Proposition 5: Teachers are members of learning communities

Part one: My main topic1: you collaborate with others in the school to improve student learning 2: you are a leader and actively know how to seek and build partnerships with community groups and businesses. 3: you work with other professionals on instructional policy, curriculum development and staff development. 4: you can evaluate school progress and the allocation of resources in order to meet state and local education objectives.5: you know how to work collaboratively with parents/guardians to engage them productively in the work of the school

Part two: My analyzing on the five topics

The main topic on proposition 5 is “ teachers are member of learning comminutes”. I cannot agree more with this idea. An accomplished teacher must involve themselves into the learning teams and learning process. The five subtopics are explaining what teachers should do can he or she become a accomplished teacher as a member of learning communities. The learning communities is a not a pure conception, it includes the student, community, other professionals professors, parents/guardians and so on. Teaching is not only the daily conduct of lessons and the provisions of learning experiences, but also the work of teaching reaches beyond the boundaries of individual classrooms to wider communities of learning.

So generally speaking, accomplished teachers delicate to collaborate with others in the school to improve student learning. They contribute to the effectiveness of the school by working collaboratively with other professionals on instructional policy, curriculum development and staff development. They evaluate school progress and allocation of school resources in light of their understanding of state and local educational objectives. They are knowledgeable about specialized school and community resources that can be engaged for their students’ benefit and employing such resources as needed. Accomplished teachers also try their best to find ways to work collaboratively and creatively with parents/guardians, and engaging them productively in the work of school. All of these power resources and skills are charged in the teachers, so it is not hard for them to achieve the state and local education objectives anymore.

Part three: My supporting materials

1: Collaborating With Other Professionals

My short view: this article talked about the special education on classroom. I didn’t realize this before I read this article. it open my idea so I felt very happy. It is true that special education teachers often collaborate with many other professionals to ensure that their students have their needs met and a fulfilling educational experience. It makes me remember when I visit the elementary school at Wichita and Winfield; each classroom always has two or three assistant teachers. We haven’t that situation in China, so it is fresh to me. I really appreciate the teacher cooperate with each other. Collaborations becomes especially Important when special educations students are a part of general educational classroom. For each special education, a special education teacher must collaborate and coordinate the work of teachers, teacher’s assistants, and others to ensure that the students receives the attention he or she needs to fully realize his or her potential and succeed in the classroom.

Special education teachers often collaborate with many other professionals to ensure that their students have their needs met and a fulfilling educational experience. Those seeking a special education degree should be prepared to share knowledge, skills, and expertise with each other as well as other education professionals. How many and the type of other professionals varies by school district and the nature of the student's disability. Many special education teachers, at least, work with other teachers, teacher's assistants, and school administrators on a regular basis. Other potential collaborators include physical therapists, occupational therapists, school psychologists, social workers, and assistive technology practitioners or specialists.

Thus, a student with cerebral palsy, for example, often needs both physical and occupational therapy in addition to working with one or more special education or general education teachers. Physical therapy helps students with cerebral palsy strengthen the muscles in his or her legs and trunk and improves balance, while an occupational therapist helps such students develop fine motor skills. Therapists, including psychologists and psychiatrists, can work in conjunction with special education teachers to help students with behavioral challenges and psychiatric problems. Speech pathologists help with communication skills, and work with teachers to fully understand the student's disability and progress. Autism specialists can assist special education teachers in structuring classrooms that would be effective for autistic students.

Collaboration becomes especially important when special education students are a part of a general education classroom. For each special education student in a general education classroom, a special education teacher must collaborate and coordinate the work of teachers, teacher’s assistants, and others to ensure that the student receives the attention he or she needs to fully realize his or her potential and succeed in the classroom. Collaboration is also key when developing each special education student's IEP.

2: Teachers Collaborate to Improve Student Learning

Teacher collaboration: May 2004: Volume 3, Number 10. The small schools project: Supporting small schools based on relationships, rigor and relevance.

My short view: This article has talked about teachers collaborate to improve student learning. It is a real description about how teachers cooperate with each other to improve student learning in the author’s school. I like this article because it given us some good examples and details how can we do it at school. It is very easy and I believe every teacher can do that if they have that sense. The two main ways in this article is talking about students and sharing student work. Talking about students is overheard a conversation between a student, his parent, and other teachers and students. I appreciate this kinds conversation; they get together and talk about students all the time. Teachers have always cared about their students and have shared their concerns with each other in lunchrooms and hallways. But now, some faculties are using more formal processes to focus on individual students. I think both can use in our reality and it should be flexible. The teacher also looks together at student work and gives feedback to each other and more likely to try out new practice. This can help teachers understand their students better and adjust their teaching method when it is necessary.

Collaboration is not just team teaching; it is a whole-staff process involving trust and common focus with the goal of improving student learning. The professional development is not a place, an event, requiring an expert imparting the knowledge to people, but rooted in relationship and dialogue, in professional learning communities with the common goals. In the past, professional development for teachers often took place outside of schools. Teachers sat in hotel or district conference rooms and listened to experts.Today, most educators and board members understand that effective professional development (meaning the kind that improves student learning) is generally site-based, long-term, and directly related to teachers’ practice. It’s an ongoing part of a teacher’s workweek, not something that’s tacked on. And it usually involves teachers working together.Teacher collaboration is a huge shift for a profession that for years was almost completely private. But it’s a critical one if we are really serious about improving student achievement.Faculties at many of your schools now spend time in collaborative activities. These might include sharing student work, talking about students they share, integrating curriculum, team teaching. But in each case, teachers have the opportunity to look at how they teach—what works, what doesn’t work, what they can do better.Talking about studentsMike Goodfellow, Enumclaw board member, grins when he shares how, at a recent open house for his high school’s new small schools, he overheard a conversation be- tween a student, his parent, and a history teacher. After the history teacher said something about

the student’s math grade, the student said to his parent, “They get together and talk about us all the time now.”For Mike, the anonymity of many students in big comprehensive high schools was one compelling reason to“More than almost any other factor, the sense of a professional learning community in schools enhances student achievement.” Moffett (2000)Embark on the high school reinvention journey, so the student’s comment de- lighted him. It told him that teachers were collaborating more in one very important area.Teachers have always cared about their students and have shared their concerns with each other in lunchrooms and hallways. But now, some faculties are using more formal processes to focus on individual students.Susan Songs tad, a teacher at Mariner’s LEAP Academy, reports that her faculty uses a protocol called “Students of Concern” to identify and discuss individual students. She says, “While it can be comforting to hear that other teachers are struggling to reach a particular student, sometimes we find there is one teacher for whom that kid is doing well. Then the rest of us can learn what that teacher is doing that seems to work.”Susan adds, “Every so often you’ll learn something huge about a kid from another teacher. For example, a parent has died or they have some other really hard circumstance in their life and you go...‘Wow, no wonder.’ Some behaviors you’ve noticed suddenly make sense.”At Foss’ Academy #1, teacher Francey Joselin says that after their discussions about particular students, teachers volunteer to follow-up whenever possible. She tells of helping one struggling student set up a student-led conference with all his teachers. Result: improved performance on the student’s next progress report.Sharing student workTeachers who look—in isolation—at the work their students are doing and are dis- appointed may not know how to change their practice to get better work.Teachers who look together at student work and give feedback to each other are more likely to try out new practices. “We are smarter as a group than we are as individuals,” says Eve Datisman, Forks High librarian and English teacher.Like teachers in many schools, Eve be- longs to a Critical Friends Group, a small group of teachers who commit to work together regularly to examine student work and teacher practices. CFGs provide teachers with a structure to offer and receive feedback in a setting where there is mutual trust and respect.According to Eve, when teachers bring lessons to their CFGs, “there are many eyes looking and many mouths asking hard questions like: ‘where is the lesson headed? Are the activities relevant? How will you assess the understanding of your students?’ We are certainly focusing more on what the students need not only in continued.“We need to create contexts in which collaborative work can be sustained. Some people think of it as a matter of ‘finding time’—but it’s also a matter of having a program that teachers [are] able to integrate into the daily routines of school life over the long term.” Stigler (2002)Val Giles, also a Forks teacher, CFG member and veteran of scores of professional development experiences, says, “This is the first time in my teaching career of over 20 years that the focus of the professional development has been on teacher practice and student performance.”

