4c - Communicating with Families - What's going on in Mr. Solarz' Class?

4c - Communicating with Families

3/19/2019

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Examples from Charlotte Danielson:

Evidence from 2017-2018 and 2018-2019 Classes:

Evidence:

Not knowing which methods are best for each individual family, I communicate a number of different ways. One way is through email. I have a Class Email Group that I can utilize whenever I need to send information out quickly.

I also communicate with parents via our "Online Newsletter" which is actually a blog, right here on Weebly! I share whole-class creations, announcements, links to important sites for parents, etc. Here are our "What's Going on in the Classroom?" newsletters for this school year:
- August/September
- October
- November
- December/January
- February
- March
- more to come!

One of my favorite Classroom-Parent connections is our Daily Photo Journal (5th grade) and Yearbook (4th grade). Now, when parents ask their child what they did in school, their child can show them! Students take most of the photos and are in charge of uploading them to our website every day.

In addition to all of those resources, we have most of our assignment directions and materials available online through our Blended Learning Portal (Weebly).

Students develop their own SMAARTER Goals (a framework I developed), set criteria for meeting those goals, and monitor their progress towards those goals in their "Leader in Me" binder. When students feel a goal is met, they fill out a Post-It and attach it to our "Goals Accomplished" board. Students are encouraged to share these accomplishments with their families.

Students are perpetually involved with a personal Passion Project that they complete in class (we work on them twice each week for 30 minutes each time). These projects must be approved by me first, but are supposed to encourage personal interests and provide students with time to learn more about things that they care about. Students are always talking about these projects with their parents!
2018-2019 Class:
- Round 1
- Round 2
- Round 3
- Round 4
2017-2018 Class:
- Round 1
- Round 2
- Round 3
- Round 4
- Round 5

Parents are invited into our classroom on a regular basis for special events, Classroom Parties, Field Trips, WIN Time assistance, and Literature Circles.

Student-Led Conferences (5th grade): I gave my students explicit directions and time in class to create a presentation that shows some of the most important aspects of our learning in class. They then recorded themselves presenting their slideshow and embedded it on their ePortfolio. Students were then asked to ACTUALLY present their slideshow to their parents at home and post a picture of the experience on their ePortfolios. Finally, they reflected on the experience.

I had to take a 12-day FMLA leave to take care of my mom after a pretty intense surgery. During this time, I communicated with parents via email, making sure no balls were dropped as our guest teacher worked miracles with the kiddos!

I created a new "Back to School Night" presentation this year for 4th grade. I embedded it on our classroom website for those who were unable to attend. It was very well-received.

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Domain 4: Professional Responsibilities

The components in Domain 4 are associated with being a true professional educator: they encompass the roles assumed outside of and in addition to those in the classroom with students. Students rarely observe these activities; parents and the larger community observe them only intermittently. But the activities are critical to preserving and enhancing the profession. Educators exercise some of them (for example, maintaining records and communicating with families) immediately upon entering the profession, since they are integral to their work with students. Domain 4 consists of a wide range of professional responsibilities, from self‑reflection and professional growth, to participation in a professional community, to contributions made to the profession as a whole. The components also include interactions with the families of students,
contacts with the larger community and advocacy for students. Domain 4 captures the essence of professionalism by teachers; teachers are, as a result of their skills in this domain, full members of the teaching profession, and committed to its enhancement.