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Professionalism in Education

Ali Hendrickson

Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota

Schools of Graduate and Professional Programs

Portfolio Entry for Wisconsin Teacher Standard Ten

EDUW 696 Documents of Accomplishment

Instructor: Catherine Anderson

July 3, 2018
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Wisconsin Teacher Standard Descriptors

Wisconsin Teaching Standard #10: Teachers are connected with other teachers and the

community. The teacher fosters relationships with school colleagues, parents, and agencies in the

larger community to support students’ learning and well-being, and acts with integrity fairness, and

in an ethical manner.

Knowledge. The teacher understands how factors in the students’ environment outside of

school (e.g. family circumstances, community environments, health, and economic conditions)

may influence students’ lives and learning.

Dispositions. The teacher is willing to work with other professionals to improve the

overall learning environment for students.

Performances. The teacher establishes respectful and productive relationships with

parents and guardians from diverse home and community situations and seeks cooperative

partnerships in support of student learning and well-being.

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Danielson Framework for Teaching

Domain 4: Professional Responsibilities

Component 4c: Communicating with Families

About instructional program, about individual students, and engagement of families

in instructional program

Component 4d: Participating in a Professional Community

Relationship with colleagues, participation in school projects, and service to school

Component 4e: Growing and Developing Professionally

Enhancement of content knowledge/pedagogical skill and service to the profession

Component 4e: Showing Professionalism

Service to students, advocacy, decision-making, and integrity/ethical conduct

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National Board Core Proposition # 5: Teachers are members of learning communities.

 NBCTs collaborate with others to improve student learning.

 They work with other professionals on instructional policy, curriculum development, and
staff development.

 They know how to work collaboratively with parents to engage them productively in the
work of the school.
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Introduction Page

Outside of my classroom, I am involved in several leadership roles including: math leader

and P.B.I.S. Tier I team member. I participate in the organization and implementation of our

mathematics curriculum and share information with my grade level team. I collaborate with other

professionals and generate new ideas and goals for the district. On the P.B.I.S. team, I meet with

other educators and help further develop our behavior management system, plan for all school

events, and create “cool tools” that are included in our back to school interactive modeling week in

the form of posters, videos, and whole school recognition items. Next year, I will be the first-grade

team leader and coordinate many events, communicate with grade level teachers, and set agendas

for discussion and improvement. In these roles, I work to improve the education my students

receive in my classroom, school, and community.

I feel that to be a professional in the field of education, you have many defining

characteristics. Educators are value-driven, guided by principles, passion, and bigger purpose. An

educator is growth-orientated and consider themselves lifelong learners in the field. Educators

recognize their role in creating a positive working environment for students, colleagues, and

families and encourage participation in the educational process. As an educator, I value

cohesiveness, collaboration, community and team-building atmosphere. I believe in the education

of the whole child and the inclusion of all children. I believe in standing shoulder to shoulder with

learners and creating a shared vision of classroom goals and outcomes.

It is very important to establish a culture of respect and rapport with learners and their

families. Schools, parents, and the community work together to promote the health, well-being,

and learning of all students. As educators our role is to lead young people and introduce them to

new content and tools of inquiry. To make a difference in the lives of students it is essential to
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develop a trusting relationship with their families and work to understand their culture, beliefs, and

goals for education. Family and community involvement at all levels has been shown time and

time again to have significant benefits toward the success of education. Involvement means more

than participating in parent-teacher conferences or signing report cards. Schools successful in

engaging parents and other family member in support of their children’s learning look beyond

traditional methods and strive to increase participation in activities outside of school (communities)

that encourage learning. Our school strives to develop successful partnerships with parents and

view student achievement as a shared responsibility. Everyone including parents, teachers,

administrators, teachers, and community leaders play important roles in supporting children’s

learning.

