Mission US and Think Fast App

First of all, HAPPY NEW YEAR! If you check in to my blog often, thank you for following my posts this year. I hope they have helped you add technology to your classroom in a meaningful way. I have several new projects in the pipeline for the upcoming year, but I will continue to share my techKNOW with you as much as possible. Each time I take on something new, I just consider my classroom getting bigger. As I begin facilitating online courses through WVLearns, I hope to continue to share my love for connecting teachers with technology and opportunities with even more educators!

That being said...here's a great interactive website for social studies that you can use to engage your students when you come back from your winter break! Mission US has a video game vibe that sends you on a journey through history. Students get to "choose their own adventure" as they play one of two quests. "Crown or Colony" follows the trials of an apprentice in Boston around the time of the Revolutionary War. Students will learn about American Revolution events and landmarks as they help Nate make decisions about which side to join in the war. If you teach the American Revolution, introducing this to your students is a must!

"For Crown or Colony" is the original interactive created by Mission US. More recently they have added the second one, "Flight to Freedom!" This one centers around slave Lucy King and her path to freedom. It has the same choose your own adventure aspect as "For Crown or Colony," only students learn about life on a plantation and escape on the Underground Railroad.

In both games, students earn badges as an incentive for completing tasks and collect "smartwords" (vocabulary highlighted in each mission). To keep a log of your progress and to continue your games at another time, you and your students can create accounts (neither of which require you to submit an e-mail account). There are also educator guides for each mission as well.

Mission US also has a free app (both for iPad and Android) called Think Fast. It is basically two separate true and false quizzes that test you on the historical facts from "For Crown or Colony" and "Flight to Freedom." Since it's free, you have nothing to loose, and your students may enjoy racing against the clock to test their knowledge. Other that that...EH, there's not much to it! The Mission US website, however, it a fantastic way to put your students in the role of a historical figure!

http://www.mission-us.org/
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mission-us-think-fast!-about/id566607316?mt=8

APP Time: Haiku Deck

Move over, PowerPoint! You, too, Keynote!

And Prezi...I never liked you anyway, so peace out.

This has to be the easiest way ever to make a slideshow presentation, hands down. I love it, I love it, I love it. Haiku Deck, a FREE app, lets you make simple presentations in record time. Now...can you add bullets and transitions and all that other presentation mumbo jumbo that you think you need to display information? Nope...but you know what? After you use Haiku Deck to share information with your students or have them use it to display what they have learned, you'll realize how much more you can do with less.

The concept behind Haiku Deck is that you use fewer images (one picture per slide, actually) and short phrases and sentences to tell your story. You tap on the slide to start typing your text. Then, to add a background picture...well, you have your pick of images to choose from. Haiku Deck will use the text you have entered to suggest images, or you can search for them by keyword. There are oodles of pictures, beautiful pictures, licenced by Creative Commons, to choose from. In addition to using the pictures on Haiku Deck, you can use ones you already have on your iPad camera roll to make your presentation more personal.

You can showcase your presentations with an Apple TV or VGA cable directly from your iPad, just as you would Keynote. Just swipe your finger across the screen to move on to the next slide! To share your Haiku Deck creations online, just create an account with your e-mail. By doing so, you can access your presentations online via the Haiku Deck website. Once your creations are available in your gallery, you can set the privacy level to your presentations (that way if you have students who create work you would rather not share publicly, you can set it to private).You can e-mail your presentations to yourself - and they will automatically convert to a PowerPoint presentation or Keynote. You can also embed them into a blog or share on Edmodo, although it's a little tricky to get it to show up just right. I've created a Haiku Deck on my grant writing tips, which you can view on the right side of this blog. However, that's been the only place (and size) I've been able to stick it.

Download Haiku Deck (you have nothing to loose, or pay) and play around with it. The simplicity of it will engage your students. They could easily use this app to share anything from poetry to a short report about a region of the United States. The next few weeks until Winter Break are as good a time as ever to try something new!

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/haiku-deck/id536328724?mt=8
http://www.haikudeck.com/
http://www.haikudeck.com/p/y4fJV0Zvf2/grant-writing-tips

APP Time: GarageBand

It's been a while since I have reviewed an app. With all the websites and blogs already devoted to listing education and/or free apps, I almost feel like it's irrelevant. However...this is one app, one function that you may not realize has the potential to allow your students and yourself to share what they know. It's not free, but the possibilities that your students will have to create and record their own shows, podcasts, and reports are priceless.

GarageBand ($4.99) is an audio and music recording app for your iPad. It simplifies the entire podcasting process to the point where anyone, teacher or student, can record themselves speaking, create and add background music, and publish to iTunes. There are features about GarageBand - such as automatically saving your work and nice, big buttons and graphics to guide you along - that making creating a recorded show nearly fail safe (I will mention a few things to keep in mind at the end of this post). Once you and your students have had some practice, it takes very little time to create a fantastic sounding podcast.

Let me back up a minute - podcasting, simply put, is creating a recorded show and then publishing it through an RSS feed (a site with hosting capabilities). The platform I use to host my podcasts in my classroom is Podbean (setting up an account is free, and for the volume that classroom podcasting takes up, you shouldn't need to upgrade to anything more). Prior to GarageBand, making podcasts was a pain - make sure they are speaking directly into the voice recorder, not deleting or recording over their work, uploading it onto the computer, configuring...I'll stop there. With the built-in microphone in the iPad, you don't even need an external mic to amplify your voice. Students can create music using virtual drums, keyboards, guitars, and "Smart Instruments" that have basic beats already programmed (I like to direct my students to these for time's sake). It's fairly easy to delete, add, and adjust the volume throughout your project - in fact, your students will probably be teaching you a few things about how to use it once you get started. This article on Appstorm helped me tremendously on how to create a podcast set-by-step using this app.

Why do you need this, when there are already so many other things that take presedence over having your students record themselves speaking? Podcasting has many functions and appeals in education. As the teacher, you can record yourself speaking about a concept you are learning in class, then publish it so students can access it though the site hosting your podcasts, or they can subscribe to them through iTunes so they receive them on a personal mobile device. I have the RSS feed for our classroom podcasts set to automatically appear on our class Edmodo group, so they can access the links directly through there instead of typing in the web address. Unlike video recording, students can have a script (that they have written), so the focus is on speaking and fluency. Anything can become a podcast - a classroom newscast, book reviews, a how-to for math problems...the list goes on and on. Podcasting is a great "carrot" to get your students writing, speaking, and being creative.