He adds that since the Forks CFGs were established, some teachers are showing up in each other’s classrooms to talk about instructional challenges they are facing.Val believes his teaching practice now includes more personalization and rigor. He says, “On the one hand, I’m much more open to allowing students to capitalize on their personal interests, and to negotiating the product and assessment of their learning to meet their needs. On the other, it’s become easier to hand a project back to the student and say, ‘it isn’t good enough,’ putting the responsibility on the student to produce quality.”How long will it take before changes in practice show up in increased scores on high-stakes tests?Eve isn’t sure, but she says, “I’m already seeing incremental progress for individual students. All of my students are writing a little better than they were, and they are less hesitant about challenging an idea.”While Val thinks measurable improvement could occur within two years of sustained effort, he’s also seeing changes. Recently, in the class of a colleague, he watched a student share what she had learned from a unit that the teacher had worked on in his CFG.“It was clear that the teacher’s delivery had been more effective,” he says, “be- cause the student was at least conscious of the purpose of the unit and the learning objectives.”“That's immediate improvement,” he concludes.

3: Positive involvement in parent-teacher collaborative modelsby Kimberly Mathis

My short view: I really like this article; it very clearly explained why and how teachers collaboratively work with parents. Collaboration and consultation have become important issues in public education. This article addresses the importance of establishing parent-teacher collaboration models that focus on communication and respect. It is a little big long, but the author discussed the characteristics of parent-teacher collaborative models and offer educators ideas on how to start their own, this is good for me to learn especially when I have not many teaching experience. The author also presented challenges that may arise when implementing a parent-teacher collaboration process and possible solutions to these problems. This help me has an entire recognition on teacher-parent collaborative models. It is a good way to explain my confusing questions on this. At the end of this article, the author discussed an example of parent-teacher collaborative model that provides opportunities for effective communication and present an acronym to help educators remember the importance of positive including parents in education.

This article reflected the nowadays education problem and has a critical thinking on how teacher cooperate with parents. That’s worth for me to learn. Creating a collaborative model in schools is a complex, lengthy, and detailed process, many different collaborative models can exist. But I appreciate that the author said we should always remember the two things: understanding the need, reason, and goal of collaboration; defining each person’s role in the collaborative process. This given me inspiration and I think I will remember it. The seven key characteristics to consider when implementing a collaborate model in education list are also very useful. The barrels between teachers and

parents reflect the problems existed in reality. And there are really some parents who don’t interested in pay much attention on student’s study. But just like the author mentioned, we still can combine the important aspects of effective communication strategies and practice more to enhance the rate of success. The procedure in this article is “ POSTIVE INVOLVEMENT”, the acronym got the detailed explaining. Good for me to know.

Researchers have stressed the importance and benefits of including families in different educational aspects, but teachers are consistently not utilizing this knowledge (Parodi, 1997; Knight & Wadsworth, 1999). This gap may have been created due to a lack of knowledge of both parents and educators in how to engage in a collaborative educational model. The seriousness of this issue, involving parents in education, has been addressed in past literature and recently in The No Child Left Behind Act. The purpose of this article is to offer teachers suggestions and examples of how to better communicate and involve parents in their child's education. First, I will discuss basic ways to set up a parent-teacher communication and collaboration systems in schools and give a brief explanation of team members' roles and agendas involved. Then, I will discuss challenges and possible solutions that may arise when parents and teachers work together. Next, I will offer an example of a researched-based program focusing on parent-teacher relationships. Finally, an acronym will be provided to help educators remember the importance of collaboration with parents.

Getting Started

Communication between those involved in education, including policy makers, district personnel, administration, teachers, parents, and students, can vary depending on geography, demographics, economics, culture, and individual personalities. Creating a collaborative model in schools is a complex, lengthy, and detailed process. Many different collaborative models can exist, but there are some universal aspects that can be beneficial to remember when creating your own model of communication. Two important beginning steps in the collaborative model are 1) understanding the need, reason, and goal of collaboration and 2) defining each person's role in the collaborative process. Friend and Bursuck (2001) list seven key characteristics to consider when implementing a collaborative model in education. These include 1) being voluntary, 2) being based on equality, 3) requiring shared goals, 4) including shared responsibility for key decisions, 5) including shared accountability for outcomes, 6) having shared resources, and 7) involving assessing and changing over time. Each team member must accept and understand that their roles are important and appreciated by others.

If you are considering forming a collaborative model at your school, you should first contact your administrator and complete a needs assessment. Together, you must discuss why a collaborative model is needed, what the purpose would be, which students or parents need to be involved, who to include as a team member, when to start, and if additional training is needed or available. With the proposed plan formed, your next step is to approach the potential members and convince them of the importance of the proposed collaborative model. Do not force any teacher or parent to be involved in the team process. Attitudes and willingness of those involved in can determine whether the

collaborative model is a success or a failure. Presenting the idea of a collaborative model, while demonstrating support and positive attitudes, will hopefully encourage resistant parents and teachers to become team members. Once a collaborative team has been formed, the next step is to determine goals for each team based on the student's needs. The goals may be related to academic or social objectives. Communication strategies, to promote and assess the progress of goals should also be established. Whether the team decides to communicate with the parent daily or weekly, by phone or by notes, it's important that teachers remember to involve parents in both positive and negative progressions of the student. If parents are only involved when there are problems with the student, the collaborative process purpose of positive atmosphere and rapport will be diminished and parents may lose interest or faith in working with educators.

Next, each team member should be assigned their role and responsibilities in carrying out the goals for the student. Each role, depending on the situation, can range from specific, implementing certain procedures for the student, or broad, offering a suggestion or comment for others who may work more closely with the student. Despite the need for equity in the role assignment, there should be a team captain who acts as the facilitator and organizer of meetings. The captain is still held responsible for their role in the participation, listening, implementing, and assessing the collaborative model. Finally, before the collaborative model is implemented, the team members must establish an accountability system. This will vary according to each team's purpose. The reason for this accountability aspect is to help assess the model's effectiveness for the student, parents, and other members. Daily, weekly, or monthly checklists can be created in order to assess how the student is progressing and address any concerns or suggestions that team members may have. Some teams may fred that, over time and through learning experiences, there may not be the need to meet as often as scheduled. Flexibility is an important component of any collaborative model in education. Teams may have scheduled meetings but members must also be aware of the fact that additional meetings, time, and effort may be needed in order to revise the goals and roles of the model.

Barriers to Parent-Teacher Collaboration

Unfortunately, many schools and teachers do not have the rapport with parents and families of students needed to promote a positive learning environment. Possible challenges that may prevent successful parent-teacher collaboration include: time constraints, disconnection and mistrust between teachers and families, hesitation of family members to collaborate due to fear and uncertainty, inflexible work hours of family members, poverty, transportation, availability of childcare, and language/cultural barriers (Riley, 1994; Pena, 2000; Pryor, 1995). In a similar discussion, Vandrick (1999) notes that parents were more involved and supportive when they themselves receive support and caring from the schools. Examples of such support include receiving information from their children's schools, meeting with teachers and counselors, participating and learning from workshops, and being provided reading materials and publications dealing with education and parental issues.