Learning takes place when students are encouraged to take more control of their own

learning process and feel comfortable taking risks. Engaging students in the learning process

increases their attention and focus, motivates them to practice higher-level critical thinking skills,

and promotes meaningful learning experiences. The teacher’s role becomes that of facilitator by

providing resources and support to learners. As a result, students can then be innovative and try

new ways of thinking, taking risks in their learning. Learners can then ask why, observe and

reflect, and generate knowledge through hands-on experience, collaboration with peers, and

effective communication. For this type of personalized learning to take place, teachers must form

meaningful relationships with their students and develop trust and consistency. Learning does not

only live in the capacity of rigorous academics and assessment data. Learning encompasses social

emotional instruction, problem-solving skills, building good character and teamwork, and working

to deepen core values that will lead to great success in society.

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What I enjoy most about education, is the continual improvement in long-term capacity as

an educator. It is important to remember that learning is never ending for both the students and

teacher. I value this characteristic of teachers as lifelong learners and my graduate experience at

St. Mary’s has fueled my passion and energy toward professional and personal growth. Teaching

is not just something mindless to pay the bills. It is not a profession where you count down the

hours left in a day. It is much more than simply a career path. By becoming a teacher, I feel I am

leaving a legacy by providing love and support to children. I am giving them not only the gift of

education, but the tools to live happy and productive lives.

Teachers are the expert learners. To reach students effectively, we must transfer abilities

and love of learning to students. The professional learning community (PLC) is essential to the

success of the classroom and includes ongoing collaboration and communication with other

educators in the field. I seek out many leadership and collaboration opportunities to learn and

incorporate best practices into my classroom. At Sam Davey, we have developed a professional

culture that requires teachers who are willing to share, support, and explore together. This is easily

accomplished since our staff share the same mission and always put students first. Leadership and

collaboration build the entire school’s capacity to improve. Increased effective collaboration

exposes teachers to improved practices, which leads to stronger pedagogy. These opportunities are

not a task to complete and then move on, it’s an ever-changing, ongoing process enhanced by

social networks and access to new technologies.

Portfolio Pages

Families and Community

Over the past few years I have been working to increase technology education of students at

Sam Davey. One way I have included families in reaching this goal is by creating a classroom
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Facebook Group (Artifact A). Most of my parents are already on Facebook and have easy access

on their phone. Facebook has become one of the best ways to stay connected and informed and has

made its debut into my classroom. While using Facebook, I can connect with parents by allowing

them to see updates, events and happenings, and reminders. Parents can post if they need

homework help, questions related to learning, schedule volunteer opportunities in the classroom,

etc. I showcase fun learning activities, photos, videos and link important resources to this page to

review or extend learning at home. Giving parents this opportunity helped build rapport and trust

and allowed for more collaboration. Parents and students had many positive comments about this

platform and it became an essential vehicle for communication in our first-grade classroom.

This addition to my teaching has proven to be very beneficial for students, families, and

myself. Along with providing a weekly communication sheet, I have brought learning to the

digital space by incorporating the Facebook group. I have been doing more research about

Facebook and online learning in my technology class and I think Facebook adds more

opportunities for families to say connected and feel a sense of belonging with their child’s

classroom and teacher. Facebook is very dynamic and allows for open communication lines and

curriculum support for parents and students. So often parents do not get to see all we are doing in

the classroom and by the time the children get home the discussions turns very uneventful. I

upload many pictures of children engaged in learning and hope that parents and children

communicate at home about the experiment in science or read aloud that day.

I am amazed at the confidence, growth, and competence of first graders leaving my room

this year. I regularly get comments from parents about how much their child is enjoying first grade

and how eager students are to share their learning at home each day. I feel I am building strong
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relationships with families and students and this impact drives my continued commitment and

passion for the teaching profession.

Learner

Much of my learning outside of my graduate courses, has been on literacy development and

the work of Lucy Calkins. I attend regular English Language Arts (ELA) meetings and collaborate

with my grade level and literacy coach to develop engaging literacy activities including writer’s

workshop and guided reading lessons.

