Teacher Work Sample #10

Communication & Collaboration

Communication Plan- Parents/Guardians
Communication in the classroom is an essential tool that benefits students, parents, as well as teachers. Communication between teachers and parents provides new information about future and current students. Communication between teachers provides teachers with important updates, planning adjustments, and professional discussions. Communication can be easily accomplished through emails, phone calls, sticky notes, and newsletters. Teachers have many ways of communicating with parent(s). Communicating with parents provides information of their childs performance progress and behavioral issues. Providing a plan for communicating regularly with parents and guardians is important to ensure that information is being relayed home. At the beginning of the year a letter was sent to welcome the students to the classroom. The letter also provided teacher contact information for the parents; email, telephone number, and room number. This is a great way to welcome parents and students to the classroom as well as providing teacher contact information. Weekly newsletters are sent home with the students on Mondays. The newsletters consist of information for the current week; it includes weekly scheduling, test updates, school events, and a note from the teacher. The newsletter allows parents to be aware of their childs assignments and upcoming events. Students write their homework at the end of each class in their agenda sheet. This provides another opportunity for teachers to write notes home to parents if needed; this includes contact notes, praise notes, or discipline notes. The students keep their agenda sheet and newsletter in their blue folder which must stay with the students throughout the day. If notes are repeatedly sent on students agenda sheets other measures are to be taken. After numerous days of not bringing fundraiser money back to school a note was sent home and was attached to their homework. The note was placed on a bright green half sheet paper for parents to easily see. Communication between teachers and parents such as emails, phone calls, and notes home, and home visits can help parents successful in keeping their child on the correct path. Collaboration Plan- Colleagues Daily collaboration with colleagues allows teachers to stay up to date with school events, student progress, and personal issues. Biweekly meetings conducted within grade levels to provide each grade level teachers with information of challenges that have arisen. As a team the teachers address challenges and issues and work to establish possible solutions. Positive communication between teachers allows for grade level meetings to run successfully while accomplishing the overall goal. At each biweekly meeting one teacher is designated to fill out a grade level meeting form which holds information about the challenges need to be addressed. Each teacher is given a copy of the grade level meeting form to be filed and brought to the next grade level meeting. Bringing a folder with all the grade level meeting forms help the teachers continue to discuss and address past and current issues. If a

teacher is absent on the day of grade level meeting a form will be left in the teachers box to be collected the following day. Emails between teachers open the opportunity for quick messages to be sent. Colleague communication allows for teachers to remain up to date with current issues while relying on professional peers. Community Resources Plan Community involvement and resources can not only enhance the learning environment but allow for a more engaging event. Community members such as police, high school football players, and environmental resource agents can make a large impact on students opinions and ideas about community involvements and members. Recycling in the classroom not only provides students with a goal to work towards but it also a helps save natural resources in the environment. Having an environment resource agent come into the classroom can help students gain new and more information about the purpose and process of recycling. The students can gain an understanding of how they are involved in saving valuable resources in their own community. I would encourage the environmental resource agent to provide pamphlets or handouts that can encourage the students to continue to recycle outside the classroom. Recycling provides a chance to integrate math into a community service project. The community service project would allow students to convert the total weight of paper saved to the total amount of trees saved. Community members such as police officers can provide students with new insights of consequences as well as how math can be used daily in the field. A police officer can help integrate math into the classroom with information about speeding tickets, prisoners, or gas mileage used. A police may also come into the classroom to address actions and consequences of bullying and other behavioral issues. This particular community member would be able to address daily issues seen and could be a benefit for the students behavior not only in school but in the community as well. Students who have not reached high school look up to the football players and coaches in the communitys high school. Having members from the high school football team can help provide elementary students with an idea that math is used on the field and off. Football players and Coaches also must use daily skills such as math to perform their best on the field. Allowing football team members or coaches come into the classroom can give something for students to look forward to as well as continuing to work hard to get there. The players and coaches represent the community as a whole and it shows the students how community members can play a part in the schools. Extra-Curricular Involvement Extra-Curricular Involvement shows teacher dedication towards the school, grade level, and students. Involvement includes a significant ability to be involved in extracurricular school activities and events such as PTO, meet the teacher, fall festival, and fundraisers. Meet the teacher is a school event which provides a chance for parents and students to meet their teacher before the beginning of the school year. Meet the teacher requires teachers to stay late and prepare for parent teacher communication. This allows parent to discuss their childs status on a one-on-one basis before beginning the school year. This is a time parents can communicate past years testing scores (MAPP and PASS), accommodations, and expectations. Meet the teacher nights allows

students and teachers to connect before jumping into the content. The fall festival which was held at the school allows the students to come to school for a more enjoyable experience after school hours. Teachers are asked to volunteers for different jobs during the fall festival; it is not required but allows teachers to see a side of their students outside of the learning environment. The festival requires a large amount of time to set up and this is a time teachers are able to contribute to school fundraiser. Teachers are required to monitor students safety and behavior while working at their stations. The responsibility of the students lies on the teachers and their roles while assisting during the fall festival. The book fair, a profitable fundraiser, provide students with an engaging event and allows students to contribute back to the school. The book fair takes place in the school library and allows students to purchase books, posters, and school supplies. The book fair requires constant monitoring from teachers to ensure items are not being misplaced or stolen from the fundraiser. The teachers play a large part in monitoring as well as promoting the book fair and other fundraisers. The fundraisers provide funding for the classroom and school supplies.

Attachments:
Parent Communication:

Dear Parents, My name is Ms. Goeckner; I will be a part of Mrs. T. Smiths 5th grade math class for the remainder the fall semester. I am currently completing my student teaching through Lander University, and striving towards a degree in Elementary Education with a math minor. After graduation I plan to acquire my middle school certification. I am looking forward to working with your child this semester to help gain more experience towards my field of study. I will be assisting, planning, and teaching with Mrs. T. Smith throughout the next few months; I am looking forward to teaching lessons and participating with the students. I have completed prior field experiences through Lander University and cannot wait to begin a new semester with new students. Feel free to contact me by email or through Mrs. T. Smith at any time. I am looking forward to having a great spring semester with new faces and new experiences. Lander University requires Education Clinical students to video record one lesson throughout the semester. The video will be for Lander University records only. Please sign and return the permission slip on the next page. If you wish not to have your child in the video an alternative assignment will be given that day.

Sincerely, Miss Goeckner Lander University

Contact Information: Email: Hannah.Goeckner@lander.edu I can also be contacted through Mrs. T. Smith.

Weekly Newsletter

Agenda Note- Candy Money

Note from Parent:

Colleague Communication:
(Grade Level Meetings )

Community Communication:
Email To: Will Poteat (W.Poteat.abbrec@gamil.com)
Dear Mrs. Poteat, My name is Hannah Goeckner and I am currently enrolled in my student teaching at Lander University. I am completing my field experience hours at Westwood Elementary School in Abbeville, SC. Since the beginning of the school year our classes have been recycling used and unneeded papers. I would love to have a community member from the recycling center come and discuss the process of recycling. If you could discuss the importance of recycling during this time I know the students would really enjoy it. Any pamphlets or handouts that you can provide would be greatly appreciative. It would be such a pleasure to have you come to our classroom on Tuesday October 29th at 1:30 PM. If you could contact me at your earliest convenience I would greatly appreciate it. Hannah Goeckner 803-924-3661 Hannah.Goeckner@lander.edu