The Interstate Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (InTASC) Standard 10: Leadership and Collaboration

The teacher seeks appropriate leadership roles and opportunities to take responsibility for student learning, to collaborate with learners, families, colleagues, other school professionals, and community members to ensure learner growth, and to advance the profession.

The artifact that best encapsulates InTASC Standard 10 is my experience as an ESL instructor and program organizer

Rationale

The InTASC standards that best exemplify the included artifact are:

10(a) The teacher takes an active role on the instructional team, giving and receiving feedback on practice, examining learner work, analyzing data from multiple sources, and sharing responsibility for decision making and accountability for each student’s learning.

10(b) The teacher works with other school professionals to plan and jointly facilitate learning on how to meet diverse needs of learners.

10(c) The teacher engages collaboratively in the school-wide effort to build a shared vision and supportive culture, identify common goals, and monitor and evaluate progress toward those goals.

10(j) The teacher advocates to meet the needs of learners, to strengthen the learning environment, and to enact system change.

10(k) The teacher takes on leadership roles at the school, district, state, and/or national level and advocates for learners, the school, the community, and the profession.

10(n) The teacher knows how to work with other adults and has developed skills in collaborative interaction appropriate for both face-to- face and virtual contexts.

10(o) The teacher knows how to contribute to a common culture that supports high expectations for student learning.

A description of the artifact, when it was created, the purpose and process of its creation:

The included artifacts document the passion and time I dedicated to the international students at Saint John's Catholic Prep. To some of my pupils I was an English teacher, and to many I taught ESL, but to all I was a tutor, Badminton Club Administrator, and testing accommodation coordinator. Through my experience ensuring that my students were ready for tests, had well written essays, and had access to the proper tools they needed in order to succeed, I learned how to collaborate with other teachers and assert myself as a leadership figure.

How does this artifact demonstrate achievement of Standard 10: Leadership and Collaboration?

Part of what Standard 10: Leadership and Collaboration asks of teachers is that they display the ability to work with other school professionals to facilitate and meet the many needs of students. As the ESL instructor, I was in charge of making sure students had the proper testing accommodations for midterm and final exams. In order to ensure students had all of their accommodations met, I would work with the special education department head and the testing coordinator for the school to create an extended time exam schedule and to place students into the appropriate testing groups. I would also make sure there were enough translators for students to use during exams and on regular test days.

One of my top priorities was advocating for these students, as they did not have the traditional testing completed to have an official accommodation plan. All but one of my students were from China and were in the process of learning English, so the language curve warranted extra time on any test that included a lengthy reading or writing section. In order to effectively assert that international students should be allotted extra time on certain tests I had to examine the written work of international students, in addition to asking them to complete a number of reading assessments to have a better understanding of their reading level. Due to the language barrier, many students were not able to earn a satisfactory grade on the reading assessments without a translator. These assessments confirmed that students needed certain accommodations when it came to reading and writing.

How has my understanding of the standard been affected by the creation of this artifact?

Through my experience as an ESL instructor, I learned a great deal about the importance of providing students with opportunities to excel whether it be during high school or in the future. Early in the school year, a number of international students were curious about applying to colleges that had international programs. Together, the college counselor and I collaborated on scheduling a college tour at American University. Since I was also tasked with leading the yearbook team, I acquired a collection of photos from the trip. The senior and junior students that attended the trip were ecstatic that they were provided with an opportunity to learn more about the international program at American University, as it made college feel less complicated. I made sure that students were aware of the expectation that they complete their applications to universities in the United States, even if they were not certain they would be accepted. Not only did writing college essays improve general writing skills, but it urged them to set themselves up for future success.

What are my strengths related to this standard? What do I need to improve on?

In relation to Standard 10: Leadership and Collaboration I believe I need to improve on my ability to provide students with more opportunities to foster learning outside of an educational context. Field trips and extracurricular activities proved to be a great way to get students excited about school and I wish I would have organized more. I dedicated a great deal of time to organizing and preparing for English and writing tutoring for students of different ability levels and grades, and did not spend quite as much time on educationally enriching trips and Badminton Club. If I were to advise Badminton Club again, I would most likely include fundraisers for sporting equipment and more opportunities for students to recruit club members. I have included a picture of the Badminton club below. The club started out as a means for the international students to take a break during the school day from their studies, but we ended up acquiring some students from my Creative Writing and ninth grade English classes.

My strengths in relation to this standard were apparent in my ability to run and organize tutoring sessions for students. I was available to students everyday after school for homework help or English tutoring for my ninth grade English class, in which I taught two international students. If given prior notice, I would create graphic organizers or study guides for students that were in different English classes or needed help writing an essay. In order to promote overall academic growth for our new international students, I collaborated with one of the Theology teachers to arrange weekly tutoring sessions with National Honors Society Tutors. Though any student was allowed to attend, these tutoring sessions were created in order for international students to catch up in a class that, to them, was quite foreign. These tutoring sessions were rigorous, but they were successful in setting students up for success. Many students who had previously been performing poorly in their Theology classes ended up excelling in their studies once they understood how to study for this type of class and how much time they needed to dedicate to finishing the assignments. In the future, I will continue to collaborate with teachers and advocate for my students on a similar if not an elevated level of dedication.

Artifacts

Badminton Club:

Badminton Club captains at the school-wide Club Fair

Badminton Club yearbook picture

College Visit to American University:

Students toured the campus and then returned to school with a renewed excitement about applying to colleges!