Grant Writing Tips #3 and #4

It's time for the Sunday edition of grant writing tips! Add these to your collection from last week for some practical pointers on writing grants!

#3 Remember your audience.
Those reading your grant and distributing funds are most likely not teachers, especially if the funding is coming from a company or non-profit organization. They are usually business professionals who aren’t familiar with educational terms and lingo. You have to step into their world and write clearly and persuasively. Keep the education jargon to a minimum - especially acronyms (IEP, ESL, and RTI aren't going to ring a bell to them unless you explain what they stand for). Help them “see” your classroom by describing life with your students on a daily basis - in plain English.

When it comes down to it, grants are good PR for the organziations that fund and award them. It's school–business partnership at its finest where both parties benefit. That being said, those project proposals that stand out, that best represent the mission of the company or funding source, are going to become front runners. Learn about the organization awarding the funds. What do they produce or support? What types of projects have they funded in the past? Do your homework and apply it to your writing - and you can make them want you to represent them as a grant recipient!

#4 Don't complain. Ever.
Yes, those reading your grant have heard that classrooms are overcrowded, there isn’t enough money for resources, and teachers are strapped to provide the best for their students. Otherwise they wouldn’t be funding classroom projects. Don’t waste valuable space telling them the obvious. There's a difference between describing your students' needs and just...well, complaining. State what you do to promote student learning in spite of the circumstances. Come across as someone who has a solution to improve your students’ learning environment, not one who dwells on the problems.

Tune in next Sunday for more tips!

Pinterest

Well, I wasn't planning on making a post on this...but if you don't have a Pinterest account by now, you should. My apologies to all the people reading this that are already "Pinterested," but since I have been on Pinterest for the last hour I just want to make sure you all know, from an education stand point, what the big deal is about this web tool!

What's Pinterest? I said the same thing at first. Between social networking, blogging, e-mailing, etc., I don't need another online distraction from my school homework and literally my home work - helloooo, laundry pile! But someone sent me an invite...and the rest is history - and a lot of repins.

Pinterest allows you to easily search for ideas and projects for just about everything, and then "repin" it on pages you create on your board. It's taking surfing the web to the next level. Instead of just bookmarking the websites on your personal computer, you can log onto your Pinterest account anywhere to access all your awesome online finds.

Yes, you can keep "Googling" away for teaching ideas - I'm not knocking that one bit! But Pinterest allows you to collect your favorite crafts, ideas, and projects in a way that is visual (each "board" you create has a picture of each site you pin) and collaborative. You can see boards other people have collected - and if you LOVE what someone else is choosing to pin, you can follow them. It's a great way for teachers to learn from each other and organize the projects and ideas for their classroom. Seriously, how many times have you come across a great idea online, only to forget about it a day later? Pinterest lets you make a virtual bulletin board of your favorite stuff for your life in and out of the classroom.

A Pinterest account is free, although if you request an account you may have to wait a while for it to go through. The best thing to do is to have someone who already has an account to send you an invite (much, much faster). Try it out, and I'm sure you'll quickly be inspired by all the ideas on there! Who knows? Pretty soon I may be following your board!

http://pinterest.com/

APP Time: FREE Everyday Math Apps February 7-9

Remember those FREE Everyday Math apps I told you I would let you know about? They're here for a very short time, so get downloading!

For those of you not familiar with the program, Everyday Math is a standards-based math series through McGraw-Hill. Throughout the series, games are used to reinforce math skills and concepts - and they're pretty fun, too! If you are able to access the math series through your online account (eGames and ePlanner), you can play the games online together before having the students play them on their own, whether it be on the computer, the board games, or...now the iiPad! Even if you don't use Everyday Math in your curriculum, your students will still benefit from the skills and strategies used in these games.

