Standard 7: Collaboration and Outreach

Although I may spend the majority of my days in my classroom it is essential for teachers to step outside their own room and build relationships with the people and organizations that surround their room and their school. In this way, a teacher can better understand their students and be a more effective teacher.

 

Getting to know students

In order to provide the best education for my students, it is important that I understand a child holistically. This means employing Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory and getting to know all the parts that influence a student's life. In order to understand the student in my classroom, I need to know what motivates them, their strengths and their interests. I can find out a great deal of information about a student through a simple survey and informal conversation. If they express interest in basketball, I can attend a game to let them know I care about them as a person, not just about their performance in my class. Acknowledging the lives of students outside the classroom shows that I care and when they know that I care, they are more likely to be intrinsically motivated. By attending athletic or musical events, I can build up a more positive rapport with my students because I can discuss something that interests them.

 

Collaborating with colleagues

A student is also affected by what happens in other classrooms. Collaborating with other teachers, especially at the secondary level where students have several different teachers throughout the day, is critical to teaching each student more effectively. In science, students need to be able to read, write, and do math. It would be irresponsible of me to not be aware of and build upon what they are learning in their other classes. Collaborating with colleagues will also tell me what students are like in other classes and will give me better insight in to what motivates each student. Collaborating with colleagues has been a regular experience for me through weekly team, department, and staff meetings as well as maintaining positive rapport through casual communication opportunities.

 

Interacting with the community

Outside the school walls is where a student can find authentic learning opportunities. As a teacher whose responsibility is to prepare a student for life after graduation, it would be most beneficial for me to make sure there are opportunities for students to apply their knowledge to real-world scenarios. In my Agriculture class, students frequently address real-world problems and have developed an understanding and awareness of career opportunities. In the spring and fall, students are working in the community garden and have worked with members of the community on garden projects. This real-world application allowed students to share their own personal knowledge and it provided me with an opportunity to demonstrate that I care about their community as a whole. This was also an opportunity for those students about to graduate to ask questions with community members about their careers.

 

Communicating with families

It is also my responsibility to maintain positive relationships with the families of students and understand their home life. What happens at home will be brought into the classroom and what happens at school will be brought back home. It is important for me to maintain clear lines of communication between my classroom and home. I do this through regularly updating grades on SchoolTool, encouraging students and parents to access resources on Google Classroom, posting photos of students and their projects on my classroom website, and simple communication through Remind. Using these tools, I can inform parents of classroom activities and provide families with opportunities to ask questions or even contribute their own funds of knowledge. If a parent/guardian does not have access to the internet, I regularly make phone calls.​