Recently, I have been reading about John Hattie’s work on visible learning for both

mathematics and literacy. Using “effect sizes” and his research, Hattie explains how to be an

effective educator. Knowing how to match instructional approaches with specific phases of

learning (surface, deep, transfer) helps construct learning outcomes suitable for all students and

abilities. Some of the most powerful instructional effects result from teachers setting expectations

for students, creating clarity around instruction, demonstrating credibility, and giving effective

feedback. This year I have incorporated “learning targets” in my classroom to ensure students have

access to and understand learning criteria and allow them to review these expectations with one

another (See Artifact B). Learning targets help to set the purpose for learning and drives students’

energy toward meeting these goals and objectives. These targets are “student owned” in which

students themselves can articulate what they are learning and how they will meet the learning

outcomes. A well-written learning target ensures that teachers model and explicitly teach the

performance criteria necessary for learning, provide practice opportunities, and assist in monitoring

student progress and supports in sharing purposeful and actionable feedback with students.
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This year I have had greater opportunities for technology infusion into my classroom and as

a building we are learning more about project-based learning and successful technology education

tools. This year I developed lessons on the engineering and design process using a 3 Little Pigs

unit of study then worked through our new curriculum called Engineering is Elementary which

focuses on building a broader view of the engineering field, demonstrates to students how scientific

inquiry informs engineering, and includes cross-curricular components (See Artifact C). Using

literature and hands-on activities, I informed students about what engineers do and what kinds of

technologies they produce and then introduced design challenge of making hand pollinators. I

encouraged students to reflect upon the engineering components and question and collaborate with

each other. It was a fun learning experience for both the students and myself.

My professional growth has focused on both technology infusion and curriculum design. It

supports our school into an integrated STEM school and it provides my students with a more

engaging, student driven classroom.

Leader/Collaborator

I have several leadership roles within my school including math leader and Positive

Behavior Interventions and Supports (P.B.I.S.) Tier I team member. These leadership roles have

influenced the learning environment I work in and helps create the most beneficial experiences for

my students.

As a math leader, I support teachers as they work with Math Expressions lessons, materials,

and digital technology tools. I help develop rigorous, coherent math lessons that address math

topics and support effective teaching practices. Within our grade level, I have created many tools

for classroom instruction surrounding mathematics. This year, I developed several math unit

reviews using Kahoot! FlipQuiz, and Educreations that I shared with my team (See Artifacts D, E).
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I will attend a math professional development opportunity this August focused on integrating

technology in the primary classroom using Math Expressions. As I continue to grow

professionally, my goals are to utilize 21st century knowledge, strategies, and skills that create an

effective and motivational learning environment using technology across many content areas.

As new and emerging technologies transform the landscape of education, the possibilities

for learning and discovery grow exponentially and I plan to stay ahead of the curve by attending

the TIES Conference next year and participate in our innovation zone and project-based learning

initiative. I have been working hard to integrate more technology opportunities in my classroom

and have teamed with one of our fourth-grade teachers to provide more online learning

experiences. I created a Quizizz math review and fourth grade students borrowed us their iPads

and the first graders completed their first ever math review online. We also used iPads to create

penguin research iMovie trailers which turned out awesome this year! When developing new

lessons that incorporate technology, I also implemented several digital citizenship lessons and

focused on respecting online property and how to safely navigate the web. Technology

collaboration efforts will continue as we model and facilitate effective use of current and emerging

digital tools to support learning. When reflecting on the use of new technologies in my classroom,

I find that I did the most learning this year and realized the great opportunity in collaborating

across grade levels. Teaching first grade and not having 1:1 iPads discouraged my technology use

in the past, however, working with our fourth-grade team has opened my eyes to all the

possibilities that technology has to offer.

As a Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (P.B.I.S.) team member, I help

incorporate methods to identify and support desired behaviors in the school setting. I make “cool
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tools” used to help reduce poor behavior schoolwide through interactive videos, posters, and

acknowledgements. Our goal is to create a positive school climate where all students can learn and

grow. For P.B.I.S. to generate positive change, it needs to be employed schoolwide and with

consistency. My job is to encourage this consistency by bringing new ideas that match our

Restitution, Responsive Classroom, and Restorative Justice goals. Our team meets once a month to

assess the effectiveness of the P.B.I.S. framework and make further action plans to better support

teachers and students.

