goal-7

7.b. Open House Flyer

Thu, 23 Jun 2011 06:34:10 +0100

This year, I student-taught at West Anchorage High School, my alma mater, under the direction of two mentor teachers. Each of these teachers gave me one of their classes to teach in its entirety, from the start of the year to the finish. My classes were English 9 and English 10, both general education classes. For one semester, I taught two sections of Honors English 10. In the first month of school, West High School has an Open House, in which parents are invited to visit the school and circulate though their students’ class schedules, with the bell ringing every ten minutes to direct parents to the next class period. For this meeting, I had copies of my syllabus for each class, as well as a small flyer I prepared explaining a little bit about myself, class goals for the year, and books we might be reading. You can view the flyer below:

Open House Flyer

In my introductions, I explained my student-teacher status and what it means, explained my standards-based grading system, discussed the materials I handed out, and invited parents to contact me any time via email.

7.b. Portfolio Writing - Parent Communication

Thu, 23 Jun 2011 06:26:48 +0100

Written June 2011

Portfolio Writing:

Parent Communication

Write a paper in which you discuss the various methods you and/or your host teacher have used to communicate with parents and community. Analyze the effectiveness of the methods. What seems to work, and why? What other methods have you seen or heard of that you might like to try? How has your knowledge of the parents and the local community affected your teaching?

7b. Show that you:

Communicate effectively with parents and community and incorporate local ways of knowing into decision making about all levels of schooling.

In the first month of school, West High School has an Open House, in which parents are invited to visit the school and circulate though their students’ class schedules, with the bell ringing every ten minutes to direct parents to the next class period. For this meeting, I had copies of my syllabus for each class, as well as a small flyer I prepared explaining a little bit about myself, class goals for the year, and books we might be reading. In my introductions, I explained my student-teacher status and what it means, explained my standards-based grading system, discussed the materials I handed out, and invited parents to contact me any time via email.

West’s Parent Open House is probably not the best way of communicating with all parents. While my mentor teacher, Tricia’s Honors English 10 class meetings were mobbed with so many parents that many had to stand, for my English 10 class, only three guardians showed up, the father of one student (along with three high-school aged brothers) and the grandparents of another. In my English 9 class, seven of the students had parents come, a number that my mentor teacher, Ardy, found shockingly high; I almost had more parents come for that one class than the rest of her classes combined.

Somewhat interestingly, while the kids in the honors classes usually didn’t come with their parents, the parents in my classes always showed up with their kids. It could be that parents in my classes were more likely to have work schedules or childcare duties that interfered with their ability to attend. However, it is also possible that parents of my classes prioritize school less than parents in the honors classes, or simply feel to intimidated to visit; perhaps they didn’t graduate high school; perhaps they don’t speak English; perhaps they had an unpleasant high school experience.

I also had the opportunity to meet face-to-face with parents at the Fall and Spring Parent Conferences. Conferences at West are held in two three-hour blocks, one in the late morning to afternoon, and the other in the early evening, allowing parents with multiple schedules the opportunity to attend. These were generally better attended, and over the course of the year, I met the parents of 10 more of my students at these meetings. For the conferences, I brought my computer to look up attendance data, copies of progress reports for all of my students, copies of the syllabus, and some examples of materials we were working on in class. I always started my commentary by complimenting the student’s traits and sharing a few anecdotes about positive experiences in my classes. If the student was present, I was always careful to talk to the student and include them in the conversation rather than talking about the student as if they were not present. Most parents wanted to know if their child was doing well in class. Whenever possible, I mentioned areas for improvement. In every case, I emphasized that I enjoyed having their child in my class.

I noticed that most parents who attend parent-teacher conferences have students who are doing pretty well in my classes. Unfortunately, the parents of students who are failing usually do not attend, and so I am unable to have a conversation with the parent about possible underlying sources and coordinate solutions.

Throughout the year, I communicated with individual parents by email and phone about behavior, placement, attendance, and performance concerns. In some cases, I used both; The day before the HSGQE, for instance, I contacted the parents of all of my absent or frequently-absent 10^th graders to remind them, sending emails when I all I could reach was a message machine. Whenever possible, I let the student know that I would be contacting their parent.

For behavior concerns, I always tried to call first. I began my conversations by explaining who I was, what I enjoyed about having their student in my class, and a basic summary of the issue. Afterwards, I most often asked the parent if there were any issues their child was dealing with currently or if the behavior was normal, giving the parents a chance to respond. Usually, this set up the conversation such that the parents ended up asking me questions. I ended by explaining the consequences or possible consequences for the student and expressing my desire to find a solution, in cooperation with the parent. If I got a message machine, I left a message with my name, the most basic summary of my reason for calling, and my number. I did not go into details, as I did not want anything to be misconstrued.

Every parent phone call I had this year ended on a positive note, even ones reporting truly deplorable behavior (e.g. racial tensions, temper tantrums). Perhaps even more remarkably, my relationships with the students, in every case, remained positive. In my messages, I made it clear that I liked the student, that I was concerned about the student, and that I was looking for collaboration in helping the student to succeed. This method does not blame parents, but rather seeks their assistance, it is made with concern rather than anger, and it is done to help the child succeed rather than to get them in trouble. After contacting the parent, I met with the student and debriefed with them, administering explanations, clarifications, and apologies as needed.

