Wisconsin Teaching Standard (WTS) 10: Professionalism

Rebeca Arndt

Saint Marys University of Minnesota

Schools of Graduate and Professional Programs

Portfolio Entry for Wisconsin Teacher Standard Ten

EDUW 696 Portfolio Production and Presentation

Instructor: Lynda Sullivan

September 21, 2017

Goal

1. Wisconsin Teaching Standard (WTS) 10: Teachers are connected with other teachers

and the community.

The teacher fosters relationships with school colleagues, parents, and agencies in the larger

community to support students learning and well-being, and acts with integrity fairness, and in an

ethical manner.

Knowledge. The teacher understands schools as organizations within the larger

community context and understands the operations of the relevant aspects of the system(s) within

which s/he works.

Dispositions.

The teacher is committed to reflection, assessment, and learning as an ongoing process.

The teacher is willing to give and receive help.

The teacher is committed to seeking out, developing, and continually refining practices that

address the individual needs of students

Performances. The teacher draws upon professional colleagues within the school and

other professional areas as supports for reflection, problem-solving and new ideas, actively sharing

experiences and seeking and giving feedback.

2. National Board Core Proposition #5: Teachers are members of learning communities

Teachers Collaborate with Other Professionals to Improve School Effectiveness

Teachers Work Collaboratively with the Community

3. Danielson Domain 4: Professional Responsibilities

Component 4d: Contributing to the School and District

Component 4e: Growing and Developing Professionally

 Professional Development Goals:

Participates in professional growth activities and incorporates learning into instructional

practice.

Promote and participate in professional learning communities, and supports school

activities.

Contribute to the well-being of students outside the classroom.

Introduction

I learned quite quickly in my educator career that the main ingredient to fosters

relationships with my students, school colleagues, parents, and agencies in the larger community

is building a strong and healthy communication system. Therefore, in my classroom I focused on

creating a pathway to open communication with my students and provide feedback on a regular

basis. Simultaneously, I reach out to parents on a regular basis according to our school policy of

creating at least four weeklies positive contacts with parents. Alike, I established ways to

constantly communicate with other teacher colleagues, administrators and other members of our

community.

Though these communication channels I voiced out my support to my students in and outside of

the classroom (I initiated a tutoring program and foreign language club), provided a foundation for

teacher-parents relationships to unfold, reached out to colleagues for collaboration and

professional development opportunities, become increasingly involved in community events as an

advocate of foreign language programs which make the community and its schools more attractive

to potential residents and employers while contributing to a more diverse population and enhance

the cultural experiences of all citizens.

 Furthermore, while elaborating my teaching trajectory as learner, I must go back to the

moment where I chose the profession of educator, when I learned enough about myself in order to

decide that what I truly wanted to do in life. In 2009, while living in Sweden and learning about

their educational system I decided that my calling is to serve the children, to help them reach their

fullest potential, to help them learn about themselves and about the world around them. I chose to

become an educational guide to my students as I consider that children learn from my lessons and

not teach, or fill out my students with knowledge as if they were empty vessels. I consider myself

an important tool that facilitates learning, a gatekeeper to an unknown world to them, a humble

partner on the road of knowledge and personal enrichment and from this unique position I am open

to learn from my students, to listen to them and allow myself to assimilate their culture, their

background, their biases and expectations.

Simultaneously, learning about my profession is crucial to my growth as a professional.

Thought my efforts of continuing my education and become aware of the literature, ideas, or trends

being produced in the field of my content, I strive to be a professional learner always thinking,

listening, observing, reading, researching.

Teacher as Partner with Families and Community

As stated in the introduction, my strong belief in communication as liaison between

myself as the classroom teacher and parents inspired me to access new and old ways of

communicating with parents and create long lasting professional relationships that will benefit my

students, the school and the entire community. Connecting with parents is indeed a complex

process with various components and details to consider from choosing the right pathway of

communication, to timing, to choose of words, tone of voice and body language. It is a process
that undergoing different stages which might at any given time be impeded by barriers to

communication.

Generally, I either communicate in speaking or in writing, using one way or two ways

communication. One-way communication occurs when I want to inform parents about events,

activities, or student progress through a variety of sources, such as an introductory letter at the

beginning of the school year, the classrooms syllabus, pamphlets about ways parents can help

with French at home, classroom or school newsletters, report cards, communication books,

announcements, school Web sites, etc. I also use two-way communication which involves

dialogues between and the parents during telephone calls, e-mail exchange, parent-teacher

conferences, open houses, meetings, conventions, professional development activities and other

various school-based and community activities.