A few things to keep in mind with GarageBand - from personal trial and error:
1. TURN OFF the metronome FIRST THING - otherwise, you will hear it all through your podcast. Yeah, Mrs. Sponaugle didn't think about that the first time her kids used GarageBand. Oops.
2. Set the meter - plus (+) sign in the right hand corner - to ON for automatic, so it will make the section longer as you continue to speak. Otherwise, your students (and you) are going to get frustrated when it keeps cutting off at 8 bars.
3. Turn the volume up for the audio recorder for students with soft voices.
4. Like I said above, encourage your students to use the "Smart" instruments with the preset beats.
5. Create a sample "song" (what GarageBand calls your creations) yourself so you get a feel for how it works.
6. Make sure you or your students give each song they create in GarageBand a new title, otherwise you will have New Song, New Song2, etc.

There are also multiple articles in the Apple help section of their website to guide you along. If you are looking for a new way to utilize your iPad in your classroom aside from using educational apps, look no further.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/garageband/id408709785?mt=8
http://ipad.appstorm.net/how-to/lifestyle/making-a-podcast-with-garageband-for-ipad/
http://www.podbean.com/

Flocabulary

Since (teaching) life has come to a screeching, soggy halt due to Hurricane Sandy, I thought I would take some time today to get back on the blog-wagon. I hope this finds you warm, dry, and safe - and Godspeed to those of you who are in (or have survived) harm's way with this storm!

One of my students' favorite things to do this year is to listen and learn from songs and music videos from Flocabulary. Flocabulary is basically rap music for the classroom. It's clean, fun, and totally catchy. I love it. Here's the other catch - it's not free. I know, "Boooooo" - but understandable. They've got a product to sell, and fortunately, they do post free videos and songs to use in your classroom. Whenever I use a Flocabulary song to back up what I'm teaching, my students remember it and what it's about. They still can tell you the order of classification for living things from listening to "Kids Prefer Cheese Over Fried Green Spinach." Two of the freebies right now are "I'll Be The President" on the presidential election process and "Check and Balances" for the three branches of government. Sometimes the resources are just the song, and other times they include a music video. Lyrics are on the same page, so the students can sing along (and they will...loudly and over and over again). There are also review questions and lesson plans for each song as well.

Many of the songs on the Flocabulary website are also available on iTunes for $0.99 each. You can also purchase full albums of their music such as "Math Rap" and "Beats, Rhymes, and Science." I'm pretty sure that, with the exception of the language arts songs, most of it is available on iTunes. There are also student guides (with the lyrics and vocabulary activities) and accompanying CDs of music available for purchase on the Flocabulary site if you are interested. I downloaded the songs on iTunes I thought would help my students the most and made playlists on my iPads and iPod for them to listen to as a station and in their spare time.

I've taken a while to post about Flocabulary, not just because life happens but I have been completely bummed about the fact that you now have to pay for the Week in Rap. It use to be that you could subscribe to the Week in Rap and each Friday they would e-mail you the video for the current events of the week - set to song. However, that is no longer the case and I'm not going to pay $5 a month for it. There are pricing plans for teachers on the Flocabulary website and you can test drive it with a free trial, but you'll have to check it out a decide for yourself.

http://flocabulary.com/

Mickelson ExxonMobil Teachers Academy

One of the things I wanted to do when I started this blog was share some of the opportunities I have had to meet and work with teachers across the United States. Somehow, I haven't got around to it, but there's no better time to start than now.

So, while everyone else is gun-ho on football tonight (no, thank you, teaching is my only sport), I want to share with you my experience at the Mickelson ExxonMobil Teachers Academy. This is a summer math and science academy for teachers in grades 3-5, sponsored by professional golfer Phil Mickelson and ExxonMobil. It is held in Jersey City, New Jersey, just a hop, skip, and subway ride from New York City (as in, you will see the Statue of Liberty every day from your hotel room, as well as the skyline). The training provided to you is courtesy of the National Science Teachers Association and the National Council for Teachers of Mathematics. About 200 teachers from across the United States are selected to attend each year. A parent or teacher can nominate you, or you can apply to attend yourself here.

I attended the first national academy back in July 2009. I had been browsing on Grant Wrangler for grants, and a link for "MEMTA" (as we alumni like to refer to it) popped up. Oh, if you would have only known me back then. I was a "good teacher," I guess, but my world...wasn't very big. And I knew it. I've always had an idea of the kind of teacher I wanted to be, but at the time I had no idea how to get there. Maybe, I thought, where I was at was all there was. This, however, sounded like what I was looking for - to learn more about the best ways to reach students, with the best teachers. Did I have a voluminous resume with lots of presentation experience or prestigious awards? Oh, heavens, no. To put it in runner's terms, I was "good for my age group," but not a top finisher. But, if you never try, the answer will always be "no."

 So, at 9 PM on October 30th (the deadline being the 31st), I went for it. I typed my application right on the online form and hit send - and little did I know, it was the beginning of a new chapter in my life as an educator.

MEMTA was an experience like no other. The exposure to the National Science and Math standards was priceless, as I was about to begin National Board Certification. Not only was the professional development top-notch (what you would expect from a national academy), but the way the teachers were treated that week was exemplary as well. In short, the staff and teachers at MEMTA treated us like super stars. As a relatively new(er) teacher at the time, that was almost overwhelming for me. New(er) teachers have to "fight" for everything, whether it's for respect or a bookcase. To be treated so first class (I don't want to give too much away because if you go I want you to be as WOWED as I was), well, I almost didn't know how to act - and then I got a handle on myself.



MEMTA was featured on the CBS Early Show during
our academy. Why, yes, that is Harry Smith!

What I didn't expect from attending MEMTA is probably what has changed how I teach the most. Not only did I attend this academy with other teachers from across the United States (that were all amazing and to this day I still consider out of my league), but I learned from them. I learned things about technology and teaching that week, just from listening to other teachers, that I never would have known otherwise. I learned what issues affect teachers in different states - some different, some the same as those in West Virginia. My view of my role as a teacher and the possibilities available in education changed overnight. I am still am in contact with several of the teachers who attended  MEMTA that year, and probably will be forever. I came away from MEMTA convinced that networking is the most powerful professional development you can provide an educator.

I realize it's October 6th on a Saturday night, but if I can crank out "something" in a handful of hours before the deadline, you surely can give some consideration to applying to the Mickelson ExxonMobil Academy this year. Don't tell yourself it isn't possible. Sometimes, the only way to get going in the direction you want is to put yourself on the right road. Nobody else is going to do it for you - just take the keys (computer keys, in this instance)...and drive.

http://www.sendmyteacher.com/index.html

Music to My Ears: Tour the States!

