Tips, Tools and Technology for Educators

Do you have a dream project that you want to try with your students? Have you always wanted to make an impact in your school or community? What are you waiting for? There’s more grant money out there than you have time to write for. And in today’s world we need a little more than textbooks and chalkboards to adequately prepare and successfully engage our students. Here’s some of the best grant writing tips from the International Society for Technology in Education 2010 Conference.

Become an educational entrepreneur.

Winning grants takes time, effort, diligence, teamwork and perseverance. Build a team approach to your grant writing. Research each grant’s history – including who, what, and where they have funded in the past. Call the funders to find out more than just what they put on their site. Get support and commitment from as many important people as possible. Funders need to feel a sense of commitment not just from the grant writers, but from those that support you as well.  

Volunteer to be a grant reader.

Grant reader’s help funders select winning grants. Seek out volunteer opportunities with local organizations. The more experience you have reading and evaluating grants, the better grant writer you will become. You will also have better insight on what grant funders are looking for by accessing sample grant rubrics.

Alignment, Alignment, Alignment. 

Every aspect of your grant should be aligned to grant goals and tied to your schools mission statement, improvement plans, and high standards. Also, find a way to link all methodologies and practices to sound research.

DO NOT seem desperate.

If you have nothing and have done nothing with what you have then you will not be viewed as a go-getter. Write about what you have done with what the limited resources available. Show that you take what you have and do the best you can with it. Give assurance that you will do the most you can with what are given.

Be clear and specific. Over-explain.   

Even if the grant doesn’t require explanation or even include money for the following, be sure to touch on these topics somewhere in the grant: process management, professional development (especially if writing for a tech grant), student achievement, expected outcomes, and evaluation techniques. Grant writing is all about trust. The funder needs to trust that you have thought everything through and that you will use the money to make a positive impact in your school or community.

Demonstrate the community connection.

Tie the grant to local needs. Does the initiative have the potential to be replicated or outreached to the larger community? A far-reaching impact is more likely to be funded. Demonstrate how your proposal will benefit many more than just your classroom or school. Show how your ideas can serve as a pilot and may be easily replicated with appropriate funding or materials. Remember, funders want to make a difference. Be the change they wish to see in their communities. 

Think innovatively.

You will never receive a grant for textbooks. Your grant should be at the forefront of 21^st century education. Think different! Link your ideas to research, but don’t be afraid to take risks. Be sure to include very specific success indicators and outcomes. As stressed before, over-explain. Include all the ways you will assess and evaluate the effectiveness of the project.

Invest in and enhance in your grant.

Funders want to see that you have something invested in your grant also, be it time or resources. What will u do to enhance, support, and demonstrate a personal commitment to the grant? Put yourself and your heart in the grant. Demonstrate a strong commitment and dedication to positively impacting students.

Clearly define your budget proposal.

Do not goof up the budget! If so, you will not be viewed as detail-oriented, focused, or deliberate. Check and recheck your work. Budget mistakes will be a deal breaker.

Never give up; never surrender!

Upon rejection, continue to resubmit your proposals. Try new funding sources, or resubmit your revised proposal each year. Rework and rethink your proposal over and over until it is successful. Research all the possible sources to submit your grant and do so. Last, continue to view webinars, attend workshops, and inform yourself on grant writing to increase your chances.

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“Teach kids for their futures not our past.”

These are my reflections and biggest takeaways from #ISTE10, #ebc10, and @angelamaiers. If every teacher, educator, advisor, administrator and parent could hear, understand and apply these quotes and ideas, education will truly transform; and we just might be able to save the world while we are at it!

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“Kids are no longer on the web but OF the web.”

Our students are no longer just reading content on the web (web 1.0) or interacting with content on the web (web 2.0); they are creating the web as they hope it to be (web 3.0). Today kids can and should contribute their own content and refork the work of others’. In the new web 3.0 users are no longer on the web but OF the web, building a community and working together to filter through and find meaning in information.

We need to begin to incorporate numerous forms of literacy development in our curriculum, spending less time on print literacy and moving toward digital literacy and ultimately a networked literacy. Jeff Utecht of the Thinking Stick defines networked literacy below:

“You get out of the web what you put into the web.”

