My TI Initiative Plan

You may view my plan here.

Grant Proposal Submissions

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Grant Proposal

My grant proposal titled "Chromebooks for Education" can be found by accessing this link.

Grant Proposal

My grant proposal application for the American Honda Foundation grant can be found here.

Grant Proposal

NEH Application Cover Sheet

Digital Humanities Start-Up Grant

http://www.neh.gov/grants/odh/digital-humanities-start-grants

Project Director

Michael Gallimore

Institution: 

Fairmont State University

Application Information: 

Title: West Virginia Social Studies Teachers Association 

Grant Period: 

6/1/2014-7/1/2015

Field of Project: Humanities

                                          

Abstract

Across the state of WV, many teachers associations exist to promote teaching leadership, technology integration, and best practices for teaching subject matter.  However, currently there are no programs or groups to assist the classrooms for teachers in the field of Social Studies.  This grant will help with the creation of an association that will intend to exist as a continuing learning opportunity for teachers across the state of WV. 

Statement of Innovation:

This project is will act as the first educational group in the state of WV of its kind.  The West Virginia Social Studies Association will provide imperative services to teachers that currently exist in no other way.  This group will provide digital learning tools, best practice information, ongoing educational resources, and a constant tool for teachers to express how to make their classrooms better, and the West Virginia Social Studies Association will continually ask for feedback about how this group can better meet the needs of teachers and how the organization will become better.  Furthermore, the West Virginia Social Studies Association will be best innovative because the staff will be working teachers in social studies, which will provide real time data and expert knowledge on the goals of the organization.  At this time, no other group exists to fill this gap of knowledge in West Virginia. 

Statement of Humanities Significance: 

The academic focus of this group will encompass the fields of social studies.  Social studies covers a broad range of topics which help children learn about the humanities during the duration of their time before college.  This group will help to close gaps of knowledge of best practices of social studies teaching, will help teachers to explain the greater state and national significance of their teaching, and will help teachers who are interested the history of West Virginia and Appalachia better teach their students.  The students and teachers in WV deserve the best services in the humanities, and this group will strive to meet any need or break any barrier to the educational process of social studies. 

Narrative: 

The WV Social Studies Teachers Association, or WVSSTA, will focus on professional development for teachers who are currently teaching social studies, and will help future teachers become better social studies teachers.  The WVSSTA will strive to provide a constant learning opportunity for existing and future teachers.  The WVSSTA will become 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, which will seek to provide additional funding for low income and underrepresented schools.  

West Virginia is a state with rich cultural and natural resources.  West Virginia has historical roots in the colonization of North America, the American Revolution, the Civil War, the Industrial Revolution, the Civil Rights Movement, and continues to be a place of national importance.  However, despite the cultural and historical significance, and the importance of some of the most valuable natural resources in the nation, West Virginia continues to deal with poverty, underdevelopment, infrastructure issues, and the crippling “brain drain,” due to the lack of secondary education and need for college educated labor markets. 

Enhancing the humanities through innovation: 

The WVSSTA will work fill gaps in many different educational needs areas.  The WVSSTA will work to promote professional development, better learning environments for children in WV, help to move WV forward in the digital age, explore the needs of individual schools, and provide information and resources to teachers to provide for their technology hardware needs.  The WVSSTA will also focus its efforts in promoting the continuing education of the history of WV and Appalachia, and direct the students of WV to work to fix these issues. 

In addition, the WVSSTA will focus it’s efforts on the best practices of technological integration into the classroom.  In today’s digital world, it’s important for students to be exposed to technology use in the classroom at an early age.  Many of the workshops provided will be on the use of technology, new technology, and how to connect students of social studies with other students and issues of the state, nation, and world.  

Environmental Scan 

Although a teachers association like this fails to exist in WV, there are many other groups in other states that have similar design and function to that of the WVSSTA.  The Texas Council for the Social Studies, or TCSS, has a very similar function.  The TCSS has an excellent website that serves as a place for teachers to promote their ongoing research, it provides texts and materials to assist with subject matter, and allows to post on going learning opportunities for teachers.  The WVSSTA will look to the TCSS for guidance and help for the successful creation and operation of its goals.  

