ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES CONTRACT OF NSF GK-12 FELLOWS  (pdf)

I, as a Resident Scientist in Project Flowing Waters, will

1.  Commit to participate for the entire academic term 2008-2009 by being present in a SMCISD classroom for 10 hours a week and an additional 5 hours planning for Project Flowing Waters lessons either at the school or at the university.  The first two weeks should be spent observing classroom activities.  After first two weeks, you should gradually become more involved in classroom activities

2.  Limit my time for GK-12 activities to 15 hours per week.  The rest of my time must be spent on my scientific research.  Remember the GK-12 fellowship is primarily intended to fund scientific research.

3.  Schedule my 10 hours spent at my designated school on-line through logging onto the Project Flowing Waters website prior to my scheduled time.

4.  Complete the course BIO 5100/7100 Professional Development- Inquiry Science Teaching during first summer session, Summer I 2008, from Dr. Julie Westerlund.

5.  Commit to attend and participate in Project Flowing Waters meetings throughout the year beginning with the 2 day Headwaters Meeting on May 21^st and 22^nd, 2008, the 2 day Confluence Meeting on August 12^th and 13^th, 2008, the Mid-Stream meeting on December 10^th, 2008 and the River’s End meeting on May 7^th, 2009 after TEKS testing.  This represents four meetings throughout the year.  The first two meetings are for planning and the last two meetings are for formative and summative evaluations and for presentation of results and experiences.

6.  Interact with the SMCISD science teacher informally through email or telephone over the summer, prior to the start of the school year, to foster the partnership and to plan activities well in advance for the coming year.

7.  Commit to participate in 30-45 minute once-a-week planning sessions with the SMCISD science teacher at the school throughout the academic year.  There should be an established set weekly time for a Resident Scientist / SMCISD science teacher conference time.

 8.  Participate in a collaborative process with the SMCISD science teacher for each lesson beginning with several brainstorming discussions in order to focus on specific topics; Resident Scientists will focus on linking their expertise to the TEKS standards and researching possible activities; presenting to the teacher several possible activity scenarios in which choices are made for the benefits of the students.

9.  Attend and participate in Project Flowing Waters briefings every two weeks with 3 other Resident Scientists and a Project Flowing Waters faculty member (Drs. Bonner, Nowlin or Earl) to collaborate on ideas and to discuss progress.  The briefing time should be an established set time in which all members can meet.

10.  Notify my assigned PI for help (either Drs. Bonner, Nowlin or Earl) if I am having encountering difficulties with my GK-12 activities. 

11.  Develop lesson plans and units, and, if possible, research projects during the academic year for my classroom.  Implement the developed activities with my partnered teacher.

12.  Develop at least one activity with my research advisor and implement the activity in the classroom together with my research advisor.

13.  Invite my research advisor for two visits to the school, one of which occurs when the aforementioned activity is implemented in the classroom.

14.  Not do personal work (on my laptop, internet or otherwise) at school sites during class time. Your laptops should only be used at the school when being used as a tool with the students.

15.  Work jointly with the SMCISD to deliver instruction as a team modeling professional educator behaviors.  Remember you legally cannot be left alone to work with students during class time.  However, you can participate and lead classroom activities while the teacher is present.

16.  Assist teacher in collecting consent forms from students and parents for permission to participate in Project Flowing Waters if deemed necessary.

17.  Journal your weekly activities on-line on the Project Flowing Waters website. 

18.  Present the collaborative projects at Project Flowing Waters meetings and professional conferences.  Travel funds will be provided to present at professional conferences. Disseminate Project Flowing Waters activities to other students and faculty.

19.  Facilitate grant evaluation activities such as collection of student data, survey instruments and focus groups.

20.  Invite my research advisor to the Mid-Stream or River’s End meetings to give a short presentation.

21.  Participate in the annual BioBlitz held every Earth Day in April.

22.  Produce both an on-line portfolio and an organized notebook of all developed activities for teachers to use in future classes.  The on-line portfolio of activities should be uploaded into the Project Flowing Waters website.  The organized notebook of activities should be shown to the partnered teacher and the project faculty upon visiting the school or during meetings.

FELLOWS  DO

• Support, respect, cooperate, and rely on each other.

• Communicate other Project Flowing Waters Fellows by sharing and exchanging information.

• Work closely with their teacher and encourage the teacher’s active involvement.

• Keep appointments at scheduled work times.

• Show respect for other Fellows and their partner teachers.

• Work to relate to other teams within their school and within the project.

• Discuss concerns/problems/issues directly with the appropriate personnel at the earliest possible time to avoid misunderstandings and hard feelings.

• Follow guidelines set forth by Project Flowing Waters and support the goals of the Grant.

FELLOWS DON'T

• Do personal work (on laptops or otherwise) school sites during class time.

• Serve as substitutes or as graders in the classrooms.

• Work alone on projects or skip college classes to do Project Flowing Waters work.

• Change forms or guidelines as set forth by Project Flowing Waters.

Program funded by the National Science Foundation and the Texas Pioneer Foundation,

in partnership with

Texas State University - San Marcos and the

San Marcos Consolidated Independent School District.