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Lindsay Ptasienski
Reflective Statement

Artifact: Anita Purves Nature Center Power Point

Professional Standard 9 - Collaborative Relationships

The teacher understands the role of the community in education and develops and
maintains collaborative relationships with colleagues, parents/guardians, and the
community to support student learning and well-being.
9A. Understands schools as organizations within the larger community context.
9C. Understands school and work-based learning environments and the need for
collaboration with business organizations in the community.
9M. Identifies and uses community resources to enhance student learning and to provide
opportunities for students to explore career opportunities.

1. Fully state the standard in bold text. Then write a paragraph explaining your knowledge and
understanding of the standard—put the standard into your own words.

This standard is about how I, as a teacher, understand that I cannot provide a quality education to

my students without including parents, other teachers, and the community to support their

education as well. By including the community in my instruction, I will be helping the students

to understand that the school, and specifically, our classroom is a part of a larger community. By

identifying and using community resources, I will be able to enhance students learning and

provide interesting, unique, and educational opportunities for the students to possibly explore

career opportunities as well. More interesting learning opportunities can be created by

collaborating with businesses and organizations in the community.

2. Explain how the artifact you chose demonstrates your understanding and application of the
standard.

This artifact is a Power Point for the Anita Purves Nature Center in Urbana. This is a nature

center that is overseen by the Urbana Park District. This would be a great place to plan a free

field trip to for an elementary science class. For this project, a group of my peers and I were

required to search in our community for businesses, organizations, park districts, etc. to see how

we could discover the resources that our community provides to enhance classroom instruction.
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This Power Point is one of many different discoveries that our classroom made in the

Champaign-Urbana area of resources that could be beneficial for our classes. By searching in

the community, I developed an understanding of how the community should be involved in the

classroom. With schools being such a cross-section of the community, it makes sense that we, as

teachers, would search out the opportunities for our students’ learning in the area. There are

innumerable ways that the community can be brought into classroom instruction.

3. A If the artifact has been used in your practice, reflect on how your teaching will change in
the future to further meet the standard.
B If the artifact has not been used in your practice, i.e., a class assignment, reflect upon how
your teaching will be impacted by the assignment.

This artifact has not been used in my practice, however I learned very much in the process of

creating this artifact. As a result of researching the resources throughout the community that are

at the fingertips of every teacher, I realized the importance of involving the community in the

education of my students. By involving the community, parents, administrators, etc. in the

classroom, the students will be able to receive a better-rounded education, and one that has more

perspectives than just me, their classroom instructor. This will not be an easy task to tackle—

including outsiders in my instruction, but it will prove to be beneficial in the overall richness of

the students’ learning.

4. Conclude with a paragraph discussing how you are more prepared to Teach and Learn in a
Diverse Society as a result of satisfactorily meeting the standard.

I think that in a diverse society, it would be to my benefit to include parents, and community

resources in my teaching. By doing so, students are more aware of their place in a town and

community. By encouraging students to explore what their community has to offer, I will be

encouraging them to recognize that their actions effect more than just themselves, and more than

just their classroom, but their entire community. I think by including the community in my
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classroom, my students are becoming more prepared to be active citizens. By incorporating

parental involvement, I am inviting multiples perspectives in my teaching as well. I think that it

is extremely important and beneficial for students in a diverse society to step outside of what

they were raised with or what they were trained to know, to understand the perspectives of other

as well.