Additionally, The Illinois Council for the Social Studies, The Michigan Council for the Social Studies, and the Ohio Council for the Social Studies all have similar formats and goals as the WVSSTA.  Like the TCSS, the WVSSTA will seek information and guidance from other social studies organizations for help to create the best group possible.  

As similar work is being done in other states, WV has a need for such an association.  Digital teaching resources will help to provide a low cost method of expanding their knowledge of the field, networking with other teachers, and the annual conference will allow them to share what works in the classroom and how other teachers are helping their students to learn.  Many similar teaching associations exist in WV, but they are all focused on subjects like math and science.  This association will be the first of its kind in WV, as no other teacher association currently exists to focus on social studies and promote teacher involvement on this scale.  

History and duration of the project 

The research has been conducted over a four month period.  During this time, it has been noted that states across the country have adopted new teaching standards and curriculum to help teachers to provide all necessary material.  Given the need for new standards, a concept was acknowledged that some students were not obtaining complete knowledge in many different academic studies, thus needing to standards to ensure they do.  This idea, along with the need for better technology sharing resources, helped to be the catalyst for the idea of the WVSSTA.  Furthermore, teachers may have different approaches to teaching the history of WV and Appalachia.  This group will strive to help unify a body of work, through teacher input, to make sure that WV History is taught with the up most amount of professionalism and academic integrity.  An aspect of this integrity comes in the form of the direction of focus of specific historical and regional importance in this field.  Through the website and yearly conference, it will be the teachers that work together, share information, and help to decide what should be the focus of lessons being taught about WV.  

June 1, 2014- Purchase the www.wvssta.net domain name.  After the purchase of the domain name, the efforts will be directed to creating a message board to best fit the teachers needs. Many teachers will be asked to provide input on what they think would be the best way to run the site and what features the site should provide. 

June 15, 2014- After brainstorming and pre-launch trials, the site will be formally launched on June 15, 2014.  During this time, the WVSSTA will work diligently to recruit members and ask for feedback on how the would want the association to run.  

June 15, 2014- Ongoing- Preparing for the 2015 conference.  This will include preparing the materials for the conference, recruiting trainers to come and provide information about new technology in the classroom, recruiting teachers to lead discussions about teaching leadership, etc.  Preparing for this conference will be a long process, but with ample time, one year, preparing for the conference will be doable. This will be the time to prepare everything for the conference, such as renting even space from the Raleigh County Convention center

October 10, 2014- Submit application to obtain 501(c)(3) status.  This status will help the WVSSTA to obtain grant monies, as well as take in kind donations.  These donations could range from computers, to school supplies, and teachers will be able to submit request forms to the WVSSTA for what they need. 

April 10, 2015- Meet with conference planning team and prospective teachers to ensure conference stability.  

July 20, 2015- The first annual WVSSTA conference.

This will conclude the grant period.  The WVSSTA will consider its establishment after the first conference. 

Work Plan

The WVSSTA will primarily work through three pathways: a biannual online newsletter, an online forum, and an annual summer conference.  

The WVSSTA will have an annual conference that will offer workshops to teach various educational activities.  Workshops will include, but are not limited to, using technology in the classroom, grant writing, educational activities, promote teacher research, assist in continuing education credits, promote national teacher certification, etc.  Assessment of conference will come in the form of an evaluation sheet that will be mailed to members and participants of the conference.  The evaluation sheet will include a questionnaire on what worked and what didn’t, will inquire about future participation of conferences, and will ask for individual feedback about what should be offered in subsequent conferences.  A portion of the online message board will be focused on the conference and how it can be made better. 

