Recommitment+Application

Recommittment Application SCC Alliance Project Re-Commitment Statement for Second Year Eligibility

· This Re-Commitment Statement will be used to evaluate continuation of the Alliance Project at your school for the upcoming school year. · Please send your responses to questions 6-12 to the contact teacher at your school. The contact person should assemble these responses and answer questions 1-5 as well and then send it to Charlotte by email before April 20th. · Answers can be brief, but should be thorough since they represent you, your team and your school.

1. Does your school wish to participate in the 2010-2011 Alliance Project beginning in August 2010 and ending in May 2011?

Adams City Middle School, Adams County SD#14 would like to participate in the Alliance project for 2010-2011.

2. Who will be on your interdisciplinary team? Should be 6-8 members. Name Discipline Signature or Initials Josephine Stone Librarian Pat Oscarson Girls P.E Kendall Bridges Choir/Strings April Stevens Art Jim Haynes 6th grade Science Sarah Illingworth 6th grade Lang Arts Rita Rosenberger 6th grade Math Megan Byrd 6th grade Humanities Katie Jones I.B. Coordinator Kristen Groth Alsup Elementary Contact  3. Who will serve as your Contact Teacher for the upcoming year? Name: Signature: Josephine Stone, Librarian

4. What elementary or high school will be your Partner school for the next year? Alsup Elementary  5. List the Partner contact and obtain his/her signature as well as the Partner School Principal below Kristen Groth

Josephine Stone Responses 6. Briefly describe what value the Alliance Project has had in the following areas: a. **Student growth and engagement:** Every event has been touched students in a variety of ways. Currently the "Rites of Passage" exhibit has allowed students to share their personal cultural experiences with others. The Cherry Creek Art exhibit promoted awarness of the arts and our school was selected to have buyers at the festival next summer. The dancers, orchestra, and writing events provided students the opportunity to learn from teachers with some expertice and different insights. Every event has been worthwhile. b. **With your own curriculum**: Each member-teacher has been able to find activities or exhibits that correlate with the curriculum. Every event booked connected with a required standard. c. In the **professional development of teachers**: Professional development of teachers is probably the weakest area of the program due to time constraints and availability of SSC members. It would be wonderful to be able to take advantage of the experts in these fields to provide more professional development for teachers. d. **Growth in developing and working as a teaching team**: It has been a great experience to work as a team outside of our cluster and to include the library and specials teachers and corriculum connections. e. **Awareness of the SCFD and the individual members of the SCC**: We would like to think that we w ill have partners through this grant that we can feel comfortable with working with beyond the timeframe of the grant. Many events we would like to continue in the future.

7. What are the strengths of your program, team, and or/procedures? (What do you think you are doing well in regards to the Alliance Project?) It is impressive how the team jumped right in and started from the beginning of the year scheduling fabulious activites for the students. The team has worked really cooperatively and has helped each other with scheduling students through the exhibits and accompanying others on field trips. The team has been really cooperative about meetings and deadlines. Most of the students in the school have been able to view large exhibits and often students from the elelmentary have joined us. Many parents have also been impressed with exhibits they have been invited to.

8. What are some of the weakness of your program, team and/or procedures? (What do you think you need to improve in regards to the Alliance Project? Next year the team should be even more ambitious about scheduling since activites worked so well and were so beneficial this year. It would be appropriate for the team to do more publiicity surrounding the activites. There should probably be one designated publicity person to be responsible for messages to the building, the public, and to the district. We should develop a gift bag for our guest speakers; school cup, bookmark, school pencil, etc.

9. Based on your experiences of 2009-2010 year so far, what changes will you make in the upcoming year? What are some goals you hope to achieve? Through our experience of this year the team would like to be able to schedule activites early in the year to be able to develop more classroom activites that integrate the events provided by the grant. We have discovered the benefit of having in house activities as opposed to field trips. The addition of enrichment activites that support the curriculum are a great advantage for keeping the students' interest.

10. How can the Alliance Project be improved? We have shared photos with Charlotte so that in the future perhaps a new participating school might be able to visualize what to expect in the way of exhibits. It is sometimes difficult to understand the best way to schedule hundreds of students through an exhibit when one does not know what to expect.

11. Are there other major changes (staffing, hours, program focus, etc) that you would like to share with us for 2010-2011?

12. Please write a short evaluation statement about the Alliance Project Director, Charlotte D’Armond Talbert – this will be part of her annual evaluation. (If you prefer you can send this separately to Tara Brickell tarabrickell@cherryarts.org) Charlotte is an absolute dream. There could be no better person to guide the program. She is exuberant and enthusiastic about the program itself. She stays on top of everything and everyone involved being certain that all runs smoothly. She is a great shoulder to cry on when there are problems. She knows the program so well and is able to suggest possible events that make connections with the students and the curriculum. Mostly she is a fantastic ambassador for the alliance. Charlotte is instrumental in making the program work.

