TEA Collaborative Learning Group
Annual Report

Huffman
2003

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How did your work with your team help you meet the professional growth goals you set for yourself?
Ideas that came out of some of our conversations came to fruition this year in a successful research project conducted with my students. My goal was to develop authentic ways for my students to use technology within my curriculum to extend learning beyond the classroom. My students conducted research based on current science being conducted in Antarctica. They each were connected through e-mail, and a couple of face-to-face meetings with a scientist in their field of choice. The "meeting of the minds" in this instance had a profound effect on the interest level and motivation of my students. They learned a great deal about how scientists work, and how important it is to have a cross-discipline understanding to be able to deal with real world science. This is such a different view than the science text where problems are presented with a "formula" answer, and students deal with biology, chemistry, etc. as separate entities.

How did your work with your team impact your content knowledge and pedagogy?
I continue to learn from the members of my team as we work together. My background education was heavily special ed. and then language arts based. I came to science later in my career and although I have taken many science courses, I feel somewhat behind my colleagues who focused on science from the beginning of their college studies and into their teaching careers. Because of this, I value the knowledge and expertise these wonderful teachers share with me in all of our interactions.

What materials / resources / workshops did you use / produce / host with your team members over the last year?
1. Attended NSTA (march, 2003) and roomed with Mary Slack. We shared ideas as we moved through the course of the convention. 2. April 28-29, Karen Cozzetto and Jen Baeseman from my Antarctic research team visited classrooms (Mary Slack's, Jane Hester's, Jenny Donatelli's, Thad Whildin's, Joe Cave's) in Naperville with me. We worked with my mentees during this time and visited their classrooms. We collaborated with the two scientists on ideas for presenting the stream science to the appropriate levels. 3. Developed "Sediment Tube" activity and ran the activity with my "mentees". 4. Led penguin activities and did an Antarctic presentation with Jane Hester's students. 5. I co-convened (with TEA Betty Trummel) the Mid-West Regional Polar Science Workshop in Nov., 2003. Eric Fay, Mike Frost and Jane Hester attended that weekend retreat. 6. End of January, 2003--Real Audio Session with Thomas Nylen and Amy Ebnet, glaciologists, McMurdo--connected to the DREAM Team, 6th grade students at Kennedy Jr. High and two of my mentees, Jane Hester and Joe Cave 7. End of January, 2003--Real Audio Session with Daryl Moorhead and Erin Van Matre, Stream Team scientists, McMurdo--connected to earth science classes at Naperville North High School and my TEA mentee, Mary Slack

Based on the past year, what ideas do you have to improve the effectiveness of your team interactions?
Honestly, I am worried about what my team will do next year. There is waning interest in meeting, largely because we have adopted a new science program and teachers are a bit overwhelmed with the roll out of those materials. My high school team who had been very active last year has almost totally disappeared. We will continue to discuss ways to better deliver science instruction and ways in which to make a better inquiry lesson.

Total hours of collaboration with each team member:
This is the total for 2003: Mary Slack--60 hours Jane Hester--40 hours Jenny Donatelli--33 hours Thad Whilden--43 Mike Frost--10 Eric Fay--8 Joe Cave--10 Matt Duncan--2

Additional reflections: