Dana Davis

Student Teaching
Spring 2016
Statement of Standard Ten- Leadership and Collaboration
The teacher seeks appropriate leadership roles and opportunities to
take responsibility for student learning, to collaborate with learners, families,
colleagues, other school professionals, and community members to ensure
learner growth, and to advance the profession. (InTASC, 2011, pg. 18)
Name of Artifact: Welcome Letter
Date of Artifact: Spring 2016
Course: Student Teaching EDU 465
Rationale Statement:
For Standard Ten, I created a Welcome Letter to be sent home to the
families of my students at the beginning of each school year. The letter
included a description about myself including my teaching experience and
my personal interests, an outline of the experiences that the students and
families should expect to have in my class throughout the school year, and a
list of supplies that the students would need as well as a few suggestions for
appreciated supply donations. The Welcome Letter is directly related to the
Danielson Framework for Teaching in Domain 4c: Communicating with
Families, Domain 4d: Participating in a Professional Community, and Domain
4f: Showing Professionalism. The letter is directly addressed to the families
of the students and explains my belief in including the parents as a part of
the students learning process. This initial contact will create a rapport that
will benefit the students learning by promoting interaction between home
and school, thus creating a complete community of support for the student.
While creating this Welcome Letter, I learned a few things about being
a teacher and also about myself. The main thing I learned is how important
a first impression can be. In most cases, this letter is the first introduction
you have to your students families. It is important to be sure that your

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grammatical skills are up to par, as families can be very critical when it
comes to the person who is entrusted to instill knowledge upon their child. I
also learned that it is important to carefully select the information you
choose to divulge. Although its important to build a bit of a personal
relationship with the students and families to show that you are a caring
educator, it is most important that you maintain a professional rapport. I
was careful to leave out things that I thought might be immediately
stereotyped, such as my marital status and that I like to ride motorcycles.
My cooperating teacher was very helpful with helping me choose what
information to include and what information was not necessary.
I will absolutely use this Welcome Letter in my future career as a
teacher. Of course, I will have to change it to tailor to the exact course I will
be teaching and my educational experience, etc., but it is a great template.
A Welcome Letter is something that I will always use to create initial contact
with the families of my students and given the fact that it has been reviewed
and corrected by a seasoned professional, I feel confident that it is
appropriately formed and grammatically correct.
References
InTASC, CCSSOs Interstate Teacher Assessment and Support
Consortium. (April 2011) Model Core Teaching Standards: A Resource for
State Dialogue. Retrieved from
file:///C:/Users/Dana
%20Dwo/Downloads/intasc_model_core_teaching_standards_2011.pdf

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Dear Families,
Welcome to Science! My name is Dana Davis, and I teach 6th grade science at
Hillside Middle School. I have a Bachelors degree in Education/Integrated Science &
Mathematics from Rider University and I am excited to have your child in my very first
classroom. I completed my student teaching in a 6 th grade classroom last spring. I have
two sons, one is in 8th grade and the other is in 5th grade. Both are very active in sports,
and I spend much of my spare time driving them to practice and watching them
play/compete. I am also an avid skier and like to ski, Geocache and play board games with
my sons.
6th grade science with consist of 3 units: a life science unit, a physical science unit,
and an earth and space science unit. I am a firm believer in a hands-on learning
environment and fun reinforcement activities. Some of our lab activities will include;
observing healthy and abnormal animal cells through microscopes, building a model roller
coaster that keeps the car on its track, and investigating the circumstances that create
different types of weather. I am very excited that for the first time, we will be
taking a trip to the NY Hall of Science in Queens, NY this year! ***Students who are
interested in participating in even more fun science activities are invited and encouraged
to join the Science Club or participate in the annual Science Fair.
Although the school does provide most of the supplies necessary for the students
learning experiences, I would like to ask that each student please provide the following for
this class: one folder, one spiral notebook, and one composition notebook. Also, since we
tend to use more than the average classroom, donations of tissues and hand sanitizer are
always welcome!
I believe in working as a team comprised of myself, the students family and the
student to ensure the best results for your students education. I like to keep an open
door policy and ask that you do not hesitate to contact me with any questions or concerns.
I can be reached via phone, email, or scheduled conference using the contact information
below. Looking forward to meeting all of you at Back-to-School-Night and Parent/Teacher
conferences!

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Heres to a great year of exploring the world of science!

Warmest Regards,
Ms. Dana Davis
908-867-5309 X123
ddavis@hillms.edu