Standard Nine: Professionalism, Leadership, and Advocacy
The competent teacher is an ethical and reflective practitioner who exhibits professionalism; provides leadership in the learning community; and advocates for students, parents or guardians, and the profession.
Artifacts & Reflection
Both artifacts pertain to Standard Nine: Professionalism, Leadership, and Advocacy. These artifacts are appropriate because it displays my professionalism and leadership as I advocate for students by keeping communication open with the parents and guardians.
The first artifact is a Bi-weekly Newsletter. This applies to Performance Indicator L: communicates with families, responds to concerns, and contributes to enhanced family participation in student education.
I chose this artifact because this newsletter, which could be passed out in class or emailed, reflects my professionalism, leadership, and advocacy for student learning, parental involvement, and community awareness. This is an appropriate artifact because I have included in this volume of the newsletter the school mission statement, contact information, my purpose, and my contact information. This reflects professionalism because I want to be accessible and transparent about my curriculum and management. This also represents my leadership because I exemplify my initiative to keep communication open. I make my purpose known in order to be an effective leader in my classroom and a role model to my colleagues. I am taking accountability for my teaching. Lastly, this is appropriate for advocacy because I emphasize that I will make accommodations for students that need them. I also, advocate for school participation in sporting and extra-curriculum events, as well as in community events. By keeping the parents and students informed with upcoming events, I strengthen my connection with the community and advocate for involvement to build strong citizens (Indicator L).
This artifact demonstrates my growth because I am including more stakeholders in my teaching. I go beyond the needs of my students by informing the parents and keeping the administration and community informed. In a society that holds teachers accountable, providing information about my classroom beyond my students demonstrates my development and emphasis to remain professional.
The second artifact is a collection of blank templates that I received from my Supervisor and a Veteran teacher. This applies to Performance Indicator J: maintains accurate records, manages data effectively, and protects the confidentiality of information pertaining to each student and family AND Performance Indicator L: communicates with families, responds to concerns, and contributes to enhanced family participation in student education.
The first is a parent call log. The log is blank to protect the confidentiality of my students, but I currently use this log with my co-operating teacher each time I make contact home. It specifically addresses who, how, and why I made contact with the parent (Indicator J). By keeping records it is easy to track how long a problem has been going on or to prove that communication has been made. The call script is a tool that I have used when calling home to parents about their child's classroom behavior and/ or performance in class (Indicator L). It helps me organize my thoughts in order to be concise, specific, and effective in my call home; especially, when I need to leave a voice mail.
This demonstrates my growth because I have new strategies to stay organized and record parental involvement. Without this system, it would be difficult for me to express to my administrators the proactive measures I am making in and outside the classroom with the parents and guardians to insure that students are performing and behaving to their best ability. Keeping data also allows me to assess where my communication needs improvement.