So for the next three days (February 7 - 9), you can download the following Everyday Math apps for FREE: Addition Top It (adding and comparing sums, kind of like playing the card game War), Monster Squeeze (number line and number recognition), Equivalent Fractions (it will remind you of Solitaire), Beat the Computer (basic multiplication facts), and Divisibility Dash (my favorite, I mean, my students' favorite). I've never had my students dislike an Everyday Math game, either on the computer or the iPad. The computer games and apps are nearly identical, and the skill reinforcement they get from playing is undeniable. If you are wondering about the grade level range for the apps, Addition Top It and Monster Squeeze are more for the lower grades (1-2), while grades 3-5 would benefit from all of them except Monster Squeeze (just a little too "young" with the big, orange monster and all).

This is a nice collection of Everyday Math apps to get you started. There are many more, and most run around $1.99. I've never paid for an Everyday Math app because I've always waited until they have their special weeks when they are free. Apparently March 14th (Pi Day) is the next possible time that there will be more free apps, so take advantage of the ones available now to enhance your math instruction!

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/everyday-mathematics-addition/id413312885?mt=8

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/everyday-mathematics-monster/id414294235?mt=8

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/everyday-mathematics-equivalent/id417016316?mt=8

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/everyday-mathematics-divisibility/id428594346?mt=8

Grant Writing Tips #1 and #2

I figured since I've been posting a lot of grant opportunities, it wouldn't hurt to pass on some of my tried-and-true tips for writing successful grants. So here's what I'll do: each Sunday for the next 6 weeks or so, I'll post some helpful grant writing strategies. I'm pulling these from a presentation I gave earlier this school year, so some of you may find these familiar.

So you want to write a grant...

#1: There is nothing wrong with cute. Start out smart and create a catchy title!
The title of your grant is like a movie preview. A snazzy, catchy, play-on-words will capture the reader’s attention and set your application apart from the rest! Acronyms are also a great way to name your project and set its purpose. Will your preview capture your audience's attention?

#2: Think project, not product.
There’s nothing wrong with wanting a Smart Board or an iPad for your classroom. The fact that you simply want one, however, shouldn’t be the focus of your grant. Develop an experience or project for your students that have them using the materials requested in an innovative manner. What are your students’ weaknesses? How could you reach them better? What are your instructional goals? That alone should drive the focus and content of your grant.

Check in next Sunday for tips #3 and #4! Have a great week in the classroom!

Beyond Question Student Response System Grant

Disclaimer: I have a set of interactive student responders, "clickers," remotes, or whatever you choose to call them. They are amazing. You enter the questions using the software, students log in using their remotes (which is easy enough for even a younger student to do independently), and students "click" in their answers as they appear on the projected device. Once all students have responded to the questions, you as the teacher receive instant feedback to share with the class on their progress - no grading of papers required (my favorite part). Did I mention they are amazing?
So, I guess my disclaimer for this grant is that I have a different "brand" of student responders than I am featuring in this post. The one I use in my classroom is the SMART Response PE System. I'm sure that all of the different types of responders (which seem to be appearing more frequently) that are on the market have their similarities and differences, so if anyone has experience using another type of responder, feel free to comment below. Just felt that I should clear this up, being that my motto is classroom tested and teacher approved.
With THAT being said, Beyond Question is offering a $1000 grant for their student response system. There is an application on their website to download in PDF, and apparently the deadline is "rolling" (in grant-speak, that means they accept applications continuously or until funding runs out). The difference left over after applying the grant is $399, which for a set of 30 responders, receiver, and software isn't too bad. If you have funding in your school to provide for the amount left over from the grant, this opportunity is definately one to consider.
Even if you don't have an interactive whiteboard, you can still utilize responders as long as you have a computer and an LCD projector. The receiver (included in most response systems) is what captures the data from the remotes, not the interactive whiteboard. Just thought I'd through that out there!
http://www.bqlearning.com/Beyond-Question/k-12-grants2

APP Time: Oregon Trail

Want to go to Oregon? There's an app for that... and it's way better than the old school version we had as kids (isn't just about everything?)!