The theme that seems to be evident in all of the barriers discussed is a lack of communication. Teachers can perform a number of steps to ensure positive and effective

communication with parents. First, schools and teachers should make contact with parents at the beginning of the year and record information such as home and work phone numbers, e-mail and/or home address, number of siblings, and work hours. Teachers can offer flexibility in scheduling meeting times and invite parents to 'drop in' at any time during the year to observe their child or set up a future teacher meeting. Often districts will provide transportation to those parents who find it difficult to get to the school. Some teachers may even make home visits, when appropriate, in order to meet with parents. Sign language or interpreters may be available through the district and can be invited to meetings where parents have trouble with language or cultural divergence. The extent to which administrators and teachers are actively involved in encouraging parental support could be the key to creating and providing successful collaborative models in education.

Teachers can not always expect all parents to automatically and voluntarily be involved in their child's education. Many parents need encouragement and want teachers to take those fast steps in initiating a working relationship. Unfortunately, not all educators have the personalities or training that are needed in order to implement and facilitate a parent-teacher collaborative model.

Additional Training for Teachers

Administrators should not assume that future or current teachers will become leaders or facilitators when working with parents. Gersten, Darch, Davis, and George (1991) found that even experienced teachers do not automatically become skilled consultants, advisors, or team members. Many instances, teachers may not receive the field experience or training that is needed in order to assume a leadership role. School administration, as well as colleges and universities, should provide the opportunities, time, and resources for such training through courses, field experiences, and staff developments. Collaborative models should be taught and demonstrated at college, elementary, middle, and secondary levels of education.

Teachers and parents will need many important personal and communication skills in order to work together as a team. Some of the personal skills that are needed include: open-mindedness, flexibility, respect, listening skills, reasoning skills, and an overall knowledge of the educational system. Many instances will arise in which parents and teachers may disagree. It's important that teachers are trained and prepared for when these events occur. Epstein (1995) discusses other skills teachers should acquire in order to facilitate a collaborative model. These include: effective communication skills, awareness of cultural and environmental influences on learning, and knowledge of how family diversity plays a role in parental support. How teachers, current or future, accept the need for and learn these skills are the responsibilities of colleges, school districts, and themselves.

Example of a Collaborative Model

For those educators who are uncertain about creating a collaborative model on their own, I offer an example and explanation of a collaborative model already established and proven to be effective. MAPs--Making Action Plans for Students, created by Forrest, O'Brien and Pearpoint, is a collaborative model that has provided opportunities for

effective parent-teacher communication by avoiding conflict and facilitating student achievement (Malatchi, 2002). MAPs includes a number of different conferences, over the entire school year, in which parents, teachers, students, and even extended family and friends form a team to personalize a student's educational program. Frequently used for students with severe disabilities, but applicable to other students, MAPs, utilizes eight key questions:

1. What is a MAP?

2. What is the person's history or story?.

3. What are their dreams?

4. What are their nightmares?

5. Who is the person?

6. What are the person's strengths, gigs, and talents?

7. What does the person need? (What will it take to meet the dreams and avoid the nightmares?)

8. What is the plan of action? (Recommendations, goals for an IEP)

Brainstorming, during each session, is used in order to generate responses to these questions. Each team member is given an opportunity to respond to the questions. The responses are then recorded on large sheets of paper for each group to review, discuss, and devise a plan of action for promoting a positive learning environment. The benefit of this model is that it places accountability on each team member. Follow-up meetings are held to discuss team roles, student's progress, and any suggestions or changes that need to be made to the plan of action. Teachers will need some pre-training in the MAPs program before implementation. Training videos of MAPs and other models of collaboration can be found on the interact through many searches or specifically at the Marsha Forest Centre website found at www.inclusion.com/PI-MAPS.html.>

Summary

Personal, social, economic, and cultural diversity among students and families has attributed to the importance of teachers' roles in actively encouraging and involving parents in all school activities. Many parents may seem uninterested or uninvolved in their child's education, when in fact, they are extremely concerned but unsure about how to approach educators. The skills of communicating and becoming 'approachable' are often easier said than done; but like most skills, they can be improved through application and practice. Even though some states and districts may not have created policies or training for implementing successful collaboration models, I have just discussed many steps and strategies that teachers can initiate with parents in order to create a positive partnership and learning environment for all students. Also, by utilizing my knowledge and past personal experiences, I have developed a simple way of remembering how to create and maintain a positive relationship between teachers and parents. I combined

important aspects of effective communication strategies and skills that teachers can use and developed an acronym for promoting collaboration between parents and teachers. I call this procedure "POSITIVE INVOLVEMENT".

P--Present all information to parents in a positive and caring manner

O--Opinions. Listen to and respect opinions about a child or situation from other teachers, administrators, and family members

S--Stress strengths of the student when talking to parents

I--Initiate change. Explain any problems or concerns and discuss changes that ca can be made to promote a more positive learning environment

T--Test scores--Explain what test scores mean, what they don't mean, and what students can do to improve their scores

I--Informed decisions--Make educational changes or decisions only after discussing matters with the parents

V--Value opinions, concerns, and fears of parents

E--Explain every aspect for parents in great detail

I--Input from parents should be solicited throughout the year

N--Notebooks, word cards, graded work, and assignments can be sent home for parents to sign

V--Volunteer extra time to support a child who is struggling or needs extra help

O--Open House--Allow parents to visit your classroom and have children's work on display

L--Listen to feelings and problems parents may have

V--Visit homes or encourage parents to visit the school or classroom

E--Expectations--Have high expectations for parents and students

M--Make phone calls or set up conferences to discuss positive and negative issues

E--Eating--Allow parents to eat breakfast or lunch with the class during the year

N--Negotiate--Be open-minded and work with other teachers and parents on the academic and behavior plan for each child

T--Time--Make time to talk with parents and students and do whatever it takes to get parents involved.

With the high demands and time restraints placed on both teachers and parents, establishing and maintaining collaborative teams will be a difficult, but attainable task.

When parents and teachers collaborate, students will ultimately be the ones who reap the benefits. However, it's important to remember that changes in education don't come easily or by themselves. My suggestions for educators are twofold. First, I recommend that educators not wait until a collaboration model is needed to start one. Collaboration should be viewed as a preventative procedure to help parents and teachers communicate and focus on the progress and growth of the children right from the start. Secondly, I propose that teachers not wait around to be asked to be a member of a team. Take the initiative by acknowledging the need for collaboration with certain teachers, parents, and students and implementing a model to address this need. Find the support needed from administration and other teachers, and help transform your school into a more welcoming and nurturing environment.

4: Community resources as part of the school library collection Jennifer Hammond

My short view: this article gives me many ideas of community resources. As school librarians and media specialists collaborate with classroom teachers and assist the finding relevant materials for resource-based learning, the use of both materials resources and human resources from the community can be invaluable. I appreciate the author’s idea that accessing resources within the community can make learning more relevant to students and enable them to see a connection between the curriculum and the real world. At the same time, establishing community resource collections also results in strong business and community partnerships with the school.

I like the examples of community resources, some of them I didn’t think before. Generally speaking, it is very interesting because there are a lot of resources such as teleconferencing and e-mail, ask-an-expert database, local artists, actors, local sites and organizations, a unique suggestion, community agencies resources directory, materials or equipment available for lending from various community organizations and other schools, teachers, or classes in the city who would like to collaborate on a project. This is not a complete list, the possibilities are endless, the examples are useful, easily accessed community resources, it really enriched my horizon.

I also think that when we plan to use the community resources, we need to consider three things. The author also mentioned this. This is meaningful for me. 1: determine which community resources would be most beneficial to the students and teachers and which resources are also accessible2: organize the community resources for easiest access by the school community3: publicize and promote the community resources to ensure full use by those who would benefit most. It is not easy for me to use the community resources now, but I think it is a good suggestion for people who seek to be an excellent teacher.

Getting Started

Determining which community resources are the most beneficial can be a daunting task ,

especially in a large metropolitan area. The authors of A Guide to Promising Practices in Educational Partnerships, published by the U.S. Department of Education, recommend first conducting a needs assessment to determine which community resources would be of the most benefit to the school population. Rather than going overboard in accessing as many community resources as humanly possible, experiences from programs described in this volume show that it is more effective to begin in small increments, identifying key areas in the school curriculum where resources would be readily available and most useful. A school librarian can easily accomplish this through assessment surveys with teachers, administrators, students, and parents and through knowledge of the school's curriculum and student needs. Since library resources exist to meet the needs of students, it makes sense to begin this process with the students' needs.

Once the media specialist has used the surveys and other tools to create a list of the information needs of students and teachers, it is then possible to brainstorm resources beyond the walls of the school that could meet those needs. This another opportunity to ask for input from teachers, administrators, and parents. 

Examples of Community Resources:

• Teleconferencing and e-mail can easily connect students to human resources in the community and expand the students' access to the world. More people may be willing to act as a resource to a student if they can do so from the office. Students could have e-mail mentors or interviews via chat. In telementoring, students are connected to experts or role models in various fields or areas to serve as resources.  Mentors can be found in local communities or in global communities from web sites such as this one:www.telementor.org

• Ask-An-Expert database is a database of human resources who are experts in various areas of the curriculum and have volunteered to answer student questions via e-mail or telephone. (Note: this is different from telementoring, since it is merely a reference type of service, not a long-term relationship.)

• Local artists, actors, business leaders, researchers, professors, doctors, attorneys, veterinarians, community activists, reporters, athletes, and so on, can all serve as helpful resources for interviews, field trips, projects, etc.

• Local sites and organizations (museums, theaters, hospitals, universities, corporations, factories, etc.) can also be cataloged as resources for field trips, projects, and information resources.

• A unique suggestion from Van Orden is for the librarian to videotape a field trip to a local resource to share with students. It is not as effective as an actual field trip, but in this era of limited field trips, it is a feasible compromise.

• Community agencies resource directory (a list can be obtained from a local United Way office), a database of job or volunteer opportunities for students, a database of summer learning opportunities and activities are all community resources which would be valuable for students to access.

• Materials or equipment available for lending from various community organizations: zoos, museum exhibits, photographs, theater costume and prop departments, university laboratories, hospitals, historical societies, etc.

• Other schools, teachers, or classes in the city who would like to collaborate on a project.

This is by no means a complete list. The possibilities are endless, but these are examples of useful, easily accessed community resources.

Organizing Community Resources for Access

Once a list of community resources that are appropriate for the school community has been created, there is the problem of organizing these intangible resources for effective access by users. Van Orden recommends organized access to these resources through centralized bibliographic control as the most effective method for both student and staff use. Both human and material resources can be listed through the school's online public catalog (OPAC).

There should be an entry for each community resource the librarian locates. This may make for some creative cataloging, but for easiest access, adding these resources to the catalog is necessary. These listings in the OPAC can identify the participating institution or person, contact information, subject area correlation, services, location, intended audience, and any other relevant information. Each time a teacher goes on a field trip or uses a community resource, the librarian can collect information about the experience and input it into the system. When another teacher searches for materials on that subject, the field trip entry and information would be retrieved. If a local resident has Civil War memorabilia available for a teacher to borrow and share with the class,  information about this resource would be listed in the catalog as well.

The Vermont Education Partnership Project, described inThe Guide to Promising Educational Partnerships as one method for bringing together the resources of a community, involved developing a community resource collection containing profiles of various organizations, community members, and businesses who agreed to act as a resource for students and staff. The database of resources contained a description of the opportunity, job titles and background of the people involved, contact information, and any other relevant information.  Other issues such as the amount of time and the extent of the commitment a human resource is willing to give and the preferred method of participation (e-mail, public speaking, chat, videoconferencing, time of the year he or she is willing to participate) could also be listed.

If the librarian is given brochures or other forms of information about the community resource being cataloged, it should somehow be bound or packaged (placing it in a folder would suffice) and labeled. The catalog entry about the community resource would alert the teacher or student that further information about the resource can be found and will inform the patron where that information is kept in the library. A shelf or filing cabinet drawer could be reserved for these materials.

An additional way of organizing the resources is to place a large map of the community on a wall in the library with the location of various resources labeled (public library, city hall, universities, zoos, etc.) and instructions for where to find more information on the

resource (in the catalog).  Transportation information, if available, could be posted as well.

Various online databases can be created as well to organize related resources and provide additional points of access.

Publicizing and Promoting the Use of Community Resources

Danzberger et al. state, "General exposure to the [resource] directory did not promote its use by teachers. However, teachers who attended workshops demonstrating the usefulness of the resource directories expressed enthusiasm and became motivated to use the directories." Any school library media specialist knows how true this is. We can provide a wealth of wonderful resources, but that does not mean they will be used. We must publicize and promote the community resources to ensure their use. Providing training to teachers to show them how, when, and why to use the resources is essential. If the librarian has a receptive principal, perhaps a portion of one of the in-service days before the start of the school year could be reserved for the librarian to conduct a workshop on the access and use of these unique resources. Otherwise, begin with a few receptive teachers. Once other teachers see the learning that is occurring through the use of these resources, they may want to learn more.  When I have something new and exciting to share with teachers, I schedule a meeting with them during one of their planning periods. It is much easier to hold the attention and "sell" an idea to a group of six than to an entire staff.

Jones makes suggestions for distributing information, such as the school's daily announcements, eye-catching posters, and forming a marketing plan. These are all useful things to consider when promoting the new community resources. Libraries often fall short when it comes to promotion of the library's programs and services. Just as we have to "sell" our lessons to our students when we teach, we will have to "sell" our resources to our users, whether staff or students, as librarians.

Combining Jones' approach with my own experience as a librarian, I have developed the following suggestions for promoting and publicizing community resources in the library collection:

• Avoid mass distribution of memos to the entire staff or student body. As we all know, they end up in the trash or on the floor most of the time. 

• E-mail staff with a short message about something "new" in the library.• Include something about community resources in the school's daily announcements.

Make it as intriguing and imaginative as you can!• Create bright and eye-catching flyers or posters that merely give a hint or clue about

something new and fabulous in the library--just enough to pique users' curiosity and make them want to ask for more information.

• Send press releases to local papers.• Give demonstrations or workshops for accessing the resources within the curriculum.• Approach a teacher who is a leader in the school and share a community resource that

might be of interest. Once one teacher sees how wonderful the experience can be, others will follow.

• Post a list of available community resources (with their web addresses, if applicable) on the school's website.

Issues and Considerations

Because human resources are involved, the use of these resources will be obviously quite different from merely using a book or CD-ROM in the library. There are several things a school library media specialist must consider when adding community resources to the library's collection.

NASA has been a leader in acting as an educational resource for students. NASA's K12 Internet Initiative connects K-12 students and teachers with science and engineering experts over the Internet. NASA experts working in various mission areas (space exploration, astronomy, biosciences) connect with students and teachers via e-mail, chat, and other forms of file transfer. Information about current missions and projects are posted online and frequently updated by the experts. Siegel and Hodas point out several issues that must be considered before using a community-based resource.

First, guidelines must be in place to keep students from overwhelming experts with e-mail and information requests. That is a sure-fire way to end an expert's willingness to act as a resource for students. We have to ensure that the limits experts have set on their time are respected. The librarian should be responsible for discussing this issue with the community member and making sure that teachers and students understand. It is appropriate to include any time or other limitations set by the expert in the catalog entry and perhaps include, "see media specialist before contacting this resource."

Along the same lines, a community resource may not be willing to donate his or her time year-round, as it can become fairly time-consuming. When arranging the services the community member is offering, discuss these limitation options with him or her and note in the catalog entry the dates and times he or she is available, as well as what forms of communication he or she prefers (public speaking, e-mail, chat, bulletin board). If the librarian is not vigilant in seeing that the resources are not over-used or misused, these resources can be lost, and the school could gain a reputation for not being "partnership-friendly."

If the resource is a material one, borrowed from a community member, business, or organization, guidelines should likewise be in place to ensure it is cared for and returned promptly and in good condition.

In section five of the NASA program paper, the authors suggest that, "Not all content area experts are created equal." The human resources with whom the library media specialist connects students should be enthusiastic, helpful, knowledgeable, and positive. Additionally, each district has safety guidelines in place, such as background checks, for community members wishing to volunteer their time. The school library media specialist should ensure that materials accessed from the community are

appropriate, safe, and useful. Plan to evaluate potential community resources in the same way that one would evaluate other resources in for the collection. Professional judgment must be used to determine if the expert's knowledge and interpersonal communication/interaction are appropriate, applicable, easy to understand, easily accessible, and accurate.

One final lesson and consideration pointed out by the NASA resource project designers: "Simplicity is the catchword."  One could easily get in over one's head in an effort to incorporate as many community resources as possible into the school's collection and trying to meet every single informational need all at once. The addition of community resources to a collection is a process that must be approached carefully, thoughtfully, and with specific goals in mind. It is more effective to add a few resources that meet specific needs, promote them to the school community, and assist in their use. Then evaluate the success of those resources and use the experience to determine how to add additional resources.

Closing Thought

An excerpt from "Student-Focused School Library Media Centers Help Create Life-Long Learners," published by the Illinois School Library Media Association, accurately describes our role in using community resources:

A school library media specialist should be ". Reaching beyond the walls of the school to develop a community of learners. Library media professionals are reaching out to their local communities and beyond. Helping to create life-long learners. School library media professionals join their colleagues in public, academic and special libraries to help create a statewide environment that supports learning and knowledge."

Part four: The relationship between my own paper and the proposition5

1: A letter to parents

My short view: this is the letter I have written to my student’s parents when I was teaching at Winfield intermediate elementary school. At the beginning of the class, I will give this to my students and ask them to take it back to home. Teachers share with parents the education of the young. If I have more time, I would like to communicate regularly with parents or guardians, listening to their concerns and respecting their perspective, enlisting their support in fostering learning and good habits, informing them of their child’s accomplishments and successes, and educating them about school programs. For the second language learning, there most problem is that their parents cannot speak Chinese, so may be sometimes I want them to give their child to practice a little bit at home, but they probably cannot help my students. So I want to contact with my students

parents via email or phone, give the parents the website or any other resources I think it is useful on details. Them they can follow my instruction to give their child help. For example, when I teach my student Pecking opera, I want my student can practice the opera when they back to home. So I will email to student’s parents to show the song’s video or website, they can download it on their computer and them play it at home. The students can still learn at home with their parents help.

Dear parents,

I am Vivian, a Chinese girl who is studying at Southwestern College. I will be a Chinese teacher for the fifth grade student in Winfield intermediate elementary school for one week. I felt so lucky to have your child as my students.

My Chinese class at 123 classroom at the school. There are 12 students in my class. I will teach your child some basic Chinese and some Chinese culture such as Pecking opera. I believe they will enjoy it and I also hope we can cooperate with each other to help the kids learn more.

If you have any suggestions or questions on me, please feel free to contact with me. My cellphone is: 620-218-977My email is : Wei.Wang@sckans.edu

Thanks for your time and let’s works together to cheer for your child’s well behaving at school!

Hope you have a nice day!

Sincerely

Ms Vivian

2: Observation form—Investigating student work-Fall 2011

My short view: This article was my observation at an elementary school at Wichita. It is a very impressive experience and I learned a lot from this visit. We went to there because our professor wants us to learn more from the excellent teacher at Wichita elementary school. I think it is collaboration with other professional person though they didn’t learn much from us, but I do learn a lot from them. We observed the teachers’ behaviors, student’s behaviors and both teacher and student’s behaviors during the assessment. How teachers give students feedback and so on. This is the first time for me to attend the America’s classroom in reality as a teacher. So it is really help me understand a lot about the teaching and learning in USA.

I finished my checklist during my observation, after that I discussed it with my professor and my classmates. We used a lot of time to discuss our discovering on this observation.

Everyone tell their opinion and experience for each teacher, it make our checklist looks much better than the sole work. After we got the collective wisdom we got a perfect checklist. What’s more, after we spend some days to discuss it and observe it, I wrote a reflective thinking on this activity.

According to my observation and discuss with my professor and classmates and what I have learned form the teachers at Wichita, I made a comparison between China and USA. It includes the classroom arrangement, the relationship between teachers and students, the assessment ways and so on. I am so happy because I have a clear sense about both two different education methods advantages and disadvantages.

I learned from other professionals and know how will I make it better next time when I use it in my teaching. Teaching is not the implementation of policy and curriculum developed by others as following orders. As a teacher, we should engage in analysis and conclusion the instruction policy and find ways to work collaboratively and creatively with other professionals.

OBSERVATION FORMInvestigating Student Work-Fall 2011

Name of teacher: ______________________________Grade level: __1th~5th_______

Date of observation: ______06/10/2011________________________

Purpose of Observation:

Criteria Answer and explain # of

times

(tally)

notes

Assessment

Subject area(next column) 1:Reading

2:Math

(Kindergarten to 5th

grade)

3: PE

We observed at Anderson

School for twice. It is a

elementary school. The first

time is mainly observe the

teacher assess the students

reading skill, the second time

is mainly about the Math

teaching and testing. We

almost observed all the grades

from the Kindergarten to 5th

grade.

Format of assessment 1: paper pencil test

2: computer

3: checklist

Most of the Assessment was

paper pencil test. After it, a lot

of people will use the

computer as an assistant tool to

check their answer. But one

teacher also use a checklist to

ask the students to assess by

themselves.

Formative or summative 1: formative

2: summative

I would like to say most of

them are formative assessment.

May be because it happens on

the middle of the semester and

most of the teacher just wants

to know what the student

learned recently. It can be a

summative assessment to a

unit, but it is a formative

assessment to the whole

semester.

How is the room set up for

testing

1: 3~5 students desks

2: all students sit

together

Most of the teachers will

choose 3~5 students desks

when they are testing. 4 is the

3: 3~6 special needs

students share one

table in the behind of

the classroom

4: one student, one

desk.

normal format. But for the

kindergarten and 1th grade

students, teacher usually

arranged them sit together on

the blanket. At the same time,

there is a big table on the

behind of each classroom for

the special needs students. But

I also found for the formal test,

the teacher separated the

students, so one student, one

desk. For example, the reading

testing for the 3rd grade.

Teacher behaviors

Immediately before

beginning testing what does

the teacher do?

1: introduce the

testing rules

2: set the expectation

for doing own

homework

3: encourage students

and help them warm

up what they have

learned

4: prepare and sent

out the testing

materials.

Almost all the teachers will

introduce the testing rules to

students. And they will repeat

their expectation to students if

the students are still noisy after

he or she sent out the test

paper. One teacher also helps

the student to warm up what

they have learned before and

help them to build their

confidence. And them teacher

will sent the test paper or other

testing materials.

Are children told exactly

how and why to perform in

the upcoming task or must

they infer?

1: don’t talk with

each other

2: don’t look others

answer, be honest

3: raise up if they

have any question

Be quiet and be honest are the

two common things every

teacher emphasized on each

testing. Most of the teacher

also ask the students raise up

their hands, but one teacher

ask the students to hold on the

blackboard.

During the assessment time

what is the teacher doing?

1: walking around the

classroom

2: siting at the back

table

3: organize their

teaching table

4: have a short

talking with other

assistant teacher and

our professor

Most of the teacher will walk

around the classroom to check

weather students needs any

assistance and also monitoring

the classroom’s discipline.

There are always has one

teacher sit on the back table

with some special needs

students. Some teachers also

will stand at here own table to

organize her materials. For

example, the reading testing of

the 3rd grade, the teacher was

organizing her materials on her

desk and taken the pencil and

greets with my professor.

How does the teacher 1: give students help Some teacher will give the

respond to incorrect/correct

answers by student?

directly.

