10 August, 2001

Today we discussed mentoring plans which we might be able to implement in our schools.

Yarmouth High School has a little over 400 students and roughly 30 – 35 teachers. As such it is a small school and I am experiencing a good deal of support from the teachers and administration for my parcticipation in the TEA program. We have a combined Math/Science/Technology department instead of three separate departments which many other schools have. This type of arrangement allows the teachers to easily work together to develop integrated assignments and curriculum which incorporate both math and science concepts. It also provides an infrastructure with which to pursue other projects with common goals. Examples include a wind tunnel grant provided by GTE and two grade nine integrated math and science assessments one regarding the he! at of fusion of ice and another regarding rocket motion and flight.

This coming year we will have eight teachers on a dedicated grade nine team for the purpose of focusing solely on issues and curriculum for high school freshmen. The team consists of two teachers in each of the following content areas: science, math, social studies, and english. As one of the science teachers I am in the unique position to incorporate what I hope to accomplish through the TEA program with the goals of the grade nine team. For the three teacher requirement I will be working with three teachers on the grade nine team. In parcticular, the two math teachers and the other science teacher (Pam Pinkoski, Julie Hutchinson, and Roberto Borda). I have worked with each of them on both ind! ividual as well as group projects and have always found their expertise, creativity, and enthusiasm to be trademarks of everything they do. I see the TEA goals and the grade nine team objectives as something that will support each other.

Specifically I envision being able to use some of the time during the school day to directly infuse polar research, collected data, and the scientific process into the grade nine science and math courses. We already have school support to meet four times a week, during the school day, for an hour each time. This should permit continuity and with such constant meeting time allow us to implement and fine the learning being done by the students. This team also has four outstanding teachers from the social studies and english department which will definitely provide enrichment ideas throughout the year.