Standard 4 - Learning Environment – The competent teacher structures a safe and healthy learning environment that facilitates cultural and linguistic responsiveness, emotional well-being, self-efficacy, positive social interaction, mutual respect, active engagement, academic risk-taking, self-motivation, and personal goal-setting.

Classroom Website Rationale

My classroom website: Ms. Slattery's 2nd Grade Classroom is a website I designed as a resource for parents, students, and prospective employers. This website was created in accordance with Illinois Teaching Standard 4 - Learning Environment, by providing and facilitating a resource for parents and students. Complete transparency with parents allows for open and effective communication. Allowing parents the opportunity to know who I am as a person creates comfortability that will affect and impact students in a positive way.

Developing this classroom website increased my understanding of my own pedagogy, this occurred while creating my mission statement for parents to understand my personal beliefs about my students (their children). The mission statement on my example classroom website states: Teaching is both a beautiful & sacred gift! It is my belief that students of ALL abilities deserve an education that will impact & change their lives for the better! As an educator, I believe it is my duty serve each individual student in their entirety. I believe to serve in this way, educators must focus on all aspects of the student: mentally, physically, emotionally, and academically.

While creating this example classroom website, I experienced just how detailed and precise effective educators have be when communicating with parents. The effective teacher works in collaboration with not only schools, districts, and communities, it is imperative that they collaborate with parents and students on a personal level. Educators work to enhance growth and development in the children of the parents in the community. As we provide resources for parents and students to access, we increase the odds of creating a welcoming, collaborating, & knowledgeable community.