Conducting Inquiry: Teacher Effectiveness

Erika Galewski
Saint Marys University of Minnesota
Schools of Graduate and Professional Programs
Portfolio Entry for Danielson Domain 4
James Sauter, Advisor
November 20, 2015

Description of Artifact
The purpose of this inquiry is to enhance my communication with families as well as to
provide additional opportunities for students to communicate with families about classroom
content and school information.

My goal is to implement the following as a teacher:

1) Digital newsletters
2) Current class webpage
3) Remind App
4) School based television information
My goal is to implement the following opportunities for my students:
1) Classroom blog written by the class historian
2) Weekly student reflections sent home with weekly assessments
As these elements are implemented within the classroom, student learning should be
affected positively. With stronger, more meaningful connections with well-informed families,
students will be exposed to content at school and at home. As students take active roles in
sharing what is learned in school and reflecting on it weekly, students will be more engaged in
the learning process.
Identification of Danielson Domain
Domain 4: Professional Responsibilities
Component 4c: Communicating with families
Elements: Information about the instructional program
Engagement of families in the instructional program
Identification of National Board for Professional Teaching Standards

Proposition 5: Teachers are Members of Learning Communities.

NBCTs collaborate with others to improve student learning.
They are leaders and actively know how to seek and build partnerships with community
groups and businesses.
They know how to work collaboratively with parents to engage them productively in the
work of the school.
Identification of Wisconsin Teaching Standard
Standard #10: Teachers are connected with other teachers and the community.
The teacher fosters relationships with school colleagues, parents, and agencies in the larger
community to support students learning and well-being, and acts with integrity fairness, and in
an ethical manner.
Knowledge
The teacher understands schools as organizations within the larger community context and
understands the operations of the relevant aspects of the system(s) within which s/he works.
The teacher understands how factors in the students' environment outside of school (e.g. family
circumstances, community environments, health, and economic conditions) may influence
students lives and learning.
Dispositions
The teacher values and appreciates the importance of all aspects of a child's experience.
The teacher is willing to consult with other adults regarding the education and well-being of
his/her students.
The teacher is willing to work with other professionals to improve the overall learning
environment for students.
Performances
The teacher establishes respectful and productive relationships with parents and guardians from
diverse home and community situations, and seeks to develop cooperative partnerships in
support of student learning and well-being.
Pre-Assessment
Before the in-service on the Danielson Domains, I mainly communicated with parents
through weekly/monthly email, paper based classroom monthly newsletters, and through my
classroom website, which I updated monthly. After the in-service it became evident that I
needed to improve my methods for communicating with parents by providing multiple
informative resources for parents to access and providing additional opportunities for students to
share their learning experiences with their families. I came to the conclusion that I also needed

to ask for parent feedback as to what methods of communication I should focus on. At St.
Marys, parents are very eager to be involved in their childs education and in the past have
requested more consistent communication from staff school wide. Three of our major goals at
our first staff meeting of the 2015-16 school year were:
Developing class web pages and updating them monthly
Sending class information/news to families digitally through email, web pages,
blogs or other forms of technology
Contributing classroom photos, events, activities to the St. Marys television
slideshow and the Regis Catholic Schools Facebook page for families to view
Explanation
Before this independent study, I used paper-based newsletters in addition to weekly
emails and a generic classroom webpage to keep parents informed of classroom and school
activities and events. Within my third grade classroom, I would frequently encounter students
and parents that would misplace paper copies of newsletters, spelling lists, or ask questions about
due dates and times of special events. Responding in person, through a phone call or email was
taking up a significant amount of time during the school day. In order to save time and
streamline communications, I plan to provide online documents, forms, and multiple modes of
communication that will alleviate undue stress for students, parents and myself. These methods
will open the lines of communication and allow students and parents to be well informed in and
out of school.
Implementing the use of digital newsletters, an updated classroom web page, and the
Remind app, will allow parents to keep up to date with classroom activities and school
information in a convenient manner. A school based television slideshow that broadcasts

important classroom and school information in the school office and hallways will provide
families and volunteers with current information and give a deeper insight as to what is
happening in our school. The implementation of these four elements will facilitate conversations
between parents, students, teachers, and prospective families in the community in a manner that
builds community and supports student learning from all sides.
Providing students with the opportunity to develop weekly content reviews to a
classroom blog and write reflections on their learning progress on weekly assessments that are
sent home, engages students in sharing their knowledge with their families. When students share
what they are learning about in their own words they are solidifying their own understanding.
As Marzano stated, Students must periodically reexamine their understanding of content
(2007).
Initial Implementation Plan
Artifact

Example Evidence of Success

Generate digital newsletters from paper copies Parent feedback - face to face, email, text
- add QR codes to paper copies for parents to Parent Google forms survey response:
access the classroom website.
Did you find the digital newsletter and
(Artifact A)
QR codes helpful this week?
Did you or your child use the digital
Create Google Form surveys to collect parent
newsletter or QR code this week?
feedback (Artifact G)
How often?
Add elements to classroom website to make it
up to date.
(Artifact B)

Parent feedback - face to face, email, text

Parent Google forms survey response:
Did you or your child visit the 3rd
grade website this week?
Why did you visit the 3rd grade
website this week?
What elements on the website were
most useful to you as a parent? To
your child as a student?

Design a school television slideshow

highlighting class and school information in

Parent and teacher feedback - face to face,

email, text

the school office or hallways.

