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RUNNING HEAD: EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION AND COLLABORATION

Effective Communication and Collaboration

Anne Corbitt

Regent University

In partial fulfillment of UED 495 Field Experience ePortfolio, Spring 2018.

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RUNNING HEAD: EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION AND COLLABORATION
Introduction

In this competency, I have included webpages that the fifth grade teachers use, the entire

staff at Centerville Elementary uses, and a site that the morning fifth grade class uses that I teach.

With the wonderful invention of technology, teachers, staff, and students are able to

communicate and share important information with one another. Virginia Beach schools use

google documents and google classroom on a daily basis. Thanks to this useful tool, turning in

assignments and sharing documents has become extremely useful and easy. This not only allows

for a trace when it comes to what has and has not been completed and submitted, but it gives

teachers a way to communicate and collaborate without having to meet in person, and gives

students a way of nonverbal communication with their teacher(s). Google classroom allows for

teachers to quickly glance on the site and see which students have turned in an assignment and

which have not. Communicating and collaborating with other teachers/staff members and

students is the majority of the job. Having an effective system in place that works for everyone

is required.

Rationale for Selection of Artifacts

For my first artifact, I included an image of the google classroom portal from my

morning class. The image after this is of is an assignment that I posted earlier in the week. For

this particular assignment, I simply posted the article for students to read and answer questions

on in their writer’s notebook. Generally, they would be able to respond and I would be able to

see who did and did not submit the assignment as shown in the artifact below. This is such a

useful and wonderful tool that I use weekly. It took me time to understand how to use the site,

but overall it is generally easy for both the teacher and students to navigate. Because this is a
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RUNNING HEAD: EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION AND COLLABORATION
tool that I use weekly, this makes communicating and collaborating effective and easy for myself

and the students. Google classroom has an abundant amount of tools that make receiving and

giving assignments a breeze. Students are on their google classrooms daily. I am able to post

announcements on there and comment on their submitted assignments. Students can also

comment on each other’s work, if I set this as an option, and give appropriate feedback to their

peers. Students can also us google classroom to record themselves reading. This helps the

teacher see how well their accuracy and fluency is while reading aloud and allows for the

students to also catch their own oral reading mistakes.

The second artifact I chose was the Centerville Elementary Intranet site. This first

artifact is the staff calendar. This is where administration, staff, and teachers can add events and

activities to the school-wide calendar. Each staff member has access to this page where they can

view and add events. This is a great way for the entire school to communicate and collaborate

by adding in different events for everyone to know about. The article below this is the site for the

fifth grade Language Arts teachers. This site allows the fifth grade Language Arts teachers to

view and add curriculum, resources, and objectives. This is a site that I use weekly, especially

during lesson planning. I am able to view other teacher’s ideas and lessons, or submit my own

by assuring they are within the objectives of Virginia Beach ELA. Another way teacher’s

communicate and collaborate effectively is with weekly grade level meetings. This is where the

teachers will come together once a week and discuss the objectives and curriculum for the

coming week. Teachers will collaborate by having each teacher in charge of a specific subject

each week. They will create a week’s worth of lessons for that particular subject and send it to

the rest of the grade level teachers to use for their students. I have learned so much from these

collaboration meetings and am working on giving my own input and feedback during this time.
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RUNNING HEAD: EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION AND COLLABORATION
Reflection on Theory and Practice

Whether a teacher is communicating with another teacher, student, or parent, teachers

must communicate and collaborate appropriately and effectively. One thing that I have learned

is that it is crucial to document everything. That is why I found using technology to be

extremely effective when it comes to communicating and collaborating. Whether it be email,

google classroom, or the staff site, there is a trail and proof that something was or was not said.

This also goes back to communicating and collaborating effectively. If the communication is

straight forward and efficient, the information should be received effectively from the other

person. Now sometimes this is not the case, this is where having a trail and proof of what is said

is important. Plus, it always helps to have the information documented for reference in general.

Professor Sydney M. Barefoot explains one of the best way to effectively communicate is to

really understand and get to know that student, teacher, or administrator and learn which ways

are best for them to understand, that way you can communicate that way with them (Barefoot, p.

12).

Referring back to my Character Education course at Regent University, I recall one

specific detail that stood out to me and that is to “take command” of your own character. With

this being said, I believe one’s true character can be shown by the way they communicate,

collaborate, and treat others. If an individual is standoffish, does not contribute to discussions,

and is a poor communicator, chances are their character is suffering and not one that points to a

Godly manor. If an individual is overall an effective communicator, treats others well, and

collaborates well with the group, then their character is positive and more according to God’s

will. In his book, Building Character in Schools: Practical Ways to Bring Moral Instruction to

Life, Kevin Ryan discusses that students need to take charge of their character. Ryan states that
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RUNNING HEAD: EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION AND COLLABORATION
each student needs, an attentive ear, inspiration, love, structure, and friendship (Ryan & Bohlin p

173-180). I believe that this easily applies to teachers too. Each of the qualities are the

foundation, qualities, and motivation for effective communication and collaboration. Teachers

need to effectively communicate and collaborate with other teachers, staff, and students daily.
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RUNNING HEAD: EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION AND COLLABORATION
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RUNNING HEAD: EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION AND COLLABORATION
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RUNNING HEAD: EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION AND COLLABORATION
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RUNNING HEAD: EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION AND COLLABORATION
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RUNNING HEAD: EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION AND COLLABORATION
References

Ryan, K., & Bohlin, K. E. (2003), Building Character in Schools: Practical Ways to Bring Moral

Instruction to Life. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Barefoot, S. M. (n.d.). Classroom Communication. Retrieved from

http://www.pen.ntid.rit.edu/newdownloads/workshop/usa/2003/PEN Training Sessions

2003/Classroom Communication/classcommppt.pdf