Standard 10: Connection with Others

At Thorp Catholic School, we have a 100% Caucasian enrollment. Our variation of

minority would be the financial standpoint, minority and middle-class. Throughout the years, I
have observed a common trend that students living at the poverty level struggled more
frequently than the middle-class students. I have learned to adapt and modify my teaching
techniques and lessons to meet the needs of these young learners as well as utilize our “Title 1”
assistance. We as an educating staff inform parents of the needs the student might have and
the opportunities available.

Communication is an exceptionally important feature an educator needs to entail.

Having a positive rapport with parents, colleagues, and students helps maintain a positive
atmosphere and demonstrate your determination of student success. I use different forms of
communication depending on the situation. If a student is struggling or having minor
behavioral issues in the classroom and is affecting the learning of other individuals, I will email a
parent to inform them of the situation. There is generally a positive increase in student
conduct. Written communication is used with both parents and students when displaying
overall achievement on summative and formative assessments. Students are alerted of their
progress by the feedback provided on assignments, tests, and quizzes while parents are notified
by mid-quarter grades and quarterly report cards.

As a school, we continue to grow in communication as it positively increases our

relations and student achievement. At the Catholic School, I have helped to increase overall
collaboration amongst the educating staff to assist in teaching instruction ideas as well as
discussing grade content and assessments. We better understand the content being taught in
previous grades as before it was all based off our own pre-assessment of students. We
collaborate as a group to grow professionally and always improve our own learning and
instruction.