The Alberta Teaching Quality Standard states that teachers should establish and maintain partnerships among their school, home, and community. Below outlines the ways in which I continue to build partnerships through my teaching:
1) School – Within my school I have taken on several leadership roles, and continue to work with others to develop, coordinate, and implement programs which characterize effective schools. I am the head of our technology committee and representation of our system wide technology committee. Together we plan PD events, and find ways in which we can help teachers to integrate technology in meaningful ways. I am also a member of our character committee, and representative to our system wide character committee. At the school level, we have planned multi-age character days on our half day Fridays, as well as one full character day a year. We provide teachers with meaningful activities which help to build a caring school community. At the system level, we have created a character program of studies and have looked at ways to modify our report cards.
2) Home – In order to maintain strong relationships with parents, I always provide an open communication network. Additionally, I embrace parent volunteers and provide numerous opportunities throughout the year for activities. I also have created a classroom blog, which allows for parents to experience what their son/daughter is learning throughout the school year.
3) Community – Each year, my class participates in a service learning project, where they are able to help the community at large. I bring in presenters, and access community and global professionals, to help share their knowledge. Through social media, I am able to show students positive ways in which they can interact with their community in meaningful ways. It is my goal for my students to be able to apply what they learned in the classroom into the larger community in powerful ways.
Out With Erin 