Katie Marple

T&L 310
Portfolio B
3/8/17
Dear Parents,
My name is Miss Marple, and I am going to be your childs Kindergarten
teacher this year. To begin, I just wanted to say congratulations to you and your
child on entering their first year of school! This is an exciting time, but it can also be
a little intimidating. Im here to dispel all of you and your childs worries and get you
ready for the amazing year we have ahead of us!
Before I get into the goals and expectations I have for your child, Id like to
tell you a little bit about myself. I have known I wanted to be a teacher since I was in
high school, and there isnt any other job in the world I would rather do. I graduated
from Washington State University with my degree in elementary education and an
endorsement in English Language Learners, or ELL. When Im not teaching I love to
travel, play with my cats, go to the movies, and drink as much coffee as I can get my
hands on. Kindergarten teachers need all the energy we can get!
This year is going to be full of new and exciting adventures for your child, and
youre going to be surprised by how much they have learned at the end of the year.
As a class we will tackle learning to read, learning to write, math, science, social
studies, and more! In Kindergarten every student comes in at a different level, and
my colleagues and I are confident in our abilities to make our instruction work for
each and every student. Learning to read can be a scary thing for children, but every
student learns to read at a different pace, and I want to assure you that we will be
doing activities every day that promote reading! Every day we will have a reading
and writing workshop in the class where students will get the opportunity to
practice the skills theyve been learning. In math we will work on things like basic
number sense, counting to one hundred, and addition and subtraction! Our class will
also get the chance to participate in some very fun science units, including raising
butterflies! Regarding homework, the only thing I ask is for students to read 20
minutes a day at home.
On the very first day of school I will go over my rules and expectations for
your children while they are in my class. I will always expect them to be respectful,
to listen and follow directions, and most importantly to be the best they can be. I
will be very clear with what I expect of students because this is their first time in
public school. There will be reminders of our rules and goals all around the
classroom, and I will make sure to send a copy of our classroom rules home with
you as well. I like to keep an open relationship with my students parents; so
everyday students will bring home a folder that contains a behavior chart explaining
how they did that day. At the bottom there will be space for your initials, and then
you just send it back with your child.
I hope my letter eased any nerves you have about the upcoming school year,
and gave you a little insight as to what your childs first year in school will look like!
If you have any additional questions please email me, Im always happy to help you
and work with you. Tell your child to bring their best smile to the first day of school,
and that I cant wait to meet them!

Sincerely, Katie Marple

Kaitlyn.marple@wsu.edu
Part 2:

When I am a teacher I want to do my best to have daily communication with

my parents. All of my practicum teachers, as well as a teacher I had an internship

with, used this strategy and it made it so that there were no surprises when parent-

teacher conferences came around.

In order to keep daily communication with parents I will use a combination

of emailing and take-home folders. In their mailboxes, students will have a folder

that they take home every day with them, and then bring back the next day. In this

folder I will include a weekly behavior chart, which will have a separate box for each

day of that specific week. I will give the child a stamp on a day if they do well, but if

something happens I can write comments down on what happened instead of

putting the stamp. This would work for times when a child couldnt focus, wouldnt

do work, broke a rule, or had a problem with another student. I also can use these

comments even if a child gets a stamp. If something happened to the child but it

wasnt something that they did to get in trouble, I can still let parents know on this

chart. I will know if a parent has seen the chart through their signature at the

bottom of the paper. In addition to the behavior chart I will also make sure that I am

checking my email regularly to see if any parents have tried to contact me. Email

will be used for bigger issues with students, or if parents have further

questions/comments about something that was written on a childs behavior chart.

Not only will this strengthen my relationship with parents, but it will also

strengthen my relationship with my students. My students will be excited at the idea

of getting a stamp to show off to their parents, and so they will work harder to get it.
They will also know that I care about them through the way that I take time to write

things down about them, especially because not all of the comments will be

negative. If I do have to write down a negative comment, I will make sure to have a

small, private discussion with my student about it, and let them know that while it

was something I had to let mom and dad know, I still care about them and I know

theyll make better choices the next day.

In order to communicate and mange instructional expectation, I will send a

copy of our classroom rules home in students take home folders. I will make sure to

explain to parents that because we follow these rules in the classroom, it will be

helpful for them to know the rules too so they can help me enforce them as well as

understand them if their child ever gets in trouble. I will also have several copies of

my rules around the classroom, as well as expectations for each subject. I will have

expectation charts for what my students writing time, reading time, art, and even

talking should look like. I will also have a chart that reminds students what they can

do when they have free-choice time. I will thoroughly explain all of these at the

beginning of the year, send home copies to parents, and refer to them when a child

is off-task.

Part 3:

After reading about each of the three communication skills, it was easy for

me to decide that the skill Im most comfortable utilizing is that of listening and

empathetic responding. Ever since I was a child Ive always been a very empathetic

person. I constantly find myself picking up on others emotions, thinking about how

things would be in someone elses shoes, and giving people the benefit of the doubt.
I want to understand the real reason that a student is acting a certain way so we can

work through it together, and so they can see that I care about them.

Just like it was easy to pick the skill that I am most comfortable with, it was

also easy to pick the skill that Im most uncomfortable with. Ive struggled with

constructive assertiveness in many areas of my life, and I know its something that I

need to work on for when I become a teacher. Its difficult for me because for most

of my life I was a very passive person who let people walk all over me. I recently

overcame that, but I still struggle with many different forms of confrontation in

social situations. I also occasionally struggle with being assertive in my practicum

classrooms. Part of this is because I feel like Im not the teacher and I dont have that

much authority, but I also have a hard time standing my ground. Its my nature to

back down when someone fights me about something, because I dont like when

people are upset with me. However, Ive been working very hard to stop this

behavior in myself in the education program. I know that as a teacher being passive

with your students is not an option and will lead to terrible classroom management.

I also know that empathetic responding compliments constructive assertiveness,

and if I want to have a classroom with strong communication and respect, I need to

practice both of these skills (Evertson & Emmer, 2017, pg. 204-207).

References:

Evertson, C. M., & Emmer, E. T. (2017). Classroom management for elementary

teachers. Pearson Education, Inc.

 Daily Behavior Chart:

March 13th-
March 17th
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday

Comments (a
stamp
indicates a
good day! )

Parent/Guardian
Initial