Goal 7: Teachers work as partners with parnets, families and the community.

7a Develop and sound, broad-based understanding of students' families and the local communities.

• Refer to my Teacher Work Sample where I map out the student background in the area that I am teaching. In this paper I discuss the economic, social, and ethnic backgrounds that come together in my class. By being conscious of the student's backgrounds I show that my understanding influences my teaching and helps facilitate success. In this paper I explain how I apply my knowledge of families and the local community in my instruction.
  
• Refer to my personal learning of the Navajo Nation . In this paper I discuss how I learned the differences in education from my own schooling and the Navajo Nation, and applied them to my teaching. In order to teach on the reservation I needed to learn about the community and become accepted into it. Being trusted when I was an outsider was difficult, but by practicing and being accepting I was able to engage the local community and bring successful change for students.
  
• Refer to my journal on multi-cultural education in Alaska. This journal is from my class on indigenous education in the state of Alaska and reflects on the differences of education.In this journal I illustrate my thinking process and how I apply my knowledge of local Alaskan culture to my teaching practices. I also reflect on where I come from and how my experiences influence my teaching.
  
• Refer to my paper on how I took a group of students to Minnesota in order to engage in a conference on community involvement. I was one of two teachers that took four students to a conference on the 40 asset program in order to learn how to make a healthier school community for the youth. This conference was headed up to get the community involved in the school and helped bridge the gap between the school and families on the reservation.
  

7b Communicate effectively with parents and community and incorporate local ways of knowing into decision making about all levels of schooling.

• Refer to my paper on incorporating the 40 assets in Tohatchi High School. In this paper I discuss how I brought the community into the school in order to bridge the gap of communication that has happened on the reservation for decades. I explain how I organized things like barbecues and school paintings to get the student's families coming into the school. I was then able to learn about the local ways of knowledge so that I could apply them to my classroom.
  
• Refer to my Brave New World blog, where I posted homework so that parents and students both could access the assignments and see what was expected of them. This also let students communicate with each other, post their own assignments, and allowed parents to see what we were doing in class.
  
• Refer to the letter that I sent home at the beginning of the year where I opened up communication with the parents of my students and established a direct line of communication.
  
• Refer to my paper on building schools in Tanzania. In this paper I discuss how I got people from the U.S. to help build schools in Tanzania and learn how to work across language barriers as well as cultural barriers in East Africa. This paper shows that I am not only able to bridge the communication gap in American schools, but able to do it in foreign difficult environments.
  
• Refer to my paper on taking the Haines High School students up Kilimanjaro with their parents. In this paper I discuss how I had to teach both parents and students the basics of mountain climbing while we went up the highest peak on the African continent. The successful expedition shows that I am able to work with a high school and their parents when we are outside of the classroom and on a more personal level.
  

7c Recognize the school as an integral part of the community and value parents as partners in promoting student learning.

• Refer to the evaluation sheet where my teacher and supervisor comment on how I used the school as a part of the community. My high rating shows that I continually promote student learning by engaging the parents with my classroom.
  
• Refer to my paper on how I incorporated the community into Tohatchi High School as English teacher. In this paper I discuss how I brought in guest speakers and used the local community to create lessons for my class. By bringing speakers that were of the same ethnic background students were able to see what success could look like.