The competent teacher builds and maintains collaborative relationships to foster cognitive, linguistic, physical, and social and emotional development. This teacher works as a team member with professional colleagues, students, parents or guardians, and community members.
CounselorEmail.pdfThis email contains a conversation I had with a counselor of one of my students at Bloom Trail High school that I initiated. In the conversation, we discuss an issue that occurred involving a student and his peers and how to properly direct the student to the resource necessary to help him with the emotional issue that he was facing as a result of something said by a classmate.
This email shows that I am able to "work with all school personnel (e.g., support staff, teachers, paraprofessionals) to develop learning climates for the school that encourage unity, support a sense of shared purpose, show trust in one another, and value individuals " (8J), and I am an educator who "participates in collaborative decision-making and problem-solving with colleagues and other professionals to achieve success for all students " (8K). The email shows proof of this since I reached out to a member of our school personnel (the counselor) to work alongside them in order to provide the best care possible for a student in their time of need.
By having this email conversation with another member of personnel, I learned more about the importance of working together as a team with my colleagues. This is important to my development as an educator and for my students because one person cannot do everything and by contacting a colleague in a professional and timely matter I was able to provide for a student the best emotional support possible given the situation at hand. This is important since not only does it help the student, I gained experience working with others, knowledge about who I may contact in the future if the student were to need additional help, and I was also able to build a relationship with the student---The next time we crossed paths in the hallway he came up to me, thanked me, and gave me a high five.
Sub notes 12_19_2023.docxHP Sub Notes 1_30_2024.docxSub Notes 2_7_2024.docxSub Notes 10_10_2024.docxThe four documents above and the six pictures below are a few examples of some of the substitute notes/wrap-ups that I wrote and sent to teachers that I subbed for during the 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 school years at Bloom Trail High School, substitute plans that I received from teachers, and some pictures of the directions I wrote on the front boards for students based off of the instructions left for me, and a picture of a room that is cleaned and prepared for students while working as a Permanent Substitute at Bloom Trail High School.
By writing and sending substitute notes/wrap-ups and by following the instructions left for me by the head teachers in their substitute plans, I show that I "understand the collaborative process and the skills necessary to initiate and carry out that process" (8B), and that I am able to "collaborate with school personnel in the implementation of appropriate assessment and instruction for designated students" (8O). The documents and pictures show proof of this since I was able to follow the substitute plans left for me by the head teacher and that I collaborated with them not only in leading their classrooms for them but by also providing accurate reports on what occurred during their absence from the classroom.
Below you will find the six pictures that I spoke of.
JFGParentEmail.pdfThis email contains a conversation I had with a parent of one of my students during my student teaching semester at Thornwood High school that I initiated. In the conversation, we discuss collaborating in order to help the parent's child succeed in my classroom, setting up a meeting to talk further on this topic, and a follow-up email regarding the student's progress after the initial meeting occurred.
This email shows that I am able to "initiate collaboration with others to create opportunities to enhance student learning" (8L), and I can "establish respectful and productive relationships with parents or guardians and seeks to develop cooperative partnerships to promote student learning and well-being" (8Q). The email shows proof of this since I initiated the conversation with the parent, and we set up a meeting with the goal of discussing the student's grades and what that student needs to do to succeed in my class.
By having this email conversation (and meeting) with the students parent, I learned about collaborating with student's parents/guardians. This is important to my development as an educator because students' families want to know about what is going on in the classroom, and parents/guardians need to be contacted in a professional and timely matter in order to build a positive relationship that can result in collaboration since a students' family will know more than we can ever know about a student.
The pictures in this collage were taken during my student teaching semester at Thornwood High School. These pictures are of classes that went to the library to learn how to use databases made available to them to conduct research for a project. This library trip was a collaboration between the librarians and myself to provide a new learning opportunity to my students.
By collaborating with the librarians to teach my students how to conduct research using the databases, I show that I am able to "initiate collaboration with others to create opportunities that enhance student learning" (8L), and that I can "collaborate with school personnel in the implementation of appropriate assessment and instruction" (8O). By reaching out to the librarians and collaborating with them we discussed and created a lesson that led to the enhancement of students' research resources and capabilities.
By reaching out and setting up a meeting to discuss this trip with the librarians, I was able to build a collaborative relationship that led to student development. This is important to my development as an educator because I will need to be able to reach out and collaborate with anyone in my school/building who can help my students flourish, and I need to be aware of how to collaborate when another person in my school/building reaches out to me for the same reason.