8. Collaborative Relationships

On October 13th 2022, I was invited to attend a math team meeting with the fifth grade teachers and a math consultant that the district I student taught in hired. The purpose of the meeting was to check in with all three fifth grade teachers regarding math and looking ahead to the next chapter. Prior to the meeting, the math consultant observed me teaching a math lesson and provided feedback on the lesson for me and the other teachers to hear and make note of when they teach the lesson that I taught. Along with discussing the feedback, the meeting also focused on the upcoming chapter on fractions (chapter 3) and different strategies for solving math problems that appeared in the upcoming lessons. Below were the notes I recorded from the meeting.

Performance indicator 8K of the Illinois Professional Teaching Standards states, "participates in collaborative decision-making and problem-solving with colleagues and other professionals to achieve success for all students." During the meeting, we collaborated as a team to discuss the upcoming chapter on fractions and discussed ways to teach the remaining lessons in chapter 2 which was division. We also discussed different strategies that can be implemented when teaching concepts due to students not having in-person learning when these core concepts were being taught due to the pandemic. We assessed the different strategies and even practiced the strategies with a few math problems that were provided by the math manual book for teachers. The meeting was collaborative because we were all able to discuss our opinions and views on the topics and had input on decisions being made for the remainder of the chapter that we are in. We thoroughly discussed our students' needs and what would be best for all students in fifth grade that receive math instruction from the general education teachers.

From this meeting, I learned that it is important to collaborate with the team you have for the grade you teach. I had the opportunity to hear from the other two teachers about what is working for them in their classrooms and what they are seeing students struggle with. That allowed for us to share ideas and similar observations that we conduct in our classroom. If I had attended this meeting with just my cooperating teacher and no one else from the team, I would not have had the chance to hear from them and different ideas they had for teaching the curriculum. Even if there are things you may not necessarily agree with, hearing from your team and collaborating can go a long way. I feel I had gained just a little bit of an insight to the other teaching styles that the two other teachers on the fifth grade team had and also had the chance to share my views and observations. This all ties back into collaboration because from this meeting, we collaborated and took something away from it. The meeting helped me prepare for the next few weeks, all thanks to collaboration.

Below is a provided schedule that outlined the week of September 19th through the 23rd. This week was important and stood out because I was able to plan all of science and social studies along with part of reading and math. Every week my cooperating teacher and I would discuss on Wednesdays, Thursdays or Fridays (depending on student progress throughout the week) how the current week was progressing and begin to plan for the next week. We planned in our planner books and used Google Drive to share worksheets and links for resources. On the right side under, "objectives or instructions," notes were made of tasks that needed to be completed for the week for specific subjects. The schedule would be planned to align with the Trinity Christian College education department's schedule for gradual release of responsibility. Prior to student teaching, my cooperating teacher and I discussed methods to planning for instruction so when school started, I would be prepared and organized as best as possible.

Knowledge indicator 8C of the Illinois Professional Teaching Standards states, "collaborates with others in the use of data to design and implement effective school interventions that benefit all students." During the planning time I had not just with my cooperating teacher, but the other fifth grade teachers, we observed student scores and grades across all of the fifth grade to make decisions when planning and any concepts that may need additional time to cover. The fifth grade classes were in second grade when the pandemic occurred in the world. Since then, the teachers have been collaborating to teach the curriculum that the students were not in person for plus the concepts that are relevant to the student in the grade they are currently in. Data collection and assessment has played a major role in collaborating with others on how to create schedules and teach concepts that will appeal and benefit all students in the classroom. FastBridge, an online testing system, is used within the district I student taught in and is used similarly to ISAT, PARK and MAP testing to assess student scores. We used the student data and results from the tests to collaborate and create schedules and interventions. Specifically, one student who was an ELL student also displayed characteristics of a learning disability. The school team collaborated on how to provide an intervention that would assist the student but also the rest of the class which was improving reading and writing.

I learned from this artifact that organization is the key to being successful. As shown in the picture below, there many things going on at once. In grades 1-5, teachers mainly teach all of the core subjects whereas special teachers or those in junior high or high school teach one subject but each class will have different levels of progress. When I assisted in planning this week, I honestly felt overwhelmed at how much I needed to do while still review the curriculum and be ready to teach and answer questions. Having this planning book along with having Google Drive allowed for me to have an outline of the week for what was to be taught but then to also have another outlet to share and edit worksheets/assessments that my cooperating teacher could see and provide feedback on. Every teacher has their own style and form of planning which all comes down to what works for each individual teacher. If I did not have my planning book or use Google Drive, I know I would have felt lost and it would have affected my performance when beginning to teach. Organization is an ongoing goal for me and this really assisted me in continuing to make progress for meeting my goal.