Amanda Gantt's Professional Portfolio



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Standard Six - Communication Skills

The teacher uses knowledge of effective verbal, nonverbal, and media communication techniques to foster active inquiry, collaboration, and supportive interaction in the classroom.

          An effective classroom community begins with the teacher effectively communicating their expectations to the students.  Every student is looking for how they “fit in” to this community; and as educators, we should guide our students with clear and consistent instructions to help them understand what is expected of them.  This can be achieved by modeling what is expected as well as by spotlighting individuals that are demonstrating the correct procedures.  Teachers can also communicate through distributing rubrics and other assessment criteria which allow the students to both see and hear what is expected on assignments.  Also, in an effective teacher’s classroom, the teacher is able to create a positive and risk-free environment that nonverbally communicates to the students that they can make mistakes. 

           Communication is also the key to effective collaborations with teachers, parents, and the community.  Through the use of e-mail, phone calls, letters, and conferences, a teacher should be able to work with people in the school, community and also in the homes to create an open environment.  The more support a teacher can gain for a student, the more effective the learning will become. 
          To create effective communication in a classroom, a teacher must know how to foster partnerships with their colleagues, with the students' parents, and with community members to  create active inquiry, collaboration, and supportive interaction.  This communication does not start and end in the classroom because an effective educator knows that the support of the community around them helps to build this communication in the classroom.  Thus, to create effective verbal, nonverbal, and media communication, an educator must firmly understand INTASC Standard Ten which promotes the partnership needed to create this communication in the classroom.
 

Rationale of Artifact One

Artifact One

            In my classroom I am able to communicate nonverbally to effectively create and foster active inquiry, collaboration, and supportive interaction in my classroom.  I am able to demonstrate this quality by displaying my “Commercial Expectation Form” that I handed out to all of my students.

            After the students had read this form, they knew my requirements for what would be expected from the commercials that they would be writing and performing and how the commercials would be graded.  The students were aware of what was expected so that they could collaborate within their groups effectively to create a fun and interactive presentation.

            In INTASC Standard Six, I must show that I know how to effectively communicate to create an open environment of learning, and through this “Commercial Expectation Form”, I am able to nonverbally communicate to my students my expectations so as to set them up for success.

 This is a link to the Commercial Expectation Form.

Rationale of Artifact Two

Artifact Two

            Constant and effective communication must be fostered in one’s classroom.  From my video of a presentation of one of the commercials preformed by a group of my students, I am effectively able to communicate with the viewer of this portfolio the fact that my students have the ability to use technology to communicate what they have learned as proving that I effectively used verbal communication to assure that their presentation follows expectations.

            In this activity the students were required to communicate with me that they knew what happened in the book that they read in the Literature Circle as well as communicated to me what they learned in the discussion of their book.  They were able to communicate this by creating, performing, and taping their commercial using a digital video recorder.  This proved to everyone that they did effectively learn the skill required by the expectations, and it allowed the students time to work together to learn how to operate the technology as well as produce a commercial that they have written effectively.

            I am able to show how I can verbally communicate effectively to my students my expectations when the students give me a cameo role in their commercial.  I viewed their presentation, and I then sat down with them before their taping to explain what I loved about their presentations and what they needed to add into their commercial to meet the requirements.  Thus, they had one of the other students in the class named Amanda come in their commercial with my name tag on to tell them, “Don’t forget about the Protagonist and Antagonist.”  This shows that the students took my verbal communication and used it in their commercial to meet the expectations that I had set for them.

            From the evidence shown above, I am able to verbally communicate effectively to my students so as to create inquiry, collaboration, and supportive interaction in my classroom.  I am also able to use technology to communicate knowledge in my classroom.

 This is a link to the Commercial from the group, Regular Guy.