Katie Jones Responses

6. Briefly describe what value the Alliance Project has had in the following areas: a. Student growth and engagement - Students were very excited to see and experience new things/cultures. b. With your own curriculum - I do not teach but I facilitate teacher release days regarding curriculum. c. In the professional development of teachers- None d. Growth in developing and working as a teaching team - We already have team PLCs in which we meet and collaborate. Yet the Alliance Project has helped us continue this growth. e. Awareness of the SCFD and the individual members of the SCC - Personally, I really enjoyed the style and presentation of the women who described the multicultural cases to us. They were so nice and very knowledgable!

7. What are the strengths of your program, team, and or/procedures? (What do you think you are doing well in regards to the Alliance Project?) Our teachers are doing their very best in the limited time they have to juggle this opportunity with everything else being asked of them in today's educational climate.

8. What are some of the weakness of your program, team and/or procedures? (What do you think you need to improve in regards to the Alliance Project? It is difficult for us all to meet. I'd like to know the meeting's time frame and operate with a sense of urgency.

9. Based on your experiences of 2008-2009 year so far, what changes will you make in the upcoming year? What are some goals you hope to achieve?

I would like to be more a part of this program. I inherited this role with my new job, so I was unprepared to add this to my plate this school year. However, next year I should be more available because I know it will be on my plate.

10. How can the Alliance Project be improved? I think it's a great resource and experience as is!

11. Are there other major changes (staffing, hours, etc) that you would like to share with us for 2010-2011? Similar to districts across the country and state, we will be cutting our budget. This will impact our community, our staff, and our students. It may be even more difficult to "add" to our plate. But, as usual, we will bounce!

12. Please write a short evaluation statement about the Alliance Project Director, Charlotte D’Armond Talbert – this will be part of her annual evaluation. (If you prefer you can send this separately to Tara Brickell tarabrickell@cherryarts.org) I have had positive experiences with Charlotte.

Rita Rosenberger Responses

 6. Briefly describe what value the Alliance Project has had in the following areas: a. Student growth and engagement: in humanities, cultural awareness and global learning b. With your own curriculum: Math Notes assembly, connecting math and music c. In the professional development of teachers: writing the grant d. Growth in developing and working as a teaching team: collaboration in the creation and on-going organization of the grant through monthly meetings e. Awareness of the SCFD and the individual members of the SCC: I am now aware of all the educational components.
 * ALL TEACHERS SHOULD SEND RESPONSES TO THE CONTACT TEACHER FOR QUESTIONS 6-12. **

7. What are the strengths of your program, team, and or/procedures? (What do you think you are doing well in regards to the Alliance Project?) We are well led with Charlotte, Jo Stone, and Pat Oscarson; we are working with flexibility and cooperating with our feeder school, Alsup.

8. What are some of the weakness of your program, team and/or procedures? (What do you think you need to improve in regards to the Alliance Project? The weakness revolves around all the myriad schedules we must coordinate and the time it takes to reschedule and attend to all the details; the Alliance is not our first priority but we must remain committed.

9. Based on your experiences of 2008-2009 year so far, what changes will you make in the upcoming year? What are some goals you hope to achieve? We should work as much as possible into the fall calendar (the rest of the year is so busy) and find even more curricular connections; we should ease the presentations into regular lessons and/or weekly plans.

10. How can the Alliance Project be improved? I have no suggestions at this time.

11. Are there other major changes (staffing, hours, etc) that you would like to share with us for 2010-2011? We haven’t heard about anything yet for next year; we will be planning in a few weeks.

12. Please write a short evaluation statement about the Alliance Project Director, Charlotte D’Armond Talbert – this will be part of her annual evaluation. (If you prefer you can send this separately to Tara Brickell tarabrickell@cherryarts.org ) Charlotte presents the Alliance information with organization and professionalism. She keeps us informed with all the necessary details, moves our meetings at the right pace, and provides the necessary support for the successful implementation of the grant.

