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TEA Collaborative Learning Group
Annual Report
Ellwood
2003
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How did your work with your team help you meet the professional growth goals you
set for yourself?
Working with my colleagues helped to keep me focused, motivated, and challenged. We continuously looked for meaningful and creative ways to transfer the polar experience - in parcticular inquiry based activities - to our classrooms. It helped to have brainstorming sessions and "trial and error" sessions where we learned how to use new equipment and technology ourselves.
We designed and implemented an amazing interdisciplinary activity and have plans to create a new - even better - unit for next year.
How did your work with your team impact your content knowledge and pedagogy?
I gained quite a bit of computer technology confidence. I learned how to use/program/and implement a variety of probes. I became much more porficient in the use of my digital cameras - still and video. I also became even more determined to bring inquiry based experiences into my classroom.
Working with my team has allowed all of us to grow with our successful implementation of inquiry based polar research.
What materials / resources / workshops did you
use / produce / host with your team members over the last year?
January 22, 2003: Presentation for Webster's at Rye. There were 32 people in attendance, 27 retirement home residents and 5 people from the town of Rye. I shared a power point presentation about TEA/ NSF/ polar research/ interdisciplinary potential/ my experience with TEA.
March 5, 2003: Presentation for the Rye Parent Teacher Association. There were 9 people in attendance (4 teachers and 5 parents). I shared a condensed version of my power point presentation about TEA/NSF/polar research/ interdisciplinary potential/my experience with TEA.
March 21, 2003: Presentation for the Seacoast Educational Services at UNH. 48 teachers at all levels were present.
March 25, 2003: Presentation for the NH Science Teachers Association at Phillips Exeter Academy. 7 teachers were present.
October 21, 2003: 2 presentations for 2nd grade classrooms at Rye Elementary School. 30 students and 4 teachers present at each.
October 27, 2003: 3 Presentations each for the 6th/8th grade students at Rye Junior High. 45 students and 4 teachers were present at each presentation.
October 30, 2003: 3 presentations at Greenland Central School in Greenland, NH. 40 students and 2 teachers were present at each - mix of 1st and 6th graders.
October 30, 2003: 3 Presentations at Shapleigh School in Shapleigh Maine. 35 students and 5 teachers were present at each - one presentation for each grade level of 4th, 5th, 6th graders.
December 22, 2003: 2 presentations for 8th grade classes - 20 students and 2 teachers - at Rye Junior High School.
My team designed an implemented an interdisciplinary unit.
Based on the past year,
what ideas do you have to improve the effectiveness of
your team interactions?
I would like to meet for longer blocks of time - even do weekend retreats. We have planned weekend workshops in the past, but were unable to go (a fire on Mt. Washington stopped our scheduled trip to the summit observatory). I would also loke to explore the possibility of getting students to go on scientific field expeditions to various locations - local and distant.
Total hours of collaboration with each team member:
Sheila Adams: 62
Kathleen Cole: 12
Tracy Sherrill: 4
Molly Rothermel: 46
Kerry Ridolfi: 46
Ron Fortier: 46
Mary Coombs: 12
Additional reflections:
This has been an amazingly productive year. Acquired supplies and lessons developed have bolstered our science programs considerably. The interdisciplinary unit we designed went off beatuifully!
I have had considerable media coverage of my parcticipation in TEA - 7 Newspaper arcticles / local announcements, 1 Channel 9 News interview, a Radio interview with Roger Wood that aired on numerous days. The entire broadcast was aired on 10/26/03; aired on WHEB,WERZ, WQSO, WUBB, WMYF
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