2: encourage students

to think it again and

give them some

enlighten

3: rework with the

students

4: just record it

without feedback

students feedback directly.

Sometimes they will encourage

students do it again, if it is still

wrong, they will work

together. One teacher even

encourage students to give

multiple answers. and the math

for the 1st grad students, the

teacher calculate the number

with the students together. But

one kindergarten teacher only

recorded the mistakes the

students spelled without any

correcting.

How does the teacher

provide feedback?

1: collect the paper

2: correct their testing

paper immediately in

the classroom

3: give the students

computer and ask

them to find answer

and score by

themselves

4: team work, ask the

students to give

feedback.

Most of the people will collect

the testing paper after they

finished if the time limited in

the classroom. Some teacher

will correct it immediately. But

a lot of teachers will give the

students computer and ask

them to score by themselves.

For example, the math test for

the 5th grade. And I also

remember that the reading test

for the 5th grade, teacher ask

the students to group and one

students to demonstrate the

words mean and another

students guess it. they give

feedback with each other.

Are there additional adults

beyond the classroom

teacher? If so how did they

function during the

assessment?

Yes, almost one or

two adults in each

classroom

1: monitoring the

classroom discipline

2: give help to the

special needs

students.

3: help other teacher

to teaching like do

activities.

Most of the teachers are give

help to the special needs

students. Because most of the

students are study slow, so

they should be more patient.

But sometimes, they are just

help to monitoring the

classroom discipline when they

are testing. For example, the

math testing on the 2th grade.

And there is a male teacher on

the math testing on the

kindergarten. The teacher help

the students to play games

while another are playing with

others.

How do students respond to

the events in the classroom

just prior to taking the

assessment?

1: normal routine of a

day

2: very calm and

relax

3: a little bit nerves

4: no sense of testing.

Most of the students consider

the assessment as a very

normal thing, some even seems

enjoy it. for example, I

remember one girl got 100

points and she looks so happy

when she show that to her

math teacher. But I found one

little Asian boy feel a little bit

nerves at the beginning of the

testing on the reading test on

3rd grade. For the kindergarten

student, they are totally enjoy

the testing and play games,

they even have no sense of

testing.

Do students exhibit self-

reflection (when they see

they have made an incorrect

response)?

Most students have

no self reflection, but

with the teachers

enlighten

Students will rewrite or rethink

the question after the students

give them a question tone or

ask them to think it again, then

they will give another answer.

I watcher the math testing of

the 5th grades. Some special

needs students try to give new

and correct answer again and

again.

How do the students solve

problems-independently,

with group, wait for teacher

to give answer?

1: independently

2: with group

3: wait for teacher to

give answer.

For the paper based

assessment, most of the

students are working

independently. But for some

teamwork testing like the

vocabulary demonstrating and

guessing game in 5th grade, the

students solve problems with

each other. I also saw a student

help another students to open

the computer and find the

website to find the study

materials. For the kindergarten

students, they just wait the

teacher to give them answer.

How do the students react to

the teacher’s presence

during the assessment time?

1: be themselves

2: calm down

3; show their work to

teachers.

Most of the students worked

quietly following the teacher’s

directions. No students were

seem to have any negative

reaction to the teacher’s

presence. They did as they

were asked. For some very

confident students, they even

will show their answer to

teacher. For example, the very

lovely boy with green T-shirt

in the 1st grad.

What are the students’

responses to the other

students?

1: ignore others and

do their own work

2: help each other

For the independent testing,

they just keep quiet and

completed their own working

but for some teamwork, they

can cooperate with each other

very good. They can be partner

with any classmates. And I

also found one student give

another student help to find the

study materials through

computer.

What is the expectation for

student behavior during the

assessment (no talking,

discussion allowed, etc)?

1 keep quiet and not

talking

2: keep your eye on

yourself and do your

own work.

3; raise up their hands

anytime when they

have any question

The teacher always use a very

appropriate way to persuade

student keep quiet such as:

“should you talk with others

when you are taking a test?”.

If cooperative group work is

allowed do students show

responsibility to self and to

group?

Yes, they are The students behave very well

during the cooperative group

work. First, they are not a

picky partner, they can

cooperative with anyone very

well. Second, they can have

fun on the teamwork. Third,

they really take responsibility

to self and to group. For

example, the vocabulary

demonstrating on the 5th grade.

They can have fun, at the same

time, they can learn.

Do all students finish the

assessment in the allotted

time? If not, is it due to

being disruptive or other

factors.

1: most of the

students can finish it

2: some students can

not.

Most of the students can finish

it and even have time to check

answer from computer or do

other things.

But some students can’t. for

example, the students of math

testing on the 5thgrade. Some

special needs students didn’t

finish it. it is not because of

been disruptive but because of

they are not good at this

because of body obstacles or

social and economical and

ethnical backgrounds.

How is completion of

assessment to be made

known?

1: raise hands

2: times over

3: turn to another

activities

Usually the students will raise

up their hands, and then the

teacher and sometimes are a

student come to around to pick

up. Sometimes because of the

class is over, so the students

also finish it automatically.

Sometimes the students will

turn to another activities such

as play games or use computer.

a. Think about what you might have expected to see.

b. What questions were answered during observations?

c. What would you like to share with the teachers?

d. What would you still like to know more about?

So What? (in the beginning we had this assignment-field study project, also see question a. above)

Then What? (we went and made observations, also see question b. above)

Now What? (what have we learned, how can we use this information, what would have made this project more beneficial to our/my learning, also see question c. and d. above

The observation of the American teacher’s teaching and student’s learning was a wonderful trip for me. I really enjoy the two days observation and studying there.

The real American teaching and learning environment, strategies are very fresh and attractive to me. So before I went to Wichita to observe the class. I make some goals of my self. Besides the checklist professor gives to me, I made a checklist for myself. I want to know the main difference between the American and Chinese education. I made tem aspects to observe. And I found that most of them have been answered. I feel happy and would like to share my opinion with you.

First: the size of the class. Before I went to Wichita, I want to know what their classroom looks like. It is looks like our classroom in China? 6o or more students sit together in a classroom without any decoration? After I went to the classroom in Wichita, I was so surprised. Because only almost 20 students in one class and their classroom seems so mass because of so many decorations related with study. And every classroom has computer for each students. This is really different from China. Now I learned a lot from it, actually the students can learn in a very “ mass” but meaningful environment. One teacher can design the classroom as a small warehouse. It can offer the teachers more

chance to design different interesting activities. I really wish I can back to the childhood and study in this environment, I think I will love to study other than hate study sometimes.

Second, the relationship between teachers and students, teachers are always so seriously and inaccessible in my memory. But after I come to us and observe in Wichita. The relationship between teachers and students just like a friends or parents. The teacher never blamed students and always given them help and encourage them. Even when the students are noisy during the assessment, the teacher just use a very sincerely voice like” should we talk with others when we are taking a test?”. Don’t like the teachers in China, they usually use an order tone” Be quiet”! And I really moved by the teacher give the real help for the special needs students. That’s really nice. I wish China can do that someday. I will use that method someday if I have the condition.

3: The assessment, this is also the most important purpose for me to go to observe them. I want to know the assessment method, content and result before I went to there. Then I know that the assessment way there are very flexible. They can use the test pencil way, or computer test, or a teamwork or just play a game. I appreciate that they are not focus a lot on the assessment scores, but to find out what the students already know and didn’t know. So the students can still have fun even when they are take a test. But in China, the test never been a enjoy thing for students. From there, I really sensed that why people say testing is also a part of learning. It is true, students really can learn knowledge from testing.

4: Transcripts, actually it is related to the assessment results. I want to know the attitude for the assessment results in US. I found there is a huge difference between US and China. For example, China will post the students scores after each big testing and give the students an order or position from the highest scores to the lowest scores. But I found there the teacher even didn’t care much about the student’s scores. For example, some teachers just give the students computer and ask them to find the writer answer. They didn’t pay attention on the scores but really help the students to learn what they don’t know. I learned that this is a good way to help students study and at the same time to protect their fragile and pure heart and soul.

