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Being an Advocate, a Learner and a Collaborator

Alyssa McCarthy

Saint Marys University of Minnesota

Schools of Graduate and Professional Programs

Portfolio Entry for Wisconsin Teacher Standard 10

EDUW 696- Portfolio Productions and Presentation

Fall 2017
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Goal Setting Page:

Wisconsin Teaching Standard #10: Teachers are connected to other teachers and the
community. The teachers fosters relationships with school colleagues, parents, and agencies in
the larger community to support students learning and well-being, and acts with integrity
fairness, and in an ethical manner.

Knowledge:

- The teacher understands schools as organizations within the larger community context
and understands the operations of the relevant aspects of the systems(s) within which she
works.

- The teachers understands how factors in the students environment outside of school
(e.g. family circumstances, community environments, health, and economic conditions)
may influence students lives and learning.

Dispositions:

- The teacher values and appreciates the importance of all aspects of childs experience.

- The teacher is willing to work with other professionals to improve the overall learning
environment for students.

Performances:

- The teacher participates in collegial activities designed to make the entire school a
productive learning environment.

- The teacher establishes respectful and productive relationships with parents and
guardians from diverse home and community situations, and seeks to develop cooperative
partnerships in support of student learning and well-being.

- The teacher acts as an advocate for students.

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National Board Core Proposition #5

- NBCTs collaborate with others to improve student learning.

- They are leaders and actively know how to seek and build partnerships with community
groups and businesses.

- They work with other professionals on instructional policy, curriculum development and
staff development.

Danielson Framework for Teaching

Domain 4: Professional Responsibilities

Component 4a: Reflecting on Teaching

Element:
- Accuracy
- Use in future teaching

Component 4d: Participating in a Professional Community

Element:
- Relationships with colleagues
- Participation in school projects
- Service to school

Professional Development Goals:

My professional development goal is to continuously work on enhancing my content
knowledge and pedagogical skill. Foreign language teaching methods are drastically different
than what I experienced in a foreign language classroom and are continuing to change. I
regularly challenge myself to find new learning tools and am looking ahead to attend
conferences. Similarly, I challenge myself to enhance my language skills and cultural
knowledge. I use my Spanish outside the classroom by reading books, listening to music, and
watching TV in the target language.
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Introduction

When I was younger, I never knew what I wanted to do when I grew up. All I knew was

that I had a passion for learning new things. It wasnt until I reached college and I became a

coffee shop manager, oddly enough, that I discovered my passion for working with high school

kids. Three years ago, I began the process of becoming a teacher. I enrolled into EDUcate

Wisconsin in order to obtain a teaching license and St. Marys University in order to begin

working towards a masters degree in education. Now, as a first year teacher, I apply these

experiences and this education to all aspects of teaching: being a learner, being a

leader/collaborator, and being a partner with families and the greater community.

At the most basic level, teachers are learners. I have always enjoyed being a learner, this

is why I couldnt narrow down a career. Part of the reason I wanted to become a teacher is

because it allows me to continually learn. As a student I always had a drive to learn and ask why.

Now, I work to inspire that in my students. My experience as a student in foreign language and

biology classes, abroad and in high school, have taught me that learning can be fun.

Additionally, while taking courses to become an educator, I learned one of the greatest tools I

use as a teacher: self reflection. Self reflection is a powerful tool that allows a person to continue

to grow and improve their practice.

Similarly, collaboration is another tool that successful teachers use to grow and improve

their practice. This is one of the aspects I have enjoyed the most about teaching. I originally

learned the value of collaborating as a teachers assistant in high school and a coffee shop

manager in college. At a young age, I learned what being a mentor looks like in the classroom

and the necessity of collaboration in order to be successful at it. However, it wasnt until I

became a teacher that I was able to see the benefits of collaboration first hand, everyday. As a
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new teacher I collaborate with other new teachers, veteran teachers, and my principal on a daily

basis. Collaboration is a tool that allows teachers to become resources for one another and to

work together to improve the school and community environments.

The last aspect of being a teacher is working as a partner with families and the greater

community. I experienced the strength of a community when I was building houses in Coastal

Ecuador. I watched the power of a community, with so little, succeed because they rallied

together. It took less than a month of being a new teacher to realize that this profession cant be

done alone. Good teachers are advocates for their students and this means being part of a bigger

community. Inspiring students to be the best they can be takes teachers, parents and a strong

community. I have been working to create strong connections with families and the community

by working as an advocate for my students, working at school events and working as an English

teacher after school.

