If the pages I provided don't work for you, go to chapter 14 under 'Writing Successful Grant Proposals'.
Monday, June 25, 2012
In the next module we will be doing an activity related to grants and gaining funding for projects. Before that, let's consider your prior knowledge and questions. After reading pages 248,249, and 250 in your book, consider what, if any knowledge or experience you have have with grants and submitting grants. I do not have expectations in any way for your experiences, I want you to consider what you already know and share with us. I also want you to consider what you believe could help you in the process of learning about grant writing.
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Honestly, I have no experience in writing grants. I have never seen the process being done, I have never experienced anything with grants. I do know that they can provide additional supports. I have heard our principal say that she wants to write a grant for better computers, but that is the extent to my experience with grants. I think schools should be writing grants to get more resources and funding for teachers and students, however the whole process scares me a little. I am hoping that after this module I will feel more at ease.
ReplyDeleteI have never had the experience either but I have heard my reading coach talking about the process before. It sounds like a lot of work, but like you said it is all worth it since schools are getting little funding. I am also scared about the process.
DeleteIt can be a challenging idea, but in reality if you aren't given something in the last minute it is possible to plan and get things ready and be successful!
DeleteI'm pretty sure my district has to write a grant proposal for our Title One funds each year and I know that once they receive that money, they are sticklers on making sure it is spend EXACTLY the way we said we'd use it or we have to pay back that money.
DeleteI also do not have a lot of grant knowledge but I do know that our Title One staff writes grants each year for their program. They also are sticklers at making sure that money is spent exactly as the grant states. Our title one director makes that very clear to us every year!
DeleteWe had a big debate this year about our Title funds because some were complaining that those teachers had too much "free time" (if that even exists in education haha!) but because of our specials schedules and reading blocks, there were certain times when no one could be pulled. When we looked into changing what those teachers do, we weren't allowed to because of those rules. It's so crazy!
DeleteGrant writing is part of our evaluation process. Each teacher is required to write at least one grant per school year.
DeleteWow, S.McKinney! If every teacher were required to write a grant at my school that would be over 25 grants written each year. Do you know the percentage of grants that your school actually receives from this expectation? I like this expectation, and I think that it would benefit the teachers and the school.
DeleteS. McKinney,
DeleteI am surprised your school requires you to write grants. I think grant writing workshops would be a great idea for professional development. I wish my school would allow teams of teachers to work on grants during our professional development time.
I agree that the whole process is scary, but I do also think there are so many grants out there that do not get tapped in to. I do think that it is going to become even more important as the funding keeps getting cut each year.
DeleteI agree with Katrina. I have no experience with writing or presenting a grant. I am aware that there are many options and avenues to explore to write and receive the monies from a grant. I look forward to learning from this module as well. I missed the blog last week, but enjoyed the extra time. This is a great resource.
ReplyDeleteIt is nice to communicate with each other and very beneficial!
DeleteI agree, very beneficial. First time I have done blogging in a class. Really enjoyed it.
DeleteIt would be nice if schools had a resource person to find grants that teachers could apply for. I would like to see my school provide some professional development hours on grant writing.
DeleteSarah,
DeleteI like your idea on professional development on grant writing. We have one week of professional development before school begins, and I will be sharing this as one of my choice classes. Even though I have written grants, I know I still have much to learn, and am excited to learn more about grant writing.
I also have no experience with grant writing either. I know of many teachers in our township and even in my own building who write grants yearly. Some of these grants become funded as well. I would love to be able to write my own grant and be awarded for it at the end. I have heard of classes offered at local universities which teach you how to write grants but I haven’t jumped into it yet. Besides writing grants, I have trouble finding grants that I need. There are so many grants available but how do you find a specific grant for your need?
ReplyDeleteRebecca,
DeleteI know that there are a lot of grants out there and sometimes our principal e-mails them to us so that we can apply to them, but I never have the time or energy to complete them. I really think its a time factor for me since I am always so busy during the school year! I always feel overwhelmed that I don't even bother applying for any, but hopefully after this module I will have better understanding on how to apply for one easily.
The class is offered at IUPUI. I know a few teachers who are going to go this fall. As far as a I know they have a teacher who will be giving the course who has written and received a lot of grants before. I feel overwhelmed just thinking about writing a grant because only one gets picked out of hundreds at times. I think it is one of those things you just have to jump into and try once and see what happens. I do know in my township we have a program which offers grants yearly, if you don't get awarded a grant they let you know why. I think this is very helpful!