(Artifact C)
Install the Remind app, invite families, and
use it to keep parents informed of class
activities, homework and special school
events.
(Artifact D)

Parent feedback - face to face, email, text

Create a classroom blog for students to

develop weekly content review.
(Artifact E)

Student feedback - face to face

Design a student reflection rubric for students

to use and share with parents after weekly
assessments are administered.
(Artifact F)

Collection of student rubrics and parent

feedback

Remind App tracking to check how many

parents viewed the photos or message

Student participation - how many students

volunteer to contribute to the blog

Reflection & Future Goals

After implementing the six artifacts within my classroom and school, I found that
students were more reflective about their own learning and willing to share their classroom
experiences with their parents. Sixteen out of twenty-two expressed to me that they became
more comfortable reflecting on their own learning using the reflection rubrics at the end of the
week. 50% of students told me that they looked forward to seeing my feedback on the rubric and
how it compared to their ratings. At parent-teacher conferences, seventeen out of twenty-two
families also expressed that the rubrics helped them see how their student was progressing
through the week. The rubrics also facilitated parent/student, parent/teacher, and teacher/student
conversations about content. All students volunteered to contribute to the classroom blog and
were eager to develop their own content review summaries individually or working in pairs.
Through the use of Google survey forms I was able to see areas where I needed to improve
communication. Fourteen parents did not know how to access the third grade website, so I knew

I needed to communicate that better through the digital newsletters and emails. Parents gave me
positive feedback in person, and through surveys using Google forms. With the implementation
of digital newsletters, an updated website, the Remind app, and school television slideshow,
fifteen out of twenty-two families expressed their gratitude through email for keeping them so
well informed and connected to their childs experiences in school. Three parents expressed that
they also shared the digital newsletters, images, website, and blog with their extended family in
order to keep them connected to their childs learning.
In the future, I plan to continue to utilize these six artifacts within my classroom. An
additional goal would be to facilitate opportunities for students and parents to engage in the
learning process through ongoing projects. For instance, students and parents could work
together to create math games to share at a school math night, or form book clubs that could
meet during lunch or after school. All in all, as I reflect upon my own growth in communicating
with families, I am more aware of the importance in connecting student families with the content
being learned in the classroom. These connections help students solidify their understanding.

Artifact A

Artifact B

Artifact C

Artifact D

Artifact E

Artifact F

Artifact G

Appendix 1
Independent Study Time Log for Erika Galewski
Title of independent study (30 characters or less): Conducting Inquiry - Teacher Effectiveness
Number of Credits: 1
WTS # 10
HOURS

DAY

DESCRIPTION OF LEARNING ACTIVITY

6.0

9-21-15

Diocese of LaCrosse Staff Development - Training on Danielson

Domains

1.0

9-21-15

Began outlining a teacher effectiveness implementation plan for

Danielson Domain #4

2.0

9-22-15

Finished outline of methods/tools to incorporate into parent

communication and updated St. Marys Star television program

4.0

9-23-15

Installed and configured the Remind app for my third grade class and
invited parents to join the messaging system.
Developed a third grade class blog using KidBlog for students to add
reflections of weekly learning to share with families/school community.

4.0

9-24-15

Developed parent surveys using Google Drive forms. Sent the form to
parents through email and posted the form on my webpage. Added
elements to my third grade homepage, including: class photos, academic

3.0

9-25-15

Published paper based weekly and monthly newsletters digitally and

updated classroom webpage

1.5

9-25-15

Collected parent survey data and created informative graphs to assess

levels of feedback

2.0

9-26-15

Asked elementary colleagues about their communication methods with

families

7.0

9-27-15

Researched Danielson Domain #4 - parent communication tools online

Gathered articles referencing classroom communication with parents

content, links, and class schedules.
4.0

9-28-15

Reflected on parent survey data and made necessary additions to my

email signature and newsletter items. I added QR codes and my
classroom web page address to all documents in order for parents to gain
easy access to digital materials.

2.0

9-29-15

Talked with several parents and teachers after school about

methods to improve in teacher/parent communication

3.0

9-30-15

Researched ways students could communicate to parents their learning.

Further developed my student weekly assessment tool for parent
communication of weekly goals for students to use

4.5

10-2-15

Updated St. Marys Stars television acknowledgements and sent school

wide enhanced email for parents regarding this program

2.0

10-29-15

Analyzed data from additional Google surveys to add to reflection paper.

Total Hours: 47

Bibliography
Anderson, C. (2015, September 21). Teacher Effectiveness Training.
Kraft, M., & Rogers, T. (2015). The underutilized potential of teacher-to-parent communication:
evidence from a field experiment. Economics of Education Review, 4963.
Marzano, R. J. (2007). The art and science of teaching. Alexandria, VA: Retrieved from
ASCD http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/107001/chapters/What-will-I-do-to-helpstudents-practice-and-deepen-their-understanding-of-new-knowledge%C2%A2.aspx
Palts, K., & Harro-Loit, H. (2015). Parent-teacher communication patterns concerning activity

and positive-negative attitudes. TRAMES: A Journal Of The Humanities & Social

Sciences, 19(2), 139-154.
Erika,
Your efforts at increasing communication have been very effective. The plethora
of communication modalities is very impressive. For example, generating digital
newsletters, use of QR codes, creating google form surveys, starting a classroom
website, designing a school television slideshow, using a remind app, creating a
blog, and designing and sharing a reflection blog are all excellent ways of
enhancing your communication with your students and parents.

Grade= A