Teachers as Learners

I have learned the details of the Spanish and English languages throughout my education

and I continue to perfect them. I have learned many teaching techniques throughout my training

as a teacher and I continue to learn more. However, the most important practice I have learned is

self reflection. This tool has helped me grow, improve and better serve my students.

I currently work at a high school as the only teacher in the foreign language department.

Upon entering the classroom, there were no textbooks and no curriculum to follow. All I had to

rely on were shelves of unorganized workbooks and the knowledge I gained in my education

programs. This has lead to a lot of trial and error when lesson planning. Every night I create

lesson after lesson for each of my classes. I use past knowledge of the language and teaching

techniques to do so. Sometimes these lessons are a success and sometimes they are not. After
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each lesson and unit, I take the time to reflect on the success of each. I ask questions like, Was

there language acquisition? Were the students engaged? Did all students learn? or, How

could it have been better? As seen in Artifact 1, after each activity, lesson, or unit is completed,

I mark it with either a check or a minus. The check means it was successful and the students

learned the objective. The minus means it needs some kind of improvement. Sometimes this

minus simply means modifying an activity to include more participation from the whole class;

other times this minus can mean the lesson or activity failed to hit the learning objective and

needs to be revaluated completely. These notes are typically written in the notes column on each

weeks plans. This self reflection will help me improve my teaching as I refer back to it year

after year.

Self reflection is significant to becoming a successful teacher. Growth isnt complete

without reflection. As a teacher, it is possible to simply teach lesson after lesson, year after year,

and have students succeed in my class. However, with a little reflection and extra work, it is

possible to teach dynamic lessons, that change with my students, and allow all students to

succeed in my in class. This self reflection has a great impact on student learning. For example,

when I was student teaching I taught a Spanish unit that centered around two tenses: the near

future (going to to do something) and the present progressive tense (-ing). Both tenses are

challenging to learn, but are very useful, so I thought teaching them together would be beneficial.

However, the similarity between the two tenses, both having -ing, caused more confusion for

students than I anticipated. In the end these students, now in Spanish 3, have shown they didnt

acquire long term skills from this unit. This year I taught the present progressive tense with the

verbs ser and estar. Both of these verbs mean to be, but have different uses. As seen in Artifact 2,
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one of the uses of estar is the present progressive tense. I think that the students will be able to

make more long term connections with this change in the unit.

The process of self reflection has proven effective inside and outside the classroom. My

lessons and units as a whole are constantly improving. I am reaching more students and students

are actively learning. This process will prove useful as years go on, as well. When student

teaching, I observed veteran teachers that used stagnant lessons. These lessons were good, but

they could have been great. Without the use of self reflection, this could happen to me.

Additionally, I have been writing curriculum and creating power standards for my classes. If Im

teaching lessons and regularly reflecting on the results based on meeting those standards, I am

always re-centering myself. Research has shown that failing to reflect on teaching decisions

leads to teaching by imitation, not intentionality (Danielson, 2209). This means teachers know

what they are teaching, but they may not know why they are teaching it. By reflecting on my

standards and objectives, I am always guaranteeing that what I am teaching is successfully

teaching students what I want them to learn.

Teachers as Leaders and Collaborators

Another tool necessary to succeed in the classroom is collaboration. Being the only

teacher in my department, I quickly felt overwhelmed after the onset of the school year.

However, it didnt take long to realize that what I was lacking was collaboration. I found

departments to help me fill this void. The history department is made up of one first year teacher,

like myself, and two veteran teachers. We get together and discuss teaching successes and

failures every day after school. We give each other advice and encourage one another. The new

English Language (EL) teacher is a fourth year teacher, but new to the school district. We are
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both certified in Spanish and I want to finish my EL certification. It has been helpful having her

around to bounce ideas off of in order to create strong lessons.

One of the most important things to come out of these collaborations is my strength in

becoming an advocate for my students. The school district that I currently work in is half

Hispanic and half Caucasian. Being both a content teacher and being able to speak Spanish has

put me in a unique position to advocate for the Hispanic students in the school. The population in

the community has become diverse very quickly. The quick change has left a division between

the two types of students. Before this year there was only one overwhelmed EL teacher so the

Hispanic students needs were often unheard. Most English Language Learners (ELLs) were

unsupported in the classroom and almost none, if any, participated in school events.

