EDAD 693 Practicum/Internship Artifact

Standard 6.0 The Larger Context

Element 6.2 Respond to the Larger Context
Activity: Indicator a: Candidates demonstrate the ability to communicate with
members of a school community concerning trends, issues, and potential changes in the
environment in which the school operates, including maintenance of an ongoing dialogue
with representatives of diverse community groups.

Time: 8 hours
Artifact: Power Point Presentation and Thank-you Email from Marty Crump (Supervisor of
Professional Development and Fine Arts)

Description: I was selected along with my colleague to participate in the Co-Teaching

Network Cohort, which was a Maryland State Department of Education Improvement Grant. The
grant was for three years, which involved MSDE Division of Special Education/Early
Intervention Services. I attended numerous workshops in Baltimore and Columbia, Maryland
with my co-teaching colleague, principal, supervisors. Also, a few teachers from Washington
Middle school participated as well. I had to present at the Elementary and Secondary Combined
Council Meeting at Westmar Middle School.

Reflection-This was a great experience, and I had the opportunity to get to know many other
educators in the state of Maryland. The whole purpose of this grant was to implement effective
co-teaching within the schools to improve student achievement. The vision of this process was
for general and special educators to collaborate regularly and have joint accountability and
ownership for planning, delivering of instruction, and assessment for the success of all students in
the general education curriculum. I attended many workshops on co-teaching approaches,
planning, roles and responsibilities of everyone involved, and strategies for enhancing coteaching implementation. The mission of this process was to improve achievement of students
with disabilities by implementing effective evidence-based co-teaching practices. MSDE
provided online learning communities and networking opportunities for us to engage in dialogue,
access resources, and exchange information for professional growth in the Maryland Model for
co-teaching and collaboration. The local supervisors and MSDE did several observations to see
how co-teaching was being implemented in the classroom. They used the Co-Teaching
Reflection Tool to evaluate our co-teaching practices and refine existing practices. They observed
how we did flex grouping, differentiated the instruction, how we made IEP accommodations and
modifications, and the co-teaching approaches we used. Also, they looked for strategic practices
that support effective instruction for diverse learners. For example, how we embedded the
Universal Design of Learning and assessment procedures. During our co-teaching visitations, we
had to show collaborative planning and a data collection procedure to show evidence of student
achievement. Once we completed the workshops and visitations, we created a