DeleteThat's nice that they let you know why you aren't awarded the grant. This gives you a chance to make corrections the next time.
DeleteI too have no experience with grant writing. I know they are great and would love to know more. A teacher on our 4th grade team wrote a grant for cd players for all 8 of us and got it! We each received 3 cd players for our listening stations and it was awesome.
DeleteI know the second grade staff at my school writes a grant to Target every year that gives them money for their field trip. I'd like to learn how they do that so third grade could possibly do the same!
DeleteAndrea,
DeleteI agree having the time to write the grants along with regular classroom responsibilities is a major issue for me as well.
I do not have any experience writing a grant either. I have been in a few different districts and never felt comfortable writing a grant while not feeling stable in the district. I do think it is a tool that I will eventually try to utilize though. I think it is important for schools to explore the different grants and funding to gain the latest technology and training for teachers. I am looking forward to learning more about this process this week!
ReplyDeleteI will say what I said to someone else. If you need something that a grant will fund, work with other people that you can rely on. Always measure need to effort.
DeleteThat's a great idea, thanks Dr. Walker!
DeleteI too have zero experience with grant writing. I know that every once in awhile I receive an email from my principal stating that grants are due, but have never looked into the process. I do know that grant writing takes collaborating, as stated in our text. On my last day of school, I actually attended a workshop on Google Docs. The main focus of this workshop was that Google Docs is a great way to collaborate on grant writing. People can change/add whatever component they are working on for the grant. I am anxious to see what grants are available, how you find them, and the process it entails.
ReplyDeleteGoogle Docs is a great tool. We recently transitioned to using a google account for our school email and this allows us to share Google Docs with each other. They do work well for collaborating with others and not having to necessarily sitting in the same room as each other.
DeleteI just heard about Google Docs from Dr. Walker. It is amazing!!! I plan on using it next semester to save all of my work, that way whatever happens I will have it. I can see how it would be a great collaboration tool for writing grants.
DeleteOur district also uses Google Docs. I didn't do a lot with it this year in my own class with students. But ss a staff we used it to record all interventions, evaluate our school improvement plan, and during professional development meetings. Neat tool!
DeleteI keep learning new things to do with Google Docs. I can see where the collaboration process would be easier using one place to store information and make changes. I just found out how you can create forms to collect information through Google Docs. I plan to use the forms next year to have my students enter their reading log information. I used at the end of the year, and my students raved about how much easier it was to enter their data than to go into an excel spreadsheet to input. I might also create a form for my students to check out the class library books. This would help me track the books that kids are reading and how long they have them. I can't wait to learn more ways to use Google Docs!!!
DeleteJackie,
DeleteI think your idea of using google docs as a tool to work on grants is great. I like the idea of many people being able to contribute without having to be in the same place at the same time. I too just learned about google docs towards the end of the school year an look forward to using it will my students next year. I think I will do a daily work summary journal.
I do not have experience writing a grant. I do know that they are time consuming and most of what I have heard is that most get thrown out for small technical errors. I know that most of the grants in my district are written by administrators, who work collaboratively on writing them. I do not hear about opportunities to apply for grants. I, too, would be interested in learning where you can find available grants and what the process looks like.
ReplyDeleteI agree they weed people out by finding simple mistakes, but the flip side is that if someone really wants something, they usually make sure it is professional and ready. Also, I recommend working in teams when preparing a grant proposal if at all possible.
DeleteYay google docs!
DeleteI think the reason grants have to be so technical is probably for the purpose Dr. Walker mentions: if you really want it, you will make certain it is "perfect" -- that's what the people who award the grants are looking for, someone who wants it enough that they are willing to make sure every t is crossed and every i is dotted... unless of course they aren't supposed to be according to the grant directions.
DeleteGoogle Docs is great!
DeleteI love Google Docs!
DeleteI have never had an experience with writing grants, unless you count looking for grants to help with an overnight field trip. I do know they take a lot of time and that it seems like you have to have everything just so. I feel that many teachers within my corporation are a little leery about writing grants because a certain amount (I believe 10%) is automatically taken off the top for administrative costs whether administration has any contact with the funding or not. Is this a normal practice in other corporations?
