Assessment 1.2: Classroom Professional Norms and Systems

 For this assessment, I was asked to prepare for my students' parents/guardians: 

1. A letter outlining my Parental Engagement Plan (posted here); and

2. A slide deck presenting Classroom Norms and Expectations. 

Dear [Parent Name]:

 

I am writing to share how I hope to involve and engage you this school year so that I may best serve your child’s educational needs.  

First, let me introduce myself. I have many reasons for having become a teacher. I love learning and inspiring others to learn. I am very curious --- about people and the world we live in. I am passionate about the part I play in preparing your children, my students, to be successful in life.  And, lastly, I became a teacher because I learn so much from students, from their emerging wisdom, their interests and their experiences. 

Before becoming a teacher and joining [name of school], I spent many years as a public servant working with communities to protect their treasured environmental resources.  As a teacher now, I will continue to serve communities, but through my connections with you and your children.  To prepare for being a teacher, I worked as a Paraeducator and I received a Master’s Degree in education from the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities. I continue to attend workshops to study techniques that help me create a learning-friendly classroom culture. 

Now, to the topic of involving and engaging with you during the school year. Let me explain the difference between these two words; then, how they relate to creating a learning-friendly classroom culture. 

Depending on your interests and time, you might become involved when the school informs parents how they might contribute to a school project or other needs and goals. For instance, you and your fellow parents might help organize or put on the 5^th grade graduation at the end of the year.  Or you might help me create learning support materials for an upcoming STEM lesson. 

On the other hand, we will become engaged when I ask you, sometimes including your child in our conversation, to talk about your hopes and dreams for your child, both long- and short-term. Or when you share with me what you have noticed about the conditions under which your child learns the best, what strengths they bring to the classroom; and what interests I can leverage to keep them excited to learn. We will be engaged with one another through the partnership we form in support of your child’s academic success. 

My core values as a teacher are authenticity, curiosity and mastery. I am curious about what you think and experience in relation to your child’s school experience and how it connects to their home life. I will strive to be my most authentic towards your child as their teacher and towards you in our partnership. Doing so will support my efforts to continually learn and master methods for creating learning environments that bring out the best in all of my students. 

“One way we communicate our faith in our students is the way we design our students’ learning environments.” (Knight, p 254) Consistent with Jim Knight, the author of High-Impact Instruction (p 247), my classroom culture is about creating a place in which students flourish because it promotes growth, development and learning. I recognize that to achieve this I must instill values and norms that ensure healthy interactions and group dynamics.  My strategies will be: 

·      To involve the students in constructing classroom norms; 

·      To “witness the good” as a way to reinforce or correct student efforts; 

·      To spread learner-friendly emotions; 

·      To design a learner-friendly environment; 

·      And to do as I say --- that is, walk the talk.

As I engage with you as a partner in supporting your child’s wellbeing and education, I want you to understand and picture these goals and the strategies I will use in reaching them.  I encourage you to schedule a visit to the classroom to observe the students and me interacting. Short-notice is fine with me.  Additionally, when you notice something particularly great about your child’s experience at school or when you notice them struggling, I would like you to contact me as soon as the pattern becomes clear so that we can work together to build on the good and navigate with the greatest of ease through the struggle.  Finally, I hope that you will complete electronic surveys I email to parents/guardians once or twice a year asking for specifics regarding what you notice about your child’s progress and any conditions impacting progress, for good or worse.  

Together, we can develop a “vision of what might be possible for your child and then take collective action.” (Ferlazzo, 13)  Research shows that “school-family connections ---those built on relationships, listening, welcoming and shared decision making ---can produce multiple benefits for students.” (Ferlazzo, 10)

Ultimately, “family involvement and engagement are not mutually exclusive; most schools pursue both.” (Ferlazzo, 14)  So as far as involvement, you might like to put yourself on the rotating schedule that parents have set up to take turns donating snacks to the class.  Additionally, please look for emails from the school’s Volunteer Coordinator. She posts opportunities to work on short-term school projects --- these projects often relate to building school spirit or fundraising for a student event or field trip. “Invitations for parent involvement often come through one-way forms of communication [from the school]--- notes home, automated phone calls, or requests for assistance.” (Ferlazzo, 14)  

My partnership with parents/guardians will model to the students how they can engage in co-creating with me, day-to-day, a calm and compassionate culture.  In this context, the usefulness and purpose of the norms and procedures we follow will make sense.  When they break down because of a problematic situation, I can explain our concerns calmly and simply without blame. Maintaining calm, I can invite the students to help think about possible solutions to the problem. This approach communicates “that the whole class owned the problem and[, therefore,] will provide the opportunity for them all to buy in to the solution.” (Jennings, 152) With this arrangement in place, additional opportunities for mindfulness will emerge. “One way to promote engagement and learning is to consciously create pauses[, mindful wait times, if you will,] throughout the day. We can create a sense of spaciousness in our classroom by slowing down the pace of our speech and punctuating our lessons with silence. Introduced well, this practice can improve classroom discourse.” (Jennings, 152)

In closing, in my work with students, I am called to create a learning environment in which students can become joyful learners, create community by being good and kind friends to each other, and grow their self-esteem and self-confidence. Involving and engaging parents/guardians is a critical part of this goal.

 

Sincerely, 

 

Cindy Hilmoe

[Contact Information]

 

References: 

 

Ferlazzo, Larry. (2011).  Involvement or Engagement? Educational Leadership, May 2011, 10-14.

 

Jennings, Patricia A. (2015). Mindfulness for Teachers: Simple Skills for Peace and Productivity in the Classroom. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company

 

Knight, Jim. (2013). High-Impact Instruction: A Framework for Great Teaching. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin