Today’s world is increasingly complex and requires many voices and perspectives to respond to local and global challenges. Education draws on generational wisdom to build new knowledge and develop positive and trusting relationships, so as to hear and act in ways that support all learners individually and collectively. Learning to communicate respectfully is the essence of providing positive educational opportunities for all students.
Competencies
- practise effective communication appropriate to the context and audience, enabling responsiveness to diversities of learners
- practise respect for all learners from all cultures, including, specifically, Indigenous learners
- practise working collaboratively and collegially as well as independently
- develop positive and supportive connections with students and colleagues, building professional learning networks
First Peoples Principles connected to Collaboration and Community Engagement
- Learning involves generational roles and responsibilities.
- Learning recognizes the role of indigenous knowledge.
- Learning is embedded in memory, history, and story.
Your Title Goes Here
Your content goes here. Edit or remove this text inline or in the module Content settings. You can also style every aspect of this content in the module Design settings and even apply custom CSS to this text in the module Advanced settings.
5. Practise effective communication appropriate to the context and audience, enabling responsiveness to diversities of learners
Practise effective communication appropriate to the context and audience, enabling responsiveness to diversities of learners
Every day educators communicate countless times with students, colleagues, parents and others and facilitate communication between students in the class. It is critical that teachers learn to listen and speak to people of different ages, ethnicities, cultures and worldviews. Knowing how to give and receive constructive feedback is essential to your growth as both a teacher and a learner and how you interact with your own students.
As you engage in coursework and field experience, consider your own and other communication styles. While observing and participating, think about how teachers practice effective communication:
- How do they communicate with colleagues and adults in the building? What are most appropriate ways to communicate considering diverse audiences and contexts?
- How do schools communicate with parents in both formal and informal ways?
- What is in place to support English Language Learners? How do teachers communicate with families who may not speak English?
- How does worldview affect communication?
- What non verbal communication strategies do you see occurring in classrooms?
- How is communication used in developing a relationally-based community of learners?
- How are students taught effective communication skills?
- What happens when communication breaks down? What strategies could you use to reengage?
Reflection
- Consider what communication strategies have worked for you. Describe an instance where you used one of these strategies and the outcome.
- Consider what strategies have not been successful. Describe a situation where there was a breakdown in communication and consider what you would do differently.
What aspects of communication challenge you? Speaking to large groups? Initiating difficult conversations? Accepting and implementing constructive criticism? What can you do now to work on these skills?
6. Practise respect for all learners from all cultures, including, specifically, Indigenous learners
Embracing Diversity and Incorporating Inclusive Practices
Today’s classroom has diverse students with diverse needs. How can you meet the needs of all of your students? What are your responsibilities to all of your students?
Start by recognizing that diversity can include but is not limited to culture, race, ethnicity, religion, ability, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, socio-economic status, life experience and language. In order to ensure your classroom celebrates its diversity, develops its own sense of community, and is inclusive, there are many things that you incorporate into your practice during field experiences.
- Examine your worldview and implicit bias and how it influences the decisions that you make. Be wary of microaggressions in the classroom whether it be through student-teacher or student-student interactions.
- Consider how you might learn about the worldviews of your students
- Get to know your students beyond what makes them diverse – what strengths and talents does each student bring to the classroom and to the learning community?
- What strategies can be used to accommodate diverse learning needs?
- Implement diverse materials, multimodalities, resources and ideas into the curriculum
- Utilize universal design principles
- Personalize learning
- Involve students in reflection
- Assist students in setting personal goals for their learning
- Consult and collaborate with your students’ other teachers and support staff
- Incorporate the First Peoples Principles of Learning into your curriculum, planning, assessment and teaching philosophy
- What community resources would help your practice in being culturally responsive?
Reflection
- What experiences have you had with diversity and inclusion?
- What attributes do you bring to these concepts?
- What can you learn from others? What can others learn from you?
- How do educators work with one another to support students? How does this happen in formal and informal ways?
- Where are diversity and inclusion recognized in the curriculum? In assessment practices? Where are the gaps? What can you do to fill the gaps and enhance the curriculum?
- How does your worldview impact your understanding of diversity and inclusion?
