Definition of "Collaboration, Ethics, and Relationships"
A teacher must be able to communicate and interact with parents or guardians, families, school colleagues, and the community to support student learning and well-being. An effective teacher cannot be an island. Every student has a team of adults that is advocating for their growth and success -- it is critical that a teacher becomes connected to this network of parents, paraprofessionals and special education teachers, guidance counselors, and other classroom teachers. When a teacher looks to improve his or her practice, it is nearly impossible to innovate alone -- new ideas are generated through discussion with a team, connecting with a digital network, and sharing challenges with others who understand the same needs.
Supporting Artifacts and Analysis
My artifacts demonstrate an ability and desire to work with a team, take a leadership role, and maintain ethical values that guide my daily actions.
Innovation Fair Committee and Presentation:
Byron Public Schools held its first innovation fair in Spring 2012. As someone who was passionate about innovation and excited about all of the initiatives going on throughout the district, I was asked to provide input and support for the event. The committee was an amazing opportunity to work with others in the district to design such an event. Our initial questions included the specific purpose of the fair, the format of the schedule, who would participate and in what ways, and how we would measure the effectiveness of the event. Though I spent a lot of the time learning from the rest of the committee members, it was exciting to contribute to discussion and take a leadership role in schedule logistics and event assessment. In the end, the event was very successful with positive feedback from employees in all of the buildings. The district intends to hold another similar event once or twice during the next school year.
In addition to helping with the committee, I volunteered to give a presentation during one of the event sessions on "Learning Through Games". After delivering the presentation, I recorded a screencast of the same presentation and embedded it below. My talk is about the use of games as a powerful motivator for students in the classroom. I also discuss the idea of using game mechanics to support the underlying structure of a course. Through this presentation, I was able to excite at least one other teacher who is developing a new simulation for his social studies students.
Professional Learning Community:
At Byron, each department has formed into a PLC. Before I arrived, the math team agreed on the Essential Learner Outcomes (ELOs) that each course would follow (this link is the core artifact for PLCs). The team's second major task was the development of common assessments for every course, giving the ELOs a shared means of evaluation across teachers and semesters. With these in place, the team could compare data between teachers and semesters to see what was working and what needed to be improved. At the time I joined the PLC, discussions of assessment results were standard practice. Like the rest of the group, I enjoyed sharing my data, the good and the bad, and looking for ideas on how to change things before the next unit.
PLC time also engaged me into the telling of the Byron High School math story -- after winning the Intel Schools of Distinction award in Washington, D.C., the team was constantly invited to present around the state and the continent. We also drafted articles that were published nationally and internationally. Early on, I was a mere observer, but as I became more involved in the day-to-day operations of the department and began innovating on my own, I started to contribute to the design of articles and presentations. The PLC has been an amazing group of people to work with, learn from, and contribute to and represents the best of professional relationships.
Code of Ethics:
The teacher's code of ethics is a set of 10 guidelines that outline minimum ethical behavior in the workplace. They focus on the balanced delivery of content to all students, keeping children safe in the classroom, protecting privacy of information, and honestly representing oneself as a licensed teacher. The artifact is a scanned test I took that required me to memorize each of the standards and rewrite them in my own words (attached below).
In practice, it is important not only to uphold these guidelines, but a much stronger set of personal standards and ideals. In this reflection on my leadership ideals, I discuss my minimum bar of ethical behavior and the desirable values I strive to live out. My key values include caring love, integrity, respect, learning, inclusiveness, joy, humility, change, patience, urgency, hard work, creativity, and influence (defined at the link above). In my first year as a teacher, despite the many challenges I faced, I am confident that I was driven by my values thanks to a supportive wife and pair of coaches that re-energize, re-focus, and inspire me each day.
Synthesis
One of my fears entering the teaching profession was isolation. Coming out of engineering school where nearly everything was collaboratively developed, I didn't want to end up in a place where I had nobody to share new ideas with, nobody to learn from, and nobody to work through tough problems with. Fortunately, my internship experience convinced me that this unfortunate reality in many schools need-not exist. My PLC, and in particular my coaches, have been an incredible source of energy, new ideas, support, and grounding as I get my feet wet with teaching. As I grow in experience, I hope to be able to contribute more and more back to my PLC team and my school community. In addition to forming collaborative relationships with my team, I remember to always live according to the state's, the school's, and my own ethical standards. Beyond this minimum bar, my values push me to care for others, work hard, and honestly represent myself at all times.