TRB 4

The evidence I have chosen to represent my ability to demonstrate the requirements of TRB 4 includes: a project I designed during my practicum which requires students to photograph and upload their images to their online portfolio in order to share it with their parents/guardians/families; a photograph of student work on display in the hallway at Dover Bay Secondary for the school community to view; and my involvement in the SD68 Student Art Exhibit at the Port Theatre, December 2018.

As a parent with two children in the public school system right now—one in elementary and one in secondary—I bring my personal experience, with respect to understanding, respecting and supporting the role of parents, guardians, families and communities in schools, to my teaching practice. I feel most parents/guardians/families care deeply about the future of their children and view education as a way to ensure that they will be able to be self-sufficient functioning members of society in the future. Having this ability to function independently is the reason I feel self-efficacy is critical in terms of educational goals for children in the public school system. My personal experience as a parent also gives me a great deal of empathy for the struggles parents/guardians/families face on a day to day basis. The struggles of parents/guardians/families who are marginalized in any way, are further compounded, and will require even more of my support as a teacher in terms of their children’s educational needs. 

In addition to empathizing with parents/guardians of the students in my classroom, I recognize that their involvement and attitude towards their children’s education has a major impact on how well students are able to function in the classroom. Most parents/guardians/families are interested in what their children are doing and learning at school. When students make the transition from elementary to secondary school, the connection between teachers and parents/guardians/families is less direct. As a result, I plan to use technology like Google Classroom, to try to maintain a connection with parents/guardians/families through making their children’s work accessible through online eportfolios. This will allow parents/guardians/families to stay connected to their children’s learning and continue to support their children’s education at the secondary school level. Online portfolios are useful for all subjects but I feel they are especially important for visual arts and photography courses. Integrating the use of online portfolios into my classroom practice, demonstrates my recognition that the involvement and support of parents, guardians & families in schools, is not only valuable, but critical to education.

Unfortunately, very real obstacles to using technology as a way to facilitate the involvement and support of parents, guardians, families exist such as: technological poverty and computer literacy. 

“...one of the biggest barriers to implementing educational technology into the classroom is “Technological poverty,” as some are calling it. This is when low-income students and school districts do not have access to technology. Even if they did, it doesn’t necessarily mean they have access to the Internet or even have the computer literacy skills to use it. Even if some schools did have some sort of ed-tech device in their classroom, it doesn’t mean that the students have any access to the same device or the Internet at home.” (Cox, 2019)

These obstacles require teachers to come up with creative approaches to involving parents/guardians/families in their children’s educational journey. Student led conferences as well as parent/teacher conferences are traditional ways schools have approached developing relationships between educators and parents/guardians/families. Another way to connect student learning with parents/guardians/families and the community, is through exhibitions of student artwork. During my practicum at Dover Bay Secondary school, I noticed students stopping to view student work presented in the glass display cases in the hallway. Sometimes students were enthusiastically showing their work to friends, and sometimes students were just taking it in on the way past. Regardless, exhibiting students’ artwork in display cases around the school, is one way of helping visual arts students connect the rest of the school community. 

Similarly, but on a larger scale, a few times a year “The Port Theatre exhibits work from Nanaimo Ladysmith Public Schools – School District 68 students throughout the 3rd floor galleries.” (The Port Theatre, n.d.) During my first practicum at Dover Bay Secondary School I was able to attend the opening night of the Port Theatre’s first Semester SD68 student exhibition. In addition to lending my support to the students I worked with during my practicum, I was also able to meet some of the students’ parents, as well as the other art teachers working in the district through my sponsor teacher. Attending this exhibition was both an enjoyable, and valuable part of my learning experience as an educator. The experience clearly demonstrated how students can benefit through being invited to share their educational efforts with the community. The exhibition allowed parents, guardians, families, students, educators and members of the general public to interact with each other, in the context of student achievement, in a beautiful space provided by a major local cultural organization. 

The event was a celebration of the students’ hard work, which is something everyone involved should feel proud of. Building self-esteem especially in adolescents, is a critical component for their healthy development. I believe gaining public exhibition experience like this can help support the development of students’ self-confidence as both artists and active, appreciated members of their community. This exhibition also represents an excellent way to introduce students to the resources available to them in their communities outside of school. Students need to know that public facilities such as museums, art galleries, and performance venues, are available to them as members of the community. They need to be aware that local culture is alive, that they are contributors to that local culture, and that the organizations that support it exist to support life-long learning in communities. Inspiration is important to secondary students, especially when our mainstream media seems to favour disasters and more dystopian themed contemporary culture. Students need hope for the future, and they need to know that as educators we truly value and depend on the support of their parents, guardians, families and communities in regards to their education.

As an educator who understands, respects and supports the role of parents and the community in the education of students, I am committed to developing and implementing creative ways to communicate effectively and in a timely manner with parents about their children’s learning. As a teacher who is also a parent with children of my own, I will always seriously consider parent’s, guardian’s, and families’ advice on matters pertaining to their children. I feel through demonstrating my understanding of both the possibilities and limitations of technological and traditional approaches—such as online portfolios and parent/teacher interviews—to building relationships, with children’s support networks, I have demonstrated my competence in terms of meeting the expectations detailed in TRB 4. Likewise, my awareness of how both, the immediate school community and the larger local community play an important role in supporting the educational development of students, supports my ability to uphold the expectations as described in TRB 4.

Works Cited

Cox, J. (2019). Overcoming Barriers to Technology in the Classroom. Retrieved 10 2, 2019, from Teach HUB.com: https://www.teachhub.com/overcoming-barriers-technology-classroom

https://www.porttheatre.com/art-exhibits

The Port Theatre. (n.d.). Art Exhibits. Retrieved 10 02, 2019, from The Port Theatre: https://www.porttheatre.com/art-exhibits