Standard #10: Leadership and Collaboration
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.
Artifacts:
Reflective Statement:
Teaching involves more than just the school setting. Other important settings are the students' families, and the communities in which they reside. Teachers need to collaborate with others so that they can address a wide variety of learners. This standard places an expectation on all teachers to communicate, collaborate, and build connections with other people.
During my Social Studies Methods class in the spring of 2013, I had the opportunity to work on the Dubuque History Project with third grade students at St. Columbkille Elementary School. I had four students in my group, meeting every Tuesday for eight weeks for approximately forty-five minutes per session. As the teacher, I was responsible for providing the necessary materials and teaching the content to the students. My students’ project was our city's founder, Julien Dubuque, and our area's mining history. When I first began, my students had little to no knowledge about Julien Dubuque. All of them had previously been to the Julien Dubuque monument, but they did not know what it represented. In addition, only one of my students had any understanding of mining since it was one of his interests. In our sessions, I utilized worksheets, journaling, and occasional drawings to instruct my students about Julien Dubuque and mining. We also had the opportunity to go to the Center for Dubuque History at Loras College. Prior to making this trip, I located artifacts about Julien Dubuque, including a great number of old photographs and historic books the uses of which are carefully monitored. The photographs were especially helpful in giving my students a better understanding of the era in which Julien Dubuque lived, as well as the initial depiction of his monument as his burial site. Additionally, we were able to go on a trolley ride around Dubuque, in which we saw such historic places as Eagle Point Park, the Dubuque County Courthouse, and the Shot Tower. As a result of this field trip, the students were able to learn a great deal more about their city than they would have by simply sitting in a classroom.
This project was a very beneficial experience for me as a future teacher. My experience of looking for materials relates to Standard 10 because I had to reach out to different people in the community to find the information that I needed. I talked with Mike Gibson, curator, at the Center for Dubuque History, and also went to the Carnegie-Stout Public Library and sought assistance from a librarian. It was through the collaboration with these experts that I was able to make use of these valuable learning materials that are not readily available to the public. I learned how important it is to take advantage of one's resources, and to seek the assistance of others. Furthermore, this project was the first occasion in which I participated in a group function as a teacher and not a student. As the leader of the group, it was difficult for me to not take control of the project. I realized that it was the students' project and not mine, and my role was to guide and scaffold the students as they proceeded with the project. By doing so, this gave them more ownership over their project and they felt that it was truly theirs.
During my Social Studies Methods class in the spring of 2013, I had the opportunity to work on the Dubuque History Project with third grade students at St. Columbkille Elementary School. I had four students in my group, meeting every Tuesday for eight weeks for approximately forty-five minutes per session. As the teacher, I was responsible for providing the necessary materials and teaching the content to the students. My students’ project was our city's founder, Julien Dubuque, and our area's mining history. When I first began, my students had little to no knowledge about Julien Dubuque. All of them had previously been to the Julien Dubuque monument, but they did not know what it represented. In addition, only one of my students had any understanding of mining since it was one of his interests. In our sessions, I utilized worksheets, journaling, and occasional drawings to instruct my students about Julien Dubuque and mining. We also had the opportunity to go to the Center for Dubuque History at Loras College. Prior to making this trip, I located artifacts about Julien Dubuque, including a great number of old photographs and historic books the uses of which are carefully monitored. The photographs were especially helpful in giving my students a better understanding of the era in which Julien Dubuque lived, as well as the initial depiction of his monument as his burial site. Additionally, we were able to go on a trolley ride around Dubuque, in which we saw such historic places as Eagle Point Park, the Dubuque County Courthouse, and the Shot Tower. As a result of this field trip, the students were able to learn a great deal more about their city than they would have by simply sitting in a classroom.
This project was a very beneficial experience for me as a future teacher. My experience of looking for materials relates to Standard 10 because I had to reach out to different people in the community to find the information that I needed. I talked with Mike Gibson, curator, at the Center for Dubuque History, and also went to the Carnegie-Stout Public Library and sought assistance from a librarian. It was through the collaboration with these experts that I was able to make use of these valuable learning materials that are not readily available to the public. I learned how important it is to take advantage of one's resources, and to seek the assistance of others. Furthermore, this project was the first occasion in which I participated in a group function as a teacher and not a student. As the leader of the group, it was difficult for me to not take control of the project. I realized that it was the students' project and not mine, and my role was to guide and scaffold the students as they proceeded with the project. By doing so, this gave them more ownership over their project and they felt that it was truly theirs.