The WVSSTA will have a focus on helping to provide educational leading standards to the underrepresented populations of the state.  The WVSSTA Annual Conference will accept donations, but operating costs will rely on grants and membership fees.  Membership fees will be $30.00 per year, but these fees will be based off a prorated system.  If a teacher comes from a school with a high percentage of children falling below the federal poverty level, special consideration will be taken to include these teachers and membership fees will be waved.  If the median income salary of a county falls below the national poverty level and within 15% above the poverty level, teachers will have membership fees waved.  Furthermore, this program will take special emphasis on the county statistics of the amount of families that come from first generation college students and low margin college family backgrounds.  Moreover, the WVSSTA will work diligently to asses the technology needs of each school and will provide all available resources to provide resources to make sure needs are met. 

The purpose of the online newsletter will help to promote awareness of grant and resource opportunities for WV teachers, share stories of successful new technology in the classroom, explain new education legislative changes, promote the summer conference, and provide teachers with community service opportunities for their student's, normally in relation to social studies.  The purpose of the newsletter being online will function to eliminate costs, environmental degradation, and the increasing use of digital technology.  Since the newsletter will be not require costs, this will significantly lower the operating expenses needed to spread knowledge of the association to members. The newsletter will be evaluated on the online message board and will feature a thread about input that should be included in the next newsletter. 

The purpose of the online message board will be to assist teachers throughout the year, where they will be able to ask questions, post answers, see what other teachers are doing, and so much more.  The message board will feature many different threads to fit the ongoing needs of WV social studies teacher’s needs.  For example, one thread may only deal with educational activities in the classroom, while another may be a way for teachers to post class project ideas and then post pictures of the class projects as they are completed. Evaluation of the message board will come in the form of a specific thread to help the users 

This will be an excellent resource to teachers, as no other association exists in WV specifically for social studies teachers. 

Staff 

At this time, staff is being recruited to promote the best statewide association possible.  At the current time, the staff is quite limited, but recruitment is being completed in a statewide manner.  Due to the size of WV and the different cultural and political nature of the state, members from all different education regions are being sought.  Once the group has been chosen, members will run for the various positions in the WVSSTA.  The group will have an advisory board, which will meet monthly in Charleston, WV to discuss the agenda of the group.  The staff members will be decided once recruitment has been completed. 

 Budget: 

The total grant being requested will be $1210.00.  These funds are start up funds and they will provide enough budget for start up fees and one year of operating, until all association goals have been met once.  After the initial year, funds will be raised in many different venues, but the WVSSTA will seek donations.  This organization will have an operating budget, but other than costs associated with maintaining the organization, conference, and online newsletter, volunteers will offer their labor as in kind donations.  Meaning, positions within this organization will not be paid.  This will be a strictly volunteer project and the strength of this program will rely on the level of work that volunteers wish to contribute.The WVSSTA will be offer ongoing donation and funding opportunities 

Biography:

At this time, the principal project participants are being recruited.  The members being sought out are veteran teachers of social studies, but early teachers are also encouraged to join the WVSSTA team to work on these projects.  The WVSSTA will have formal qualifications of members: must be a certified teacher, must be either currently teaching or a recently retired teacher, participants can members of the Board of Education and State Board of Education, but they still must fulfill all other criteria. 

Data management Plan

Data management of the WVSSTA will primarily come in the form of a website and the online newsletter.  Data will be distributed on the website through the message board, where members will be able to interact with other teachers, share knowledge, and keep up to date with what the WVSSTA will be doing.  Other data will be managed by the team through computer storage devices and paper folders.  It will be the responsibility of the teachers to maintain this storage.  