With this digital community and virtual canvas in mind we read differently, listen differently; we write differently, research differently, etc. It’s a new kind of information fluency. In a recent YouTube video entitled Infowhelmed The 21^st Century Fluency project reports that our current digital output would translate into books stacked so high they could stretch the distance from Earth to Pluto thirteen times! It would be enough paper to deforest the planet twelve times. And it is growing… more rapidly than ever.

We are in a constant state of information curation and we cannot do it alone. Our students need to know how to use their networks to collect, sort, aggregate, and share information - to get their message across. “We need a contribution mentality not a completion mentality.” A new curriculum is necessary to help our students manage to effectively and efficiently navigate in this infowhelmed space and produce, not simply consume content.

“Teach learners TO BE not simply TO DO or TO KNOW.”

21^st century teaching and learning is not about cool new tech tools or having a Smartboard in every classroom. The power of 21^st century teaching and learning is in the collaboration, the creation. “This is a PEOPLE revolution, not a technology revolution.” Students are no longer writing for their teachers - for a grade, but for an international audience – for conversation. Students are no longer reading about life in Africa; they are skyping with South African classrooms. The flat classroom list goes on and on.

As outlined by Angela Maiers, kids need to be taught to be incredible infosumers, synthesizers, question askers, translators, and contributors. Students should know how to make sense of all this information and to refork it in a way that makes sense to people. Students no longer need quick answers; they have Google in their pocket! They need to be incredible question askers and translators. “The world’s language is not a five paragraph essay. It comes in the form of images, music, art, and heartfelt emotion.” We must teach kids how to be worthy of being listened to.

Further Reading

• A review of Angela Maiers’s opening keynote at the Iowa 1 to 1 Institute as well as access to her slideshare on fluency 3.0.

• Including patterns for networked learning, personal learning environments, tasks, organizational forms, resources, toolsets and sample student activities

• If you are thinking, this is all fine and dandy but how am I supposed to get around my school filters and win over administrators and parents on the wonders of the read, write, and social web? – start here.

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If you missed the International Society for Technology in Education conference this year, the big themes were digital citizenship, networked literacy, and web 3.0. The largest roadblock for many teachers in integrating these topics in the classroom is what Mario Armstrong referred in the opening of ISTE as the Locked Net Monster. The driving force behind this locked net seems to be the fear of cyberbullying and the question of student safety.

What are YOU doing to teach digital safety, responsibility, and respect?

Most school’s answer to this question is NOTHING. This head in the sand approach is not only ineffective, but harmful for our students. In this approach, kids learn how to navigate the web, social media, and virtual worlds on their own with zero supervision or guidance. We, as educators, can no longer stand by and pretend that this world doesn’t exist.

How to teach digital safety, responsibility and respect:

Gain Parental Support

Parents and guardians have been “dateline-ized” by horror stories regarding the social web, facebook, and other forms of social media. You must have parent and guardian support if you are to be successful in your approach. Bring the community in first. Inform and educate them on the amazing power of the read, write web as it relates to student achievement, global citizenship, and the future.

Teach Digital Citizenship

Students are no longer operating at the local or national levels. Citizenship lessons should reach beyond into the digital and global levels.  Teach your students’ netiquette with the same importance that they are taught the rules of the road. We are not users but community members, stakeholders, citizens OF the web.

Empower Your Students

Help your kids develop a sense of ownership with the web. Allow them to be involved in the production of internet safety media. For example, check out http://supersocialsafety.blogspot.com. Kids review and report on the safety and practical use of websites, tools, and virtual worlds.

Combat the Myth of Anonymity

Teach your kids that behind every avatar or username there is a human being with feelings. We are never anonymous. Everything we do should have our name attached to it. Help your kids recognize the power of their digital footprint and give them opportunities to build and enhance their own.  

Incorporate Social Media and the Power of the Read/Write Web in Your Classroom

Model responsible behavior and appropriate use of these powerful tools. Check out the Top 5 Ways to Use Twitter in the Classroom or the 21^st Century Guide to Teaching and Learning for some ideas. Also, know that you yourself will not be able to see the power of these tools without becoming a learner first and a teacher second. So take time to build your own PLN and start contributing to the read, write web with blogs, wikis, and more.

Photo from Scott McLeod

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