It's Friday, it's late, and I'm tired. I have lots to say but not much energy to get it out. However, I thought before I sack out for the evening, I would share an awesome music video - "Tour the States" by Renald Francoeur. I came across this while I was "pinning" last night and found this infectious tune to be too good not to share with my students and my blog followers (Do I have any of those? For the sake of my tired teacher psyche, let's just say I do:-).

Makes you want to take a little trip somewhere, doesn't it?

 

My students love, love, love this song and its awesome artwork. By now, the "Fifty Nifty United States" song is getting a little old for my fifth graders, and the beat and lyrics to this piece have them well on their way to reciting all of the states and capitals (whether they realize it or not!). It's from an album titled Brain Beats, a collection of educational songs for this generation of students. You can purchase the Brain Beats CD from Marbles the Brain Store. The album is also available on Amazon and iTunes, and you can download "Tour the States" individually from either source for $0.99.

I haven't been able to find the music video anywhere but YouTube, so I used the YouTube Downloader to get the video to my Dropbox file to share it with my class at school. Regardless of what grade you teach, things like this that get your class excited and saying "How did they do that?" make it all worth it, even when you are out-of-your-mind tired. Good night!  



Classroom Collaboration Series: 5 Reasons to LOVE Edmodo!

I kind of let the Classroom Collaboration Series go by the wayside over the summer, so it's time to start it up again! I have known about Edmodo for a while, but have always had so many other "techKNOW toys" to play with that I never truly implemented it. Now that I'm using it to have my students collaborate and to keep connected to other teachers, I don't know why I've waited so long! If you haven't jumped on the Edmodo wagon, here are five reasons why you need to set up an account and get your students connected!
1. First and foremost, it teaches your students proper social networking! When you set up your Edmodo account, the first word that will come to mind is "Facebook." It surely resembles it, right down to the color sceme. However, Edmodo is a means for students to communicate and collaborate online within the parameters of the classroom. As the teacher, you can monitor what students post on your group wall (the only way students can communicate with one another, no "chatting") as they discuss posted topics and complete assignments. Only the teacher, students, and parents have access to your Edmodo space (via password) unless you choose to set it to public. You set rules and guidelines for what students can put online, and can set their status to "read only" until they can post properly. Students have to create their own username and password in order to access the classroom space you have created, so they learn the additional responsibility of keeping track of their personal information.
2. It streamlines your online resources to one place.  Links and Google Docs can be posted to your Edmodo library. Your students, when logged into Edmodo, can access these resources for the assignments you post. You can also post links and videos to your group page for the student to view as well. For example, I love, love love, the awesomeness that it Animoto. I or the students can post their Animoto slideshows for us to view securely.
3. Assignments, Quizzes...AND Polls!!! No, really! You can post directions for an assinment to your group page and include the necessary files and links to complete it.  When students complete it, they just post their assignment and attach their completed files...completely paperless! There's also a way to create quizzes for students to complete right on Edmodo. The quizzes can take a variety of forms, from multiple choice to short answer. You can even set it so students automatically see how they scored for instant feedback. I also like how you can create a quick opinion poll to gauge how your class feels about a topic - and the students like it, too!
4. You can connect to other teachers. As a teacher you can make connections to other educators through using your Edmodo profile. Although your students and classes can't "see" each other, you can keep in touch professionally with your colleagues within your school or around the country (or world, for that matter). You can also join communities, such as ones on technology, to learn from and assist other teachers. Another feature is that you can "follow" publishers such as Sheppard Software or Spelling City to keep up with the resources they provide.
5. It's FREE, and so is the APP!!! All of this fantastic online collaboration costs you nothing. That being the case, it is pretty impressive all that you can do with this "free version," when so many online resources limit your capabilities (or at least cause you to find creative ways to work around buying them). You and your students can also download the free app for iPhone/iPad/iPod or Android so Edmodo can be accessed anywhere!
Edmodo is pretty much an ideal virtual classroom. While nothing can replace being together in the classroom to work and learn from each other, Edmodo can keep you connected to your students when weather, illness, or distance are in the way. I can't wait to see where using this resource leads me this school year!
http://www.edmodo.com

Sunny D Book Spree

Gasp! She does exist!

Yes, I have been MIA in the bloggerverse for over a month. I figured between the majority of teachers being on "brain-cation" for the summer and then the whirlwind of setting up a classroom (which is essentially like setting up a home away from home), we all had enough to keep us busy. I did write some posts over the summer that you may want to read for this school year, so check out my June and July postings.
So...what better way is there to start out the new school year than receiving free books for your classroom? The Sunny D Book Spree is now going on until November 30th! It's pretty cut and dry (or should I say  freshly squeezed?): send in 20 UPC labels from eligible bottles along with the completed form (available here) and Sunny D sends you 20 books for your grade level.

Wee! It's a Book Spree!

I participated last year and can say that it's a great way to expand your classroom library. The books they send you are brand new, high-interest titles that will appeal to your students. The reading level of the books varies as well. Pictured above are some of the books I received last year from Sunny D.

Have your students bring in Sunny D labels for some new reads for your room! You could even tie in some math with this project and have your students calculate the percentage of labels they have brought in, or the probability of reaching your label goal by the postmark date. Either way, your classroom library will be "D-lighted" to add some more books to its shelves!

http://sunnyd.com/bookspree/for-teachers.php

Create Your Own Webquests at Zunal.com!

