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EDET 8001 Project 2 Report:

Adult Learning and the Collaborative Culture
Student Name: Kelly DeWeese-Lewis
Course: EDET 8001
Project Name: ELA Professional Development Days: Grades 3, 4, ad 5

You will be focusing on a group of colleagues (minimum of three) with whom you worked on a
specific task or project and who reflect different stages of career development, different
backgrounds, and different perspectives. Consider how you were able to apply strategies of
adult learning across your teacher leadership activities with this group in order to promote
collegiality and improve instruction and student learning. Be sure to select a situation different
from those selected in any other project.
Note: Information and instructions for this project report are taken from the GACE tasks and Candidate
Handbook, and that information is used by permission of ETS. Examples of projects and some
explanatory comments in the Project Instructions and Project Report form are provided by Valdosta State
University.

What Do You Have to Do for This Project?

For this task, you must submit the following evidence.

1. Written Commentary of a maximum of 18,000 characters (equivalent to six pages typed)
that
 responds to all guiding prompts
 references your artifacts to support your written evidence; and
 describes, analyzes, and reflects on the evidence
Select a situation different from those selected in any other project.
2. Artifacts
The required artifacts for this project:
Required Artifact Maximum Textbox
Number of Pages Location
Feedback (e.g., emails, letters, participant-created forms) 4 Section on
from two colleagues within the group that documents their (for both Your
professional growth in the specific project as a result of your colleagues) Colleagues’
use of adult learning strategies Learning
Needs
Representative page of documentation from an adult learning 1 Same
strategy that was used
Representative page of documentation from the plan/project 1 Same

Examples of Responses for this Report: The GACE in Teacher Leadership is created,
administered, and scored by the Educational Testing Service (ETS). Their website has many very
helpful items, including specific information about each task. One of the most important
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resource there is a Library of Examples. This library contains real responses written by
candidates, and they include both weak and strong responses. You would be negligent if you
did not access that information.
Go now to the website at the link below, click on Library of Examples, and read the
introductory information there.

http://gace.ets.org/teacher_leadership/prepare/

This project is correlated to Task 1 Adult Learning and the Collaborative Culture. Read the
pairs of report responses presented there to get a sense of what you will need to do, and
continue to refer to these examples as you progress with your report.

Your Colleagues

Your response here is limited to 1,500 characters; (about ½ page typed). No artifacts will be
attached for this section. [You can check your total characters for a response by highlighting
the text you have entered and clicking on the Words count on the bottom tool bar. You will
get a menu that provides the character count. Use Characters with spaces to be safe.]

a. Describe the colleagues with whom you worked and their stages of career development,
their backgrounds, and their perspectives.
b. Describe the context in which you worked together. (Although you may have worked
with more than four people (you are included in the group), for the purposes of this
project, when discussing interactions with individuals, focus on a maximum of four
people. When discussing the entire group include all colleagues involved.

Note: Type or paste your response in the box below. Box will expand as you enter your
response.
Response:
a. Teacher one is a veteran teacher with more than twenty years of experience. This year was
her first year teaching third grade language arts. Teacher two teaches fourth grade language
arts and has three years of teaching experience. Her teaching experience consists of only
fourth grade language arts. Teacher three is also a veteran teacher who teaches third grade
language arts. She just transferred to the school system, and this is her first year at this school.
All teachers have implemented the new language arts curriculum with fidelity and enthusiasm.
b. For this project, this group met to view and discuss GA Milestones scores. After determining
areas of weakness by grade level, a three day professional development session was scheduled
for the following week. The goal of the group was to vertically plan for alignment of the
language arts curriculum for third, fourth, and fifth grades. In order to meet this goal the group
desired to align tests to appropriate standards with higher level questions, make revisions to
writing curriculum, and develop pacing guides for the following year.
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NOTE: For the next five areas, you will have a limit of about six pages (single spaced) to
respond to the prompts. You can check your total characters for each response by
highlighting the text you have entered and clicking on the Words count on the bottom tool
bar. You will get a menu that provides the character count. Use Characters with spaces to be
safe.

Your Colleagues’ Learning Needs

Guiding Prompts
 State the learning needs of the individuals and the group. What strategies did you use to
identify those needs (e.g., listening, presenting ideas, leading discussions, clarifying,
mediating?).
 Provide examples to support your response.

Required artifacts for this textbox:

 feedback (e.g., emails, letters, participant-created forms) from two colleagues within the
group that documents their professional growth in the specific project as a result of
your use of adult-learning strategies (maximum of four pages).
 a representative page of documentation from an adult-learning strategy that was used
(maximum of one page)
 a representative page of documentation from the plan/project (maximum of one page)
NOTE: You will upload your artifacts as a document or documents when you upload your
Project Report. Be sure that you refer to the artifacts in your Written Commentary. Be sure
to carefully identify the artifact files.