My regular collaboration with the new EL teacher and content teachers has given me the

voice to speak up for the Hispanic students. The new EL teacher and I work together to teach

content teachers tools to better serve their students. One tool we have been sharing with content

teachers are the WIDA Can Do Statements for ELLs. The WIDA chart, Artifact 3, breaks

down the abilities of ELLs at each level into student can do statements. Content teachers can use

these statements to create their expectations for ELLs on assignments, tests, and projects. The

WIDA chart shows that many of the ELLs dont have the ability yet to create well structured

sentences and paragraphs. Based off this chart, we encourage teachers to provide sentences

starters when assigning writing tasks. This idea has improved my foreign language teaching

techniques, as well. One of my goals this year is to create a foreign language classroom that

better benefits heritage learners. According to the Ohio Department of Education (2017),

journals are one of the most useful writing tools to expand the vocabulary of heritage speakers.
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Artifact 4 shows sentence starters that I provide to my foreign language learners, so that they are

able to complete weekly journals similar to those of my heritage speakers.

In addition to being a collaborator, I also lead by example by supporting both Hispanic

and Caucasian students in and outside the classroom. I attend a variety of school events to

support all students. For example, I attend both football and soccer games. The soccer team is

widely made up of Hispanic students, so their attendance is significantly smaller (in both staff

and students) than that of the football team. Additionally, I am working to create school events

conducive to both cultures. I am in charge of FLANG Club (Foreign Language Club) and my

goal is to use this club to narrow the student division. We have created FLANG Movie Nights

where once a month we project a movie in the gym with Spanish subtitles. Becoming more

involved in school events and all of my students interests has helped me build a strong rapport

with both heritage learners and foreign language learners within the classroom. Some of the most

influential teachers that I had in high school and college succeeded due to their strong

relationships with their students. The high expectations set by these teachers were met because of

the foundation of mutual respect. My goal is to create stronger bonds with heritage speakers in

my classroom as I begin to challenge their language knowledge.

Collaboration in general has improved my behavioral management skills and teaching

techniques within the classroom. More importantly, because of this collaboration, I have earned

the respect of many of my Hispanic students and parents. It takes time to prove myself as a

Spanish teacher to students and families that natively speak the language. However, proving that

I care has helped drastically. One impact I hope that I will have in my classroom is to help

narrow the gaps and division between heritage and foreign language learners. Non-native
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speakers and native speakers of Spanish have strengths and weaknesses in different areas of the

language. My goal is to inspire them to work together and to help one another.

Teachers as Partners with Families and the Community

The work of a successful teacher goes beyond the four walls of his/her classroom. It

means being a part of a bigger community than the school itself. One of the main tasks I have

taken on to help support the community is teaching English classes. I partner with a community

organization and Pilgrims, a local industry, in order to teach English to parents of our students

and factory workers. This class is two sessions, each session is two nights a week for six weeks.

The first session focuses on basic vocabulary use, while the second session focuses on grammar

specifics. We are currently looking to expand this class further to reach more community

members and to provide opportunities that move toward earning a GED.

This contribution has made me a more well rounded foreign language teacher. First, I

have created a link with local businesses and family members. Both local companies and

families feel as if they have a contact at the school whenever necessary. This link has opened my

eyes to the homelife and community issues that many of my students face outside of school. My

students have parents that work long hours so their nights are full of household chores. Many of

my students dont dream bigger than having a career at the local factory because its all they

have ever known. It is important that these students and families have advocates in our school.

Some of students face paperwork battles before a future in this country can even be possible.

Second, teaching a class to all native speakers has caused me to be immersed in the language for

at least four hours a week outside of school. My oral Spanish is growing stronger every week

because of this opportunity. The final way teaching these classes has made me a well rounded

teacher is by broadening my pedagogy and content knowledge. Teaching English to Spanish

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speakers, instead of Spanish to English speakers, has changed the way I approach teaching a

foreign language. In many of my Spanish classes throughout high school, I completed grammar

drill after grammar drill. However, learning a foreign language doesnt have to be this way. I

now am working towards a more whole language approach.