ReplyDeleteI had no idea that a percentage was taken off for administrative costs. I guess I just never thought about the logistics.
DeleteI could make your eyes pop if I told you how much the university takes off the top of any grants that come in. They justify it under administrative costs.
DeleteWe too have the problem of the "administrative costs". I doesn't really seem fair, especially is the "administrators" don't have to do any
Delete"administrating" over these grants".
I would think that administrative costs only came at the college level. I am also shocked that this occurs at the elementary level. What do you suppose the money goes towards in an elementary level? In college or private schools, I would think the money would just be applied to the general fund, but I wouldn't think it would work that way in public schools.
DeleteWow,
DeleteI was not familiar with administrative costs. It seems like that is just wrong in so many ways...and slightly discouraging.
I have never heard of administrative costs associated with grants. That is interesting information and something I would like to ask about within our district.
DeleteI, like most of us that have posted thus far, have zero experience when it comes to writing a grant. Many teachers in my building write them and get great things for their classroom and our school; it’s always something that I put on my “to do” list for various projects I’m going to be doing in the classroom- or new technology. I’m even lucky enough to work in a township that provides grants to teachers for classroom project- so why haven’t I done it yet? Well, somehow I never got to that section of my “to do” list- and to be perfectly honest- I never really knew where to start.
ReplyDeleteTaking that first step to complete something new is the hardest part of the process!
DeleteIt is always on my "to-do" list as well. I feel like that list is never ending at times. I have several friends who teach in different districts and they are "strongly encouraged" to write and receive several grants a year. They have said it is a lot of pressure.
DeleteAfter reading the pages in our book, I realize a good first step is to have an outcome. What do I want for my students to be able to do and what do we need in order for them to become successful? I also realize that collecting data is a valuable component to writing a grant. Additionally, I learned that collaborating with team members is another route to taken when writing a grant. This made me think- why not? I meet with my grade level for an hour each week- this would be an ideal time to discuss upcoming projects and materials we will need. We could write a grant request together!
ReplyDeleteJennifer,
DeleteThat would be a great idea to write a grant with your grade level team, since you wouldn't be the only one writing it and you wouldn't feel so overwhelmed either. Thanks for sharing!
I agree! A collaborative effort would make the process more manageable and less stressful for everyone involved.
DeleteI agree. I think knowing what you want out of something makes it easier to focus on how to prepare information for it. This is also true for researchers. You have to have a question, then you have to determine the best way to try and answer it.
DeleteI like the idea of knowing the outcome beforehand too. I think that is why I have never been motivated to try to get a grant. I don't know what I'd want to use the grant for!
DeleteI think it is a great idea to work with your grade level team or another teacher that has experience writing grants. That's my plan!!
DeleteI’m excited about our learning in this upcoming project. With the funding provided by grants, I’m ecstatic about the endless possibilities that may be at my fingertips. So many teachers in my building have been able to do amazing things with their grants and I’m looking forward to jumping on board!
ReplyDeleteJennifer,
DeleteI feel the same way you feel. Learning about grant writing will also help me "jump on board" with other staff members. It is amazing what money and opportunities are out there.
I like your outlook.
DeleteLike most others, I have no experience with writing grants. I've heard they can be very time consuming and tedious to try and write. The closest thing I've done to writing a grant was for a foundation that gives grants specifically for the school I worked for. The money came from school alumni. I had written a couple of applications to get part of a field trip paid for, dictionaries for my classroom, and the last application I filled out was for an interactive Smartboard. However, the foundation was not as particular as I'm sure some grant applications can be from what I've heard. Other than the foundation at our school, I never heard other teachers talk about writing or receiving grants. I think learning about grant writing will be very beneficial. I think there is money available but receiving instruction on applying and writing grants would be very helpful.
ReplyDeleteI think there is variety in the level of difficulty in writing grants. Not all are as time consuming.
DeleteThat's encouraging to hear! Since I've never written one, I have little knowledge about it other than what I've read and heard from others. Levels of difficulty makes sense though.
