Carrie Lee's Portfolio
INTASC* Standard 10:
Leadership & Collaboration
SUMMARY OF CONTENTS
EVIDENCE IN SUPPORT OF STATEMENT
- Gratitude & Kindness Project Outline
- Gratitude Project Samples (Artifact 1)
- Service Project Tally (Artifact 2)
- Evaluation by Mentor (Artifact 3)
- APA References
- Publication Date: November 1, 2021
- Language: English
“The teacher seeks appropriate leadership roles and opportunities to take responsibility for student learning, to collaborate with learners, families, colleagues, other school professionals, and community members to ensure learner growth, and to advance the profession,” (CCSO, 2013)
Leadership and Collaboration InTASC standard can be summarized as taking advantage of opportunities to lead, taking the initiative to share what is working and what isn’t, stepping up to volunteer when feasible, or work with others in a joint effort to contextualize learning for the students (CCSO, 2013). The truth is that no teacher or student exists in a bubble. If the pandemic has taught us anything, it is that everything is more connected than we realize. This standard is about being open to and aware of how to work with peers, extended community, families, and students to open up the classroom walls. When taking ownership for student learning the engagement and learning of the students become a reflection of the teacher as much as of the learner. This investment can lead to inventive approaches, creative application of concepts, and deeper connections between all parties (Ark et al., 2020).
Taking ownership of student learning goes beyond content or curriculum. I believe the core of being an effective teacher is found when the world itself is the classroom. Students are often more engaged when they feel the content is relevant to their lives. Like everything else, leadership begins with building relationships with the students, families, colleagues, and community members; establishing trust, communication, commitment, and mutual respect (Harris et al., 2017). When it comes to being a teacher, the task is often oversimplified, when in reality there are many, many intertwined elements that contribute to the tapestry that results.
The best example of a tapestry of intertwining elements I can provide is the 5-week long Gratitude and Kindness unit (outline) I collaborated to create with a fellow ELA teacher of 9th graders. Its design was informed by place-based learning core tenants. Tasks are focused on student choice and are relevant to their lives. Those same tasks students practice critical thinking inviting rich discussions. The actions they take have impacts they can observe and by the nature of occurring in the real world, they cross-subjects. The design culminating in a service project incorporated all these aspects (Ark, et al., 2020).
Elements of leadership and collaboration can often be observed by another qualified colleague. Evaluation narratives can tell you a lot about how a teacher is viewed by their colleagues especially when it comes to collaboration and leadership within a school. When the impacts of that teacher’s leadership and collaboration help to reshape school culture in a positive purposeful way, there is no better snapshot than the before and after.
In the Fall of 2021, only 50% of students scheduled to attend had been in a classroom in the prior 18 months. I would be teaching three classes of 9th graders and Ms. Lewis had one. We knew the students coming to the classroom were likely to be impacted by the differences in learning environments and by the experiences they had throughout the pandemic, and they may demonstrate behaviors that were indicative of that.
We both had been creating a gratitude unit. While discussing, we came to the conclusion it would be best for the students to align our units. In blending our content, the implementation of a service project became the obvious culmination of the unit. We shared the duties of digitizing our content to a Canvas unit. Students then completed daily readings, discussions, and recorded tasks in their slides templates following the unit outline. Samples of student work from each of the tasks within the unit are found in Artifact one, as they are the best example of the impacts of this collaboration.
As the project came to a close, Ms. Lewis and I reflected on the unit and the outcomes. In this process, we realized that the students would be served by a demonstration of the collective impact of their actions. In hopes that students would feel a part of something larger and help them establish a culture or a “collective identity, not only suggests the possibility of collective action in pursuit of common interests but even invites such action” (Snow, 2001).
This presentation in artifact two garnered the attention of the administration, and the results will be showcased as part of a “We Are Terrace!” feature in the school media. This culmination of the kindness and gratitude accompanied each student received a hand written thank you note from me as well.
In artifact three, the evaluation form completed by my mentor teacher ends with a narrative that is a window looking in, as he did not have any role in planning this unit. His review of the importance and value-added of this collaboration is a testament to my abilities as a leader and collaborator. The observation of the impact and the opinion of my mentor teacher are the best examples of my leadership and collaboration to date because of how clearly they tell the story.