Professionalism, Leadership, & Advocacy

This artifact is a set of notes that I took during a grade level meeting during my time student teaching on February 8, 2023. This meeting included my cooperating teacher, two other second grade teachers, instructional coaches, reading specialists, and the principal. This meeting was to discuss the test scores of MAP testing and to see if the students are meeting the standards that are set in place. We worked together to determine what we should be focusing more on in order for the students to perform better than the previous test. 

This meeting was extremely important as it highlighted the standards and the data of how the students are performing in meeting these standards. The data allowed for me to “collaborate with other teachers, students, parents or guardians, specialists, administrators, and community partners to enhance students’ learning and school improvement” (9N). I was able to work with those in this meeting and determine what we can do differently to do even better meeting these standards. I was also able to work with these individuals to understand what is working and to see what we should continue with in our classrooms. This collaboration is important in order to help our students reach their full potential. 

This was another new experience, but an amazing one. Being able to work with my colleagues was very beneficial in understanding what has been working for them and what has been working for my cooperating classroom to build ideas off one another. This is very important as I go into my own practice because I am going to have a team with the grade that I end up teaching so it is important to build these relationships to do what is best for the students. It was also very beneficial to be speaking with teachers who have been educators for 20+ years to understand what works and what does not. 

This artifact is a set of notes that I took during a professional development during my time student teaching on February 9, 2023. This professional development included three third grade teachers, an instructional coach, and the principal. This was a presentation by Leah LaComte from the International Center for Leadership in Education. This professional development focused on pop culture and how we can make our lessons more relevant to keep the students engaged. 

This professional development is of great importance because it allowed me to learn new information and grow as an educator with these new ideas. I was able to “participate in professional development… to enhance personal growth and development;” (9O) by taking notes on what I can add into my lessons by using things like social media pages or video games to keep the students more engaged in the classroom. Not only does gaining this new information help me as an educator, but it also helps my students by having lessons that are more engaging so more information can be retained. 

Participating in a professional development in the field was definitely a new, yet amazing experience. I was able to collaborate with the other individuals in the room and discover what would work well in my present and future classrooms. Professional developments like this allow for a better understanding of what the students enjoy and what will give them a better learning experience. I was able to take this information already and create a lesson on a video game that the students enjoy and they loved the lesson with super high engagement. This is something I will continue to do as I grow as an educator because I am constantly seeing that it is beneficial to use the ideas of what the students enjoy.