DeleteI have limited experience writing grants - I've only done it once. I worked with a teacher who was interested in taking a summer trip (through a grant) to Japan. At the time, Japan was part of her curriculum (she taught social studies). We team taught the gifted students, so it seemed like a good idea. We had to write a very lengthy paper together and answer numerous questions. In the end, we did not receive the grant. I have a feeling it all hinged on one question - and it had to do with me. They wanted teachers who had 10+ years experience. We knew it was along shot to even try since I did not meet the requirement. It was a good learning experience if nothing else.
ReplyDeleteThe frustration of not getting it is difficult. It is important though to keep trying.
DeleteHow did you know where to start when writing your grant? Did you look at a grant someone else had written or follow some type of template? I know grants usually have guidelines to follow, but I would be overwhelmed on where to start!
DeleteActually, the social studies teacher I worked closely with wrote a grant for her and a few other teachers for a trip to China (I did not work there at the time) a few years prior to the Japan grant. She had experience with grant writing AND it was the same organization as the China trip.
DeleteI don't have ant experiences with writing a grant. However, I have heard it takes a lot of a work and time. The school I work at just received a grant for the Leveled Literacy Intervention kits. We got enough kits for every K-2 classroom to have a kit. I wasn't part of the process, but my literacy coach would tell me about it. I know it can be stressful at times and involves a lot of planning and data support. From what my literacy coach told me, it was very important for the writers to follow the instructions completely and to be very concise. I hope after this module I will learn more about grant writing and possibly feel more comfortable with working on grants in the future.
ReplyDeleteI think it is fair to say it is or can be a challenging process. I do not think it always has to be, but there are usually some very specific things that have to be done and hoops that must be gone through.
DeleteI think I have probably only heard about the negative side of writing grants and all the hoops you have to go through. I would like to experience writing a smaller grant just to gain some insight and experience. This is something I am hesitant about.
DeleteI do not have any personal experience with writing a grant. However, our school's Title 1 program is receiving funds from the DEKKO Foundation to be used for outside of the box kind of classroom supplies and for working on the classroom environment. I also remember a colleague of mine submitting a grant proposal for cleaning up the courtyard area at our school and received funding for it. She leads an Explorers Club at our school and has used the funding to help landscape and maintain plants, flower gardens,and a small pond each year along with the help of the students. I've also heard of kindergarten teachers in a neighboring school who collaborated with the high school shop department and submitted a grant proposal for building things for play based learning such as a light box and sensory table. If I ever want to learn more about grant writing, I know I can always get advice from colleagues who have worked on grants.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds amazing!! It's so cool to see the process and then the product. It's nice to have people to give advice. I like that the high schoolers and kindergartners worked together, it's a great experience for both.
DeleteThose are neat grants. The garden sounds like a lovely outdoor learning space and I love play-based learning. Thanks for sharing those ideas.
DeleteThat is exciting that you know someone who wrote and received a grant. Hopefully you can rely on her for advice should you need it.
ReplyDeleteI have have little experience in grant writing, so I am excited to learn a lot more about the process. Our media specialist must know the right things to write when applying, because he has been able to obtain some great items with grant money. That's not say that he hasn't also been turned down many times. He has been nice enough to help our team write a couple of grants. Last year he wrote us a grant that allowed us to purchase $850 in trade books. This year I received a $250 mini-grant from the district's education foundation. It only required a few paragraphs describing how the money would be used to apply, so it wasn't time consuming like many can be. However the $250 did enable my to buy some nonfiction books and plastic book bins for every student. Hopefully after this project, I will feel more confident in applying for grants.
ReplyDeleteGood idea to start small and get used to it. When you read my post you will see that I didn't and now I am scared to death of grants!
DeleteThank you for sharing your experiences!
DeleteOur media specialist is also a "go-to" person for grant writing. I wonder if it is part of their training when obtaining their degree or if they master it out of need? Our media specialist will proofread grants and provide feedback to anyone who is submitting them. She just asks everyone to send them to her at least a week before the due date so she has the time to read them, ask questions and provide suggestions.
DeleteI have no experience in grant writing; however, there is a teacher in my building that requests a grant every year for her class to get money for a specific field trip. I think it is a grant from Target. I've looked into grants for technology improvements but I've never had a go at actually writing one. It seems so intimidating to me! Even the list of suggestions in the text makes me nervous. I think grants are such an amazing gift but I haven't come across a cause that has prompted me into action to write a grant proposal. I'm sure I would do it if I needed to or if I found one that I really thought would be worth it.