Furthermore, I was involved within an ongoing process of communication with community which

unfolded through the close relationships built with the agencies and service providers such as the

ELL department/social worker/phycologists /police department/medical department that deal with

parents and families to assure equal opportunities for services and shared information about

community, though the establishment of clear policies about the magnitude of confidentiality of

the school policy or BYOD policy (bring your own device), through the extension of the use of

school buildings to host events such as Recreation Night, Parties, Fund Raisers or simply conduct

various classes. In parallel , while my school connected with businesses in the community to

support certain school projects or events (KonaIce, Applebees, Calvers, etc.), I participate in

these events in order to support equally our students, school and community.

Teacher as Leader/Collaborator
 Besides striving to be a reputable communicator, an educator, a colleague and member of

our community I advocated for French within my community by getting involved and volunteering

in various school-community activities. Recently I represented the French Department in the

district by exhibiting a booth about France at the Multicultural P4JFair Janesville, where preschool

students and parents learned about France.

Also, in February participated for the first time at the event Mardi Gras Janesville, which

is an event born from the collaboration that last for about a decade between the French Language

Department and the Hedberg Public Library in Janesville. French teachers, parents, students and

children in the community come together to celebrate a French holiday while crafting masks and

necklaces, playing games, eating Kings Cake and crpes.

My involvement in extra curriculum activities was always shared with other professionals

in the district, other French teachers or foreign language teachers who aimed to advocate for

maintaining existing language education programs, diversifying instruction to new languages, and

reaching more middle and elementary school students with foreign language instruction. My

inspiration to collaborate with other teachers, administrators and institutions within our community

sprouted from my strong belief that foreign languages should be introduced to students as early as

possible (preferably in elementary).

As I come from a totally different educational system where foreign languages were

compulsory starting with first grade (a first foreign language in elementary and a second foreign

language in middle school continuing throughout high school), my objective was to bring out

awareness about the benefits of language learning which supports academic achievement in core

disciplines, provide cognitive gains to students, shape out attitudes and beliefs about other cultures,

provides a window for worldwide job opportunities thought a very well sought-after skills.
Teacher as Learner

While pursuing to identify the various dimensions as a learner within the teaching

profession, one starting point might be stating my philosophy in regard to my personal learning

which I envision to be a perpetual learning process, unfolding gradually which simultaneously

alters my classroom-based approaches, teaching style, pedagogy and overall structure of my

overall learning layout.

Certainly, my background influenced tremendously the spectrum of perspectives as a learner, as I

was educated in a communist and post-communist country where resources for education was

scarce, where the educational methods were linear and very nonexclusive, where educators had

minimal a minimal support system to do their jobs, were students lacked having their basic needs

meet, yet, where I learned that education is a privilege, a valuable gift to be cherished. Just thinking

about the current issues in U.S. educational system and various complains about whats missing,

what lacks, whats not enough, not good enough, not scaffolded enough, not diverse or inclusive

enough, I could not help but reflect upon the system I was educated and which shaped me into the

person I am, where the issue was not having gender neutral bathrooms but the bathrooms itself, or

better said the lack of. In the school that I have learned for the first 8 years of my life, the

bathroom was a hole in the ground enclosed by three cement walls, in a shed outside the main

building. We called it the water closed (WC), however, ironically there was no source of water

next to this Turkish toilet. To wash our hands afterwards we had to wheel out water from the wheel

with a metal barrels attached to a chain.

Needless to say, that my love for learning sprouted in school, in a small classroom where we had

to keep awake the fire in winter, sweep and mop the floors, clean the windows, care for our school,

be involved physically in making that space pleasant and nurturing.

I am a learner, an eternal learner and not necessarily and academic learner but a life learner, a

learner of other languages and cultures, of customs, traditions and events, a learner that questions,

refutes and search for answers, better ways to approach all aspects of life. I am a learner that

believes that all learning acquired is valuable, that cherishes reflecting on own learning, that strives

to learn even more and reach even higher, that hopes to inspire students to feel the same excitement

about learning as I do.

I intent to deep further and pursue a doctoral program in education, which will mean a

tremendously achievement for me, both personally and professionally. I intend to continue sharing

my personal learning experience with my students and my motto: If I can can, you can can!