Resources

ProBoards. (2014) Proboards: Free Message Board Forum Creator. Retrieved from  http://www.proboards.com/create-free-forum

Beckley-Raleigh County Convention Center.(2014) Prices. Retrieved from   http:// beckleyconventioncenter.com/Prices

West Virginia Science Teachers Associtaion. (2014) Join Today WVSTA.  Retrieved from  http://www.wvsta.org/index.php/membership.html

West Virginia Council of Teachers of Mathematics. (2014) President’s Remarks. Retrieved from  http://www.wvctm.com/

United States Census Bureau (2014) State and County Quick facts: Wyoming County, West Virginia. Retrieved from  http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/ 54/54109.html

United States Census Bureau (2014) State and County Quick Facts: Mcdowell County, West Virginia. Retrieved from http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/ 54/54047.html

Texas Council for Social Studies. (2014) About. Retrieved from http://txcss.org/? page_id=2

Illinois Council for the Social Studies (2014) Welcome Social Studies Educators. Retrieved from http://www.illinoiscss.org/

Michigan Council for the Social Studies (2014) Strategic Plan. Retrieved from https://www.mcssmi.org/about-mcss-mainmenu-29/strategic-plan-mainmenu-75

Ohio Council for the Social Studies (2014) OCSS Mission Statement. Retrieved from 

http://ocss.org/

Module 6 Comment

Walesca,

Your job must be very rewarding.  I commend your organization for seeking and securing funds to provide children and families with the much needed support.

Module 6 Walesca Marrero

As I combed through each link I realized that Education, Community and Parents go hand in hand. It takes a village to raise a child how true a statement. As the Executive Director for The Taylor County Collaborative Family Resource Network (TCCFRN)  much of what I do is exactly that. It is my job to bring the network and collaborating pieces to our education system by assessing the needs of our children and families.

      TCCFRN  is a non profit organization that is funded through a grant from DHHR. There is one in every county in West Virginia. I have listed below some of the things our office does within our community. TCCFRN will help to educate families on how to access affordable health insurance for their children and families that will empower a healthy lifestyles, this will ensure a healthy and productive life. 

It will be the our responsibility to assess, develop and promote early childhood services in Taylor County that will be coordinated by providing quality services that will be accessible to families. Services will include in home child education like Parents as Teachers, Starting Points and High School Drop Out prevention. Theses programs are all grant funded through the state, TCCFRN is the fiscal agent of each one. Every year the board meets to discuss new opportunities for future grants that can assist in program development for our schools and community. Our network will  address these issues so that: Resources are invested wisely, services for children and families are more effective and efficient, the need for new or expanded services can be addressed, citizens have the opportunity to shape services in their community, and public support for children and families is increased.We currently have over twenty five partners that are all part of our general membership. 

       Taylor County Collaborative FRN will function as a community problem-solving group that will promote  outcomes such as safe communities, stable homes, strong families, healthy people, children ready for school and skilled worker. Our agency will be committed to improve services for children and families by:  Assessing

 community needs and resources, developing and implementing local plans, coordinating services increasing public awareness, mobilizing the community around issues affecting children and families, and evaluating the results of their efforts. 

The TCCFRN is vested in Community, Education and Promoting a healthy life for our children and families. We bring the resources to our community.

RESOURCES

http://www.wvdhhr.org/%5C%5C./bcf/documents/FRN_Directory_10-01-13.pdf

http://www.americaspromise.org/

Module 6 Comment

Marlisa,

The "Funds of Knowledge" article strikes a chord with me as well.  This school year was my first experience to work with many students (ESOL), English for Speakers with other Languages.  During this school year, it was imperative to tap into these students funds of knowledge and gain an understanding of cultural similarities and differences.  My observations indicated a gap in terms of content area vocabulary.  So, we had to work extremely hard to fill in the gaps to help these children become successful.  Several meetings with parents and translators, opened the doors to creating and maintaining the school/teacher/parent/community relationship. 

Module 6

The first article that I read was "Family Involvement Across Learning Settings." This article was of particular interest to me, because I have always been able to spot the children with involved parents, as well as their non-involved counterparts. The article highlighted the fact that families not only play a pivotal role in learning in school, but also learning that is in out-of-school contexts.