ReplyDeleteI have also heard about the grants through Target. I don't think they are as in-depth as most grants. Maybe that is because they give out many small grants and not just big money to a few. I could be completely wrong...
DeleteYou should read down through some of my other comments about the process.
DeleteI have very little, if any, experience with grant writing. I was on a committee during high school that worked together to write a grant. However, the adult leaders in the group did most of the work and I don't recall learning how to write a grant. I know my school relies on grants for many things to keep it running. The curriculum coordinator is paid with a grant as well as all of our Title I teachers. The after school program also runs off of grants. My mom has a close friend who writes grants for the community for a living. She contracts herself out and keeps many of the programs in the small community running because of her grant writing skills. In order to help me learn more about grants I would like to see some examples of grants and then explore some websites on the topic. Writing grants sounds pretty intimidating to me.
ReplyDeleteThat's great that your high school involved students in the process!
DeleteI think it sounds intimidating as well, when people are able to make a living at writing them because they have "skills" it makes me wonder if I have the "adequate skills" to write them myself.
DeleteTo be honest, I do not know very much about grant writing at all. I have never written a grant, and don't know a whole lot about the process. However, I would love to learn more about this because I can definitely see how it could benefit schools, teachers, and students. I remember a few years back our school nurse wrote a grant in order to get a pavilion built so that the students could get more shade. I think the only way for me to become more familiar with grant writing is to see examples of successful written grants and to learn more about the websites that offer grants. I believe that if I collaborated with another person in my building that was writing a grant, I could understand the process better.
ReplyDeleteI think looking at finished grants is a wonderful way to learn. Looking back now I know the grant I wrote would have been much easier now, with experience you have more of a bank to pull from in your background to help you answer some of the questions. (At least with the grant I wrote this would apply)
DeleteI have to echo most of the comments already made. The only grant I have written is through donorschoose.org. Their process is pretty self-explanatory and tells you each step and essentially what to say. In other words, I've never written a grant from scratch. My biggest question is how to find grants. Where should I be looking? How can I stay up to date on the grants available?
ReplyDeleteI feel the same way. I don't even know where to begin to look for grants. Hopefully, we will learn more about that.
DeleteIn our school district, there is a foundation that provides grants only to our district. It is a very competive since there are 14 elementary schools, 2 middle schools, and 3 high schools. Other than that, I don't know where to look for grants, either.
DeleteI also have used www.donorschoose.org. I thought the process was very easy, and my grant was fully funded.
DeleteI have not had much experience with writing grants. In a class in college I worked on a group grant writing assignment, but that was six years ago. I really do not recall much about the assignment or the process we used to create the grant. I look forward to learning about grant writing. Grant writing is very beneficial to schools, teachers, and students. With the information gained I hope to be able to write a grant to better my school sometime very soon.
ReplyDeleteI have never written a grant. I have participated in grants that have been written for our school. The grant requirement was for me to submit data. What the Title 1 director or title 1 teachers did with the information, I have no idea. My job was to teach and implement specific instruction and participate in professional development. I'm looking forward to this module because I was going to jump in and write a grant for my grade level. With all the district's cuts, I think teachers will need to know how to write grants to provide services or better instruction for the children.
ReplyDeleteYes, I agree that teachers will need to know how to do this since we are given very little to work with in our classrooms.
DeleteI have some experience with grant writing. It was a long time ago, it took hours and hours and hours and was very complicated. Thus the reason I have NEVER had any experience with grant writing since. It was one of those things that I volunteered for having NO idea what I was getting into and it left a horrible taste in my mouth. Over a decade later, I realize a couple things about that grant in which I participated that made me so scared to ever work with grants again. 1. It was a huge grant and not all grants are huge. I should have started with something much smaller. 2. It was only myself and one other teacher. Once again, it was a huge amount of work for two people. We had "support" from administration. (Notice I use the term loosely) The administration wanted it written but didn't really want to help in the writing. (Little Red Hen Syndrome) Since neither one of us were experienced with writing grants, it would have been very helpful to have had some guidance. When I looked over pages 249 and 250 in our books again, I can see where every bit of the advice given by Connie Erickson would be helpful!
ReplyDeleteHow many people would you suppose would be enough support for a grant to be written? I have always heard that writing a grant is a HUGE undertaking.
DeleteA lot of what you just said is why I am a little nervous about filling out a grant. How long did it take you to complete the application?