Whether you teach the Westward Movement or just need something to turn off your busy teacher brain once and a while, the $0.99 Oregon Trail app for iPad/iPhone/iPod is entertaining and educational. It's the same concept from "way back when:" get to the Willamette Valley with your wagon party, while surviving disease, low food supply, and wayward oxen - to name a few. You know the drill: choose your "career," the month you depart, then purchase your supplies so you can begin the trek to Oregon Country! Of course, along the way you learn about the famous people, diseases, landforms, and landmarks that made up this historic event in American history. If you have a VGA adapter to hook to a LCD projector in your classroom, you can play this together as a class (a little bit each day or just enough to get your class "hooked" because the road to Oregon is incredibly LONG) to enhance your study of Westward Expansion and Manifest Destiny.

When I downloaded it, I was expecting much less from an app less than a dollar. The graphics and activities in the app are outstanding! They are a little "cartoonish" in their depictions of landmarks and famous people, but for the sake of hooking kids on history, that gets a pass. Remember when you played Oregon Trail as a kid and it was a "big deal" to go hunting and decide how to cross the river? Yeah, that's been stepped up a notch. Your adventures on the Oregon Trail not only include hunting and river fording, but berry picking, FISHING (too much fun, I tell you), telegraphing, nailing together your wagon, and panning for gold! Oh, oh...and rafting a river is so much more fun when you get to tilt and twist an iPad instead of punching arrow keys! Hand and eye coordination at its finest, I tell you!

One thing that is kind of "eh" is that it does try to push you to buy "game cash," which is completely unnecessary to play and enjoy the game. It's just a way for the app creators to make money. However, if you just ignore that one little annoyance, the app works beautifully and allows you to complete your journey to Oregon.

There are different levels of the game, and if you have it set on easy, your students are guaranteed to make it to Oregon regardless of the missteps they take. It's fun! You learn something! And no matter how old you are...it's still fun and you learn something! Yes, I am a proud, card carrying member of Oregon Trail Addicts for Life. However, if you are looking for a rainy day recess app for your class, or another means of kicking your Social Studies instruction up a notch, it's time for you to head West!

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/the-oregon-trail/id461393130?mt=8

Grant Wrangler

So this isn't exactly a "tool" to be used in the classroom, but it may lead you to things that will improve your classroom and teaching in ways you never imagined. When I was going to school to be a teacher, someone (a professor most likely) said loftily one day in class, "If you can write a grant, you can do just about anything." Hmm. Deep. I put that sage advice in the back of my mind for a few years, until I had been in the classroom for a while. It doesn't take an economist to figure out that the money teachers put into their own classrooms doesn't make a lot of "cents" (yeah...that was corny). I was feeling limited, for lack of a better word, by what I could do in my classroom and where I was going as a teacher. So I started Googling - and I do believe that is a word now - Grants. Grants for teachers. How to write a grant. Grant writing. And somewhere, among the many pages of the Internet, I found Grant Wrangler.

Grant Wranger is a treasure trove of funding opportunities for classrooms and professional development opportunities for teachers. You can search for grants by subject, or just start at the first page and click on through. Everything is listed on this website by "first due," meaning the most upcoming events and grant deadlines (or things that are ongoing) are listed first. Grant Wrangler really shows you that there are countless ways to change your classroom and your teaching practice, if you are willing to do a little writing. I could write an entire post just on how to write grants (which I probably will in the very near future).

Before you ask, yes, Grant Wrangler has led me to some wonderful funding opportunities and professional development. The first thing I found on Grant Wrangler that really "popped" out at me was the Mickelson ExxonMobil Teachers Academy. Talk about hitting a home run right from the get-go. That experience is a entire post in itself (which I will tell you all about when the application opens again). There have been many other things that I have come across on Grant Wrangler that have lead to funding and experiences that otherwise I never would have known about. I highly recommend subscribing to the e-mail bulletin to receive regular updates on new things that are added to the site. If you are interested in finding grants and professional development outside your local area, this is - in my opinion - one of, if not THE, best places on the web. Check it out, and you will probably be back regularly.

http://grantwrangler.com/