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10. Communication and Collaboration (LO 3.1) (APS 10)

TWS Standard The teacher communicates and collaborates effectively with parents and colleagues. Task Create a plan and provide examples of different ways you will communicate regularly and effectively with parents/guardians and other professionals concerned with the education of your students. Prompt A. Family Communication I will effectively communicate with parents regularly in three different ways throughout the year. The first way I plan to communicate with parents is by sending home an introduction letter at the beginning of the year. This letter will simply introduce who I am, state my purpose for being in the classroom, and provide some background information about myself. Although this first letter will be sent home in the form of a single page letter, I will then begin to implement the letter into the parent newsletter and announcements for the remainder of the year. The second form of communication I will be using this year will be email. I plan to email each parent at least once or twice throughout the year. I will email the parent to praise their students work, let them know about good or bad behavior, and to thank them for their involvement with their childs learning and their involvement in the classroom, in general. Through these emails, I will share information with the parent/guardian about their childs academic progress. There will be some parents that I will have to email more than others due to concerns about academic success or behavioral problems. Emailing is a fast and effective way to communicate with parents and eliminates having to call each parent, which would essentially save time. The third and final form of communication that I will be using in the classroom is parent-teacher conferences. Instead of having solely the parent-teacher conferences that are required by the school district, I will have additional conferences with parents. During these conferences, I will be able to physically show parents how their students have been doing in the classroom. Prior to the conference, I will print out a report and breakdown of the students grades. This conference could also be used to discuss a behavioral problem. For conferences that will address serious matters, I would invite the principal or another faculty member to sit in and provide support. I believe that inviting the parents to the classroom gives them a warm and welcoming opportunity to see what the classroom is all about. They will be given an opportunity to look around and see what their child is doing on a daily basis. These conferences also provide for important one-on-one interaction with the parent/guardian. This will show the parent that I am genuinely concerned and willing to put in extra time and effort to help their child. I have attached an example of the parent introduction letter (See Attachment 10.1) and a sample email to a parent (See Attachment 10.2). Communication/Collaboration with Colleagues With a classroom consisting of twenty-three young students, there are several reasons to communicate with other teachers/faculty members on their behalf. My first plan of communication would involve planning a field trip with the other second grade teachers. This field trip would involve taking each second grade class to the Greenwood Community Theatre to see a historical play. The teachers and I would meet to discuss how we will prepare for the upcoming field trip. We would establish our purpose for the field trip, decide how many buses we will need, create parent permission slip forms, and generate a post-field trip assignment for the students to complete. These grade-level meetings would need to be at least once a week during the month before the field trip. The second form of communication with colleagues that I will be using this year will be through email. There would be several situations in which I would need contact colleagues by email. An example of using email to communicate would be emailing the schools guidance counselor about a particular student. I would email the guidance counselor to inform her about the students progress with a reoccurring behavioral problem. I would contact him/her once a week to give them an idea of how the student is improving or digressing with their behavior in the classroom. I would also contact the guidance counselor by email if I felt that their intervention was needed in the classroom for this student or during a parent-teacher conference to offer support. These emails
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could be used as effective documentation if a parent/guardian ever had questions or concerns about your involvement with their childs behavior problem. They could be used to show the parent that you have contacted another faculty member and kept up with their students progress from week-to-week. A third form of communication with colleagues will be weekly PLC (Professional Learning Community) meetings. These meetings will require all second-grade level teachers to meet with the ELL specialist and principal to discuss important matters concerning ESOL students. During these meetings, each teacher will provide updates about their ESOL students and their progress in reading and math. Each teacher will discuss how well their students did on MAP testing and what they need to do to improve their scores. The principal will take notes about the meeting and what he/she can do to help teachers or students from this grade-level. These meetings will also be an effective way for the teachers to talk about what is going on in their classroom. It will allow for discussion and interaction with colleagues that are dealing with similar problems and have similar concerns. This is a positive form of communication will take place once a week, every week. I have attached a copy of a sample email sent to the guidance counselor about a student with a reoccurring behavioral problem. (See Attachment 10.3)

429 Teacher Work Sample

8-30-13 revised