5: The gold for students to get the education, the Chinese education really focus more on the knowledge itself from the elemental school. But I found that the American really pay more attention on the students creativities and the action abilities. After I observe the math class, I am surprised because the students only learned such a little bit contents in one class. But they have a lot of time to have fun and cooperative with others. I really appreciate that they use the press button to do the math question and they find the different shape of the pictures to remember some math conception. I learned from this, the creativities and action ability is more important than the knowledge itself. Don’t kill the students playing tends and curious nature when they were young.

6: The student’s performance during the learning. The Chinese students are not active to answer teacher’s question. They need raise up their hands one by one even they want to

answer. But through my observation, I found that the students here are so active to answer teacher’s question. They just raise up their hand at the same time sometime. They can get teacher’s encouragement and praise if they have many wield question or any questions. But in China, the teacher usually didn’t appreciate the wield question from the students. So may be that’s why Chinese students are lacking of the spirit to ask very good question. I learned from there that cultivate students critical and explore sprit is very important.

7: I also want to know the textbook about the US students and their teacher’s instructional or assistant teaching book. I want to compare it with Chinese textbook. But I didn’t observed it this time, but I believe the perspective toward many things are different.

8: I want to know what the students do when they are off class in campus. I didn’t have a good observation about it this time expect they have a PE class and have lunch.

Generally speaking, 1 to 6 are the new things I have observed on this two days. And I also learned a lot from this new experience. 7~8 is what I want to have a look but without chance this time, I want to know more about this next time if I have the chance.

Since I know so many different things between the Chinese and US learning especially for the assessment, I think I will use both in an appropriate way. It means I will integrate the Chinese assessment way with the US assessment way. Teacher should be students good friends and give them sincerely encouragement and real help. Creative the students action ability and cooperative and explore spirits. At the same time, try our best to teach the students more knowledge in a relax environment.

3: Lesson plan

My short view: this is a lesson plan I designed on creating a community at classroom’s class. During this lesson, I will teach my students the traditional Chinese dress. But during my teaching, I used some community resources. For example, I will wear the traditional dress and will ask my classmates or assistant teachers to wear the traditional dress too. Besides that, I give students a bunch of pictures and videos to show them what is the traditional dress.

I used a lot of cooperative learning activities in this lesson to help my students to learn. For example, the paper dresses making and the poster designing. The most important way to use the community resources is to take them to visit the Chinese traditional dresses store to have a look if they cannot understand. A professional teacher always cultivated knowledge of their school’s community as a powerful resource for learning. The

opportunities are many for enriching projects, lessons, and study: observing the city council in action, collecting oral histories from senior citizens, studying the ecology of the local environment. So in my class, I really appreciate I can take my students to visit the Chinese dresses store. That’s will be wonderful.

Learning Activities: In the table, list all learning activities you plan to facilitate during the lesson and an approximate time to complete each activity.

Lesson PlansSubject area-Focus of lesson (this helps show where this lesson fits in the unit or course focus)-

This course is mainly talk about the Chinese traditional dresses. I want students to have a general conception about Chinese dresses. It is not actually a language Class but a culture class. After this class, my students will know what is Chinese traditional dresses and can understand the culture mean, styles and characters through some fun activities

Approximate Time

to Complete

Lesson 1Objective: (Objectives are specific, measurable, short-term behaviors students should be able to demonstrate at the end of the lesson. What do you want students to know and be able to do? The student(s) will… .)1:The students will know what is Chinese traditional Dress2:The students will tell the three most important traditional dress’s characters including “Han fu, Tang zhuang, Qi pao”.3:The students will be able to tell the culture meaning on Chinese traditional dress4: The students will be able to draw pictures of Chinese dress5: The students will be able to use the paper to made a Chinese dress6: The students will be able to make a poster or advertisement about Chinese dress

Key Vocabulary:Chinese traditional dress, Characters, Culture meaning, draw pictures, paper dress, Poster

Assessment: (How will you know students have learned? It is important to think about your assessment before planning lesson(s). How will the student(s) demonstrate they have met the objective? Formative Assessment should be conducted regularly throughout the lesson(s). Pre-assessment may be conducted prior to lesson(s). Summative assessment will generally be at the end of a unit or series of lessons on similar learning goals. Assessment may be informal-teacher observation, checklist, journal entry, practice tasks. It may be formal-written task, performance task, paper/pencil or computer based quiz/test. You may come back and make adjustments to the assessments as you progress through planning or even after teaching the lesson to ensure objectives, instruction, and assessment are aligned and students are meeting the objectives.)Formative assessment:Informal-teacher observation:

1: The students can understand my PPT, after I introduce the content to them, they can follow me. I will give them a lot of dress pictures from the whole world, then the can recognize which is Chinese dress I have taught in class.

Paper/pencil quiz/test2: I will give students a teacher made test, the test will be the different characters about the three main Chinese dress. If they can match it right, it means they know what I mean3: I will ask student to explain the culture meaning to other students

Performance task:

4: I will give students practice to draw pictures, if they can draw a picture which including the basic elements about the dress, it means they understand it5: I will group student to finish a paper Chinese dress. According to the knowledge we have learned, each group design a Chinese dress

Summative assessment:1: every student makes a post for their own design dress, and explain to others and call on classmates to buy it.

Materials needed(by teacher and by student for the lesson):Teacher’s pptPaper and pencilColor paper, scissor, glue, color pen, ribbon, knife

Lesson Plan: (How will you get students to achieve the learning objective? List the activities and explain the procedures for each instructional and learning component. What will the teacher do, what will the students do?)Opening: (set purpose for lesson, activate prior knowledge)

1: Quick review the pre class learning（ 2 minutes）2: Find the difference between American clothes and Chinese traditional dress: I will wear my “ Qi Pao” at that day, and show a picture of APEC meeting in China in 2000. The students can

voluntarily talked about their discovering between the dresses on the president, the “ qi pao” I wearied at that day and American dress. （ 3 minutes)

Instruction: (Core instruction, introduction to content, vocabulary, skill, strategy, demonstration, teacher modeling.) (10 minutes)

1: what is Chinese traditional dresses “han fu, tang zhuang, and qipao”.First, dress show, I will show students the Chinese 56 ethnics’ different dresses’ picture. Through the pictures show, I will let students know that costume is one part of culture. Because each ethnic has their own history, and their living environment are different too. So they have different dresses. But generally speaking, there are three main different dresses in China’s history. (3 minutes)

2： PPT show: I will show my student the main three very important traditional dress in China: (5 minutes)Han fu: 2000 years agoTang zhuang: 1000 years agoQi Pao: 100 years ago

3: Introduce the new worlds related to Chinese traditional dress: use pictures and English to explain the new conception: (10 minutes)

Sleeve:

Blouse:Skirt:Chinese style jacket with buttons down the frontChinese garment with the front part slanted to one sideStraight CollarTo coilWomen’s Cheongsam long gownOpen slits in gown

4: Introduce the materials to make the traditional clothes: (2 minutes)HempCottonSilk5: Introduce the three styles of traditional dress. And group my students as three groups: one is Han fu, one is Tang zhuang, and one is Qi pao. They need pay attention on their own dress because

they need to attend activities soon and it is a competition (5 minutes)

Practice: (Guided practice may be done in pairs, teams, individually with various ways for teacher to

observe, see responses and work)Guided Practice (I do-teacher models the task for students, explaining the how and why as demonstrating what needs to be done) (5 munutes)1: Two partners play pick out Chinese dress game: Pick out Chinese dress: I will mix the Chinese dress with the whole world dresses in a big picture. Students need to cut the Chinese dress with their scissor.Two students cooperative with each other, one imaged to be a sales on the dresses store that sell the world dresses, he or she will hold the pictures of the whole world dresses. Another student need to told his or her partner that” I want to buy this Chinese dress”, he or she need to choose the right Chinese dresses, and then the other person need to cut it.