The following is the 3-part definition of family engagement that was proposed in the article:

1. Is a shared responsibility in which schools and other community agencies and organizations are committed to reaching out to engage families in meaningful ways and in which families are committed to actively supporting their children’s learning and development.
2. Is continuous across a child’s life and entails enduring commitment but changing parent roles as children mature into young adulthood.
3. Cuts across and reinforces learning in the multiple settings where children learn— at home, in prekindergarten programs, in school, in after school programs, in faith-based institutions, and in the community.

As I think about the role that teachers play in engaging in school and community resources, the aforementioned definitions maintain that family engagement is a shared responsibility between the teachers and the community in reaching out to engage families so they are committed to supporting their children's learning. In my opinion, the role of the teacher should be to serve as a bridge between the community  resources and the parents of the children. Maintaining a strong relationship with the community in which the family and students reside will ultimately promote school and learning within the family's home. 

The second article that stood out to me and struck a chord was the article-"Funds of Knowledge." Every family's household maintains "funds of knowledge" regardless of level of formal education or literacy. These "funds of knowledge" are different from mainstream families, but it is a powerful tool in the creation of lessons for math, science, reading, etc. However, these authentic, cultural activities rarely make their way into the school curriculum. At this point, it is the primary role of the teacher to interact with members of the families, as well as members of the community.

By interacting with the community and planning at-home visits with the families, the teacher will be able to tap into these "reserves of knowledge." In areas where their is a high achievement gap, the "funds of knowledge" can be of exponential help to teachers in motivating the students. In addition, teachers have the opportunity t enhance their professional development through ethnographic analysis. 

Module 6 Comments

Michael,

I thoroughly enjoyed reading your reflection of the assigned readings. The Communities in Schools statistics are remarkable.  The success stories are an inspiration!  Programs to support learning and student success need to have the personnel that understand the importance of developing relationships.

“The suit teachers wear may not come with a cape, but it may be just the uniform required to help students see the light at the end of the tunnel and help them through a villain-like problem they are dealing with.  You may not be Superman or Superwoman, but you might have just enough power to get the job done.”  Not many words, but powerful statements that make you feel like you can achieve anything!

Adam,

 “Knowledge of our students' experiences and their impact of their family's culture on their opinions towards education need to be taken into account.” 

Thank you for the new perspective about school and community relationships. You are right, we have to know “where our students come from”.  Without an understanding of culture, parent expectations and experiences we are missing a valuable piece of a child’s education.  As teachers we must supplement, close gaps, and provide realistic and relevant experiences so our students see the light at the end of the tunnel.

This is an excerpt from your resource (New Hampshire Dept. of Education):

Research shows that students whose parents are involved in their education are more likely to:

• Adapt well to school
• Attend school more regularly
• Complete homework more consistently
• Earn higher grades and test scores
• Graduate and go on to college
• Have better social skills
• Show improved behavior
• Have better relationships with their parents
• Have higher self-esteem

If we could show this research to parents and teachers (not in a newsletter sent home), but in a meaningful, and supportive approach the delicate relationship that exists between school and home may flourish. 

Module 6

Of all the resources on teachers being community members, I found the most valuable to be the Communities in Schools group.  This group has a focus of “Changing the lives of 1.3 million students” and doesn’t accept the answer that it’s not possible to save every child.  The Communities in Schools website has many different stories of children who’s lives were completely turned around by the influence of their teachers. The stories range from parents with addictions, to students with criminal behaviors.  However, in some way, maybe with the smallest first step, a teacher was able to make a connection with these students and completely change their life.  Before the work of the teacher, these students were looking everything from dropping out of school to jail time.  

What made the difference?  What completely changed their lives from dropouts to graduates? Teachers.  Teachers who decided that their jobs didn’t end with the bell ringing after the final block of the day, and teachers who decided that their job gave them more power and responsibility than just pass out worksheets and notes.  This is that awesome power that teachers have.  Each and everyday, teachers are lucky to be in the position to truly make a difference in the world and have a positive impact on the lives that sit in their classrooms.  