As a P.B.I.S. team member, my focus is to problem-solve around specific behavioral needs

that appear in our data. Upon analyzing the data, I realized there were several areas of need

including playground, cafeteria, and hallway settings. I then created and produced two school-

wide interactive modeling videos where students and teachers were the stars in the show defining

our expectations in school (See Artifact F). Using iMovie, I included video, voice-recordings, and

music to outline our behavior expectations. We consistently use these videos schoolwide, with all

students, staff, and settings in efforts to reduce problem behaviors and increase instructional time.

The most effective tools teachers have to handle problem behavior is to prevent it from occurring

in the first place. We can better support students by giving them the right tools for behavioral

success. Since joining the P.B.I.S. team, I have learned more effective classroom management

strategies and now recognize the power of preventive school discipline (teaching, re-teaching,

modeling, etc.) to maximize student success and provide all young people with the best learning

environment.

My leadership roles at Sam Davey Elementary have helped me become a stronger educator.

I collaborate with others and communicate surrounding the action plan within the school. Through
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these interactions, I understand more about the entire school and have built many professional

relationships that help me succeed in my classroom. I plan to participate more in the integration of

technology, interact more within the community, and take advantage of summer learning

opportunities.

Reflective Summary

As I reflect on my examples of my work with families and community to advocate for

students, my role as a learner, and my experience as a leader, I notice that technology education

and collaboration influence most of my work. The possibilities of transforming learning

experiences for students is greater that it has ever been. My instructional strategies and

perspectives have grown this year and I have created a classroom that better prepares students for

the future. By embracing and integrating technology in the classroom, we are setting students up

for success in life outside of school and in the workplace. I am changing the way in which I teach

to match the learning that will take students into the 21st century. The most profound strategy to

positively impact my classroom is incorporating technology. The time and preparation to learn

about each element of educational technology this year was well worth it as I saw student

engagement at its all-time high.

Another aspect of teaching that I have truly learned to value is collaboration and

meaningful relationships with colleagues. When I first began teaching, I often sat at my desk

closed off to all the wonderful people and collaboration opportunity that surrounds me. I now

effectively participate in instruction-focused and assessment-focused collaboration efforts and

collaborate surrounding student work and classroom management. Teachers who work in schools

with better collaboration about students and instruction will be equipped to raise achievement

levels in all academic areas. Next year, I will be working as grade level leader and my goals are to
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lead staff in having a positive mindset and encourage a collaborative environment.

In the future, I hope to integrate more project-based learning opportunities and technology

into the classroom that supports our S.T.E.M. goals as a building. I want to lead a thriving

classroom that promotes personalized learning and collaboration. My professional development

for the future includes: finding more time for reflection that supports my ongoing learning and to

lead an active role in our first grade Professional Learning Community (PLC); connecting with

powerful teacher networks and participate in organizations across the country; and completing my

National Board Certification. I also hope to make more connections with the Eau Claire

community and provide authentic opportunities for students to be engaged in learning focused on

the city in which they live. Incorporating families and communities enhances student learning and

as we know, students carry knowledge of their families and communities inside themselves and it

is important to make room to share this knowledge to support healthy development of student

identity. These are the significant qualities of education that are left untouched when a teacher is

strict to the textbook. I plan to incorporate ideas such as family interviews, hosting guest speakers

in the classroom, and conducting related community research to foster culturally-responsive

pedagogy. These opportunities will deepen students’ understanding of the world around them and

create good citizens.

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Professional Evidence
Artifact A: 1H Facebook Group
Evidence of “Families and Community”

Artifact B: Learning Targets

Evidence of “Learner”
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Artifact C: Engineering is Elementary Curriculum/Project-Based Learning

Evidence of “Learner”

Artifact D: FlipQuiz
Evidence of “Leader/Collaborator”
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Artifact E: Educreations
Evidence of “Leader/Collaborator”

Artifact F: P.B.I.S. Interactive Modeling Video

Evidence of “Leader/Collaborator”