Whole language approach is based on the constructivist assumption that learning cant be

separated from its context (Laney, 2011). I want my students to learn the language by using it,

not by simply obsessing over grammar rules. For example, students should be reading passages

that use the grammar structure, instead of reading pulled apart constructed sentences. Whole

language approach also states that knowledge is gained through evaluation and transformation

(Laney, 2011). For example, in my English classes I have the students actively use the target

grammar structure in a real world situation and then correct/evaluate their successes and failures.

I have begun to implement this strategy into my Spanish classes, as well. For example, I had

students write sentences about what they were going to do every day the following week.

Artifact 5 shows an example of a students completed work and the corrections made through

collaboration with another student. In this one simple activity students manipulated the target

language in a real world situation two times.

The Whole Language Approach isnt the only technique Ive seen succeed in my English

classes. The Whole Language Approach requires that students having meaningful connections

with the language in context. Many times this can be overwhelming for a new language learner.

In order for a student to succeed in these situations their effective filter has to be low. In order for

language acquisition to occur, students must be in an environment where they feel motivated,

encouraged and comfortable (Schutz, 2017). After just one week with my English students, they

felt comfortable enough to ask questions, dig deeper, use new language and help one another.
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This must be done by creating a safe and respectful classroom environment. Throughout the

entire first quarter, I encouraged foreign language students to make mistakes and to try. I

explained that no one needs to be perfect to learn a new language, they just need effort. I also

encourage a low affective filter by making learning fun. In both my English and Spanish class,

we play games on a regular basis. If students are having fun while they learn, than the language

acquisition is higher.

My English class has proven more effective than in years past. I thoroughly enjoy

teaching these sessions and I think the passion is spreading to the students. I am pushing the

students to do more than just fill in worksheets. I ask them to speak, write, and read the language.

In this class, the writing and reading skills of more advanced speakers have improved and the

oral English skills of new learners has improved. The personal impact of this class has been

great. In the midst of stress, this class reminds me of the reason why I became a teacher- seeing

that aha moment. Seeing students anxious to learn and understanding new complex material

every week has motivated me to create this in my Spanish classrooms. However, the attendance

of my English class is eight to ten students each week. In order to have this class reach more

community members and lead to obtaining the GED, we need more resources and support. I have

been creating a partnership with our ELL program and neighboring communities to try do so.

Reflective Summary

The pattern that is emerging through all of these examples is becoming a strong advocate

for my students and their community. Our districts overall motto for our school year is Whats

best for students? My personal growth over the past year is apparent, but what matters is how I

use it to inspire my students. As a teacher, I am a learner, collaborator, leader and community

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partner. I love all the aspects of my job, but it all means nothing if it isnt centered around the

reason why I became a teacher: the student.

As a learner, I regularly self-reflect and improve my teaching techniques. I am a first year

teacher that constantly researches new techniques to better teach my specific students. Using

outdated curriculum that focuses on grammar drills and foreign language teaching could be an

easier option; however, searching for context based curriculum that benefits both foreign

language and heritage learners makes me a stronger advocate for my students. As a collaborator

and a leader, I advocate for all of my students. There is a large achievement gap between

Hispanic and Caucasian students. Additionally, each group represents about half the schools

population, but clubs and sports are overwhelmingly run by Caucasian students. Using my voice

as a collaborator and leader has allowed me to speak up for my Hispanic students and to fight for

resources and opportunities for them. Lastly, being a community partner by teaching my English

classes has given me the opportunity to work with the families of my students. This has allowed

me to become an even bigger advocate for these students. It has made me more successful in the

classroom. I am a more effective Spanish teacher because I teach English. I have also gained the

respect of my Hispanic students and their families. I partner with local businesses to ensure that

these English classes will provide learners with new opportunities. I encourage both parents and

students to be the best learners they can be, despite other obstacles they might face.

Self reflection is the most effective in improving student learning. Although everything

has contributed to my students learning, student advocacy and personal growth wouldnt be

possible without self reflection. My teaching wouldnt have improved, if I didnt reflect on both

my Spanish and English classrooms. This tool has given me the ability to feel confident both

inside and outside of the classroom walls. Without self reflection, I would never look to improve
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my lessons, my teaching techniques, or the school and community environments. I wouldnt

reach to be the best teacher that I can be. I want to be a teacher that doesnt simply teach

students, but inspires them. This growth and connection isnt possible and couldnt continue

without self reflection.

