Rationale 3: Professionalism and Leadership

 Link to Artifact 3

Louis Stevens III

C&T 898: Masters Project

Dr. Steven White

18 July 2022

 

Artifact Description

            This artifact is pulled from my professional practice as a 5^th/6^th grade English Arts teacher at Toledo Preparatory Academy in Toledo, Ohio, a public charter. This artifact is partially inspired by more rudimentary models produced by Pansophic Learning and Accel Schools, the parent company of my school district. Because of this connection, certain aspects of our curriculum are mandated. This includes the SPRINT assessment upon which this data is based. The excel spreadsheet artifact included however is an original creation in part. The artifact also includes tweaks suggested by my director of academics and demonstrates collaboration and leadership in that regard. I did not design each element of the spreadsheet independently but rather pushed ideas and refined with my director and Accel schools, thus making its design a group effort.

            The artifact itself includes multiple pull tabs at its bottom. Please browse to see the full extent of the spreadsheet. Last names of students have been eliminated in the interest of their privacy and safety. This list is specifically based on the results of the 5^th grade language arts students. This model has been shared and employed by many of my coworkers to effect. Each assessment is referred to as a “scrimmage” because my students are often competitive and familiar with team sports. They only compete with themselves, but this tends to motivate them appropriately. Each multiple choice prompt is worth one point and each extended response is worth four. This is to stress the real-life value ratio of the Ohio state standardized test. Each heading relates to the Ohio state standard being assessed. Each score is assigned a label – this element is a tracking label mandated by Accel Schools, and not one I necessarily agree with. However, the metric does help to quickly identify a student’s progress over multiple assessments. The second tab includes class total metrics and the third includes class score over time. Tab three’s scores do not represent a percentage value but rather a value added score. To clarify, a 60 class score does not represent a score of 60% but rather a point value related to a goal. A class score of 65-80 is considered above average for that standard. The artifact rationale will justify each inclusion into the artifact’s inclusion, demonstrate its relation to the learning outcome, and hopefully clarify any additional questions about its implication or inception.

Artifact Rationale

Learning Outcome 3: Professionalism and Leadership asks teacher candidates to “Demonstrate professional growth and leadership by documenting candidate’s current or future role in facilitating and/or participating in collaborative professional activities with others in the candidate’s school or community” (University of Kansas 2020). The artifact I’ve selected fulfills these requirements in the following ways:

I.                    Professional Growth

This project helped me to grow as a professional because it saw me take a larger role in the school’s overall function. As a first-year teacher I saw great growth as a result because I was able to create a sense of organization, capability, and technological benefit amongst other valuable skills. Moderating a resource that improves and details assessment brought benefit to others in the school outside my subject area and improved uniformity throughout. Using this resource also helped me to improve my communication with our director of academics. In conversations related to curriculum and building leadership, I was able to play a part in determining which materials supported the mastery of each learning standards and what supplemental materials may improve understanding (think online learning programs, workbooks, readers, assessment methods, and mnemonic delivery strategies).

II.                 Leadership

This project opened the door to other leadership opportunities such as directing pep rally directives, coordinating the middle school’s summer academics, and coaching. As a result of this creation along with others, I am often seen as a leader of educational technology at my district as well and am trusted to organize digital data and seek out new programs or computer-based resources for our student. I am also seen as a language arts expert entering my 2^nd year at this district because I can be trusted to identity which resources and assessment types may be effective for our population.

III.              Collaboration

I work closely with our director of academics, principal, SPED department, and title teachers to continue to improve this spreadsheet and how we organize data and assess students. This data has become a decision-informing piece of information that helps the school recognize the strengths and needs of our students. The organizer also plays a role in the RTI (Response to Intervention) process and TBT (Teacher-based team) meetings, and has been introduced to BLT (Building leadership Team). Since English and math are 5^th and 6^th grade’s only state tested areas, this information is often used to adjust school curriculum.

IV.              School and Community

The data contained within the artifact helped me to determine which areas for development would be most appropriate to personally tailor for instruction. By careful analysis of a student’s strength in each standard, I can determine patterns of progress that may be helpful to communicate with teachers, directors, SPED department, or parents. The more honest I can be with parents and the community (without doxing or violating FERPA) the more harmonious our communication can be. By building a student portfolio, I can also help the student’s future teachers and create a resource that will grow with the student.

Conclusion

                        I found it difficult to select only one artifact for this outcome because leadership and professionalism are broad qualities that are exemplified every day in the classroom. I interact often with parents and families and administration through phone, email, and ClassDojo and do my best to represent the school with pride. I also found this a difficult artifact to select because I have regrettably little experience in a leadership role in my school – last year was my first year as an educator and my first in the community altogether. However, this artifact was selected because it represents a jumping point by which to accept the responsibility of a leader and demonstrate my capability as a professional. This is to say that KU and my experience last year has prepared me to make succeed as a leader in my school district and an everyday professional for all parties involved. In summer planning, many of my contemporaries now regard me as a leader in language arts education and assessment and I plan to continue to embrace this role and create many reading artifacts to come.

 

References

University of Kansas Department of Curriculum & Teaching. (2020, July). C&T 898 Course                                Syllabus. KU Connect . Retrieved June 30, 2022, from                                                                                         https://kuconnect.ku.edu/courses/2837/assignments/syllabus