In a Democratic Society
Standards Addressed:
No specific INTASC standards addressed, but this area should reflect a teacher's willingness to give back to the community and show the teacher's social responsibility to guide commitment to providing a democratic education.
Artifact 1 - Parent Letter
At the beginning of the year, I wanted to communicate with parents who I am and what exactly I would be doing in their child's classroom over the course of my student teaching semester. I wanted to inform parents about who I am as well as my background in education. Most importantly, I wanted to build up the parent-teacher relationship so that parents would feel welcome to keep in contact with me throughout the course of the semester. I wanted parents to know that they could contact me at any time with questions or concerns about how their student is doing in my class and how we could work together to support their learning experience at Kent Innovation High.
Artifact 2 - KISD Board Meeting Attendance
On October 20th, 2014, I attended a Kent Intermediate School District board of education meeting. At the meeting, the board discussed issues such as budget proposals and the Superintendent's Report for the school district. One thing that I enjoyed during the meeting was when our Principal and two of the senior students came to the meeting and gave the board an update about KIH and the new senior internship program. This really reinforced just how important our school is to the ISD and how they value input from everyone, including students. It also showed just how important creating educated citizens in a Democratic Society is to the school district.
Reflection
The purpose of this folder is to show that the teacher is working to provide a democratic education for all students both inside and outside the classroom. The first artifact demonstrates my commitment to working with colleagues, students, and parents to provide the best education I can. My parent letter demonstrates that I am committed to staying in contact with parents at all times to make sure their children are supported both at home and at school. The point of the letter was to be transparent with my goal as a teacher: to provide all children with an appropriate education to give all students a fair shot at life. The second artifact, the School Board Meeting, shows that I am committed to being an informed citizen and educator in my local school district. By attending the board meeting, I was able to get a glimpse into what is going on behind the scenes of our school and learn more about what is being done to provide a democratic education to all of the students in our district. This shows my commitment to creating a democratic educational experience for all the students I come in contact with.