Teaching Portfolio
Family & Community Engagement
I believe that a key element to helping my students excel in the classroom is developing an open line of communication with families and parents. Ongoing interactions with families is the keystone to fully understanding my students and their unique learning needs. By working together, combining expertise, and sharing resources, I will be able to make better decisions and develop successful education plans to enhance student engagement. Strong partnerships between the teacher and families leads to greater student engagement, which in turn, leads to greater learning outcomes.
I will continually encourage family involvement throughout the year by sending home frequent updates, invitations to visit our classroom, and conducting home visits. I will design quarterly packets to send home to parents updating them on their child’s progress and accomplishments.
Welcome!
VIRTUAL OPEN HOUSE
At the start of the year, my mentor teacher and I wanted to make the at home learning experience as smooth and stress-free as possible, for both our students and their families. We decided to host a virtual back to school night to introduce ourselves to students and parents and answer any questions they had before our first day.
Since we were unable to meet face-to-face, Google slides is a great way to present parents with information about their child and screenshots of the slides can be posted to Seesaw or sent home through the Remind app if needed.
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Parent Newsletter
MEET YOUR TEACHERS!
Sending home paper copies of our newsletter was another good way to update parents and ensured that they had access to their child's classroom Zoom link.
Home Visits
This semester, I learned about home visits in depth and had the opportunity to conduct a virtual visit with one of my 5th grade students. Not only was I able to make a deeper connection with this student, but I gained a better understanding of what I could do to further support him and his family going forward. The work I did in my elementary seminar class, as well as the visits I experienced with my students in my internship, have helped me grow as a responsible and competent teacher. Conducting and observing these meetings has provided me with the opportunity to challenge my assumptions and shift my practice as a result. More specifically, I have grown in my ability to pause, reflect, and remind myself to ask more questions and check in with my own thoughts and beliefs on a regular basis.
In my student teaching, I worked alongside an amazing mentor teacher who taught me that teaching is a lifelong process of learning from your students, colleagues, parents, and the community. I have great confidence in my ability to support my students and collaborate with their families, however, I see myself as a lifelong learner and I know over time, with application, experience, and reflection, I will continue to grow and develop these skills. Â
I have learned that home visits are extremely valuable and crucial for teachers to schedule and conduct, in that they effectively help break down barriers and misconceptions, as well as implicit biases. Importantly, they help teachers build healthy, supportive, and collaborative relationships with parents and families so they can better meet the needs of their students inside and outside of the classroom. This empowers both the parents and the student as they are able to see and embrace themselves as assets and valued players in education. I look forward to forging these essential relationships with students and families in the future.