INTASC Standard

INTASC Standard #10 Reflection

The teacher intern fosters relationships with school colleagues, parents, and agencies in the larger community to support students and well being.

I feel that, to some extent, all schools are a product of their local environment. Each school has its own issues of concern and/or ways of doing things and these vary with the specific community members, parents, and school employees. For example, in an inner-city school, an important issue may be respecting student diversity. In a rural school, diversity may not be a focal point (due to the lack thereof) and may instead assume no one has a problem practicing school prayer. An educator must be aware of, and understand, the environment that they are an integral part of. Doing this prompts a curriculum that is relevant to students' lives (for example, in a city school you might focus on urban forestry where in a rural school you might focus on agriculture and national forest). Additionally, there are many valuable classroom resources that can be acquired by reaching out to school colleagues, parents, and community members. A curriculum can be greatly enhanced by taking advantage of these resources, thus supporting students and their well being.

I was placed in Roanoke, VA for both my field experience and my student teaching. Because I was not a member of the community, I struggled with this important connection. However, I still attempted to understand as much as I could about my placements. First, I had to analyze my own experience with diversity (see Autobiography: Experience with Diversity), as this is an important step to being able to cross cultural borders as a science teacher. I then reflected upon my current school environment and climate (see Reflection: School Community Context). Because I had no experiences of my own, I spoke at length with school colleagues so that I could understand my students and the community in which I was teaching. Next year, I will return home to teach 7th grade life science and I already understand and have so many connections within the community. This will present a unique opportunity to take advantage of this important connection. In my Thematic Unit, I discussed ways in which I would hypothetically get the community involved and perhaps next year I could actually implement something similar to what I discussed in the paper.

However, to a limited extent, I used community resources to facilitate student learning during my field experience and student teaching placements. I attended local workshops for ProjectWILD, Project WET, Project AquaticWILD, Project Underground, and Project Learning Tree and then integrated these resources into my lessons. In addition, Virginia Tech donated a Veiled Chameleon to the 7th grade Life Science classroom I interned for, and this organism was integrated into the overall science curriculum on a regular basis (feeding, cleaning, observing habitat requirements) (see Veiled Chameleon Lab). Also, Melissa Hedges, a Virginia Teach graduate student, provided opportunities for her Bearded Dragon to be taken into my middle and high school science classes. Mr. Jiggles (the Bearded Dragon) was also then compared to the Veiled Chameleon for differences in adaptations.

I have already exercised professionalism when dealing with my cooperating teachers, other school personnel, students, parents. For example, I participated in a Family fun Night at William Ruffner Middle School that included numerous fun, family-oriented science activities. I worked with a science cohort member, my cooperating teacher, and administrators to organize and then run a Jeopardy game. I was in close contact with students and their families throughout the evening. William Ruffner Middle School also participated in Roanoke City's Science Fair and I worked with a science cohort member, my cooperating teacher, other team teachers, and administrators to prepare for the awards ceremony. I also attended numerous parent/teacher conferences and represented my cooperating teacher when necessary. Throughout student teaching, I had to notify parents in writing regarding what assignments students were missing and what their current grades were in the class.

Lastly, I have maintained professional relationships with those I have worked closest with - my science cohort. This group provided a unique opportunity to contribute to, and learn from, other pre-service teachers as well as knowledgeable supervisors and mentors. On many occasions, I worked with fellow cohort members to complete various assignments (see Probeware Lesson Plan). On other occasions, we helped each other through the entire graduate process (consulting each other on lesson plans, ideas, portfolio questions, etc). Maintaining a positive relationship with each of my cohort members has been a rewarding experience.

Throughout my graduate experience, I gained extensive experience in working well, and maintaining open communication, with others. I will continue to do this in my teaching placement next year.