Educators value the involvement and support of parents, guardians, families and communities in schools.
How I met standard 4 during my 491 practicum:
During my ten week practicum I was involved in many forms of parent communication. At the beginning of my practicum, I wrote a “Meet the Teacher” letter to parents, letting them know who I was and that I would be doing my final practicum in their child’s classroom. At the beginning of February I helped my coaching teacher write the monthly newsletter and in March I wrote the newsletter. I also took over writing the weekly newsletters that my coaching teacher sends out to let parents know what the week will look like. Items in these newsletters included: library days, gym days, music days, and any special events coming up like Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, 100’s Day, etc.
When I began teaching full time, I took over writing in the behaviour communication books for the two students on behaviour plans. These books were filled out on a daily basis to let the parents know how their child did at school that day and if they met the behavioural target in place. I also took over the weekly communication book for the student in the class who is hearing impaired and wears two hearing aids. This communication book was asked for by the student’s parents to ensure the student was advocating for himself when he could not hear in class or if other students were being too loud for him.
Other forms of parent communication that I engaged in this practicum were: greeting parents at the door during drop off and pick up times, doing check ins with parents as needed (if there was an incident at school that needed to be talked about), and attending teacher/parent meetings regarding behaviour. Since this practicum took place during the Covis-19 Pandemic, I was not able to have parent volunteers in the classroom which is something I would like to do in the future when I have my own classroom.
With regard to involvement with the school community, I participated in every opportunity possible. I attended all staff meetings, IEP meetings, SBT, and ESBT meetings that occurred while I was on practicum. I collaborated with my fellow teacher candidate to co-teach a dance unit and a social studies unit. One thing that we did for our social studies unit was discuss how each person is unique in their own way. This also tied into the Pink Shirt Day activities we did. We co-created this bulletin board. Each student chose how they wanted their person to look.
We also prepped and planned many special days together, such as Valentine’s Day and St. Patrick’s Day. Together we helped plan the Primary 100 Days of School celebration with several other primary teachers.
One final thing that my fellow teacher candidate and I planned together was our Hawaiian themed goodbye party. We prepped paper leis to make with the students. I made this door shark for the students from both classes to get a picture with and the other teacher candidate prepped these fun jello treats. For the Hawaiian party, on of the EA’s in the school joined us for a bit and showed us a Hawaiian dance that is part of her culture. She preformed the dance and then modelled some of the movements for the students to follow along with.