This is one example of how teachers can be community leaders.  Being a community leader might not always have the formal titles or fancy offices.  Every time teachers go beyond simply explaining the subject matter, they are improving the community.  This is quite different than the typical notion of what a community leader might look like, but how can the influence of teachers helping to better the lives of their students be overlooked?  From this perspective, educators really are community leaders in that they are helping to shape the lives of all in the community.  Is it possible to teach the subject matter while also not making a connection to the students?  Going the extra step and possibly being the only person who might listen to the complex lives of our students might be the difference in the high school dropout and a college graduate.  

So, what to go from here?  Being a teacher may mean that you have to wakeup every morning and put on a suit. Does this suit have to be the one that a community leader wears while sitting in a fancy office, with an equally fancy job title enscrolled on the door outside? It could be and it’s great when it does.  However, it simply doesn’t have to be.  Some of our students are going through problems that we will never see or understand.  Some of our students may be wishing for a magical superhero to come and save them from the disaster of their world.  Who will be there and what suit will they be wearing?  The suit teachers wear may not come with a cape, but it may be just the uniform required to help students see the light at the end of the tunnel and help them through a villain-like problem they are dealing with.  You may not be Superman or Superwoman, but you might have just enough power to get the job done.

Thanks

"I know no safe depositary of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves; and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them, but to inform their discretion by education. This is the true corrective of abuses of constitutional power." --Thomas Jefferson

I encourage you to really look through these student’s stories and how their lives were completely turned around.  

Success Stories: 

http://www.communitiesinschools.org/our-impact/success-stories/

Jamal:

http://youtu.be/v_TX6YiAVyI

Tristan Love:

http://www.communitiesinschools.org/our-impact/success-stories/story/Troubled-Teen-Learns-Through-Teaching/

Cheyenne: 

http://www.communitiesinschools.org/our-impact/success-stories/story/trip-dentist-kept-cheyenne-school/

Module 6

I see the world becoming more homogenized over the years. It seems that all parts of the world are becoming similar through the influence of media and big business. A sense of uniqueness from one community to the next is dwindling. When people said that they were from a particular region of the United States there was a general idea of who their family is and what there culture is like. Nowadays, we all seem too familiar and too "general," without the characteristics that separated our community's culture from another. The lack of culture differences and separation from our roots stems from a lack of community involvement propelled by increased reliance and use on technology. Not that new technologies are a bad thing, but we have relinquished our uniqueness that was defined by our community ties and replaced it with the electrical entertainment and stimulation at our fingertips. There is a need for a resurgence and connection with our local community.

Teacher leaders can play a large role in community education experiences. Incorporating the vast knowledge and experience of community leaders and field experts into our classrooms is a major step towards maintaining community ties and keeping communities strong willed and alive. At my school, the HCALC, there is an English teacher who brings in folklorists and historians to keep the old tales alive and show the students that there is much to b proud of in West Virginia and Harrison County and that we don't need to leave our community to seek adventure or well-paid jobs. There is a science classroom that brings in coal miners, gas drillers, governmental officials, small business owners, and self-employed community members into the classroom to hold discussions and presentations on the benefits and satisfaction of maintaining strong community ties and making a good living at the same time.

I remember going home with assignments requiring me to seek out and interview my extended family members on my family history, their occupations, and why an education is important for me to obtain. These lessons opened my eyes to the larger community in my family and the town I grew up in. Teacher leaders do not need to be the ones providing direct instruction about community events and jobs, but they certainly can gather the resources needed to bring in an experienced community member to bring the lesson to the students. Mainstreaming our students is not the best practice. Yes, we need to prepare our students to leave the schools with the knowledge needed to succeed in many fields or to continue their training at a collegiate level or in a vocational school. But, we should also open the eyes of our students to the wider world around them in their own community; we can do this by holding seminars, job fairs, inviting community members in to talk with our students, partnering with businesses to have field trips to the places that perform services for and help run our communities. Many cities and towns have fallen to the wayside, because of the 21st-century teachings of individualism without the focus of the community.

