservation of Indian Township in Maine. Throughout his lifetime, he has been moved to different reservations in Maine and New Brunswick, Canada, to avoid being sent to a boarding school, where he would be stripped of his native identity and roots. We often forget how close we are to some of the most horrific events in American history, being only a couple of generations separated from then and now. Due to his family’s efforts, he’s fluent in the native language and has done a lot of work in healing generational trauma through language revitalization. Every time that we had a language lesson during my time here, I was so thankful to kind of be a student of his again, because I find this knowledge to be equally as fascinating as it is important.
Leadership and Collaboration: At the beginning of my student teaching experience, I started making connections with other staff members in the building immediately. I had known a couple of staff members from taking classes at the university, but I wanted to really integrate myself into the school community. So during my first week, I began working with Kevin LaFlamme, who is the 8th-grade homeroom teacher, 5-8 science teacher, and the XC/track coach. He was doing a unit with middle school on argumentative writing for their chosen science topic, so I created a persuasive writing unit for grade 5 in tandem with this, which also aligned with state standards. The students took to it really well, and got an opportunity to learn how to address a letter in the meantime.
I also stepped up as a chaperone for a lot of field trips. There was a skiing field trip during my first placement, and my first mentor teacher wasn’t available to chaperone, so they had me step in for the day, since I have a lot of experience on skis. I ended up having a great time with the students and got to know the older ones a little better before eventually ending up in their homeroom/science class for the latter half of my internship. I was able to take a group on the advanced trails, and it was honestly perfect weather. For our next field trip, we went to Leonard’s Mills to watch the alewives run up their fish ladder. I was staff for this one and helped out a lot of students stay on the right track because a lot of them were kind of confused. We also went to a tribal farm, where there were beautiful trails along the Penobscot River. During this time, I got to learn a lot from the Wabanaki language teacher, as him and I have a relationship that predates my time at IIS, he told me a lot about important cultural landmarks, creation stories, and we used this as a time to also clean up the trails a little bit, as this farm is put on an old landfill for the Old Town Mill. He also asked me about what my plans were after graduation, and expressed gratitude for what I have contributed to the school and larger Wabanaki community during my time here.