Responses from Pat Oscarson 6. Briefly describe what value the Alliance Project has had in the following areas: a. Student growth and engagement: The students are far more engaged than other grade levels since they’ve had the opportunities. b. I have been very lucky to have been added to this at the last minute. That being said, the girls in PE have had a wonderful woman come out and teach them dance and they loved it! We are lucky enough to have her back again this semester, so a whole different set of ladies benefit from her. c. In the professional development of teachers: I have really noticed that teachers who are a part of this grant, have bent over backward to make things happen for our school and the children. We are all a bit more aware ourselves of the opportunities that escape us in our every day lives. We are blessed that the students have this opportunity. d. Growth in developing and working as a teaching team: We have worked really hard as a team to provide the best possible experiences for our students. e. Awareness of the SCFD and the individual members of the SCC I was able to attend an open forum panel discussion in the Fall, and that was a really great experience, as we met and discussed what works and what needs modified.

7. What are the strengths of your program, team, and or/procedures? We have many strengths, but in working with the grant this year, I’ve really noticed the great gains that our music and art areas have shown. The teachers have worked with SCC to provide many wonderful experiences for our students, and the kids are talking about it in other classes.

8. What are some of the weakness of your program, team and/or procedures? Since I have not been at the meetings after school as I teach a class on Wednesdays, I really don’t have a handle on the daily workings of the grant.

9. Based on your experiences of 2008-2009 year so far, what changes will you make in the upcoming year? What are some goals you hope to achieve? I would like to see a school-wide assembly toward the end of the year, showing what we’ve done all year. That way, all students and teachers can be aware of what opportunities are out there for students and families. I would also like to see more of the grant information shared at faculty meetings so the school is more aware of what the students are experiencing, and what opportunities are available for them in the school

10. How can the Alliance Project be improved? I think it might be helpful to have another panel discussion toward the end of the year, to discuss what worked, and what didn’t.

11. Are there other major changes (staffing, hours, etc) that you would like to share with us for 2010-2011? We know there will be many budget cuts, but at this point, we have no idea what they are, or how they will impact us.

12. Please write a short evaluation statement about the Alliance Project Director, Charlotte D’Armond Talbert – this will be part of her annual evaluation. (If you prefer you can send this separately to Tara Brickell tarabrickell@cherryarts.org)

Charlotte is, without a doubt, one of the most patient people I know. When we first applied for the grant last year, I was pestering her regularly as I was just so excited. She never waivered in her enthusiasm for me or our school, and never let me know if I was taking too much of her time. Furthermore, she was always available to come out to our school after work and meet with us directly to make sure we were on the right track. Now that we have received the grant, and have been working with it all year, Charlotte continues to be instrumental in the day to day process and procedures.

Signature of the Middle School Principal: Signature of Middle School Contact Teacher:

Signature of the Middle School Principal: Signature of Middle School Contact Teacher:

Signature of the Partner School Principal: Signature of Partner Contact Teacher: April Stevens Responses 6. Briefly describe what value the Alliance Project has had in the following areas: a.  Student growth and engagement: More exposure to the different qualities of art b. With your own curriculum: specific units covered on other cultures c. In the professional development of teachers: opportunities to work with other artists/educators d. Growth in developing and working as a teaching team: collaboration e. Awareness of the SCFD and the individual members of the SCC - limited, I would like more

 7. What are the strengths of your program, team, and or/procedures? (What do you think you are doing well in regards to the Alliance Project?) Using the resources available to meet out students needs.  8. What are some of the weakness of your program, team and/or procedures? (What do you think you need to improve in regards to the Alliance Project?  We need more time to collaborate, and think of how our subject content can over lap.  9. Based on your experiences of 2008-2009 year so far, what changes will you make in the upcoming year? What are some goals you hope to achieve?   I would like more visual art resources brought in to my class.  10. How can the Alliance Project be improved?   More resources available in visual art  11. Are there other major changes (staffing, hours, etc) that you would like to share with us for 2010-2011?   No. I think we are working well with the staff/ schedule, etc.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 16pt;">6. Briefly describe what value the Alliance Project has had in the following areas: **

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif';"> As far as engagement, when my students have been a part of an activity or field trip the engagement level has been quite high. As far as growth that is a tougher call. The workshops and activities don’t necessarily get at the Grade Level Essential Targets in a way that can be measured, so I cannot correlate student growth to the activities.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif';">A. Student growth and engagement: **

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif';"> So far I have learned a few interesting ways to present some of the content I teach from the presenters. It has given me a few new ideas to use in the classroom <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif';"> See above… aside from new ideas for lessons, I don’t feel I have gained much in the way of professional development from the program.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif';">B. With your own curriculum. **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif';">C. In the professional development of teachers: **

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif';"> I don’t feel that this has been applicable to me this year. I have had one field trip that required working with my team. They didn’t see the benefit as readily as I did, so subsequent activities have been classroom workshops.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif';">D. Growth in developing and working as a teaching team. **


