Standard 9: Leadership and Collaboration

The teacher is a leader who engages collaboratively with learners, families, colleagues, and community
members to build a shared vision and supportive professional culture focused on student growth and success.
Rationale: At Northwest Middle School I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to work extensively with
the language arts department to create a month long writing unit on freedom in accordance with 8th grade
writing and literacy standards. I spent many of my prep periods observing my fellow colleagues language arts
classes and learning from the school's literacy coach on how to teach argumentative writing. This was
necessary and important in order to get the 8th grade students at Northwest Middle prepared and confident to
take both the Direct Writing Assessment and the SAGE test.

Artifact #1: Personal Notes from observing colleagues at Smith Middle School

February 17, 2014
Ms. Sample
What is a Claim?
An opinion (statement that can be disagreed with)
Counterclaim: the opposite side
Evidence: facts that can be used to support the claim
Strategy: Real Life example
Who has the best ice cream? Let the kids disagree with one another about where to buy the best ice cream. Create a claim such as
"Coldstone has the best ice cream" and support it with evidence, "because no one else has the sweat cream flavor" "the first mix in is free"
and "they are recognized worldwide"
Think, Pair, Share
-Let the students make their own claims
-Students work in groups to write their own claims
-Then give them opportunity to work on their own and walk around checking students answers
Move to homework article
-Read article as a class
Class Claim: Paparazzi should not be allowed to stock celebrities

February 26, 2014
Ms. Sample2
Purpose: States the daily objective
-I will be able to accurately apply vocabulary related to the Civil Rights movement
-classroom redirection: She calls "Class, class" students reply "Yes, Yes"
-Teaching through opposites and positives and negatives
-What do you see? Giving them pictures of the time period
-What do you think? What do you wonder? What do you know?
Think, Pair, Share
1. I see 2. We see 3. Share with the entire class
-Explains explicit instructions and then writes them on the board
Opens book: Toni Morrison's Remember
-Teacher reads it to the class. Stops to explain the "N" word and context of how it's racist, why it isn't used anymore, and other racist terms
such as colored.
Artifact #2: Writing Prompt and Graphic Organizers from Freedom Unit