Standard Eight | Collaborative Relationships
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.
Artifact 1: Theory of Responding Essay
Growth of Knowledge Indicator B: understands the collaborative process and the skills necessary to initiate and carry out that process.
Growth in Performance Indicator A: works 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.
Growth in Performance Indicator C: initiates collaboration with others to create opportunities that enhance student learning.
Below is an essay that I wrote in English 481: Composition Theory and Practice. The class focused on best practices for teaching writing to students, and in this assignment I discussed my theory of responding to student work. I also discussed, more importantly, my theory of collaborative learning and dialectic relationships within the classroom.
Artifact 1: Theory of Responding Essay
Growth of Knowledge Indicator B: understands the collaborative process and the skills necessary to initiate and carry out that process.
Growth in Performance Indicator A: works 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.
Growth in Performance Indicator C: initiates collaboration with others to create opportunities that enhance student learning.
Below is an essay that I wrote in English 481: Composition Theory and Practice. The class focused on best practices for teaching writing to students, and in this assignment I discussed my theory of responding to student work. I also discussed, more importantly, my theory of collaborative learning and dialectic relationships within the classroom.
Reflection 1:
The above artifact reflects Standard Eight of the Illinois Professional Teaching Standards. This standard calls for an understanding of collaborative relationships and the ability to work as a team member with colleagues, students, parents, and the larger community. My artifact focuses particularly on my belief in collaborative relationships within the classroom, and the teacher’s role in collaborating with students to facilitate as much cognitive, linguistic, social, and emotional development as possible. Performance Indicator A calls for teachers to "develop learning climates for the school that encourage unity, support a sense of shared purpose, show trust in one another, and value individuals." Although that indicator also calls for collaboration with school personnel and my artifact does not explicitly address that, I would love to discuss the concept of holistic grading and dialectic relationships with other teachers during my career. As it is, the reasoning behind my theory revolved around the indicator's theme of shared purpose and a student's sense of being valued in the classroom. As Performance Indicator C requires, I "initiate collaboration with [students] to create opportunities that enhance student learning" in this artifact when I address my plan to work with students to catch up on material if they are behind or do not understand it. I do not believe in blaming a student for a bad grade and moving on - rather, I think it is more important for the student to work collaboratively with the teacher to completely learn the material, having them re-take tests or quizzes if necessary. I also believe in holistic grading in that perseverance and collaboration should be considered; the ultimate goal of this standard and in teaching in general is to build and maintain cognitive, social, and emotional development, and the artifact above discusses my intentions of responding to students in ways that foster their well-being and long-term learning.
The above artifact reflects Standard Eight of the Illinois Professional Teaching Standards. This standard calls for an understanding of collaborative relationships and the ability to work as a team member with colleagues, students, parents, and the larger community. My artifact focuses particularly on my belief in collaborative relationships within the classroom, and the teacher’s role in collaborating with students to facilitate as much cognitive, linguistic, social, and emotional development as possible. Performance Indicator A calls for teachers to "develop learning climates for the school that encourage unity, support a sense of shared purpose, show trust in one another, and value individuals." Although that indicator also calls for collaboration with school personnel and my artifact does not explicitly address that, I would love to discuss the concept of holistic grading and dialectic relationships with other teachers during my career. As it is, the reasoning behind my theory revolved around the indicator's theme of shared purpose and a student's sense of being valued in the classroom. As Performance Indicator C requires, I "initiate collaboration with [students] to create opportunities that enhance student learning" in this artifact when I address my plan to work with students to catch up on material if they are behind or do not understand it. I do not believe in blaming a student for a bad grade and moving on - rather, I think it is more important for the student to work collaboratively with the teacher to completely learn the material, having them re-take tests or quizzes if necessary. I also believe in holistic grading in that perseverance and collaboration should be considered; the ultimate goal of this standard and in teaching in general is to build and maintain cognitive, social, and emotional development, and the artifact above discusses my intentions of responding to students in ways that foster their well-being and long-term learning.