There is a saying that goes, "It takes a village to raise a child." We see this through socialized public services, but we often fail to teach our students to give back to the community and leave them to individual capitalism of the self. Teacher leaders can provide the resources and experiences (of which there are many and most are at no cost) needed to rejuvenate the stagnate state of our communities. One easy method is to invite the students' own parents, grandparents, and uncles/aunts to the classroom to share their stories and jobs, to show the students that family relationships do matter and that without good, strong family ties the community will fall apart. This fall from grace is evident in some of our once thriving big cities in which family values have fallen away to gang violence, where the infrastructure (both physical and societal) and community disintegrates.

Knowledge of our students' experiences and their impact of their family's culture on their opinions towards education need to be taken into account. It is desirable to include many cultures and ethnicities into our teachings if our students are ethnically diverse. Teacher leaders must show the inter-connectivity of ethnic groups and how these connections benefit the community for these lessons to be relevant to all students. Parenting is another very broken role on our society, but I know of no resources that can be brought into the schools to help with this problem without causing problems between bad parents and our schools. The benefits of strong tie between the schools and the community cannot be underestimated. To do so, would undereducate the future of our communities.

Some resources I found that I would like to share:

A good report on a case study of community based education.

An educational site touting the importance of community in education and education in the community.

Module 5 Comments

Walesca,

A great plan to capture the atttention of schools and the community.  Have you ever developed or designed an app?  I would like to learn how to do that!  Do you have statistics for tobacco use in Taylor County?  The Town Hall meetings and County Fair displays should be an effective platform for dissemination of materials. Once teachers are trained, will they be responsible for implementing materials in their school? I notice you are paying the consultant, will teachers receive a stipend? How will you assess the effectiveness of this initiative? I believe your grant is an important school and community need. On a personal note, if this App is developed, I will help in spreading the word! Nice work!

Module 5 Comments

Marlisa,

Chromebooks would be an excellent tool for engaging students in 21st century skills. I've had numerous experiences using technology tools with students and observing the transformations in each student.  Currently, I work as an Early Intervention teacher and  it's my responsibility to help struggling students make gains in math and reading. Last week, my students were using Kindles for math practice and my administrator was astonished at their level of engagement and the ability to stay focused. Let me add, the app we were using was Common Core aligned.  Looking at student test scores will help you analyze the benefits of the chromebooks, and you could also ask for student opinions for qualitative information. I hope you will consider actually applying for the IRA grant.  Nice work!

Module 5 Comments

Adam,

Your rough draft is appealing and has a positive tone that captures the reader's attention.  You highlight the importance of student engagement and achievement. You should definitely review the specifics of the Ed.gov grant link you've provided. In addition, you could speak to the Special  Ed. and Science Coordinator for your county and provide copies of your grant proposal and technology initiative. Your county coordinators can offer valuable grant information. In previous posts you have spoken highly of your administrator, so be sure to show him your proposal and reinforce how the grant will meet the school's needs. Checkout the Digital Wish site, it's an online fundraiser.  I used this site to acquire five Kindles. Also, if you have Partners in Education this may be an option for funding. Your proposal is exciting and would greatly benefit students, I truly wish you the best! Wonderful work!

Module 5 Comments

Michael,

Here are a few questions for thought.  You do not have to use these ideas in your proposal.

Your proposal reflects an important need for teachers and students in the state of WV. Will this group begin on a small scale within your school or setting?  Will your professional development train the teachers in your school to promote and organize the WVSSTA?  Are you going to integrate technology or funding for technology through the use of the online forums?  Maybe your technology could include cameras/microphones, etc.. for teachers in your school to participate in or create webinars (maybe this is something you already have in your school)?

The templates provided in the Common Grant Application link you provided are extremely helpful!

Here's a link to additional resources from the WVDE site.

http://wvde.state.wv.us/search.html?q=social+studies&x=0&y=0

I believe many Social Studies teachers would agree with your proposal. Great work!