2: Teacher model first, and then students following my modeling: Find parts for the dresses game: I will model what the dresses part conception first, and then I will put the Chinese name like “ sleeve, blouse” into the dress place. Then the students need to match their part to their own dress on the print pictures

3: Draw pictures and paste on the wall Drawing dress pictures game: student will choose a partner who like the same dress, then two students together. They discussed and draw a picture of one of the three traditional dresses. Then each group share their pictures on the wall

4: co-op jigsaw paper made dresses game: Group students as three groups. one group to make han fu, one group to make tang zhuang and one group to make qi pao. Four students as a group. They cooperate with each other to make a

paper dress. For example, one can design the dress, one can cut it, one can paste it and one can decorate it.

Independent Practice (Students complete practice on the learning objective independently. This may not happen the first day new content, skill, or strategy is introduced.)1: each student need to make a post for their own design dress. They should make a paper dress after they back to home. And make a poster and explain it to their dress’s characters. We will have selling activities next time. The students who can sell a high price, they can get a real Chinese dress from me.

Accommodations (What accommodations or modifications are needed for ESL, students with disabilities, students who struggle, high performing students?)

If my students cannot understand me on my classroom, I will do the following:

1: talk with the students who is not understand, find out where is my students confused2: sent all my PPT and pictures to them and explain to them again where they are still not understand3: take them to go to a China town or the traditional dress market to observe it and teach them in reality4: introduce a famous TV serious “ hong lou meng” , there are a lot of traditional dress on actor, so they can learn more

After Assessment (Was your objective met? By how many? What will you do for students who did not meet the objective? How can learning be extended or enriched for those who did meet objective?)I will assess my students as following:

1: teacher made test: I will prepare some multiple choices question and match question to test their understanding of the characters and styles of different dress2: Teachers observing during the class: if they can draw a vivid pictures and it included all the Chinese dress elements, it means they know what is a traditional dress looks like3: project task: if the students can make a paper dress and it looks like it, I can consider it as a very successful try and learning.4: Student work show: I ask each student to make a poster to try to attract others to buy it. So they need to make a dress and explain the materials they made, and the pattern’s mean? And why it is worth for people to buy it? If they can explain it and attracted others, it means they really mastered all the staff and can make it influential

If there are 80% students in my classroom got 80 points on my assessment, it means my class is very successful. For the students who didn’t meet my objectives, I will do the same as the accommodations. For the students who need to be extended, I will introduce a book named “ Chinese dresses appreciation and culture to them.

Meeting the needs of various learners: (Small group differentiation as part of core, intervention in small groups beyond core lesson time, one-on-one support. Who/How will this be provided?)1: peer provide help with each other: the students in each group, I will ask them to give each other help if one of them cannot understand or still has some difficult of understanding2: I will ask students to send email to me if they have any question, for the student who is helpless, I will give them one-on-one support.

Part five: My reflective thinking

For this proposition, teachers are members of learning communities. It is not so hard to understand. But because I haven’t many experiences on teaching, so it is hard for me to conclude from my experience. However, I still have some opinions on this. Teaching, in the traditional ways especially in China before, it most commonly is regarded as the daily conduct of lessons and the provision of learning experiences. There is a true joke (actually it is true), a Chinese parents sent her child to a English school to study. The mother told the teacher in that school so seriously: “ sir, I sent my child to your school today, if my child didn’t behave well, you just punch or punish him, don’t worry about other things”. The English teacher was so scared and nervous and say “ no, no, no, I cannot do that”. The English teacher didn’t know that there was really some teachers can punish students before. The traditional Chinese teaching way is very wield, students need to following all the teacher instruction. The whole class is always teacher does lectures and students make notes. It is hard to generate the picture that teachers are member of learning communities. However, after I learned this proposition, I know there exists a better way for teacher to teaching. The work of teaching reaches beyond the boundaries of individual classrooms to wider communities of learning. It is brilliant for us to take advantage of the broad range of professional knowledge and expertise that resides within the school. As a teacher, we have a range of duties and tasks outside the direct instruction of students that contribute importantly to the quality of the school and to student learning. There are main three responsibilities for teachers: the first one is to involve participation in collaborative efforts to improve the effectiveness of the school. The second one is to work collaboratively with parents and the third one is to take advantage of community resources for education of young people.

For the good sides I already described in my above parts. I want to say some of my questions there and try to give the solutions. As we know that professional teachers should share responsibility with colleagues and administrators for decisions about what constitutes valuable learning for students. This includes the teacher’s participation in critically analyzing the school curriculum, identifying new priorities and communicating necessary changes to the school community. Teachers’ knowledge of curriculum and their students are essential to discharging these responsibilities effectively.However, there are some teachers who hasn’t much passion on teaching and working with other professionals especially when they felt not comfortable at school or has some bad relationship with the administer and other teachers. I still remember one of my teachers used to express his disappointment moods toward our school when I was a middle school student. I don’t think he would like to cooperative with other professionals a lot. I am thinking now if I met these kinds colleagues or there are some of these teachers in the school, what I can do and how can I cooperate with them? Another wield thing is that when I was studying at high middle school, not so many teachers has their opportunities to express their critical thinking on curriculums. Sometimes we reflected our opinions to our teacher and we said we don’t like something but hope something, then the teacher will tell us that he cannot help us because he need to follow his leader’s instruction. And there are only the team leader has the right to attend some meeting or

discuss with each other. The normal teacher only can sit and take note and remember it. So that’s make me upset.

For the collaborative with parents, I think it is not so hard for most of the parents. And I do have some experience to collaborate with parents. Most of the parents will feel happy and would like to cooperate with teachers when they saw their kid’s progress at school. It is not hard for a diligent teacher to communicate regularly with parents and guardians, listening to their concerns and respecting their perspective, enlisting their support in fostering learning and good habits, informing them of their child’s accomplishments and successes and educating them about school programs. However, there are still have some problems worth us to pay attention. For example, if we want to hold an activity, we want all students’ parents will come to join us. But it is hard to meet every parent’s interest, working time and some other influenced elements. Another example, sometimes we give students homework and hope they can seek help from their parents. But the student’s family background is very different on economy and education. Some students can do a better job on their parents help, but some students cannot. So I don’t think it is fair for teacher to assign a lot of work to cooperate with students’ parents. The last thing is there are some confliction between school and parents. Some parents didn’t trust school sometimes. I felt sad when I heard a story from my friend. A boy is studying at one school, but someday the teacher charged him a little bit but it was for his study. The boy may be spoiled at home. So he told his parents, then his parents come to school to argue with the teacher, but at the end they transfer their child to another school. There are many family are very rich in China nowadays has a bad attitude on schools. So I am worried if our activity is not fit for their interest, they won’t cooperate with us. For the Chinese teaching as a second language in USA, the problem I will meet is it is hard for me to cooperate with students’ parents. For example, if I want to students practice Chinese at home, their parents know nothing about Chinese; they cannot help my students even when they want. For the community’s resources, that’s normal for both China and USA. We grow up at that situation. I still remember that our teacher will take us to visit the monument of the martyrs every year to remember the soldiers who has sacrificed for our country. I think that is good, but sometimes I think it has limited our inspective toward the history. I appreciate that teachers should cultivate knowledge about the character of the community and its effects on the school and students. For the second language teaching, I will help students to develop an appreciation of ethnic and linguistic differences. The cultural diversity represented in many communities can serve as a powerful resource in teaching about other cultures. Just like I will take my students to visit the Chinese traditional dress store when I teach them Chinese dresses. I will take students to visit a Chinese restrount when I teach them Chinese food. I will introduce family as their host family if I teach American students in China.

How to be a accomplished teacher as a member of community learning is a interesting topic, it worth for me to explore and practice for my whole life if I were a teacher.

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