Technology & Learning - April 2008 - (Page 20)

BOTTOM LINE Get that Grant Five steps you can take this summer to find the money for your classroom. As summer approaches, teachers often have more time to plan activities and look for ways to fund them. What can you do during the summer months to get ready for new grant opportunities? Create a toolkit. If at first you don’t succeed…you probably tell your students to keep trying, but do you practice what you preach? Vacation is a good time to create a grant toolkit. Your toolkit will include a basic proposal refined and polished (reviewed by friends), a list of target grants, and a calendar of deadlines. Schedule research time. Karen Greenwood Henke runs Grant Wrangler (www.grantwrangler .com), a grants and awards listing service for teachers. Free Money Contests, grants, and other ways to get the bucks. Math and science teachers of grades K–12 are encouraged to apply for the Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching (www.paemst .org). Prizes for up to 108 national awardees include a $10,000 award and a paid trip for two to Washington, DC. Deadline: May 1, 2008 CDW-G “Win A Wireless Lab” Sweepstakes (http://cdwg.discoveryeducation.com) will award five grand-prize wireless labs valued at more than $50,000 each. Each lab includes 20 laptop or notebook computers, an interactive whiteboard, mobile cart, projector, printer, wireless access points, portable document camera, digital camcorder, digital camera, and a $5,000 Discovery Education digital media grant. In addition, there will be five interactive whiteboard contest drawings, one per month through May 2008, and more than 20 additional secondary prizes. Deadline: May 1, 2008 Students in grades 9–12 (ages 14–19) are encouraged to apply for the Adobe School Innovation Awards (www.adobe.com/education/solution/k12/awards/index.html). This year’s theme is “My Community—My Planet—My 21st Century” and students should submit entries in three categories: Web Design and Development, Film and Video, and Graphic and Print Design. Category winners will receive $1,500, a Lenovo laptop, and a copy of Creative Suite 3 Master Collection. The grand-prize winner will be invited to attend NECC, including airfare and hotel accommodations. Deadline: May 12, 2008 Young people (ages 13–22) may be nominated for a Brower Youth Award (http:// broweryouthawards.org) in the fields of environmental and social justice advocacy. Earth Island Institute established the Brower Youth Awards to honor founder and legendary activist David R. Brower. Six winners each receive a $3,000 cash award and other prizes. Deadline: May 15, 2008 So many resources, so little time. The Internet is filled with grant listings, workshops, guides, and people who can help with grant writing and research. The amount of information can be overwhelming. If you schedule some time and set a few goals, you can narrow your research more quickly and focus on what will help get funding for your classroom. Set your own deadlines. Many foundations offer ongoing grant giving programs with rolling deadlines or no deadlines. They often fall below the radar without a pending date to apply. When you discover one of these programs, set your own deadline during the summer and be sure to apply. Work together. Exciting projects that require team teaching often don’t happen because of a lack of planning during the busy school year. If you and your colleagues have a great idea, schedule 20 | www.techlearning.com ©MIROSLAV GEORGIJEVIC/DREAMSTIME.COM time during the summer to make a plan for the next year. Working together on researching and writing grants makes the process more fun, more creative, and often more successful. Subscribe to a grants bulletin. When the year gets started again, it’s easy to lose track of the deadlines for the best grants. There are many grants bulletins and alerts that can help. Find one that has the most relevant grants and sign up. —Karen Greenwood Henke http://DREAMSTIME.COM/ http://DREAMSTIME.COM/ http://www.grantwrangler.com http://www.grantwrangler.com http://www.grantwrangler.com http://www.paemst.org http://www.paemst.org http://www.paemst.org http://cdwg.discoveryeducation.com http://www.adobe.com/education/solution/k12/awards/index.html http://broweryouthawards.org http://broweryouthawards.org http://broweryouthawards.org http://www.techlearning.com

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Technology & Learning - April 2008 Contents New @ techlearning.com Editor's Desk News and Trends Digital Age Assessment: Part 2 Anytime, Anywhere Learning Caught on Video Cover Story: Plan and Deliver Cutting Edge in Carolina Product Guide Reviews Best of the Blogs What's New LOY Profile Series

Technology & Learning - April 2008

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