Grants and Other Classroom Funding

This is my first year teaching, so there are many resources that would improve my classroom. The research this week into grants and funding showed that there are many resources I could tap into. I found a few great sites to help explain the grant application process. This Edutopia page has information from their Fundamentals of Funding webinar about identifying and writing grants. You can view the archive of the webinar, download the powerpoint, and view other helpful links. This blog post from Brian Dixon offers some great ideas about utilizing social media to aid in the grant process. I am looking forward to trying Google Alerts and Twitter to help me identify potential funding opportunities.

In looking for specific sites with grant and funding opportunities, I focused on sites related to math education. The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics offers grants and awards through the Mathematics Education Trust. The offerings cover many different initiatives and are targeted to specific grade levels. The KSDE has a great page listing available grants, scholarships, and awards for math educators. I am also interested in trying DonorsChoose.org. It sounds like a great way to match up donors with specific classroom needs. I have only scratched the surface in my research this week, but I have a much better feel now for what is available and how to find it.

Collaborative Technology

Collaborative technology has a tremendous impact on instruction and teacher professional development. Being a first-year teacher, this technology benefits me greatly. My learning coach uses Google Docs and LiveBinders to share ideas and resources. LiveBinders is a great way to organize ideas and sites to share with peers or students. I've started this LiveBinder to keep track of different technology tools that I have used or am interested in learning more about. The binders are easy to share and also allow for collaboration with others. I have found many great online resources for lesson plans. Share My Lesson has many free lessons and activities for all grades and subject areas. The site has provided many great ideas that I have implemented in my classroom. Illuminations is another great resource for math lessons from the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. They have great lessons that stress critical thinking and deep understanding.

LiveBinders

 






Collaboration among students is critical in today's learning environment. Google Docs is a great tool for students to use when collaborating on group projects. Students can easily share information with each other and with the instructor. As a teacher, I can also easily provide feedback to students when they share documents with me. Symbaloo is another great resource that I would like to use with my students and parents. It allows you to create a mix of website bookmarks that you can share. I could see utilizing this site with webquests or for sharing additional resources with parents. The great thing about all of the collaborative resources I have listed is the cost. Everything is free to use and makes the collaborative process simpler.

Symbaloo