So do you know what day of the week it is? Me neither. Isn't summertime grand?!
Remember when I told you about those technology classes I was taking last month? In doing so, I learned about another cool web tool that I can't wait to start using this upcoming year. Webquests are a fun, interactive means of having your students use online resources to learn about a topic and apply knowledge. Give your students a task, links for the activities they need for the assignment at hand, and they're off on a virtual learning journey.
That being said, my new favorite online "toy" for teaching is Zunal. This website allows you to create and store wonderful, structured webquests for your students for FREE. I had never heard of Zunal before and I am very impressed with how easy it is to use. When you go to create a new webquest, there are already preset categories and pages for the essential parts of your webquest, such as introduction, task, process, and evaluation. You don't have to create any buttons or pages yourself; all you need to do is enter the text, links, and images. To make your webquests even more engaging, you can also add files (great for if you want to include a study guide or worksheet you've created), video from YouTube, Vimeo, and TeacherTube (but not SchoolTube!!! Huge bummer!), pictures, and Vokis. It's up to you how "blinged" out you like to make your webquests, but Zunal give you plenty of means to make your webquests dazzle.
One of the best things about the template Zunal gives you is it includes a page in your webquest for evaluation that allows you to create a rubric for your task. All you have to do is enter the performance descriptors you want to inlcude for your final project. And since it's right there in the webquest, your students can refer to it as they work. There is also a mobile version of Zunal so your students can interact with the webquests you create using an iPad or Android device as well. As with most free resources, you can upgrade to the paid version where you can add more pages to your webquests, quizzes, games, etc. With the free account you can make as many webquests as you'd like.
Another plus is you can search for webquests created by other teachers on Zunal. There are literally thousands to choose from in any subject area and every grade level. If you have a Portaportal, you can bookmark your favorite webquests or ones you have created so they are easy for your students to access when needed.
Here's the link to a webquest I created on Abraham Lincoln. Check it out and others on Zunal, and soon you'll be setting up your own account so you can make webquests for your own classroom!
http://zunal.com/
http://zunal.com/webquest.php?w=156042

Celebrate the Fourth with TJ and the Revo!

So I just got back from a weeklong teacher institute in Colonial Williamsburg, which I will gladly blog about once I get my bearings. In the meantime, I thought you would enjoy this contemporary take on the Declaration of Independence, set to the tune of One Republic's "Too Late to Apologize." You may laugh now, but your students will love to see TJ (Thomas Jefferson), Ben Franklin, and friends groove out to these historical lyrics. Even better - look up the lyrics to this song and discuss the meaning of them with your class. You might find they are inspired to set other events in history to today's music.  Better yet - Soomo Publishing just came out with another music video, this time for women's sufferage (set to Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance"). I've posted both of theses videos via YouTube for convenience, but you can easily look these videos up on TeacherTube or SchoolTube to share with your class if YouTube is blocked on your school filter. Have a safe and fun Fourth of July, and remember to stay in the techKNOW this summer!

http://soomopublishing.com/declaration/

http://soomopublishing.com/suffrage/

Classroom Collaboration Series: VoiceThread

Looking for a cool way this summer to keep your students engaged with technology? Here's a way you can make a virtual field trip, an online lesson, a display of student work, or a virtual discussion with your class - VoiceThread.
This is, in a nutshell, what you can do with VoiceThread. Add images or pictures (which could be screen shots of math problems worked out in class, pictures from a field trip, student illustrations, you name it) to create a slideshow. Then, for each slide, you as the teacher may choose to add your voice or type descriptions to each of the slides. You can also write on the images as you record your voice to reference points of interest.
Once you complete your VoiceThread, you can have your students find it online. As they view your VoiceThread, they can make comments on each slide! For example, you may want your students to respond to an image about a science experiment to show what they remember, or it could be as simple as having them leave their memories on a picture from a school field trip. They can comment by typing a response or leaving a recorded message. If you have a webcam available, your students can respond using that as well. What happens after your students comment on the VoiceThread is that you create an online conversation. You and the class can go back and view the show together to view each other's feedback - a great way to review information. Your students can go back and view the VoiceThreads on their own as well to reinforce content or take a virtual field trip of sorts over and over again. You can also download the VoiceThread app to your iPad so you students can access it there as well.
This resource is free...to an extent. Creating a VoiceThread Educator account is free, and the app for iPad is a free download as well. You get 250 MB of space (or 50 VoiceThreads) using your account on the computer, and you can make up to five VoiceThreads using the app. Each VoiceThread you create can have up to 50 slides on your free account (which I think is plenty). You can make it work for you as a free resource if you are willing to delete the VoiceThreads that you aren't using so you don't run out of space. And if you really like it, you can consider getting a classroom license so you can go further with this resource.
If you search on VoiceThread, you will find caboodles of examples of how you can use it in your classroom. Take a look and see the possibilities you could use this for in the fall!
https://voicethread.com/
http://voicethread.com/products/k12/educator/
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/voicethread/id465159110?mt=8

APP Time: Presidents vs. Aliens

Yes, that's the name of this app.
In a way, it seems all sorts of wrong to follow up a tribute to Mister Rogers with something so absolutely silly. However, with the presidential election this fall, students will have a lot of interest in the presidents and the fun facts about them. So, for $0.99, the app Presidents vs. Aliens (from the same developer of Stack the States)will help your class learn about past and present commanders-in-chief, all while taking out some alien creatures.
The app asks students questions about a president and shows four pictures of the presidents (with their names) to choose from. The questions range from identifying the president, quotes, nicknames, or facts about the president or time period. You can adjust the level of difficulty and types of questions by clicking on the question mark on the main menu. I'm adding that because I had trouble figuring out where to go to adjust the level at first. This way, you can use this app for younger students who may need to work on just identifying the presidents, to really upping the ante for your "big kids" (such as yourself).
 You will be shown the correct answer if you are wrong (which is good, because some of those questions are down right hard), but if you touch the correct president, the fun begins. You will get to take the president you have correctly selected and shoot him at the mass of aliens that has infiltrated the Washington, D.C., landmark in the background. It requires a little bit of strategy, but it's great fun to send the president airborne into a sea of little neon creatures. When you have taken out all the aliens, your score will show and you will "earn" a new president for your collection. Once you collect all 44 presidents, you can proceed to the bonus games Executive Order and Heads of State, already included on the app.
Presidents vs. Aliens also teaches your students test taking skills and inferencing. For example, one of the questions might be "Who was president during the Wright Brothers' first flight?" showing the date as well. They have to use logical thinking based on the four presidents shown to determine the best answer for the time period. This is a super app to start off the countdown to Election Day in November and learn fun facts about the exective office. Hail to the chief - but watch out for that alien behind you!
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/presidents-vs.-aliens/id427418941?mt=8

