TEA Collaborative Learning Group
Annual Report

Caldwell
2003

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How did your work with your team help you meet the professional growth goals you set for yourself?
In the past year, I have mostly worked with Jeremy Newman and John Bell. Jeremy and I put together a curriculum for geology. Unfortunately, Jeremy decided to leave teaching at the end of the last school year. John and I have been working in a group called a Professional Learning Community (PLC). PLC's are designed to match teachers who teach similar subjects in order to improve the content and curriculum. This is something we will continue to work on throughout the spring semester of 2004. Christine and Rob Funk became new parents this year and were not availible for much collaboration.

How did your work with your team impact your content knowledge and pedagogy?
I feel that the work Jeremy and I did made the content in my geology class much stronger. The curriculum is much more standards-based and contains two Colorado Standard 1 assessments. There is a proposal to make this course a reccommended option for students who have not completed their CO Std. 1 requirement by the end of their sophomore year. I believe the course is much stronger based on the work that Jeremy and I completed before he left. The work John and I have done has strenghened our Introduction to Physicial Science (IPS) course. We have developed pre and post tests to gauge learning of six critical content areas of the course. We are working with 5 other IPS teachers to do this and will continue to throughout 2004.

What materials / resources / workshops did you use / produce / host with your team members over the last year?
Jeremy and I produced a curriculum that may serve as a district exemplar for geology and John and I have developed several assessements for IPS.

Based on the past year, what ideas do you have to improve the effectiveness of your team interactions?
I need to be more pro-active and use a reward system for involving my group members. We also need to take greater advantage of opportunities to mesh district goals with TEA goals.

Total hours of collaboration with each team member:
Jeremy Newman 40 John Bell 12.5 Rob Funk 0 Chris Funk 0

Additional reflections:
It has been difficult in the past year to complete my mentoring hours. My team members are excellent teachers and fully dedicated, however have little time for more. They do utilize me for resources and ideas, but it is difficult for us to meet on any regular basis.