My participation in synthesizing school documents and making recommendations on school policy and procedures
Artifact Justification
My participation on the behavior committee during my school's improvement planning clearly shows how I meet the Leadership and Collaboration standard. Not only was I actively involved in the group discussions and work of reading through materials and seeking out solutions, but I helped steer the group in a productive direction through intentional inquiry and building on the ideas of others.
Being involved with the school's improvement planning was a profound learning experience for me, allowing me to see the effects of my efforts in a tangible and meaningful way. These lessons will support my future endeavors and motivate me to seek out leadership and collaborative opportunities to deepen the impact of my practice.
Narrative
During my practicum placement, my school began a season of school improvement planning. The staff was split into four committees addressing key areas such as school safety, culture, teaching and learning, with my group focused on behavior. Having not experienced this sort of in-person collaboration in over a decade, I was lit up by the meetings and the relevancy of our discussion with all I had been learning as a teacher candidate.
As a group, we worked to target our efforts and set some clear priorities. My experience in planning shone through and I quickly emerged as a leader in the group by helping us stay clear on our directives and necessary deliverables. Our task of identifying tier 1 behaviors to address that would make the greatest impact came full circle during my student teaching quarter when we implemented a new strategy for eliminating phone use in the middle and high schools.
Having this experience of leading a collaborative problem-solving effort, and then seeing it be invested in by the administration and implemented in an effective way has provided me with the evidence necessary to believe in the impact of my efforts in the field of education. So profound is the hope instilled in me, seeing things play out in real-time, where my ideas can make a difference in student success is one of the greatest gifts afforded to me through this candidacy.
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