My Thoughts about Mister Rogers

"One of the greatest gifts you can give anyone is the gift of your honest self." - Fred Rogers
Even though you're probably one of the 3 million people that have seen this video by now, I felt compelled as a techKNOW teacher to share it with you. If there is any one person outside of my family that I want to emulate in my teaching, it may very well be Mister Rogers. The creativity and adventures he shared with his young viewers impacted and engaged many of us growing up. I'm sure that you (as well as myself) can recall at least one episode of "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" you watched as a child - how to make crayons, anyone? His kindness and gentle nature give me hope that those of us who aren't so loud and verbally outspoken can impact the education and the conscience of our students.
Television in the 1950s and 1960s was what the Internet is today - new, "cool," and a commercial medium. Fred Rogers took an interest in using television programming to enhance the lives of and teach children, without advertising and leisure entertaining (I added the word "leisure" there because Mister Rogers was both educational and fun to watch). For many, his show modeled a safe and loving home, a caring father figure, and how to pretend play without the zing of cartoon characters or video games. I, for one, loved, loved, loved Mister Rogers' puppets! He saw the potential to use new technology to impact those around the world, children he would never meet but would nonetheless nurture. In a way, you could say he's the original techKNOW teacher.
My favorite thing about Mister Rogers is, like the quote I began this post with, he remained true to himself. He didn't become loud and flashy to attract young viewers to his program. In fact, Fred Rogers may have been seen (and especially would be today) as an unlikely television star - a guy with great ideas, but not the persona to pull it off on camera. Yet it was the fact that he was calm, gentle, and soft spoken that set him a part from the rest. It not only made him unique - it made what he taught his young audiences about life stick. He walked the walk, proof positive the volume of your message isn't measured in decibels.
So, enjoy this "jazzy" version of a beautiful song that encourages all of us to be curious, make believe, and grow the great ideas inside of us. Perhaps if we as teachers instill these values in ourselves and model them in our teaching, our students will absorb them, too.

TrackStar

So, this summer I'm going back to school - sort of. I'm taking some online technology classes through WVLearns because 1) they are free and 2) I don't know everything. I may be the techKNOW teacher, but if I want to stay that way I've got to stay on the up-and-up on how to do things. Otherwise I'll run out of things to blog about. The classes I'm taking have to do with creating WebQuests and virtual field trips. I utilize these in my classroom, but I want to be more skilled in how to make my own "stuff" to tailor to my own classroom.
One of the gems I have found to help me organize websites for virtual field trips is TrackStar. There are many fabulous web tools accessible through 4Teachers.org, one of which I reviewed two posts ago (RubiStar). I thought TrackStar was going to be too similar to Portaportal to be something I would start using, but it definately has its own place in the techKNOW classroom. You use TrackStar to group - or track - websites, online videos, Vokis, and interactives so they can be accessed by your students all at once for the purpose of a virtual field trip.
It's super simple. Once you create your free account (everything on 4Teachers.org is free, I believe), you will go to your account page and select the "Make New Track" button. Give your track a catchy title and a description, so your students as well as teachers who search for other tracks on TrackStar know what this grouping of resources is all about. You also choose what "type" of track this is going to be (I'll let you read that for yourself, as it's pretty self explanatory) in addition to the subject area.
Make a few other choices on that page and you're off to enter your online resources into your track. THIS is what makes it cool. You enter a title/topic for your website, paste the URL below, AND THEN...you can annotate! Yeah, I know, what's so great about annotating? LOTS! You can give your students an exciting description of what they are about to view, provide background information, or give questions for them to answer as they view the resource. It makes your virtual field trip something that can be done completely independently!
After you enter your websites and annotations, submit it and BOOM you have your track! On your account page, you will see the title of your track along with a number. You can have your students go to the computer lab and search for your virtual field trip by typing in this number OR...make a folder on Portaportal for your TrackStar creations and store the direct links to your tracks there! All your students have to do once they are on the track you have created is click "View in Frames" (my preference, you can view in text as well) to begin their virtual field trip adventure! When you view in frames, the links appear on the left hand side; all your students have to is click on them and the online resource will appear in a frame on the screen below your annotation. In other words, no clicking back  and forth to the list of resources.
It's great to see it all put together! If you want to experience a track yourself, you can view my virtual field trip on the Underground Railroad here. You can also search for other tracks that have already been created by keyword. As long as you don't choose that your track is a default (which is deleted after a week), it will remain on TrackStar indefinately. You can create virtual field trips to use this upcoming school year and beyond! Have fun!
http://trackstar.4teachers.org/trackstar/index.jsp
http://trackstar.4teachers.org/trackstar/ts/viewTrack.do?number=442504

Classroom Collaboration Series: ClassChatter

Got that Portaportal page set up yet? Even if you don't, I'm moving on. I had a fabulous (or at least I thought so) series of posts a few months ago all about grant writing. My next "series" of posts which I will feature this summer will have to do with online collaboration for the classroom. I can't guarantee what day of the week I am going to post them like I did for my grant writing series because I'm on "island time" for the next 10 weeks and  four days (whatever - you counted, too) but they will appear weekly.
One of the wonderful things about using web tools for classroom collaboration is that it often makes your life a tiny bit less paperless AND it plays into your students' growing interest and understanding of how to use the Internet to communicate. We all know that  outside of school many of our kiddos chat online, e-mail, and social network, whether they are of age to do so or not. And although there are steps you can take to make sure parents and students know what's safe and appropriate, there's no stopping the access  your students have once they leave your classroom. That's why it's good - almost necessary - to give students web tools to display and communicate what they know and what they need to say so they learn the proper way to communicate online - for learning and social purposes.
The first item to add to your virtual toolbox (which is hopefully housed on your PORTAPORTAL page) is ClassChatter. I have used ClassChatter for several years and have found it to be teacher friendly and student adored. This is a way for you to create FREE, password protected blogs for your classroom. Your students can learn to blog in a safe environment that cannot be accessed by anyone else except the teacher and classmates. You create student accounts under your teacher account so that you see whatever the students write. There is also a "cMail" teacher account where the students can send messages to you without the entire class reading it.
As the teacher you can create topic blog posts for students to respond to - I usually make these anything from introducing yourself to the class to current events - and then (my favorite) you can create assignment blogs! This is where you create an assignment for students to respond to under your original post. Students can work on it and come back to it, checking the finished assignment button when they have completed their post. As the teacher you can see who is still working, who has finished, and who hasn't even started yet (Grrr!). I've made my assignment blogs anything from listing the factors of a selected number, to researching a volcano, to creative writing prompts. Each student automatically gets their own blog page when you create their accounts as well. You can set the purpose for this or encourage your students to create their own blogs about things that interest them - a great way to get your cherubs to WANT to write! You also get your own teacher blog page as well to keep the class informed about whatever you'd like.
What ClassChatter lacks in "pretty" - there's no changing the colors, theme, or overall look - it makes up 110% in functionality. In a way, it's good the students (and the teacher for that matter) can't really mess with the appearance because it makes you focus on the content over the bells and whistles. My class has always been so into "we have a blog" that they've never brought up what it looks like. Oh, you will see some advertisements to upgrade to ClassChatterLive, but the free version provides you with plenty to get your class blogging safely and purposefully. Check it out and consider setting up your account for next year!
http://www.classchatter.com/

