Nikki Spire's Classroom
- Introduction
- Résumé
- Statement of Philosophy of Education
- Personal Narrative
- 1. Content Knowledge
- 2. Human Development & Learning
- 3. Diversity
- 4. Planning for Instruction
- 5. Learning Environment
- 6. Instructional Delivery
- 7. Communication
- 8. Assessment
- 9. Collaborative Relationships
- 10. Reflection & Professional Growth
- 11. Professional Conduct
Standard 7: Communication
Description of the Artifact
My Introduction letter was created during student teaching to let the students' parents have an idea of who I am. I wanted to let them know something about me and reassure them that I am working very hard on the students IEP and goals that need to be addressed. The letter also gave the student's parents contact information if they needed it.
My second artifact in this section is my invitation to the parents to come to a parent child/afternoon event. I created this event so that the students are included with their parents coming to the school and to encourage the parents to get more involved in their son's or daughter's school life. I felt that, at my student teaching placement, there was not much involvement with the parents and the school. I really wanted to do something nice for the students and their parents to be able to spend more time with each other.
Personal/Practical Knowledge Gained
While creating my first letter to the parents I was thinking about how important it is to make a connection to the students in the classroom, but also to their parents. I wanted to let them know of my passion for teaching students with special needs and how dedicated I am to teaching their students and working on their IEP goals. This letter was like an ice breaker to the parents so that they would feel more comfortable about me teaching their children and could contact me if they wanted to ask any questions.
For the second artifact I was thinking about how important it is for the students to get involvement from their parents with visiting the students at school. For instance last week at our school there was an open house and the rest of the parents and teachers were there to have the students show their parents their work. I feel that our class is left out of a lot of the school functions which I do not feel is right at all for the students.
Connection to Standard
I feel that both artifacts are good examples of communication. In my examples I was communicating to the parents. I feel that I did a good job of communicating to the parents, informing them about my work with their students and in my invitation to the parents about coming to visit with their son or daughter.
Future Planning
These letters were written for a purpose and they will remind me to communicate with the parents in my future activities. The letters will be used as a reminder of how important communication is.