7. Practise working collaboratively and collegially as well as independently
A collaborative teaching and learning community puts the students’ learning first and celebrates good teaching. Collaborative teaching might be:
- co-teaching or team teaching
- two or more teachers or other educators working together to plan units and lessons, possibly in transdisciplinary ways thematically,
- across a grade level or department
- across the curriculum,
drawing on Big Ideas and core competencies.
The ability for teachers to be able to work collaboratively with colleagues is a key element for professional development and student success. In fact, many schools have “collaboration blocks” built into the school timetable.
Factors That Influence Collaborative Success
- Dispositions that lead to mutual trust and respect between colleagues; relationality
- Curiosity, desire to learn and a willingness to share and learn with and from each other
- Time during the day/week/month to plan and reflect
- A focus on student success
- A growth mindset
- Thinking of teaching and learning both inside and outside the walls of the classroom
Reflection
- What do collaboration and collegiality “look like” in schools and classrooms you have visited?
- What experiences have you had working collaboratively with others?
- What attributes do you bring to a professional, collaborative team?
- What can you learn from others? What can others learn from you?
- How can the evolution of your teacher identity, teaching philosophy, and teaching practice benefit from participation in collaborative opportunities?
- How do educators collaborate with one another, with students, families, communities, other schools or organizations?
- What opportunities do you see for collaboration to support student learning?
8. Develop positive and supportive connections with students and colleagues, building professional learning networks
Making personal connections with students and colleagues is crucial to developing healthy and trusting learning environments. It is important to get to know all of your students in a variety of ways, to know what their learning and personal strengths are, to think about ways that each student can be supported in their learning, and ways that you can help each student to be successful.
- Create a respectful and safe learning environment. Even when dealing with inappropriate behavior, always consider the dignity of the student.
- Actively teach social skills. Create opportunities for success by teaching students how to avoid misbehaviours and how to interact positively with others.
- Support students in risk-taking ventures; encourage them to develop their own skills and provide a supportive environment to enable them to do so.
- Show interest and pride in your students. Ask students about their accomplishments, and create lessons around student interests and diverse cultures.
- Make personal contacts with students you meet in hallways and classrooms; start conversations and ask them questions about themselves and their work.
- Adapt your lessons to meet the needs, cultural sensitivities and interests of all students in the class, both in content and teaching strategies. Enable all students to become actively engaged in their learning, to make choices that support their own learning needs.
- Find out the interests of your students, by having them complete student information forms, listening to the students’ conversations, talking with the students’ other teachers and with their parents. Incorporate what you know into classroom lessons and activities.
Reflection
- What experiences have you had making connections with learners and colleagues? What worked?
- Which of these strategies have you seen at schools? Which others have you seen or experienced?
- How do learners and colleagues who feel acknowledged and supported demonstrate this? How does it look if they aren’t?
- Describe the best experience you’ve had in a classroom. What made it so good?
- Describe the worst experience you’ve had in a classroom. What did you learn?
- How do communication, cultural responsiveness, making connections and collaboration inform one another?
Informing Your Practice: Developing Collaboration and Community Engagement Competencies
Now that you have examined the four competencies related to Collaboration and Community Engagement, how will these inform your practice?
Active and Focused Observation: Informing Your Teaching Practice
It is expected that you will work collegially and collaboratively as part of the school-based team in order to support your students. In some instances, students will require support beyond that which is provided by the classroom teacher. Teachers collaborate with school counsellors, librarians, ELL specialists, administrators, Educational Assistants, First Nations support workers, learning assistance and resource room teachers. Assistants, custodians and other support staff also work to support learners and each other.
During your observation and collaboration time, consider:
- Where do you see collaboration and collegiality in both formal and informal ways?
- What goes on outside of school hours/outside the building to support students and teachers?
- How and when does collaboration and supporting student learning outside the classroom take place?
- What do you notice about the school website, hallway notices or signs, the layout of rooms and space that supports or restricts learning and collaboration?
- How do outside agencies work to support students? How do families access these resources?
Reflection
- How would you describe the job descriptions for these different roles?
- Make notes on the roles of these adults in supporting each other and supporting students. What would this look like as a graphic?
- What do you think happens if collaboration and collegiality break down? Can things be repaired?
- What are the connections between the Personal and Professional Preparation competencies and the Collaboration and Community Engagement competencies?
- What artifacts/evidence of your demonstration of collaboration and community engagement can you include in your digital portfolio?