A Few of My Favorite Things

Hey, there! It's been a while!
Sorry, but you know how it is. I was sucked into the giant vortex called the End of the School Year, but have managed to emerge victorious. I survived! You survived! And now (sound the drums of anticipatioin)...it's Summer Vacation - even though there are a few weeks of spring left. If you are not able to share in our summertime joy yet, I apologize.  It's not my fault Old Man Winter took snow season off. But please, stay in the techKNOW this summer - because now is as good of a time as ever to organize, plan, and recharge for next school year.
So, since many of you are still recoiling from the craziness or are still embroiled in it, I've decided to dedicate this post to the basics. Now is the best time to take stock in what went right this past year, what went wrong, and what wasn't really right or wrong - just could have been a bit better. The sites I'm going to list are oldies but goodies - but if you are about to embark on a teaching career in the Fall, you may want to acquaint yourself with them. Now. Get organized NOW - or at least after you've soaked up some sun and sleep.
Here are a few of my favorite techKNOW things - the "trusty blue jeans" of resources that you can always count on and can't live without:
Portaportal - Yes, that's right. Portaportal. No, not port-a-potty, althought that would be pretty funny. Make a (free) account on here, and you'll never have to worry about writing a website on the board for your students to visit or forgetting the name of your favorite sites again. Portaportal allows you to save all of your internet bookmarks to your own page so you can access them from ANY computer at ANY time. Not only that, you create a username for your page that your students can type in to access your bookmarks. That way, you can take your class to the computer lab, have them find the link on your page and BOOM they're there - no more trying to type in the website character for character. It saves you and your students tons of frustration and valuable time. You can create folders and subfolders for all of your links to make it ultra-organized. Every website I use in my classroom is on my Portaportal page - it's almost like my online classroom! And since there's no limit to how many bookmarks you can put on your page, you can do that! You can even bookmark other teacher's Portaportal pages! If you want to be a true techKNOW teacher, this is the first step to saving your sites as well as your sanity.
Rubistar - Want to make a rubric for assessment fast? Go here. In record time, Rubistar allows you to make a rubric for just about anything with very little effort on your part. Choose the type of project or subject area, select the areas you want to assess, and BOOM (again) you get an awesome rubric with preset performance indicators you can choose to keep or modify. You can print your rubric out or download it to your computer so you're sure to have it for future use. If you want to search other teacher's rubrics for similar projects, you can do that, too. Best of all? You know me - it's FREE.
Pete's PowerPoint Station - Not quite sure who Pete is, but he's pretty amazing for this collection of HUNDREDS of awesome PowerPoint presentations and games. Any subject, any topic, any grade level - you will find the PowerPoint for your lesson. If you have just been bestowed the awesomeness that is an interactive whiteboard of ANY kind, this is the first place you want to go (right after you make your Portaportal page!) to find ways to quickly techKNOW-logized your classroom. Sometimes they aren't perfect and you have to modify to meet your needs, but the PowerPoints you find on this site will save you all kinds of time. And there all FREE!
SMART Exchange - If you have a SMART board or are about to get one in your classroom... Here.You. Go. You could easily spend your entire summer on this site searching for incredible, already created templates and interactive presentations. From cool ways to take attendance to hands-on lessons on the parts of speech - tailor you search by grade and subject level and BOOM (one more time!) your SMART notebook files await for you to preview! Once you create a FREE account, you can even download them to the computer connected to your SMART board so you can access them later.
These resources alone could keep you busy all summer long, so check them out now before I load you down with more ;-) And if you all ready know your stuff and use these cool tools...good for you. But don't worry, there's more coming - because I'm out of the vortex and back on the blog.
http://www.portaportal.com/
http://rubistar.4teachers.org/
http://www.pppst.com/
http://exchange.smarttech.com/#tab=0

APP Time: Story Writing Apps

I've been on the hunt for sometime looking for writing apps for my classroom iPads. My goal has been to find some things that would entice students of different ability levels to write and share. Here are three that I think fit the mold.
Story Maker HD (a FREE app) allows students to design characters and scenes to "illustrate" their stories. They type their text on to the page along with their illustration, then name their story after it's completed. Students can then access the "gallery" where they can read each other's work. While simple, fun (the kids will love making the characters) and to the point, one thing I don't like about this app is that you can't add "pages" to your story - one scene and text is it. It would be great for a poetry unit for students to write a poem and then add their images. Students in the lower grades or with limited writing ability would be best served by this app. For $0.99, you can download add-on story packs (Three Little Pigs, Cinderella, The Wizard of Oz, and Little Red Riding Hood), which provide you with more character and image choices for students to recreate a classic fairy tale - great for a unit on teaching point-of-view or for writing fractured fairy tales!
A similar app is Story Patch ($2.99). Although it's not a free app, you get what you pay for with this one. Like Story Maker, students can select characters and scenery for their stories. You have the option to add pages to your writing so it reads more like a book. After students save their stories, other students can go back and read each others writings straight from this app. You can also convert your story to a pdf with a touch of a button and e-mail it to yourself or parents - a great way to share student work. The one thing I didn't like about this app was, while you can change the size of your characters and image and move them around the page, you can't change the direction they are facing. I know that's silly, but I like my people looking at each other, that's all. Story Patch could be utilized at any grade level K-5.
This next app actually involves no writing at all - and that's okay! Toontastic (FREE!!!) lets students choose a scene (or draw one), select characters, THEN - instead of writing the text - you move the characters around the screen and use your own voice to bring the story to life! Basically, students are creating their own animated cartoon! And...they get to pick the background music to set the tone for each scene!!! Too cool!  It's really like making your own cartoon - hence the name! Student creations are saved so they can be viewed later on the app. You can also go to ToonTube through this app to watch Toontastic creations from all over the world! I got a lot of ideas for how to use this app just by watching those alone. What I LOVE about this app is that it take students through the parts of a story, from the conflict to the resolution (even showing them a diagram). What I don't like is the limited number of background scenes there are to choose from - like, there's four. You can purchase additional scenes for $1.99 each, or $9.99 for an entrire set. Any grade level would benefit from this app. This would also be a good app for speech therapy.
Hopefully you decide to add some of these apps to the next chapter of your iPad use!
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/story-maker-hd/id428879894?mt=8
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/story-patch/id388613157?mt=8
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/toontastic/id404693282?mt=8

