Running head: COMMUNICATION & COLLABORATION TEACHING COMPETENCY 1

Communication & Collaboration Teaching Competency

Kelsey J. Hayes

Regent University
COMMUNICATION & COLLABORATION TEACHING COMPETENCY 2

Communication & Collaboration Teaching Competency

Introduction

Effective communication and collaboration with students, parents, families, and other

school professionals is an essential part of becoming a successful educator. Parents need to know

what is going on with their student, so they can know how to best support their child’s education.

Collaboration with school professionals is a key part of the education field because we can learn

from one another and adapt our teaching styles as we figure out what other teachers do in their

classroom. By collaborating with other professionals, we can also learn how to improve

instruction, classroom management, and other classroom-related matters for our students.

Because of this fact, Professional Learning Communities, or PLC’s, have become more common

within schools. At my cooperating school, teachers collaborate with one another to plan and

ensure that each of our classes are working at a similar pace. Attending PLC meetings and

collaborating with other teachers has helped me gain ideas of how to improve different lessons

and how to teach the material differently. Collaborating with parents, in addition to other

professionals, helps me learn my students more on an individual basis. Virtual learning, in

specific, requires parent involvement. According to Currie-Rubin and Smith (2014), “Although

the online teacher can always be e-mailed or called, the minute-to-minute, hour-to-hour, and day-

to-day assistance is often provided by a member of the student’s family” (p. 118). Sending out an

introduction letter and weekly progress reports are an important part of my communication and

collaboration with parents.

COMMUNICATION & COLLABORATION TEACHING COMPETENCY 3

Artifacts’ Rationale

Parent Letter: Meet the Student Teacher

My student teacher introduction letter was my first form of communication with the

parents from both Term 1 and Term 2. Even though I may only be in the classroom for part of

the term, parents need to know who their child is spending most of their time with on a daily

basis in class. When I sent out this letter via Schoology, it went out to both the parents and

students, so it gave them the opportunity to get to know me as well. In the letter, I told parents

and students about where I am from, my family, and my education. I wanted parents to

understand that I am a capable teacher for their students. Not only this, but I communicated that

expectations would continue to be held to a high standard as my goal is to help them succeed and

become the individuals they are meant to be. The parents and students had the ability to respond

to the email, or they could also contact me through the information I provided in the letter. This

was a fun way for me to effectively communicate with parents and communicate my desire for a

relationship with them and their students.

Parent Email: Progress Reports

My second artifact for communication and collaboration is the weekly progress reports I

have started sending out to parents. Parents, of course, receive their child’s grades at the end of

the grading period, but the weekly progress report allows parents to help their students fix their

grades before it is too late. On the progress report, I informed parents that this progress report

was the most up-to-date version of their child’s grades while also communicating the late work

policy to them. When they have their child complete their missing work, I reminded parents, and

students since they received this progress report email too, that they need to have their child fill

out the late work form and email me upon completion of their work. I ended the brief message at
COMMUNICATION & COLLABORATION TEACHING COMPETENCY 4

the top of the progress report by restating my role in the classroom and making sure parents

understood it was me communicating with them. A weekly progress report not only

communicates missing work with parents and where their child’s grades stand, but it also allows

me to collaborate with parents and ensure I receive the missing work I need from their child.

When parents open the email and see all of the missing work from their child, they have the

ability to reply to the email to figure out what is going on; this allows me the opportunity to

communicate my struggle with their child not submitting work, so they can offer suggestions and

guidance on how to best motivate their child. In addition to sending out weekly progress reports,

I plan to communicate with students, and parents as needed, to try to obtain this missing work

from students and check in on their progress. Living in a pandemic and attending school virtually

is challenging for these kids, so checking in with my students, and occasionally parents, helps me

figure out how to best assist and whether their personal lives are preventing them from

completing their work on time. Communicating and collaborating on grades helps parents,

students, and I work together to keep the class on track for passing at the end of the term.

Theory to Practice Reflection

As I have learned thus far in student teaching, parent communication and collaboration is

necessary for my students’ success. Love (1996) indicates that effective parent communication

and collaboration can “range from introductory letters sent home at the beginning of school to

personalized conferences scheduled throughout the school year” (para. 1). Parent communication

is an ongoing process that must occur on a regular basis with parents, so they can know what is

going on with their child. Communicating with parents can be intimidating, especially as a

student teacher, but I recognize that it is important to grow those relationships for the benefit of

me and my students.
COMMUNICATION & COLLABORATION TEACHING COMPETENCY 5

Professional communication and collaboration is essential as well. Since working with

my cooperating teacher and our co-teacher for our inclusion classes, I have learned that it is

important to make sure the special education teacher is aware of where her students are before it

is too late to help catch them up. Moreover, PLC’s allow teachers to share ideas and resources

with each other to improve their instruction and classroom management.

Effective communication and collaboration is an extremely important part of becoming a

better teacher. I am terrified of talking on the phone with parents right now as I am not a fan of

talking over the phone, but I know it is something that I need to practice and continue working

on to help my students in the long run.

COMMUNICATION & COLLABORATION TEACHING COMPETENCY 6

References

Currie-Rubin, R., & Smith, S. J. (2014). Understanding the roles of families in virtual learning.

Teaching Exceptional Children, 46(5), 117-26. https://doi-org.ezproxy.regent.edu/10.

1177/0040059914530101

Love, F. E. (1996). Communicating with parents: What beginning teachers can do. College

Student Journal, 30(4). http://web.b.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.regent.edu/ehost/detail/

detail?vid=9&sid=14787d41-60fa-4edc-a238-ea9e1b62653e%40pdc-v-sessmgr02&b

data=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#AN=9707062793&db=a9h