There are a few contributions that I would like to make within my future at Arcadia High

School. First, I would like to attend an American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages

(ACTFL) workshop next year. When I was a student in the foreign language classroom, I

experienced a learning environment full of grammar. The Whole Language Approach is showing

that learning a language needs to content based, not skill based. The current Spanish department

in Arcadia doesnt have the material or experience needed to create the curriculum for this type

of learning environment. Sometimes I rely on my experience as a student and so much has

changed since then. I would like to attend this conference and use the knowledge I learn to create

a dynamic curriculum to set a foundation for the Arcadia Spanish department. Second, I would

like to obtain my ELL teaching certification. I would love to be a resource for both ELLs and a

coach for staff on ELL instruction. Additionally, I would love to co-teach a Biology class, as an

EL teacher, in order to use both of my content skills. The EL program is rapidly growing and

changing in the Arcadia School District and I would love to be a part of it. The last contribution

that I would like to make is to further expand community outreach to Hispanic families. For

example, as I mentioned before, I would like to expand my English classes to reach more adults

and offer the opportunity to obtain a GED. This would mean partnering with more businesses

and surrounding existing programs. As a new teacher, I know the remainder of my first year will

fly by and be full of reflection, collaboration, and growth. I am regularly setting short and long

term goals in order to advance as a learner, a collaborator/leader, and a community partner.

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Conclusion

In conclusion, being a teacher is a more dynamic job than I ever imagined. Its much

more than just coming to school, lecturing, and going home. Its being a learner, a leader, a

collaborator, and a community partner. Its always asking, What can we do better? and, How

can I improve? I became a teacher to inspire students and that is a full time job that stretches far

beyond the classroom walls.

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Works Cited

Danielson, L. M. (2009). Fostering Reflection. Educational Leadership, 66(5). Retrieved from

http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/feb09/vol66/num05/Fostering-

Reflection.aspx

Laney, J. (2011). Whole Language Approach. In Encyclopedia of Child Behavior and

Development (pp. 1565-1566). Springer US. Retrieved from

https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007%2F978-0-387-79061-9_3086

Ohio Department of Education. (2017, June). Heritage Language Learners. Retrieved from

https://education.ohio.gov/getattachment/Topics/Learning-in-Ohio/Foreign-

Language/World-Languages-Model-Curriculum/World-Languages-Model-Curriculum-

Framework/Instructional-Strategies/Assessment/Heritage-learners_june6_2017.pdf.aspx

Schutz, R. (2017, March 12). Stephen Krashen's Theory of Second Language Acquisition.

Retrieved November 12, 2017, from http://www.sk.com.br/sk-krash.html

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Artifact 1

Artifact 1 is a picture of my planner. As I mentioned in my paper, I write notes and

reflect on each activity, as well as leave notes to improve units and lessons for next year.
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Artifact 1 (continued)
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Artifact 2

Artifact 2 shows a note sheet that I provide for my students when learning the verbs ser

and estar in Spanish. Both mean to be, but they have different uses. This graphic organizer

helps students organize their thoughts. One of the uses of estar is action (the a in PLACE).

This stands for the ing present progressive tense which I now teach consecutively.
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Artifact 3

All of the WIDA Can Do Statements for high school can be found at this link:

https://www.wida.us/standards/CAN_DOs/. Here are the can do statements for high school ELLs

for explain in reading and writing. These are the statements used to show the need for sentence

starters.
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Artifact 3 (continued)
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Artifact 4

In my Spanish 3 class students must complete a weekly journal entry in the target

language. Research shows that journaling is a useful way to improve the vocabulary of heritage

and foreign language learners. Here is an example of sentence starters that I provide my foreign

language learners in order to create an entry at a similar level as heritage learners.

Pregunta: Describe el da perfecto. Pon todos los detalles que puedas. Haz que sea un da

posible, no un "da de los sueos."

Question: Describe the perfect day. Put in as many details as you can. Make it a possible day,

not a "dream day."

Sentence starters:

1. Mi dia perfecto es ______________________.

2. Me gusta ________________ porque _______________________.

3. El tiempos es ___________________________. Hace _____________.

4. Mi estacin favorita es _________________ porque _________________________.

5. En el da perfecto, yo _________________________________.

6. En el da perfecto, yo no _______________________________.
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Artifact 5

Artifact 5 shows a Whole Language Approach activity that I used in class. This activity

involves speaking and writing in the target language. Students must write sentences about what

they will be doing next week and then ask others what they are doing next week. Each student

must then work with a partner to find any errors.