Collaborator 

Coaches establish productive relationships with educators in order to improve instructional practice and learning outcomes.

Artifact One: Presentation on Social Media and Education 

Indicator(s)

4.3.b, Partner with educators to identify digital learning content that is culturally relevant, developmentally appropriate and aligned to content standards.

4.3.d, Personalize support for educators by planning and modeling the effective use of technology to improve student learning.

Description

This was a presentation put together for a few coworkers in a highschool setting who were having difficulty in both understanding the current social media landscape, and how to work with students on the appropriate use of social media. Due to COVID restrictions this presentation was implimented via Google Meet. The presentation was mostly a collection of resources for teachers to investigate, and utilize in class with students. 

This presentation exemplified indicators 4.3.b and 4.3.d because I worked with my peers to understand what it was they seemed to be struggling with in terms of being culturally relevant to their students, and then I used my own past experiences as examples to support them. 

Implementation

After discussing some concerns with coworkers I was able to share with them a set of resources that I had assembled on social media and student privacy. We met two separate afternoons to discuss the resources. I sent them the presentation to look at when they had availability, and we spent the time together discussing the resources and potential methods for discussing the complicated nature of modern social media. I specifically used wakelet and twitter for the resources to give some context to the concept of modern social media. The majority of the discussions focused around how to discuss with students the legal framework for social media for minors, and the topic of digital citizenship.

I was able to show them some materials that I had previously used with middle school students such as the “Digital Compass” online game experience through Commonsense. I was also able to share with them some more highschool level video and response activities.

Impact

After meeting with my coworkers I had several informal conversations with them in passing about their use of the materials and information provided. I have shared these materials with several other colleagues after being asked. In general there has been a better response to student use of social media during inappropriate times as teachers have a better understanding, and know how to have important conversations with students.

Artifact Two: Behavior 101 Presentation 

Indicator(s)

4.3.a, Establish trusting and respectful coaching relationships that encourage educators to explore new instructional strategies.

Description

As part of a professional development day I was asked to share with staff the basics of how behavior works, how it relates to classroom management and student relationships, and what it has to do with a new token economy that we had built. In exemplification of indicator 4.3.a, I used this opportunity to create a comfortable environment for the staff to learn and discuss new ways to work with behavior in the classroom.

Implementation

This was presented in an alternative highschool setting designed for students with significant emotional or behavioral needs. The audience was all staff of the program including special education teachers, mental health professionals, behavior technicians, paraprofessionals, and other support staff. When talking about the slides describing the function of behavior I opened up the discussion for anyone to ask about any behavior they could think of, and then asked the group again if they could answer the query. I attempted to keep myself and my answers out of the conversation so as to build a more cohesive staff support system.

Impact

As a result of this presentation the staff felt more comfortable using an understanding of the function of behavior to address classroom management. General understanding of how to align the token economy and PBIS system drastically improved. Many staff members also felt much more comfortable talking with each other about possible solutions to classroom management issues.   

Reflection

I have found a lot of personal growth in establishing coaching relationships within my various workplaces over the past few years. In making progress with indicators 4.3.b and 4.3.d I found that working with my peers to help all of us maintain understanding of cultural relevance with our students helped keep me in focus on my own missed cultural understanding. By working with my peers to create a trusting and productive environment expected by indicator  4.3.a I realized that I had relied heavily on more veteran educators when I first started, and that I want to be there and provide that for others in education.

The indicator that I do not have an artifact exemplifying is: 4.3.c, Partner with educators to evaluate the efficacy of digital learning content and tools to inform procurement decisions and adoption. This is because I have not recently been involved in a learning environment that utilizes digital learning content, but I do have a significant understanding of how to best analyze the efficacy of learning due to my background as a special education teacher.