About Me
If you are a teacher, administrator, or parent, than you are probably aware of the importance of communication and collaboration in education. Why? Well, you need both of these concepts in order to show awareness and to help our students become successful. I am Brittany Kearns, a fourth grade teacher at Meadville R-4 School District. I am currently nearing the end of my third year of teaching. I have gained a lot of experience throughout my bachelors and masters programs. I have then experienced the need for communication and collaboration first hand throughout my first three years of teaching in elementary. Communication and collaboration are interpersonal skills that are absolutely necessary in our educational society.
The purpose of my blog is to elaborate on the importance of communication and collaboration between teachers, staff, administration, and parents in an effort to help our students become successful. I am a firm believer in the fact that education is truly a team effort and takes the collaboration of all involved to take students to their highest potential. Educators need support from all involved in an effort to best reach the needs of each student. Students need to see that we all truly care about them and see the potential in each and every individual.
For all my fellow educators, how many of you go to work each day and draw support from your co-workers? I know that I do. In fact, I am not sure I could manage without them. I often refer back to the old famous saying, “Beg, borrow, and steal.” With only being in my third year of teaching this has been a huge aspect of my success. I am a firm believer that you can learn from each other through collaboration and communication.
In my first year of teaching, I was new to the idea of teaching fourth grade. I completed my student teaching in Kindergarten and was very anxious to step out of my comfort zone. Now, I absolutely love teaching fourth grade. Looking back on my first year, I remember thinking: “these poor kids.” If it wasn’t for a few of my life-saving co-workers, I truly don’t know how I would have survived. They taught me everything that I needed to know. They shared helpful tips and strategies with me to help me be successful. One of my co-workers gave me the book, First Days of School: How to Be an Effective Teacher by Harry K. Wong and Rosemary T. Wong. You want to talk about a life saver?! They also provided resources for me and gave me many valuable explanations on topics I was not familiar with. I was also able to observe a few of these upper elementary teachers. I was able to learn so much. I still work very closely with my upper elementary collaboration team. We share ideas, lesson plans, go over collected data, and create rubrics. We have great co-worker relationships and understand that our ultimate goal is to help our students succeed.
I have several ideas for blogging in the near future! Some of the future blogging topics that I would like to focus on would include how to help kids make use of free digital materials, how to help parents identify their child’s primary learning style, and the understanding of the brain of a teenager and how to help them cope. These are all topics that I am very passionate about and can’t wait to blog about them in the near future.
Next week, I will be posting a blog on how communication and collaboration can be improved in education!
Social Media Links
https://sites.google.com/meadville.k12.mo.us/eagles/
Facebook page: Meadville R-IV School District
Contact information: Bkearns@meadville.k12.mo.us
The Importance of Understanding Your Child's Primary Learning Style in an Effort to Lead Your Child to Success 