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.Educators should define their professional responsibilities to include a commitment to their colleagues, their settings, their profession, and their communities.They should be familiar with legal, ethical, and policy issues, and understand the importance of advocating for children, families, and themselves in a variety of professional, political, and policymaking contexts.
This standard is centered on developing partnerships among families and the community. Cowhey, in her book, Black Ants and Buddhists, writes that “it takes a village to teach first grade” (p.80). Her book emphasizes how important, it is for a teacher to recognize a child’s family and to know their family well enough to learn from them. A teacher might learn about a child’s likes and dislikes that will help the teacher motivate the child for learning. It also recommends that teachers use all of their resources to support the child in the best possible way. Each morning, a child enters the classroom with the experiences he or she has lived through at home. These experiences can be positive ones that make a child feel loved and cared for such as sharing family dinners, spending quality time with a parent or having a routine that includes reading before bedtime. However, a child’s home can be rather unsettling due to multiple factors, many of which the child cannot control. It is important to discuss the importance of the home life with families in order to best meet the needs of the child.
Having shared goals among the guardian(s), child, and teacher(s) is an important way to make sure the child is on track. Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory, which is discussed in Lightfoot, Cole and Cole’s book The Development of the Child (2009), suggests that “the four systems, [microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, and macrosystem] to interact and influence one another” (p.29). The microsystem is the direct connections a student will encounter between school and home. Parents, families, and teachers are the closest to the child’s development and therefore need to have the same understanding of how to achieve the goals for the child for a successful school year.
Goal setting is apparent in my current classroom through group activities. The lead teachers at my practicum site have asked each child to identify his or her hopes and dreams for the upcoming school year (Artifact 7:A) along with asking guardians to provide information about their child (Artifact 7:B). These documents are important to read and recognize as a way to open conversation about the child’s goals but also recognize the guardian’s role in the learning process. The lead teachers also began the year with an introductory letter (Artifact 7:C) that explained what the child may be bringing home along with information about nightly homework. This bridges the gap easily from home to school, because guardians now know what to look for every night from their child.
On the first day of school, the principal invited the students, families, and staff members to join in a circle and have a moment of silence to identify a goal they would like to complete for the school year. The principal was sure to emphasize that everyone in the circle was to think of a goal and it was not just for students. Every morning after the first day, the students gather together and the principal greets the school community members by saying “Good morning, Manning community” and the students respond with “Good morning, Manning community”. The principal then pulls a name from a list of all students in the school and that student introduces him or herself to the school, says their grade level, and then shares his or her favorite book. This student then leads the Pledge of Allegiance and the Manning School Pledge. Parents are also invited to stay for these school. I think this routine has brought the educators together with the families and students to build a strong community and is clearly supporting the students present.
The classroom was also set up to develop a sense of community. There is a bulletin board outside the classroom saying “Third Grade: We are One” along with each student and teacher’s name on the board surrounding the sign (Artifact 7:D). Students sit at tables and are required to share supplies with one another. Each table group is responsible for their own supplies.
During Open House, many parents and families came to learn about their child’s classroom. It was a great experience to see how my teachers had prepared folders for each family explaining the year and the curriculum in grade three (Artifact 7:E). I think its important to develop this communication early with families, so they always know how to reach out if a problem does arise. Parents also had the opportunity to look at student work and talk informally to the teachers and the students teachers in the classroom. This connection is invaluable when working with students.
Legal, ethical, and policy issues are important matters regarding the safety of all children within the school building. Professional development (PD) meetings are often a time that all staff can sit down and discuss how to best meet the needs of every child while following these policies. I sat in on the first day of school’s professional development day (Artifact 7:F). During this PD, we came together a community to meet each other, then went over the visual and values and then over important procedures such as mandated reporting, cooperative discipline, crisis prevention (CPI), and had a time for anyone to ask questions if anything was unclear. I thought this was helpful information and it is important to every staff member to understand the same material and have heard the same information in order to lessen the likelihood of confusion among adults.
This standard however did make me realize how many policies are set in place to protect children that educators need to be aware of. I realize that through my time at Wheelock I have only briefly explored the Individuals with Disabilities Act that is designed to help children with special needs and the ethics surrounding the incredible amount of a power a teacher. I hope that through my final year, these discussions will occur in the my practicum seminar and also at my school site so that I can learn as much as possible about ways to advocate for all children and families.
References
Cowhey, M. (2206). Black ants and buddhists: thinking critically and teaching differently in the
primary grades. Portland, ME: Stenhouse.
Lightfoot, C., Cole, M., & Cole, S.R. (2009). The development of children. NY: Worth.
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