Standard10

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** Standard 10 ** ** Teachers are connected with other teachers and the community. **  The teacher fosters relationships with school colleagues, parents, and agencies in the larger community to support pupil learning and well being and acts with integrity, fairness and in an ethical manner. Evidence 1: DeLong Civil Rights History Travelers [] Rationale 1: The University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire hosts a Civil Rights Pilgrimage two times a year. This year, one of my students was able to take the trip with her mother who is the associate dean of students at the university. Her mom and I spoke prior to the trip to decide what she should do to make up her work while away from school for a week. My goal was for her to write about her journey, so we decided on the “DeLong Civil Rights History Travelers”. Since three other DeLong students were also attending, we decided to make this a group effort with each student writing daily. During my English class back in Eau Claire, we read the blog daily and commented on the experiences of the travelers. The coolest thing happened. The students asked great questions and were sincerely interested in the experiences of their classmate. When the students at school asked questions, the bloggers were ready with answers. It was so cool to log on the next day after someone asked who had been killed in the church bombing in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1963 to find an explanation and pictures. This led to more questions and answers and some of the most authentic learning I’ve seen. It also led to me searching for materials to help the students understand the Civil Rights Movement. I was very proud of my student who was blogging and my students who were responding. They took it all very seriously and learned a lot about a topic that I had not planned on covering this year, but I am so glad I did. KSD 10.K.2 The teacher understands how factors in the students’ environment outside of school (e.g. family circumstances, community environments, health, and economic conditions) may influence students’ lives and learning.  Often teachers get frustrated because students are absent due to a vacation that is completely out of their control. Making the Civil Rights Pilgrimage a learning opportunity for everyone respected what this family was trying to do for their child and gave the rest of the students a great learning experience. Later, another student was going to go to Washington, D.C., so we set up a blog for her; unfortunately, her trip was canceled due to a snowstorm. Her family was excited to work with her on her blog and liked the learning opportunity it would have provided. Of course, there are many other factors outside of school that influence how students operate at school. Being absent for trips is a positive one, and many others are not. One thing I deal with is a lack of resources at home making technology work a challenge for many students at our school. Because of this, I give students ample time in school to work on any assignments that require computer use. 10.S.3 The teacher can identify and use community resources to foster student learning.  We are very lucky to have a university in our community, and any time I can bring university resources into my classroom, I do so. This was the perfect opportunity because my student was going on the Civil Rights Pilgrimage, and her mom was eager to have her share her learning with others. The outcome was wonderful and made me look at family vacations differently. In the future, I will expect students who have access to a laptop to blog in order to share information about a new place that many other students may not have the opportunity to visit.  10.D.1 The teacher values and appreciates all aspects of a child’s experience. If you were to visit my classroom, you would find me to be a very affective teacher. I am interested in my students’ lives and their families. I like to know what makes them tick, and I am always searching for ways to connect with them on a personal level. This blog shows that I understand the importance of students’ activities away from school. Sometimes it is not about the worksheet that they missed while on vacation; sometimes it is about what they learned during some amazing experience outside of school, and I want them to have the opportunity to share that experience with the rest of us.