Note: Type or paste your Response inside the Response box below. Box will expand as you
enter your response.
Response:
The learning needs of the individuals of this group were determined after state test scores were
analyzed. The analysis showed the need for adjustments in particular areas of the ELA
curriculum. Areas such as multiple choice items and narrative writing were among areas that
showed weaknesses across 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade ELA. The learning needs were also
determined by group discussion of personal reflections of the previously opinions of the
adopted language arts curriculum. The group as a whole felt strongly that revisions to the
grade level pacing guides were necessary (see Pacing Guide Artifact). Because students scored
lower on the multiple choice section, the group saw a need to revise current unit tests by
adding more of this format with questions that were of higher order thinking (See Passage Test
Artifact). The group also determined the need to revise written response prompts in units to
align with the new writing curriculum that the school has adopted in order to provide more
support for genre writing.
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The Project

Guiding Prompts
a. What was the project that you worked on with this group of individuals?
b. How did you facilitate the selection of your project with your colleagues? Why was the
project significant?
c. What was your plan of action to facilitate the learning that your colleagues needed in
order to accomplish this specific project?
Provide examples to support all your responses.

Note: Type or paste your Response in the box below. Box will expand as you enter your
response.
Response:
a. The project for this group was to vertically plan the alignment of the previously adopted
language arts curriculum among grades 3, 4, and 5. To do so, tasks included revising tests to
align with standards as well as encompass higher order thinking expectations, realign writing
curriculum to strengthen genre writing, and develop pacing guides for the following year. The
county approved three professional development days for the group to collaborate and complete
the tasks.
b. In order to facilitate the selection of this project, we analyzed state test scores to find areas of
common weaknesses. We dissected our individual scores as well to find areas of strength and
those of weakness. This task intrinsically motivated the group due to the relevancy of the tasks.
c. My plan of action to facilitate the professional development of this group was to align our
agenda to meet the needs and desires of the group. By including my colleagues in the data
analysis and taking their personal reflections into consideration, the learning environment was
positive as well as appreciated. I began by using exemplar examples of test questions through a
purchased computer program the school bought to set high expectations. Then, I scheduled for
the writing curriculum advocate to join our session for insight and guidance in the area of genre
writing.

The Adult Learning – Individuals (4 maximum)

Guiding Prompts
a. What adult-learning strategies did you apply with each learner to help support
collaboration, to solve problems, to make decisions, and to manage conflict? Provide
a rationale.
b. How did you differentiate strategies for each learner within the group?
c. How did you scaffold the learning for each group member?

Provide examples to support all your responses.

Note: Type or paste your Response in the box below. Box will expand as you enter your
response.
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Response:
a. The Individual Data Analysis of state test scores was used as a strategy in hopes to get all
participants to buy in to the desired tasks.

b. Individuals did not require differentiation. All individuals are motivated, dedicated to striving
for excellence, and diligent hard workers. All three found individual, as well as unified
weaknesses, and desired to improve their own teaching strategies for the best interest of the
school and students.

c. I met with each individual teacher casually and mentioned the idea of meeting as a group to
vertically plan for the following year. I mentioned my personal concerns and weaknesses in my
own classroom. I also expressed the need for collaboration in order to continue to get the most
growth from our students. All three teachers expressed the same individual concerns and
immediately got on board with meeting collaboratively. Like stated before, all teachers in this
group are intrinsically motivated and work very well together as a team. Sharing ideas and
solutions with one another is a commonality among these individuals.

The Adult Learning – The Group

Guiding Prompts
a. What adult-learning strategies did you use and/or model for the group as a whole?
Provide a rationale.
b. Describe the specific interactions within the group in which you applied these adult-
learning strategies and tell why these interactions were significant.
Provide examples to support all your responses.
Note: Type or paste your Response in the box below. Box will expand as you enter your
response.
Response:
The adult-learning strategy that I used was to make this professional development meaningful
and relevant to the group in order to increase motivation. I attempted to do this by having
them analyze the standardized test data of their own students in order to identify personal
goals which led to creating goals for the language arts department as a unit. I knew that any
teacher in this group would strive to close the gaps in performance among their students and
the department. I also knew that the writing curriculum advocate is very respected by these
teachers and would be a great motivator, as well as a source of expertise. In addition to this, I
created an agenda for the session that included the goals set forth by the group from the
analysis of the test scores.
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Impact of Adult Learning

Guiding Prompts
a. What was the overall impact of applying adult-learning strategies with the individuals
within the group?
b. How did you build an environment of trust and a sense of ownership among your
colleagues?
c. What impact did your work with your colleagues have on student learning?

Provide examples to support all your responses.

Note: Type or paste your Response in the box below. Box will expand as you enter your
response.
Response:
a. Overall, the impact of applying these adult-learning strategies was that the group members
became goal-oriented because of the relevancy of the session. They all desired the same
outcome; therefore, they wanted to be a part of the process of making improvements. The
desired tasks were meaningful to each participant.

b. The environment the 3-day professional development session was very positive. The results
of the data analysis provided everyone involved with relevancy of the tasks; therefore they
trusted me in leading them to making curriculum revisions as well as mapping out plans for the
following year. The outcome of all tasks was beneficial to everyone, so they had a strong sense
of ownership.

c. The results of this professional development session are intended to have a large impact on
student learning. As mentioned before, the goals were set forth based on student weaknesses
determined from the data analysis of student test scores. Therefore, solutions were created to
address these weaknesses (i.e. multiple choice questioning and genre writing) in order to
improve these areas the following year. The completion of pacing guides should prove to keep
instruction on track throughout the year in order to for all teachers to obtain the most out of
their allotted instructional time.