TEA Collaborative Learning Group
Annual Report

King
2003

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How did your work with your team help you meet the professional growth goals you set for yourself?
Having the opportunity to collaborate with three TEA Associates in different subjects and grade levels has enabled me to make a greater connection in understanding the learning process across grade levels. Each TEA Associate has brought a positive strength to the dynamics of the group. Bob King is a computer, math, and physics high school teacher. Bob's feedback and assistance with many presentations have added to my presentations, as well as helped me improve my presentation skills by giving me an awareness of the strengths and weaknesses of each presentation. I have found this input invaluable. He has learned along with me by listening as my presentations changed from "Getting to the Science in Antarctica" to "Foraminifera and Marine Organisms that Live Beneath the Antarctic Ice". He has encouraged my growth, edited my papers and Power Points, questioned unclear comments, and helped co-write activities. He gave me my love for science, so he has spent endless hours discussing science, attending workshops, and building a connection between geology and biology every step of the way. Sue Smartt has given me many ideas to try with my students. She is a media specialist who gives students a love for reading, so I value her input and ideas. She is dedicated and works long hard hours to make reading a priority in her school. She is trained in inquiry-based learning and is still involved with the inquiry-based science kits in our school district. I have long valued Sue as a teacher, even before she became my TEA Associate. Terry is a middle school math teacher with a science background, so she understands the importance of bringing math into science whenever possible. This has been quite helpful to see how her students respond to an activity. She has a positive attitude and willingness to do whatever is needed to bring a love for learning to students. By coming into this experience with different backgrounds and grade levels, we each gain professionally as we merge our ideas and goals. I have grown tremendously from this interaction, and I am proud to have each one on my team. They are a wonderful collaborate group, and I feel so fortunate to work with them to pull polar research into the classroom.

How did your work with your team impact your content knowledge and pedagogy?
I feel that our diversity has impacted my content knowledge and pedagogy because it allowed us to pre-test activities and ideas with different age groups. We learned to modify as needed, make connections, and to see what worked best. The feedback from each team member was beneficial. We used each other as sounding boards, brainstormed, developed activities, and learned together. Bob King helped me learn Power Point to bring technology as a teaching tool into my classroom. I am still developing this skill. When I needed to learn more cell biology in order to understand the structures and behavior of foraminifera, Bob made arrangements for me to sit in on two biology classes at his high school during my fall break. I think more than anything, my content knowledge and ideas on how to best introduce it to my students have been helped by suggestions, advice, and new ideas from all of my TEA Associates. Most of all, I love their positive nature and love for learning. They are all excellent teachers who freely give their best.

What materials / resources / workshops did you use / produce / host with your team members over the last year?
NSTA: Bob King and I made 3 presentations, helped at the TEA booth, and assisted with other TEA presentations. TSTA: Bob King and I made 2 presentations and helped host the Tennessee Earth Science Teachers (TEST) Workshop at this state level meeting. As members of TEST, we collected fossils and put together 150 Tennessee Fossil Boxes with a booklet of corresponding activities to hand out to teachers at this conference. TEA Summer Workshop: Bob King and I developed an inquiry-based ice investigation for elementary, middle school, and high school. This was pre-tested by Terry McDonald's seventh grade math students, Bob' s high school students, and my fourth grade students. It was presented at last year's TSTA conference by all the collaborative team members. At the TEA workshop, modifications were made to this activity, and two activities were developed to make it better meet the needs of the elementary level and the high school level. The middle school students could use either version dependent on their level in math. Both versions have been published on-line at the TEA web site.

Based on the past year, what ideas do you have to improve the effectiveness of your team interactions?
I have been very pleased with the interactions of my collaborative team. The main restriction is finding the time to schedule regular meetings. Bob King, could easily meet his hours. He has 500 + hours, but the poor guy is married to me, so this TEA experience has been our number one priority for the past three years. I feel quite thankful that science education is a primary interest for him, as well. Since we have the same interest, it is easier to arrange our schedules, especially when we travel in the summers. We are members of two rock clubs, the Tennessee Earth Science Teachers, and the Tennessee Educators of Aquatic Marine Science. All of these organizations lend themselves to our study of fossils and foraminifera. We have gained a better understanding and connection to science by being involved with these organizations. Dr. Bowser once explained multi-chambered foraminifera to us by comparing its chamber to the fossilized ammonites, which we did understand. My other two team members have only logged in 50 hours each, but they have been hours that have been quite productive. Both teachers have changed teaching assignments since they first signed on to parcticipate in this TEA experience. Sue Smartt went back to school to get certified to be a media specialist, so she had this added to her already full schedule of teaching and other commitments. Terry McDonald is also a very involved teacher, so when she moved from teaching 6th grade science to teaching a 7th grade math class, it required a lot of time to build resources and start over in the classroom. The demands in today's classrooms pull on a teacher's time, and it takes many hours beyond the class day to prepare for each class. Even so, despite the time constraints, my TEA Associates have been dedicated to help make this TEA experience meaningful, and I have valued their input and efforts. I have a great deal of respect for their teaching. If only we could have more time in a day!

Total hours of collaboration with each team member:
Collaboration for 2003: Bob King (130+ hours) Sue Smartt (23.5 hours) Terry McDonald (23.5 hours)

Additional reflections:
I feel very fortunate to have the opportunity to work with my team members. They make me a better teacher by giving their input and suggestions to make the lessons and activities better. I value their judgment because they are highly effective and caring teachers. We look forward to presenting the science-to-literature connection at NSTA in Atlanta in April 2003. We will continue to collaborate with this project until it is polished and organized. It will be presented at NSTA, then hopefully TSTA and our home school district later in the year. Teachers learn best through collaboration with others. It has been a great learning experience for us all.