Amanda Gantt's Professional Portfolio



Intro

Table of Contents

Previous Standard

Next

Standard Ten - Partnerships

The teacher fosters relationships with school colleagues, parents, and agencies in the larger community to support students' learning and well-being.

            Teaching is not a solitary job.  To be an effective educator, we must be able to effectively communicate to colleagues, parents, and community leaders to help our students have the best opportunities available.  With the help of colleges, teachers can gain a further knowledge of the subject matter, and assist each other in reflecting on our own teaching practices.  When teachers have open communication with parents, the students get the best support of constant and consistent reinforcement to help guide their learning.  Through the help of community support, teachers can help their students become better citizens while learning how the lessons in the classroom fit into their real world environment.  Each one of these connections is important, and each one is a key link to help support students as they continue on their way to success.
              A successful partnership comes from implementing effective communication skills.  These skills will allow educators to have an open relationship that will support students' learning and well-being.  These skills are shown when one demonstrates INTASC Standard Six.  Thus, an educator that can effectively communicate with others will be able to create strong partnerships.

Rationale of Artifact One

Artifact One

            Teaching should never be the solitary act of one individual because one individual cannot know everything.  From this understanding, teachers must use the assistance of their colleagues, parents, and agencies in the community to help assist their students in the learning process. I was able to demonstrate this in my own classroom by sending home a simple letter asking the parents for their support in the World War II unit that I was teaching.

            By sending home the letter, I was able to gain the parent’s interest in the class and help foster relationships and discussions at home that will help the student succeed.  Because of this letter, parents were able to gain community support by asking people in the community that lived during World War II to come to the classroom to speak.  This truly proves the power of communication and partnership with the outside community because the students gain a much fuller knowledge of the subject with the help of their parents and individuals in the community.

            I believe that an effective teacher must have a firm relationship with parents and the community to show to the students that what they are learning is meaningful even outside of school.  Through my letter to the parents about our unit on World War II, I am able to show that I had developed this firm relationship.

 This is a link to the Letter I sent home about my World War II Unit.

Rationale of Artifact Two

Artifact Two

            I believe that for any teacher to be successful, they must have a good working relationship with their colleagues.  Through collaboration, the teachers can become better educators simply by reflecting on their difficulties with individuals that are going through the same thing.  I was able to gain this good working relationship with my coaching teacher, and I believe I am able to show our collaboration through an e-mail. 

In this e-mail, it shows that Ms. Murphy, my coaching teacher, and I have a good working relationship where we are able to discuss different areas of the curriculum.  This e-mail also shows that we have daily meetings in which we discuss what we can do to be the most effective educators that we can be in our classroom, and we are able to work together to create this open relationship among other colleagues.

            By showing that I know how to effectively communicate with my coaching teacher, I am able to show that when I have my own classroom that I will effectively foster relationships with my colleagues to help me become a better educator.

 This is a link to an e-mail that I received from my coaching teacher, Buffy Murphy, showing our collaboration.