 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif';">E. Awareness of the SCFD and the individual members of the SSC. **

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif';">Personally, I am much more aware of the number of organizations and opportunities within the SCFD and have done my best at communicating this to staff, parents, and students. I also believe some of the artwork displays did an amazing job in communicating this to the community.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif';"> I think the strengths arise from the members of our team who are genuinely invested in using this grant to provide unique experiences for our students. Those that are tend to be very passionate about taking advantage of this opportunity and we collaborate well to create these opportunities. Those that have fully jumped in have greatly added to the school this year.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif';">7. What are the strengths of your program, team, and or/procedures. **

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif';"> Essentially the core content portion of the team that wrote the grant for this past year wasn’t the same team responsible for implementation. Of the current 6B content team 2 are new members and one was slated to be moved to another grade level..
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif';">8. What are some of the weakness of your program, team and/or procedures **

So essentially some of the weaknesses of this team arise the struggles of inheriting a program rather than being a core part of the program from the beginning and that lack of vision that comes with this.

Also, being able to coordinate an activity among two teachers when substitutes are difficult to get makes the collaboration piece difficult. <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif';"> I personally plan to skip the field trips. I believe that from a cost perspective and an academic rigor perspective they do no provide the most “bang for the buck” I plan on using more of the in class workshops to provide educational opportunities for the students. I also hope that I am able to collaborate more with my colleagues on workshops that can bridge content. <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif';"> Tough question. Overall I think it’s a great program. One change I see that the program may need to undertake is a closer correlation to curriculum targets in content classes. In that I mean that the activities and events are correlated to state standards, but don’t necessarily meet what our district refers to as Essential Targets (specific skills or knowledge demonstrated that demonstrates proficiency within the standard) and lack the rigor that our district is seeking in the classroom.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif';">9. Based on your experiences of 2008-2009 year so far, what changes will you make in the upcoming year? What are some goals you hope to achieve? **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif';">10. How can the Alliance Project be improved? **

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif';"> No.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif';">11.Are there other major changes (staffing, hours, etc) that you would like to share with us for 2010-2011\ **


 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif';">12.Please write a short evaluation statement about the Alliance Project Director, Charlotte D’Armond Talbert – this will be part of her annual evaluation. (If you prefer you can send this separately to Tara Brickell ****tarabrickell@cherryarts.org****<span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif';">) **

<span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif";">6. Briefly describe what value the Alliance Project has had in the following areas: <span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif";"> <span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif";">a. Student growth and engagement: <span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif";"> <span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif";">b. With your own curriculum <span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif";"> <span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif";">c. In the professional development of teachers: <span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif";"> <span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif";">d. Growth in developing and working as a teaching team <span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif";"> <span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif";">e. Awareness of the SCFD and the individual members of the SSC <span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif";"> <span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif";">7. What are the strengths of your program, team, and or/procedures <span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif";"> <span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif";">8. What are some of the weakness of your program, team and/or procedures <span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif";"> <span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif";">9. Based on your experiences of 2008-2009 year so far, what changes will you make in the upcoming year? **What are some goals you hope to achieve?** <span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif";"> <span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif";">10. How can the Alliance Project be improved? <span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif";"> <span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif";">11. Are there other major changes (staffing, hours, etc) that you would like to share with us for 2010-2011 <span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif";"> <span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif";">12. Please write a short evaluation statement about the Alliance Project Director, Charlotte D’Armond Talbert – this will be part of her annual evaluation. (If you prefer you can send this separately to Tara Brickell <span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif";">tarabrickell@cherryarts.org <span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif";">) <span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif";">
 * <span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif";">Having a guest artist really encouraged my 6th grade string players to work on bettering their posture, instrument position, bow holds. **
 * <span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif";">The visits and field trip helped me to focus a few lessons on new content. New composers, styles of music, major music works, etc. **
 * <span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif";">It gave us a chance to work cross-curricular, which rarely happens due to our planning periods. **
 * <span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif";">We were able to combine different disciplines in order to reach a common goal and really get the most out of our 6th grade students. **
 * <span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif";">It increased my knowledge of performing arts groups in the area. **
 * <span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif";">We work well as a joint staff and enjoy sharing ideas. **
 * <span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif";">We sometimes didn’t have enough time to plan completely. **
 * <span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif";">I will increase my teaching around the actual visits or field trips that are planned. One goal is to have guest artists visit earlier in the year. **
 * <span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif";">I was very pleased with how the program worked for me. **
 * <span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif";">None that I know of. **
 * <span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif";">Charlotte was a wonderful resource for setting up the projects we wanted and especially helping with getting our 6th grade trip to the CSO and the MCA. **