| There are certain expectations for professional dress,
manner and language that are necessary for working in any educational environment.
It is important for us all to be conscientious in attending to these spoken
and unspoken expectations. We will discuss these expectations with you
and we will monitor them at your site, giving you specific feedback if
you need to be more attentive to any of these areas. We are wecolmed "guests"
in the various sites in which we work. It is crucial to your employment
future and to us as we continue to work in our community that these expectations
are taken seriously.
Confidentiality
It is critical that the privacy of teachers and students
be respected and protected throughout your experiences. We have an obligation
to comply with rigorous standards of confidentiality. Delete students'
and teachers' names from all of your written work and materials that come
from the school. Select pseudonyms to use as you write and talk about
your learning experiences. This is important on campus, in schools, and
among your peers and family. This is both an ethical and professional obligation
that comes with the trust that is placed on you as you work in these schools.
Attendance
If you are sick or are unable to come at your scheduled hours,
you must notify your classroom teacher immediately. Students and
teachers plan for your participation and look forward to you being there.
They come to depend on your presence as well. If you are absent or late
without appropriate notice we may need to consider discontinuing you from
the position. When you are calling the school to inform your classroom
teacher of your absence,
please make sure to speak to a person at the
school; do not leave a message on the school's machine. (Messages
on the school's machine are often not checked until the end of the day.)
Find out from the school the best number to call to let them know when
you are unable to be there. Also ask for the home number of your classroom
teacher, so that you can call him/her the night before if possible.
*Note: In case of snow day, listen to the radio in the
morning to check for school cancellations.
Fingerprinting
If you are working in a school in Burlington or South
Burlington and are working with children in an unsupervised setting, you
will need to be fingerprinted. Before you get fingerprinted though, talk
with the site supervisor at your school to discuss whether this is required
for you. (School policies concerning this issue differ.)
Difficult Circumstances
Since it's not always easy to find extra time to talk with
your classroom teacher, at the start of your time in the classroom you
may want to design a communication system (such as a clipboard or a notepad)
so that you and the teacher can write notes to each other. If a problem,
question or troubling/confusing situation should arise for you, let your
mentor teacher know. If you do not feel comfortable talking with him/her,
you may talk with the contact person at the school or your site supervisor.
Communicating your needs and any challenges you may be facing is an essential
part of your job and we ask that you stay aware of this.
Discipline
If you are working with a student(s) who is experiencing
a great deal of discipline problems, you need to talk with your classroom
teacher to have this set-up changed. You should not be in charge of or
responsible for constant discipline of a student(s). Please discuss
with your classroom teacher how he/she handles and what language he/she
uses to alert the child of their behavior/misconduct. Ask for a copy of
the classroom rules and any special management procedures so that your
message to the children is consistent with the teacher's.
If you should say something to the child, please
talk to the child in such a way that the rest of the class will not hear.
Also, make sure that you are expressing positive discipline in a calm,
gentle manner. It is usually helpful to phrase what you want to say in
terms of how it makes you feel such as "It makes me sad when you don't
listen to me" or "I don't like it when you won't sit in your chair." If
the student(s) persists in not following directions, mention to him/her
that you will have to talk with the teacher.
We are Learners
We are in the schools to help support the literacy learning
of young children and families. We will also learn tremendously from each
classroom and school in which we participate. There is much to learn! It
is likely that you will form opinions of what you see and do. It is not
appropriate to criticize or judge yourself, peers, students, or teachers
verbally and/or in your writing. It is appropriate to ask questions, wonder
about why things are done the way they are, and to consider how and why
you might do them differently. If something doesn't seem to go well for
you, don't think "I failed"; if students cannot do what you ask them, don't
think "They are dumb"; and if you disagree with your classroom teacher's
practices, don't think, "S/he's a bad teacher." Be a curious and open minded
learner and think. "OK. What did I learn? What do I need to learn or practice?
This is what the child can do. Where do I go from here? Do I understand
why my classroom teacher is doing it this way? What's an alternative I
could try?"
Some of the things you will be asked to do may not coincide
with your philosophy or perceptions of what you are to do. You may need
help negotiating or understanding certain experiences. Take the initiative
to come to or call Jane, Marissa, Barb or T.J. for help as soon as possible. |
