TEA Collaborative Learning Group
Annual Report

Ellwood
2004

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How did your work with your team help you meet the professional growth goals you set for yourself?
I had set forth several goals for this year. One was to meet the 120 hour mentoring requirements and to keep my mentoring group going. I seem to have created two separate groups - both moving forward nicely. I believe I will meet the 120 hours wih 3-4 people and have numerous hours in with the other members - all of which will continue even after the 120 hours are fullfulled. I also wanted to create a new interdisciplinary unit and develop my "Pond Probe" study further. With the support and work accomplished with my group, both those goals have been fullfilled. This year has been fantastically productive and successful with bringing inquiry and polar research to my students.

How did your work with your team impact your content knowledge and pedagogy?
Work with my team has allowed me to further my progress at bringing inquiry to my students more efficiently and effectively. We established a terrific interdisciplinary unit that will make terrific "cross curricular" connections. I have also gained a great deal of knowledge and experience with using the PASCO and HOBO probes withnin my classroom structure.

What materials / resources / workshops did you use / produce / host with your team members over the last year?
We used all the materials acquried in my Ice Chests grant: books, videos, CD Roms, and probeware. We created a new interdisciplinary unit to be implemented in January of 2005. We also used a consultant to help us design our end product for our unit to be useful, manageable, and meaningful for students.

Based on the past year, what ideas do you have to improve the effectiveness of your team interactions?
My team spent considerable time reflecting on what worked well, and not so well, in last years interdisciplinary unit. We used the "outcome" of these meetings to design and structure an entirely new unit for this year. Some of last years components still exist in the new unit, they are just arranged differently so the outcome will be different. Our 8th grade class will produce a polar magazine that includes an array of activies, investigations, and creative flare!

Total hours of collaboration with each team member:
Sheila Adams: 60 this year; 122 to date Molly Rothermel:58 this year; 104 to date Kerry Ridolfi: 58 this year; 104 to date Ron Fortier: 58 this year; 104 to date Kathleen Cole: 2 this year; 14 to date Mary Coombs: 3 this year; 15 to date Anne Baltz: 2 this year

Additional reflections:
I am looking forward to implementing the new polar unit and to continue bringing the process of science and polar research to my students. The new unit will involve additional planning and debriefing with my team - expected 20 more hours minimum - happining in January/February 2005 - that would bring my total hours with Molly, Ron, and Karry to 124 each. Two of my team members (Molly and Kerry - possibly Sheila?) are planning to attend the TEA regional workshop that I am hosting in May, 2005. That would bring each of their mentoring hours WAY over 120 hours.