Artifact 2: Sensory Detail Lesson with Cheese and Cracker Store
Growth in Knowledge Indicator A: understands schools as organizations within the larger community context.
Growth in Performance Indicator C: initiates collaboration with others to create opportunities that enhance student learning.
Growth in Performance Indicator E: uses effective co-planning and co-teaching techniques to deliver instruction to each student.
The artifact below involves stations for students to go to as they learn about sensory detail and descriptive writing in general. The lesson and the larger unit have elements of co-teaching as well as community involvement.
Growth in Knowledge Indicator A: understands schools as organizations within the larger community context.
Growth in Performance Indicator C: initiates collaboration with others to create opportunities that enhance student learning.
Growth in Performance Indicator E: uses effective co-planning and co-teaching techniques to deliver instruction to each student.
The artifact below involves stations for students to go to as they learn about sensory detail and descriptive writing in general. The lesson and the larger unit have elements of co-teaching as well as community involvement.
Reflection 2:
The artifact embedded above reflects Standard Eight of the Illinois Professional Teaching Standards. This standard focuses on "[building] and [maintaining] collaborative relationships to foster cognitive, linguistic, physical, and social and emotional development....[and] working as a team member with professional colleagues, students, parents or guardians, and community members." In the lesson above, I collaborated with a cheese store in Champaign to get supplies to help make the lesson as useful and memorable as possible. The store also decided that if a student created a good, unique description of their cheese, they would put the description in the case and give the student a free sandwich. By telling students this, it widened the classroom experience to part of the larger community, illustrating the real-world applicability of the skills they are learning. By reaching out to this store, I "[initiated] collaboration with others to create opportunities that enhance student learning," which is Performance Indicator C of the standard. I "[understand] schools as organizations within the larger community context" (Knowledge Indicator A), and therefore wanted to take advantage of the resources available to me. I wanted students to feel as though school and the larger community were connected in a very real way. Finally, I knew this lesson and other ones before and after would benefit from co-teaching; this highlights my ability to "[use] effective co-planning and co-teaching techniques to deliver instruction to each student" (Performance Indicator E). My cooperating teacher during student teaching has taught creative writing many times, so she provided additional examples and tips to students as I explained the material and skills involved in the stations for this lesson. We worked together to make sure students felt comfortable with the material, and were both present and observant during students' work at the stations; we asked prompting questions to stretch students' thinking and help them understand the activities from as creative a lens as possible.
My interest in community involvement and ability to co-teach demonstrates my dedication to building collaborative relationships, the central idea behind this standard.
The artifact embedded above reflects Standard Eight of the Illinois Professional Teaching Standards. This standard focuses on "[building] and [maintaining] collaborative relationships to foster cognitive, linguistic, physical, and social and emotional development....[and] working as a team member with professional colleagues, students, parents or guardians, and community members." In the lesson above, I collaborated with a cheese store in Champaign to get supplies to help make the lesson as useful and memorable as possible. The store also decided that if a student created a good, unique description of their cheese, they would put the description in the case and give the student a free sandwich. By telling students this, it widened the classroom experience to part of the larger community, illustrating the real-world applicability of the skills they are learning. By reaching out to this store, I "[initiated] collaboration with others to create opportunities that enhance student learning," which is Performance Indicator C of the standard. I "[understand] schools as organizations within the larger community context" (Knowledge Indicator A), and therefore wanted to take advantage of the resources available to me. I wanted students to feel as though school and the larger community were connected in a very real way. Finally, I knew this lesson and other ones before and after would benefit from co-teaching; this highlights my ability to "[use] effective co-planning and co-teaching techniques to deliver instruction to each student" (Performance Indicator E). My cooperating teacher during student teaching has taught creative writing many times, so she provided additional examples and tips to students as I explained the material and skills involved in the stations for this lesson. We worked together to make sure students felt comfortable with the material, and were both present and observant during students' work at the stations; we asked prompting questions to stretch students' thinking and help them understand the activities from as creative a lens as possible.
My interest in community involvement and ability to co-teach demonstrates my dedication to building collaborative relationships, the central idea behind this standard.