reflection3

=Reflections on Collaboration and Leadership= Course(s): ** Selection of Print and Non-print Materials Language Arts in the Curriculum Curriculum Issues 
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 * Semester(s):**

Summer 2006 Summer 2007 Fall 2008

Competencies addressed: **  ALA/AASL Competencies: 3.0 Collaboration and Leadership   Oklahoma Competencies: 7.0 Recognizes the value of new technologies for information and instruction and assists faculty and students in their use. 10.0 Serves as a learning facilitator within schools ad as a leader of faculty, administration, and students in the development of effective strategies for teaching and learning. 11.0 Demonstrates a commitment to professionalism.
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O.S.U. Leads <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;">1.0 Leadership 3.1 Integration <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';"> <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';"> <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Developing a Good Multicultural Collections power point presentation and handout: For this assignment I created a power point and handout with information for library media specialists that provides helpful guidelines and resources that they can use to create good multicultural collections. <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';"> <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';"> Amish Lesson Plan #2: Justice and Compassion: This lesson is part one of seven lessons that I created with a group to teach students about justice and compassion, as well as the Amish community and population. Within this lesson (the final in the unit), students research ways that their local actions affect others. Students then research and carry-out community service projects so that they can personally experience how their actions influence others and their community. <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Holocaust Research Essay/Rationale and Final Reflection: For this assignment I created a 15-week Holocaust Curriculum Unit, and as part of that unit I wrote an essay documenting researched-based rationales for why it is important to teach the Holocaust. My final reflection documents my growth as an educator as I created the unit. <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';"> <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Teachers as Intellectuals Book Review: For this assignment, I read the book, Teachers as Intellectuals, by Henry Giroux, and then wrote a book review over the book and the ideas it presented. <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';"> <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';"> <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">
 * <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Summary of activities completed: **


 * Explanation of how artifact relates to competencies:**

<span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> The Developing a Good Multicultural Collection power point and handout artifact fits under Oklahoma competency 10.0 because this power point and handout provides library media specialists’ with resources and research rationales for maintaining a good multicultural collection in their library. This power point supports a basis for the library media specialist to serve as a learning facilitator within their school—through their multicultural collection. This artifact also fits under O.S.U Leads competency 1.0 through the implementation of a good multicultural collection in their library, the library media specialist is demonstrating strong leadership skills.

The Amish Lesson Plan 2 fits under ALA/AASL competency 3.0 (collaboration and leadership) because this particular lesson requires the teacher and the students to collaborate with the community through a variety of community service activities help demonstrate to students how their actions affect others. This artifact also fits under OSU L.E.A.D.S competency 3.1 because it integrates the students’ community and members of the community through a series of community service projects.

The Holocaust research essay and final reflection artifact fits under Oklahoma competency 11.0 because this essay and the rationale for teaching the Holocaust and ways in which to teach fit under a strong commitment to professionalism. Teaching the Holocaust is such a sensitive and lengthy curriculum unit, and it requires a professional commitment from an educator to be able to teach it effectively.

The Teachers as Intellectuals book review fits under Oklahoma competency 11.0 because this essay examines the theories behind the book Teachers as Intellectuals, which advocate for teachers to be better teachers by teaching students to be critical thinkers. Educators who read this book and examine the theories within (as was done in this book review) are demonstrating a commitment to professionalism in that they are striving to be stronger teachers and thinkers. This artifact also demonstrates OSU L.E.A.D.S competency 1.0 because it shows a commitment to leadership. It does so because this artifact examines ways to be a better teacher and leader, and how to teach students how to be leaders too.

<span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';"> <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';"> <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">The Developing a Good Multicultural power point and handout artifacts have helped me as a professional educator in several ways. First, while creating this unit, I was able to research and create useful ideas for creating a strong multicultural collection when I am a library media specialist. This research will be helpful in the future when I have a library of my own. Secondly, I created this artifact in the Summer 2007. I used this artifact again this past semester (Fall 2008) while writing an essay about multicultural education in curriculum. The research that I had already conducted was very helpful for my essay assignment. <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';"> <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">The Amish Lesson Plan #2: Justice and Compassion has also helped me as a professional educator because creating the entire unit helped me to learn about a new population (the Amish) that I did not really know anyting about before. In additon, the lessons involved within this unit, specifcially the lessons that I included in this portfolio, required to me to examine my community in a new way. In doing so, I learned more about the students and the community that I, as a professional educator, was servicing. This new knowledge, and this fresh perspective of my community, as made me more educated and more sensitive to my community and to my students. <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';"> <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">The Holocaust Research essay and final reflection has been one of the most useful artifacts that I have ever created. I am passionate about teaching the Holocaust primarily because of the life-long lessons that this era in history teaches. As I was researching the purposes, rationales, and ways to teach a Holocaust unit, I learned SO much about things that I, as a professional educator, needed to be doing, and things that I did not need to be doing, when I teach this unit. The essay aspect of this assignment taught me a great deal about ways in which I can better educate and serve my students through a Holocaust curriculum unit, and the final reflection showed me how far I have grown—and probably how much more I have to grow—as a teacher of the Holocaust. <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';"> <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">The Teachers as Intellectuals assignment helped me grow as an educator because the ideas presented by Henry Giroux—primarily that teachers are not teaching students to be critical thinkers—really made me examine my own curriculum and how I, as an educator, was teaching and promoting critical thinking skills. After reading this book and writing this book review, I reevaluated some of my 8th grade lesson plans and implementing more time for democratic discussions, literature circles discussions, and “thinking” and “reflecting” time for my students. <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';"> <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';"> <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">
 * Explanation of how this experience helped you as a professional educator:**

<span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';"> <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">If I were to recreate or use my multicultural power point and handout again, I think I would focus more on one or two specific multicultural groups and do conduct more specific research about those groups. I would probably focus on the Jewish culture since I could correlate it with my Holocaust unit. Although I think my overall multicultural presentation is helpful, I think that a more focused, cultural specific research-based presentation would be more useful. <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';"> <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">I am satisfied with the way my Amish lesson plan and Teachers as Intellectuals artifacts turned out. I feel as if both of these artifacts have helped me grow as an educator, and there is not much I would change about either. The Amish lesson plan is part of a bigger unit, and therefore it would be difficult to change this lesson without it affecting the whole unit. However, one of the major aspects of the Amish lesson plan is that it concentrates on looking at violence. I think that I could use this lesson plan in conjunction with some of my Holocaust lesson plans, so one change I might make is examining the Jewish community and culture instead of the Amish. Also, in correlation to the critical thinking ideas that Teachers as Intellectuals examines, I would implement more critical thinking and reflection assignments into my Amish lesson plans if I were to recreate this unit. <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';"> <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">My Holocaust research essay was limited to 8 pages, and if I were to do this artifact again, my research-based rationale for teaching the Holocaust would probably be much longer. There is so much research about the Holocaust, why to teach it, and how to teach it that there is no way I could have fit it all into an 8-page essay. My Holocaust curriculum unit will continue to change and evolve, and so will the content and reasons for why I teach the unit. <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">
 * Explanation of what you would change if you were to create/use this artifact again?**