FREE Financial Literacy Resources from Visa

Here's a way to gain some economics resources...without spending a penny!
Practical Money Skills, a program sponsored by Visa, provides teachers with fun, interactive ways to help students learn to be smart spenders and savers. All you have to do as a teacher is go to their website and order the materials you would like for your classroom - and it's FREE. I've know about this one for a few weeks, but I wanted to wait and post about it until after I had received my order - and I can tell you that neither you or your students will be disappointed! Here's a rundown of some of the resources from Practical Money Skills that I think you'll want to check out:
Marvel Comic Book - With the movie coming out this summer, your students will enjoy reading about Spiderman and friends as they learn about managing finances...and save the world while they're at it! It's definitely geared more for upper elementary and middle school. There's also a free teacher's guide to download as well.
Money 101 Booklet - This handy little guide teaches your students important facts about saving and spending, with some fun facts and websites thrown in the mix, too. After viewing it, I'd like to get enough for each student in my class.
And now for the games!!! I was most eager about getting these to try out, because...well, you're never too old to learn to play new games. Each game came on separate CDs to run on the computer. The games run directly from the CD (you can't download them to your computer, but that's only a minor inconvenience). All of them ran perfectly and were high quality, interactive, and beneficial to learning about money and finances.
Peter Pig's Money Counter - Eh, this one was okay...if you teach K-2 (third graders might like it at the beginning of the year). Upper grades...no. Just no. However, for learning the value of different coins and counting change, this is a super resource. Students have to move the coins on the screen as they count and represent different amounts of money. I can see this being great to use on an interactive whiteboard as a class review or as a station.

Money Metropolis - Very cute (in a cartoonish sort of way), very interactive. My girls especially like it. After designing your character, your students choose a financial goal (from buying a game to going on a trip). They then have to buy and perform chores around town (which they choose from an interactive map) to meet their financial goal. The "chores" are all interactive, from mowing the lawn to sorting books at the library. You get paid if you do your job accurately and in a timely manner - another great concept to get across.
Financial Football - Oh, my. Every fifth grade boy's dream game. It looks and sounds like the NFL, right down to the background music and the animated players. You can choose your NFL team and the opposing team, as well as the level of difficulty ("rookie" is the suggested level for ages 11-14; the age levels go up to high school). As you make your plays, you answer questions about financial literacy. Best of all, there's a free app for Financial Football you can download to your iPad that's just as cool as the computer version. It's so authentically football that your students will forget they are learning.
Financial Soccer - Okay, I liked this one better than Financial Football simply because I understand soccer better than football. It's very authentically done in the style of the Soccer World Cup (which I don't know much about but my students were pretty impressed). The same concept of Financial Football is there, except it's a different ball game. There's a little more strategy with Financial Soccer though; the harder questions are closer to the best shots for the goal. Both Financial Football and Financial Soccer would be enjoyed by students in grades 5 and up, up through high school.
These are just a few of the resources available on Practical Money Skills. Check it out and choose a few things for your class! You literally have nothing to lose!
http://www.practicalmoneyskills.com/resources/free_materials/
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/financial-football-hd/id387095643?mt=8

APP Time: Symmetry Shuffle

It's difficult...but it's so cute! You'll play it as much as the kids!

Symmetry Shuffle ($1.99) is an app that makes you think. By this time in the year, we're all in standardized test review mode (or about to be when we go back to s-c-h-o-o-l tomorrow). This is a great, adorable app to review the geometry concepts of slide (translation), flip (reflection), and turn (rotation).

To play Symmetry Shuffle, you select an object (ranging from sneakers to robots), the number of objects in your grid, and an easy or hard level. The object is to move your object to cover all the pictures in the least amount of moves - with the fastest time. Sounds easy, right? Nope! It requires a lot of thinking, rotating, flipping, and second guessing yourself - kind of like that game they have on all the tables at Cracker Barrel, Tricky Triangle. It's spatial and logical reasoning at its finest - and your students will be putting into practice the concept of transformations - even though they'll think they are just solving a puzzle!

The graphics on Symmetry Shuffle look hand drawn, but in a cute (there's that word again!), quaint way that's a nice change from the bright, in-your-face graphics of a lot of games. The sounds are soft and pleasant, too. The only major difference between the easy and hard versions of this app is that you can't "retrace" your puzzle pieces in the hard version without loosing one of your moves. Some of the objects are easier to see where you need to flip and rotate, but none are so stumping that they will frustrate. Your students will love the strategy behind it and timing themselves to beat their peers as they shuffle to cover the puzzle grid. Oh, and many of the touch features on this app involve a "double tap," which can be a puzzle in itself at first. Make sure to review the instruction first so everyone is aware of how to "move."

Have fun shuffling!

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/symmetry-shuffle/id387650111?mt=8

Technology Detox

You'll have to excuse my lack of posting this month. I've been on a tech-cation.

Yes, that's right. On Good Friday, I turned off my laptop, took it upstairs, and didn't open it until this morning - and that was only because I had a grant to write before tomorrow. With the exception of the occasional phone call or necessary text, I was completely unwired for nearly 10 days (I already don't watch television on a regular basis, so no TV wasn't that hard to give up). I was on a mission to go on a complete and utter technology detox.

So, why would the techKNOW teacher torture herself like that? Basically, I needed a break. Computers, iPads, responders, software, apps - so much has changed in education in the almost decade since I began teaching. Remember the "blue out" we used when we made mistakes when writing report cards? Once upon a time, the computer didn't average your grades and print it neatly out for you. All by hand, baby - well, hand and calculator. We thought we were "cool" when we hooked the little (repeat: little) television sets in our room to our computers to showcase Internet images to our classes. Who needs Jeopardy on a Smart Board when you had a rockin' one on poster board with library card pockets to hold your questions in each category? Especially when you glittered the giant JEOPARDY to make it extra snazzy? Okay, maybe that was just me.

Technology has made life easier for teachers in ways you new guys and gals will never know. It's also made our lives a deluge of passwords, programs, lost files, found files, e-mails, formatting issues, and a lot of other "tech-aches" that I don't even need to mention - you just know. The change is here to stay - technology rules. But often, with each new thing we have to do or remember in the classroom, it starts to overrule. Instead of guiding or enhancing what we do, it feels like it's beating us over the head with a yardstick.

