Karen Donohoe
EDU 486
Standard #7
January 28, 2015
Standard
7 Family, community, and professional
partnerships in a diverse society
1)
Educators
should view their students’ families as partners in their work. They should understand that children’s
academic success is fostered by strong communication, shared goals, and
mutually reinforcing practices, and that children’s motivation and sense of
well-being in the classroom is supported by the setting’s affirmation of the
child’s home and culture.
2)
Educators
should define their professional responsibilities to include a commitment to
their colleagues, their settings, their profession, and their communities.
3)
They
should be familiar with legal, ethical, and policies issues, and understand the
importance of advocating for children, families, and themselves in a variety of
professional, political, and policymaking contexts.
Standard
seven focuses on family teacher communication and how it benefits the student
learning when the student’s teacher and family shares the same goals for that
student. This connection is important to the student’s learning because the
parent or guardian can continue the teachers work at home so the child is
receiving consistency at school and at home. This standard also addresses being
a professional within your job in all aspects, and being knowledgeable about
your role as a teacher.
I value
this standard because it is made up of three things that make a good teacher.
Communication with the families of your students is important because knowing
your student is important. It is easier to teach a child when you know he or
she and you know what his or her life style is like outside of school. It is
also extremely important to be knowledgeable of what a teacher’s job is in
relation to the children but also as a coworker.
Maxine
Weinreb’s article, Be A Resiliency
Mentor: You May Be a Life Saver for a High Risk Child talks a lot about
personal relationships impact on children in schools. Weinreb talks about her
experience as a teacher and how she wanted to quit teaching because the
students weren’t engaged. She realized that relationships with students were
key to their success. It is important to have a relationship with the student
and with their family in order to ensure success although some families are not
interested in having a relationship with the teacher that just makes the
teacher to student relationship even more important.
I have just
started my full practicum and I sent home a letter to the parents introducing
myself, and my role in their child’s classroom. This applies to standard 7.1,
because I am creating a relationship with the families of my students from the
beginning. Artifact 7A shows my effort to try and reach out to the families of
my students. Within writing this letter I hope that it creates a comfortable
bridge between the parents and myself. I also told the parents that if they
would like to write back to me and tell me about their child that I would love
to hear from them and to get a chance to get to know their child better. This
is a great way for the child’s family to know who I am and also a great
opportunity for me to get to know each student better. I decided to have the
parents write back to me instead of the students because it will be helpful for
me to see the relationship that the parent and student have with each other
through the parent’s response about their child. I think that I have achieved
this standard by reaching out to the parents and trying to create a
relationship with them even though I am not their student’s full time teacher.
After reading Weinreb’s article I believe that relationships with students can
truly have a positive effect on their learning and I intend to continue to do
all that I can to create a relationship with the students as well as their
families.
I have also
met standard 7.1 through my efforts to reach out to the families of my students
through a monthly newsletter. Artifact 7B is attached to show that I want the
families to know what is going on in the classroom. Through this newsletter I
am attempting to create a partnership with the families of my students by
making them aware of the classrooms upcoming agenda. I have included
independent student work, god behavior charts, upcoming field trips, and what
the students will be learning for that month.
I have
addressed standard 7.2 by organizing my cooperating teacher’s math workshop
worksheets. I organized all of her worksheets into color coded, labeled
folders, making it easier for the students and for my cooperating teacher to
run math fluency efficiently. I took the responsibility to help my teacher
organize an activity that she does everyday with the students. This shows my
commitment to the growth and development of the classroom. Artifact 7C is a picture of the students
using the worksheets that I organized.
Bibliography
Weinreb, Maxine
L. Be a Resiliency Mentor: You May Be a Lifesaver for a High-Risk Child. Young
Children, v52 n2 p14-20 Jan. 1997
Dear 4L Families,
My
name is Karen Donohoe and I am writing to let you know that I am your child’s
new student teacher. I am a senior at
Wheelock College majoring in History and Elementary Education. As an aspiring
teacher, I am required to student teach in a classroom four and a half days a
week and fortunately, I have been assigned to Mrs. Lucarelli’s fourth grade
classroom until May!
I
am excited to be part of 4L and enjoyed my first week with the children. I look forward to getting to know your child
better and am grateful for the opportunity to learn and grow as a teacher in
your child’s classroom.
Home
to school communication is so important to your child’s growth. You are a great
resource in helping me get to know your child.
I would love to hear anything you care to share with me about your
child. Please feel free to write back or to set up a time to meet in person.
My
email is karen.donohoe@my.wheelock.edu
if you would like to contact me for any reason. I look forward to hearing from
you!
Sincerely,
Karen Donohoe
Artifact 7B
Artifact 7C
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