Gertis Brianna Competencyd

Running head: EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION AND COLLABORATION 1
Effective Communication and Collaboration
Brianna Gertis
Regent University
In partial fulfillment of UED 496 Field Experience ePortfolio, Fall 2018

EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION AND COLLABORATION 2
Introduction
Effective communication and collaboration with students, parents, and other professionals
in the school is imperative. In order for each student to get a well-rounded and effective education
to encourage them to become lifelong learners, there must be open communication and
collaboration on every level of the student’s lives, in and out of school.
Rationale for Selection of Artifacts
The first artifact I have chosen to showcase effective communication and collaboration
between the students and parents is the blue folder. We use this as a mean of communication
between us and the parents, and it is sent home every Thursday. The top portion of the Thursday
folder is to allow the parents insight into how their students are doing in the class. It describes their
citizenship, participation, collaboration, and productivity in the classroom and if they are lacking
in a certain area or exceeding expectations. This is a great way for parents to express any
gratitude’s or concerns that they have about their child. This is also a good way for parents to write
to the teacher if they wish to conference with her about the student or if they want to volunteer in
some way in the classroom. The blue folders really inhibit the conversation between the teacher
and the parents, because the parents are able to see exactly what their child is struggling in or doing
well in when it comes to behavior. Their classwork also goes home in those folders with all of the
grades on the papers, so the parents are thus able to see everything that their children are working
on in class, exactly how they’re doing in their schoolwork, and what they struggle in.
The second artifact that shows effective collaboration between other professionals in the
school is one of the weekly planning exemplars. Every week, my cooperating teacher and I go to
a planning session involving the reading specialist, the inclusion teacher, and the other fifth grade
language arts teachers. This planning is an efficient way of making sure all of the fifth graders are
on the same page with their learning, since every teacher that works with a fifth grader on their
language arts joins the collaboration. In the collaboration we all get a copy of the outline for lesson
plans for the week, that we tweak to fit the needs of our individual students, so that each fifth-
grade classroom is receiving the same amount of practice and learning. The outline is based off
the previous year as well, so they know that they are staying on schedule with learning the
curriculum.
Reflection of Theory and Practice
In my years at Regent, we spoke a lot about the Understanding by Design system of lesson
planning, which involves a mass amount of collaboration. To clarify, “A marker of true
collaboration is the quality of interactions, especially the degree of interactivity and negotiability.
Interactivity refers to the extent to which interactions influence participants’ thinking.
Negotiability refers to the extent to which no single group member can impose his view unilaterally
on all others, but rather all group members must work toward common understanding” (Lai, 2011).
Not only does the collaboration need to work at a teacher to student level, so that the teacher knows
exactly what to prioritize for the students, but there also needs to be a collaboration between a
department, just as I participated in throughout artifact 2; “Work in grade level or departmental
groups to unpack content standards and to prioritize content standards and textbook content”
(Wiggins & McTighe, 2005). Collaboration is imperative, and in class alone we collaborated on
multiple levels to unpack the standards, thus it takes a village to apply the Understanding by Design
model to the classroom.
Connecting and collaborating with others is also important, especially as a new teacher
welcoming a new classroom for the first time. One thing that was drilled at Regent was to always
ask questions and that you are not alone. “Many teachers leave the profession within the first 3
years because they feel unsupported and overwhelmed. Think about what you require for support
and ask assistance. Experienced teachers are there to help you. You also need to think of ways you
can actively create a support network of beginning teachers in your school or district” (Radford,
2013). I have learned of the wonderful support system that not only Regent and the collaboration
with the professors and administrative staff there has to offer, but also the staff, students, and
parents at my cooperating school. through administrators and other teachers working in the
building, I have learned classroom management techniques, tips and tricks for teaching, and so
much more. I have gotten so much support from the parents and learned how they view their
children at home as opposed to how their children act in school. I have also learned from
collaborating with the students, things about my own teaching style that would not have been
shown to me otherwise.
Collaboration and open communication between everyone involved in the education of
every student is so important, not only to ensure that the students receive the most effective and
efficient education, but to learn and grow as an educator as well.

References
Lai, E. (2011). Collaboration: A Literature Review. Pearson.
Radford, C. P. (2013). Strategies for successful student teaching: A guide to student teaching, the
Running head: INTEGRATION OF TECHNOLOGY AND MEDIA RESOURCES 1
job search, and your first classroom. Boston: Pearson
Wiggins, G. P., & McTighe, J. (2008). Understanding by design. Alexandria, VA: Association for
Supervision and Curriculum Development.

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Running head: EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION AND COLLABORATION 1

Effective Communication and Collaboration

In partial fulfillment of UED 496 Field Experience ePortfolio, Fall 2018

collaboration on every level of the student’s lives, in and out of school.

Rationale for Selection of Artifacts

Reflection of Theory and Practice

planning, which involves a mass amount of collaboration. To clarify, “A marker of true

Interactivity refers to the extent to which interactions influence participants’ thinking.

department, just as I participated in throughout artifact 2; “Work in grade level or departmental

model to the classroom.

Collaboration and open communication between everyone involved in the education of

efficient education, but to learn and grow as an educator as well.

Lai, E. (2011). Collaboration: A Literature Review. Pearson.

Supervision and Curriculum Development.

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