Which is why I needed a detox. A complete and unapologetic MIA from the information superhighway. I cleaned. I cooked (and it was edible). I read. I went outside. I planned projects to work on during summer vacation, since it starts next month (!!!) I went out to eat and shop. I had conversations with friends and family face-to-face and not over a wireless device. Most importantly, I survived. My head is a lot clearer, except for the fabulous head cold I picked up when I went out to eat and shop. I'm more calm, organized, and focused. I feel a lot less stressed and a lot more...like myself.

Growing up, we didn't have a computer in our home until I was in seventh grade. Dial-up Internet...maybe a junior, senior in high school. Most of our students don't know life without it. I can entertain myself a week without technology, but can my students? Can yours? Probably not. We need to teach our students to use and utilize the digital awesomeness in their life to learn through but not lean on. If not, there's going to be a entire generation coming up the pike that's plugged into everything but life.

That being said, I just found a great app. I can't wait to share it with you. But you'll have to wait until this evening to find out all about it, because it's beautiful today - and I'm going outside.

Donors Choose

There's a light at the end of the tunnel...and its name is Spring Break! Although the school year is nearing it's end, it's never too early to think about things you need for next year. If you haven't heard of the organization I'm about to tell you about, you're in for a treat - and if you have, I hope it encourages you to get thinking about what you could accomplish for your classroom!

Donors Choose is an online non-profit that allows donors and organizations to donate funding to classrooms across the country. All you need to do as a teacher is to make an account and create a project. Using the selected vendors that Donors Choose has designated (there's plenty of them for all your needs, ranging from basic supplies to technology to musical instruments), choose the materials that you need for your classroom. Once your write about how the materials will benefit your classroom, your project will go "live" in about five days so others can view your project.

So far, I have had two projects funded by Donors Choose this school year alone. I was pretty pumped to come home Thursday afternoon to find out someone had donated the remaining funding for additional math and reading materials for my classroom! How fast your project gets funded depends on many things. Your best bet is to create a project that is less than $400, even if it means breaking a larger project down into several requests. Mine were both under $400 and received funding within 3-4 months. Sometimes there are special opportunities for you to earn funding for your project, such as gifts cards through companies like Skype and Groupon.

If you needed any more motivation to post a project on Donors Choose , look no further than Horace Mann's The Classroom Project II. Starting April 4th, Horace Mann (a teacher's insurance company) will start funding 10 projects a week $500. All you need to do is "like" Horace Mann on Facebook and post your project ID number under the link for The Classroom Project II.

If you are a new teacher or just new to writing grants, Donors Choose is a great way to get practice creating projects for funding. You have nothing to loose and a lot to gain. There's no limit on how many projects you can have funded, so this is an opportunity to begin a means of securing materials for your students for years to come. It's pretty amazing to think that people you will never meet have the opportunity to impact your classroom and students. Take a look - you may think of something to write for over Spring Break! It's almost here!!!

http://www.donorschoose.org/teachers

http://www.horacemann.com/teacher-lounge/donorschoose.aspx

Voki

March is not my favorite month.

I'm tired. The kids are tired. And this year, Old Man Winter decided to have a sunny disposition. No snow days. Not one. So, to make the sprint to Spring Break a little more...I don't know, fun maybe - here's a way to incorporate technology with langugae skills.

Meet Voki.

Voki is a way for you and your students to make a speaking avatar. An avatar is an animated online character. You can customize the way your avatar looks and what it says - and use your own voice to make him, her, or it come to life. Using Voki (which is free, unless you choose to sign up for a Voki Classroom account) you can embed your creations into your classroom website or wiki to showcase your students' creations or to add a friendly message or directions for an online activity.

Which leads me to how you can use Voki to add a punch to your instruction. Kids LOVE to "play" with Voki to make characters that resemble themselves or other crazy critters. They can also record a 60 second message for their avatar to say. Why not make an assignment out of this? Students can create an avatar for a book character and write a short script for their person to "say." They could introduce themselves by turning themselves into an avatar to post to your classroom website or wiki - or have their avatars recite poetry they have written in class! Students could research a person in history and create a Voki to share what they learned. While the fun factor is sky-high on Voki, the opportunity to improve writing and speaking skills is through the stratosphere. My students start to quickly see the correlation between the written and spoken word when they go to create their Voki critters. It's also good for applying summarizing skills, as 60 seconds isn't long to get your point across! The Voki website also has a lesson plan section that can be accessed by teachers for more ideas on how to "embed" avatars into the classroom.

Tip: You can create one account for your students to use if you don't want to subscribe to Voki Classroom (I don't). That way, you can still save their avatars if you want. Or, just have students log on to the Voki site, create their avatar, and embed it to a wiki or other online space you use in your classroom. It won't be "saved," but it will be viewable.

Try playing around with Voki yourself! Maybe you will find a way to add it to one of your assignments before the end of the year!

http://www.voki.com/

Grant Writing Tips #11 and #12

Whoo-hoo! You now have twelve terriffic tips to write a stand-out grant!

#11 Follow through – or don’t bother.
If you write a grant, it’s your “baby.” You can’t pass the buck and expect someone else to complete it for you because you get busy or frustrated. When you are awarded funds, you are developing a business partnership. How you conduct yourself will influence if you or others receive funding in the future. So order your materials, write your thank you letters (sending pictures of your grant in action is also a nice touch), complete the project, and send in the final report (if one is required). In other words, be a professional.

#12 If at first you don’t succeed…
Sometimes the path to having an idea funded is like a long, winding road. It’s not the end of the world. Many times it just comes down to too many people applying for too few funds. Take a look at what you wrote. There may be a better funding source for your grant, or maybe you need to revise how you presented your project. Everything gets better with time and practice – if you want it enough!

Grant Writing Tips #9 and #10

We are nearing the end of my grant writing tip series! Only two more to go after today! Don't worry, I've got another "set" of Sunday posts that I will start in a few weeks. Until then...

# 9 Negatives are your positives!

Securing funding isn't just about getting "stuff;" it's about making improvements. Don’t forget about your demographics and test data. Many grants request the demographic information for your school and/or classroom. Emphasize in your application how a particular demographic
benefits through your project (example: low socio-economic, status high special education population, etc.). If there is the potential to bring up a weak academic area as evidenced through test scores, include that, too. Make your statistics work for you!

#10 Measure up.
Even if it doesn’t ask for it, you should express in your grant application how you are going to monitor student progress. It shows your commitment to your project and its potential effectiveness. In the long run, it will help you write future grants and utilize resources in your classroom if you have the mindset that you will observe for the effectiveness of your project. What specifically are the desired outcomes? How will you know that your project was successful? State how you will know your goals have been met through your project.