Reflect
View of Mustang Center (school gym) with purple and yellow flowers in front of it. Photo credit to Josh Rutledge.
Plans for the Future
As I reflect on the ideas that we have in place for implementing our vision of combined sensory classrooms at MSDB, I know we will have so much to overcome after finishing a school year in a less-than-traditional way. If anything, what our teachers have been able to do in the last few months, shows the ability to overcome challenges, resiliency in the face of adversity, and commitment to identifying ways to continue their students' learning. Hopefully, our educators can take their past in-class teaching skills and combine them with their new skill sets achieved through distance learning and be open to the idea of working with co-teachers to become stronger teacher leaders in dual sensory classrooms (either in traditional brick and mortar classrooms or online) as we still work to identify the best practice and approach to learning while also keeping everyone safe.
Current Competency Placement
Overarching Competency #1 - Adult Learning. Performing/Transforming. I have designed and implemented new learning opportunities for our staff and assisted in implementing events that utilize my colleagues' areas of expertise. (See Evidence C2 on Learn page showing initial placement marked with a circle and desired outcome for this competency marked with a star. Other evidence to support my growth in this competency found in Evidence D on the Learn page and Evidence A on the Do page. )
Overarching Competency #2 - Interpersonal effectiveness. Performing. I have encouraged others to take action in creating new learning environments for a shared benefit of all students and have lead discussions with stakeholders at the administrative level to develop this shared community. (See Evidence C3 on Learn page showing initial placement marked with a circle and desired outcome for this competency marked with a star. Other evidence in found in Evidence A and C on this current Reflect page.)
Cultivating Socially Just Learning Environments. Performing. I have created on-going support for staff in using accessibility features in technology to create a more socially just learning environment for a variety of students with diverse needs, while also recognizing the students' unique cultural backgrounds. (Please see Evidence A on the Do page.)
Facilitating Collaborative Relationships. Performing. I have worked on facilitating collaboration between the DHH and VI department staff members in order to innovate how we provide instruction to students. (Please see Evidence A on the Do page and Evidence A and B on this Reflect page).
The TLI Experience
The curriculum, especially the activities presented in the face-to-face portion of the TLI experience, helped me grow as a teacher leader in many ways. I was able to be an adult learner myself and gain skills in watching the TLI coaches and mentors, which lent themselves to my own growth as a teacher leader in my competency area of adult learning (Evidence A). My capstone project helped progress me from 'developing' to 'performing' in the area of "Interpersonal Effectiveness" by pushing outside of my own classroom and into the greater school environment of supporting my coworkers and encouraging them to share their skills with our colleagues to benefit all of our students (Evidence B). The curriculum and the chosen capstone project both increased my understanding of and reflection on how my own school addresses diversity, equity and cultural competence. The capstone project brought myself and my partner, Jen Wasson, to the table to work with our administrative team on shaping next year's programming in "Cultivating a Socially Just Learning Environment" and in "Facilitating Collaborative Relationships" within out instructional leadership competency area (Evidence C).
Evidence A (Reflect)
Picture of some of the staff following one of our events at MSDB to collaborate with both sensory groups.
Evidence C (Reflect)
Picture of blank survey sent to staff at the end of the 2019-2020 academic year. Survey constructed by J. Wasson and D. Rutledge in collaboration with the union and the administration team at MSDB. Survey results will help drive decision making for scheduling for next year.
Next Steps
My next steps to continue my growth as a teacher leader include reaching out to teachers that are still unsure or even unwilling to attempt dual sensory classrooms and find what we can do together to built capacity for understanding of student (and staff needs). I would like to encourage teachers that have started teaching these mixed populations to also begin modeling effective strategies so that they become teacher leaders, too. Additionally, for my own growth on the subject, I would like to reach out to other deaf and blind schools and see how they handle dual sensory classes to see if there are even more teacher leaders at the national level that can help support our school.
Jen and Denise working on their TLI capstone projects.
Valuable Experiences
The most valuable part of the TLI process for me was being able to effect change at my school to make it more inclusive. I'm not sure that when I started this project, I truly understood the importance of examining diversity, equity and cultural competence in relation to becoming a stronger teacher leader. I enjoyed the activities utilized at our face-to-face meetings to examine my own biases further. I modified and used some of those within my own classes with high school students. Ultimately, the capstone project that I worked on with my fellow TLI colleague became focused on identifying inequity in our school and working to transform current practices so that our students have a more socially just learning environment.