Criteria 1 Establish and maintain effective professional relationships focused on the learning and well-being of all akonga.

Establish and maintain effective professional relationships focused on the learning and well-being of all akonga.

Indicators:

·          Engage in ethical, respectful, positive and collaborative professional relationships with

       Akonga

·         Teaching colleagues, support staff and other professionals, Whanau and other carers of akonga

·         Agencies, groups and individuals in the community

 What do I do to establish working relationships with my students, their whanau and my colleagues and others to support the learning of those I teach?

Reflective Statement:

• Term letters, phone calls, texts home
• Including whanau in class and school wide events
• Recognise and respond to the needs of my akonga - learning and wellbeing
• Work one on one with akonga
• Include akonga in decision making processes - ownership/student voice
• Celebrate and promote success and achievement, and identity within the classroom
• Being professional and a positive role model
• Respecting colleagues opinions and constructive criticism
• Supporting colleagues when needed
• On going professional development
• Participating fully in school wide events  - Kai Festival, Maori Language Week, Sports Events

Whanau
It is important to establish and maintain effective relationships with whanau so they feel comfortable and welcome when visiting the school/classroom or discussing children's learning via phone calls or SLC. Whanau deserve to be informed about their child's learning progress and achievements. As well as any behaviour issues be it positive or negative.
I feel I have developed good relationships with my parents and whanau through my personality and openness. I allow parents the opportunity to communicate with me by visiting or phoning this helps create a non threatening environment which is important.
This process is always on going and needs to be continually monitored so breakdowns in communication do not occur. This is an aspect I am always trying to improve and be professional about. I believe whanau recognise that I have their child's best interests at heart.
An aspect I would like to improve on is getting through to despondent parents and whanau members who maybe don't have a positive connection to school.

Being apart of the Junior School as a teacher, you have a lot more contact with whanau because they are more interactive with their children either helping in the classroom or dropping off/picking their children up. This allows for a lot more communication to go on both formally and informally. This helps strengthen the relationship between teacher and parent which in turn helps the learning progress of the akonga.

Akonga
I pride myself on creating and maintaining positive relationships with all my students through positive communication, feedback, being understanding and role modelling. I treat them as young learners and as a professional teacher I promote learning and success in a positive way by engaging them and relating topics to them. Dynamics of a classroom can change at any time so being flexible, prepared and organised for my akonga and demonstrating this enables them to feel comfortable. I enjoy promoting achievement and highlighting what needs to be done to achieve successes so students feel valued.
Creating visual aids to help my students achieve targets and goals is an aspect of my professionalism I am aiming to improve on. Also creating a variety of learning opportunities for students and different contexts helps maintain student interest and enjoyment at school. The Junior School provides ample opportunity to create warm and inviting classroom environments and to create different learning opportunities.


Colleagues
I am always willing to provide advice when needed and accept advice from others. I always reflect on my teaching practice, and colleagues are the best people to talk with when I need help.
I am honest and myself with my colleagues which I hope they respect. I do endeavour to accommodate my workmates when documents are due and deadlines are needed. I have been apart of successful teams all my life and enjoy the comradary and friendships that can be made. 
I am enjoying the responsibilities I have been given this year - Road Patrol and Science Lead Teacher.  
Teachers at Rhode Street go above and beyond when it comes to leadership and being accountable for their curriculum areas so I try to emulate that.

As this is my first year teaching in the Junior School I have had to ask lots of questions and get a lot of advice and direction with my teaching practice. My colleagues have supported me greatly and I feel I have made good progress this year with my teaching, classroom management, organisation and planning.
It is an important role being a Junior School teacher as you provide the correct stepping stones and building blocks to their long term learning success. So not being afraid to admit when I am wrong, asking lots of questions and collecting resources have been very important factors to aiding my growth as a teacher and the growth of my students at this level.