I usually used email to communicate with parents about daily issues, such as attendance or grade updates. If a student with attendance issues was truant, I let their parent know through email. If a failing student who had bargained with me for makeup work was running out of time to turn it in, I notified the parent (if they were in on the arrangement) using email. Any parent of students in my class was welcome to email me at any time and ask about a grade or for a report of their students’ attendance. I also used email whenever I couldn’t reach a parent by phone. The formats of my email followed the same general format as my phone calls, and achieved the same, generally positive results – a “thank you” email. My mentor teachers both complimented me on my ability to write warm, diplomatic emails, and even sometimes had me proof-read theirs.

Finally, at a few points throughout the year, I met with parents in parent-teacher conferences, usually including the rest of their teachers, to discuss the placement and performance of individual students. These conferences were held during lunch or after school. Again, if the student was present, I made my best effort to speak to the student rather than about the student, and involve him or her in the conversation. I listened politely to parents when they listed complaints (usually about their child) or concerns, but focused on steered the conversation toward solutions.

Generally, these conferences ended on a warm note, but I did not find them satisfying. I find conferences to be more about parents and less about students. While one of my goals in conferences is to develop and maintain good relationships with parents, when a parent comes to school just to “let off steam” about their kid, I am not sure who is benefitting.

I would like to do a better job of communicating with all parents regularly. In the Anchorage School District, parents and students can check their grades online whenever they would like. I would also like parents and students to be able to “check” my class online through a class website. By including a calendar of our class lessons and, when possible, links to our in-class reading online, I could facilitate better communication with parents and students. Similarly, I would consider trying a class-wide weekly email update. Because the emails reported to the front office are often outdated, in the first day of school I would probably have my students write down their parents’ contact information, so I could get their “real” emails.

Everyone knows that West Anchorage High School is highly diverse. What I have learned through my contact with parents is that West is even more diverse than most people think. This year, I have learned, variously that my most cheerful student is homeless, that my sassiest student is a foster kid, and that the kid who seems the most confident in the class just had his father go to prison. In my teaching, I do my best to avoid making any assumptions about my students’ home lives.

7.a. Community Schools Parent Handbook

Sat, 18 Jun 2011 23:00:39 +0100

The major final project for the School - Community Relations Class was to create a Parent Handbook. I was in a group with Chris Coffeen, Meaghan Loughlin, and Noah Zogas, all of Anchorage.

The handbook is intended to serve as an easy-to-navigate guide for parents at our fictional school, a resource to help them get acquainted and comfortable with the school and getting involved in their childrens' educations. It detailed the six standards of parental involvement and also invited students to six events called "action plans", one corresponding to each standard, to assist parents of this (fictional) school in becoming informed / involved / connected in the six areas.

To view our Parent Handbook in GoogleDocs, click here.
You can also view the slideshow on the Goal 7 main page.

Below are some of (Mt. Edgecumbe Principal) Bernie Gurule's comments on our project:

General Comments:
"Excellent from start to conclusion. Wonderful handbook and final project. Easy to maneuver through patters and format is inviting. Your team has accomplished the goal of the class. 300 points. A great deal of work is apparent in this project. Thank you :)."

Specific Comments:
On our Table of Contents: "Easy to Follow - straight forward"
"Great Idea to incorporate proverbs & reflections on every page."
Our use of statistics: "Great overall coverage + information to get parents hooked"
"Attractive format"
"Action Plans I - VI - simple - concise - not too overwhelming - parents would like this approach"
"Research on benefits parents-students-school very convincing"
"Nice tough on every action plan is the concerns (roadblocks) [and] detours (solutions)"
On Action Plan IV: Volunteering: "Very inviting"
With regards to our theme of Alaskan animal pictures throughout: "Theme of animals taking care of their own sends a powerful message"

Selected comments on our group presentation (in the format of one of our action plans):

very good description of elements of standard
"We are not telling you how to do your job as parents - we are here to support your efforts" - Excellent
Excellent idea for "Flyer" with invitation and information about public service project (Action Plan)
Good use of community people, student volunteer
Food Break followed by continued video of what service project could look like - very good.
invitation for community to give school ideas
Great tag-line "Good for School, Good for Community"
Great [funny] lead-up + hook to public: "I want to make Chris [our phenomenal example of student volunteering] less special."
Excellent conclusion and tie-in to next meeting -> get students to get parents involved.
Very enjoyable presentation Good frlow from one activity to the next - 150 points [100%]

7.c. Refer to Evaluations

Thu, 23 Jun 2011 06:35:38 +0100

Please refer to my Final Intern Evaluation for evidence that I have met performance 7.c.. For Goal 7, I received a rating of “6”: “Exceeds Goals”.

Intern Evaluation, Spring 2011
Please note that this final evaluation summarizes all relevant material from my Fall Intern Evaluation.

7.a. Refer to Teacher Work Sample

Thu, 23 Jun 2011 06:37:14 +0100

Please refer to Factor 1 (pages 2-10) and Factor 5 (pages 32-37) of my Teacher Work Sample for evidence that I have met performance 7.a.:

Teacher Work Sample

7.a. School - Community Relations Journal - 11 Essays

Thu, 23 Jun 2011 05:06:22 +0100

At the end of each day in ED612 School - Community Relations class, our professor, Bernie Gurule, gave us a prompt for our journals. The prompt ranged from quotes that capture a major issue relating to school-community relations to important ethical questions that arose during class to asking use to consider, how, individually, we should maintain balance in our lives. Below is my journal, consisting of 11 essays and responses.

To read these essays from GoogleDocs, click the link below:

Community Relations Journal