Standards 6 and 7: Engages with the community outside the classroom
This standard involves the following:
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A child lives among many different worlds, such as home, school, sports, and activities, but how can we blend these worlds into one cohesive unit? During my internship, I've had the opportunity to reach out to students, but also become a part of the community. |
Spotlight Breakfast
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When I was completing my internship at Shelby Junior High, I nominated several students to attend the spotlight breakfast as a celebration for their hard work during the school year. These breakfasts are held before school, and the students' parents are invited to attend, as well. When I nominated my 7th grade students, I associated each with a character from our quarter's novel. Not all of these students had good grades, but they all had a positive, inspirational trait that I wanted to share with the Shelby community. The students got to feel appreciated and found their positive traits within the novel, and the parents were there to support their children and have a glimpse at what we were reading in class. It was very nice being able to speak with the parents and tell them how far their child has grown since the beginning of the year. |
Emails
Since I do not always have the opportunity to speak to parents face to face, emails and phone calls serve as another alternative. This communication varies, but often involves classroom behavior, missing assignments, absent work, and student improvement plans between the teacher and parent. I strongly encourage my students to email me if they have any questions, and while it may be intimidating to email a teacher for help, many have. Below are examples of parent-teacher and student-teacher communication.
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Schoolnotes.com
When students are absent, it can be difficult for them to catch up. A class website is useful because it gives students access to class material and parents access to a weekly calendar. Schoolnotes is a website made specifically for teachers, and you can set upload files, post links, and create blogs, among other resources. Many students access this website when they're absent, but also when they need extra help. I post my prezis to help them study for quizzes and the journal prompts if they need to finish them at home.
Teacher Support Groups
Last but not least, it is always important to have teacher support groups. My mentor teachers have taught me more than I could have ever imagined, and I plan to incorporate what I have learned from them in my own classroom. My Secondary English peers are also important to me. We have grown together from students to teachers, and even though we are all around the state at different schools, we keep in touch through facebook and of course enjoy the time we see each other during our own classes. I am also a part of a larger network of teachers called Encouraging Teachers, a facebook group comprised of over 10,000 teachers who encourage and support one another. Regardless if the support is close to home or on the opposite coast, the support we get as teachers is priceless.