Joe Ames

28 April 2018
Reflection on InTASC 10: Leadership and Collaboration

InTASC 10, Leadership and Collaboration, stresses that teachers have responsibilities

that lie outside of their classroom. They must seek out leadership roles, collaborate with families,

peers, and other professionals in order to become effective educators. By accomplishing these

things, they ensure student learning. Teacher responsibilities outside the classroom include being

a reliable member of a team of professionals who are all working towards student achievement.

For example, a special educator may ask a teacher for quantitative or qualitative data about a

student on their case load. This teacher is responsible for ensuring that a student is meeting their

IEP goals and informing the special educator of the student’s progress or struggles. This

seemingly simple act of communication keeps another invested party up to date. Similarly,

teachers must collaborate with perhaps the second most important members of the team:

families. Frequent communication with families, whether the nature of this communication be

positive or negative, is a great boon. For example, in an English classroom, the teacher can reach

out to families to inform them of a novel that is being assigned. Most classrooms in Baltimore

County are implementing the whole novels approach, which requires daily at home reading. By

informing parents of this and what novel their student should be reading, the teacher gains a

teammate who can hold a student accountable at home. Also, the instructor can provide a

synopsis and discussion questions for the family members, so they can engage with their student

about the book. Leadership and collaboration are key dispositions for student success. Teachers

who believe that their job stops at the end of the classroom will not be highly effective.