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Teaching Standard 10.2
Teaching Standard 10.2
The teacher seeks appropriate leadership roles and opportunities to take responsibility for student learning and to advance the profession.
The teacher seeks appropriate leadership roles and opportunities to take responsibility for student learning and to advance the profession.
Wingspan student attendees two of which attended through a partnership with their school and our program, Spread Your Wings.
A mentee I have worked with for several years connected by her school councilor and parent. Here, attending an art opening at All Souls Sanctuary in Shelburne, Vermont.
Attending the graduation from the Cosmetology Program at the Essex Technical Center of my Everybody Wins! mentee.
Image of some of the student and parent relationships I have developed. Pictured here is an activity I led during the final day of a school celebration at The Sustainability Academy.
EVIDENCE #1: Serve as youth mentor, leader and role model to students as a teacher, community member and advocate. Please see adjoining photos and text.
DESCRIPTION: Since I graduated from college, and moved to Washington D.C., for an internship at The African-American Institute in 1988, I have served as a mentor to many youth in my communities. The first place I did this was Martha's Table, a family center with the mission to prepare children for a bright future. Relocating to Burlington in 2001, I have worked with Everybody Wins! Vermont, a literacy mentoring program and have mentored youth through their schools after developing connections with them as a teacher. This led to the founding of a youth empowerment program called Spread Your Wings!
ANALYSIS/REFLECTION: The importance of seeking appropriate leadership roles and opportunities to take responsibility for student learning, to collaborate with learners, families, colleagues, other school professions, and community members to ensure learner growth and to advance the profession is of utmost significance for the success of students. In my mentoring roles, I work not only with the youth but with their families and other teachers, wrap around professionals, to support the student's development both in and outside of the classroom.
I recently was told by my Everybody Wins! mentee, who I am still in contact with after 10+ years, that I am a role model to her and that she appreciates that I helped her to learn how to read. Since I first was paired with her, I have collaborated with her school English Language Learning teacher to build connections to community resources for her continued learning and well-being. She has gone on to complete the cosmetology program at The Essex Technical Center and is now attending classes at Community College of Vermont. This has been a very rewarding connection. I now work with her younger siblings through my Spread Your Wings program and have taught several of them in school residencies in the Burlington School District and after school programs.
According to a study completed by Lillian T. Eby, Tammy D. Allen, Sarah C. Evans, Thomas Ng, and David DuBois, Does Mentoring Matter? A Multidisciplinary Meta-Analysis Comparing Mentored and Non-Mentored Individuals, "mentoring in the academic arena may have the most utility in terms of improving performance and attitudes toward school ."
I believe that every child deserves the opportunities to thrive. According to my professor for a course I took recently, Reflective Practice and the Peer Review Portfolio, Dr. Juliette Longchamp, youth with trauma backgrounds are increasing dramatically in the schools. Thus, in our current social landscape it is crucial for all to work together for children's success. Mentoring helps to increase student outcomes, access to possibilities, aspirations and prepares students to return to school ready to learn.
These experiences reflect my understanding and mastery of this standard. It is undeniable that to enhance student learning there must be cooperation and support across family, school and community.
EVIDENCE #2: Mentoring Project Proposal
MentoringProgram.2.0.pdfDESCRIPTION: This is a program proposal I designed and presented to the PTO and principal at The Sustainability Academy. I had a follow up meeting with two parents at the school who expressed interest in its implementation.
ANALYSIS/REFLECTION: During National Mentoring Month of 2018, I had the opportunity to present my proposal for a wrap around student buddy program to The Sustainability Academy Elementary school. As a passionate mentor and having first hand experience of how one's home environment impacts their academic success, I believe it is important to support the entire learner. This can happen when supports are provided to the student who may be facing adversity at home. Small moments can make a big difference.
While there are a number of great programs in our area, what I find missing is the link between the mentoring programs and a youth's school. This program originates from within the school and assures that students are included and invited to do things during important out of school times.
This project proposal was met with interest. This meeting was followed up by a smaller meeting with two parents from the school. We brainstormed paths for moving forward, names to call it and decided funding would need to be secured before proceeding. One of the parents' researched available grants through Mobius, now called Mentor Vermont. For lhe moment this is where it stands.
This evidence reflects meeting this standard because it is an interconnected youth mentoring program I designed and presented to a school I am deeply a part of. It would advance student learning as well as support teachers in having students that show up better nourished socially, nutritionally and intellectually.
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