DeleteJeanne,
DeleteThe grant I wrote was not very difficult. I don't know if the term would be mini-grant? I was able to handle this one by myself, but the experience would have definitely been more stressful if the grant had more steps and guidelines. It still took some time and research, but I am happy that I started with a smaller grant.
Katie, I have no idea how many people it would "normally" take to write a grant like I did but it sure would have been helpful to have had 10-15 people helping us. Together we spent close to 30 hours on the whole thing. If we would have had more people it would have been quite manageable. If we would have at least had someone helping that had done a grant before it would have helped even more!
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteI am so sorry you had an awful experience with writing a grant. I have just heard so many times about how much time and effort is spent writing one. However, I have also seen first hand how rewarding it is to win a grant. I will have to start with a smaller grant to build my confidence in grant writing.
DeleteYes, but it was just a bad experience....too overwhelming. As hard as I was trying I just didn't feel that I was doing my best (because I just didn't know what was expected). I am hoping to learn how and what to do with this module..then I can start writing again. It was a great lesson as teacher to know how students feel when directions and expectations aren't clear!
DeleteYou should read through my comments to others. I think in some ways you are like me, and basically don't like to fail. That is made worse when you feel like you don't know what is expected from the beginning. I think you have a very clear sense of things at this point, and have carefully reflected on the experience. What type of grant (size wise) would you apply for now and under what circumstances would you do so?
DeleteTo tell you the truth I hadn't thought about writing for another grant until now. Because I have more experience now I know I would have more success; however, I still would like to start small...perhaps a local grant would be better than a state or federal grant! You are right, I don't like to fail and when you have no idea what to do or how to do it, it's pretty much a set up for failure.
DeleteI think this study will be just the thing you need to try again! :) As teachers, we are often very scared of failure.
DeleteI really liked your idea of starting small. I think that might be a way to begin building confidence in grant writing. I think the pressure of applying for a large grant would make the process that much more stressful.
DeleteMy experiences with grant writing are minimal. Since teaching, I have helped my school accumulate data and information for the purpose of grants in technology. The information I researched was time consuming and very detailed. I turned the information over to our administration and never saw the final outcome. I found out later that the grant was not awarded. This minimal experience has been my only professional involvement in grant writing. As someone mentioned earlier, I also had to write a grant proposal while completing my undergrad requirements. I remember the grant was science related and also very detailed but that was many years ago and I cannot remember all the specifics of the assignment. Looking over the pages in our text, I think Connie Erickson has been very helpful in suggesting guidelines for grants. In my opinion, one of her most helpful suggestions is, “About one-third of all grant proposals are thrown out because they do not follow directions.” I remember from my college assignment that it is very important to include all the information the grant requests.
ReplyDeleteI also agree that Connie Erickson's list of advice for grant writing was very helpful. I can't believe that over a third of grants are thrown out. It would be so disappointing to have your grant thrown out because you did not follow the directions. This just shows you how careful you need to be when writing grants!
DeleteI have no experience in writing grants. I know that other teachers from my school have written grants, and it's a common phrase when wanting something to "write a grant!" but I've always heard that it's not an easy process. I had heard that many grant proposals have been thrown away just because they didn't follow the directions, and that was information given in the text as well. This past year, our school has been working to get more Elmos in the classrooms (similar to overhead projectors, but in color, and works with a camera), but we still only have about half of what we've asked for. Toward the end of the school year, another teacher encouraged me to "write a grant" for one. I have yet to do it because I have this fear that if I write too many grants, I will stop getting them, and if I want something more in the future, maybe I won't get the grant because I got a grant in the past. I have never written a grant, so I am still unclear as to how this all works, to be honest, and my thinking may be completely wrong on this, but that's part of why I haven't written grants to date.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree that even the thought of writing a grant intimidates me at this point. This is why I am excited to learn more about the process and maybe it will give us both more confidence.
DeleteI know that within our system we are always hearing about grants. Most of these are from companies and organizations fairly close. I know there have been teachers that have gotten grants year after year from the same organization because there weren't enough "new" applicants to offer them to.
DeleteSometimes I also wonder if there are things I should be writing grants for that I don't even know exist! What are some of the best forms of technology that you have in your school, or some things that you would like to write grants for?
ReplyDeleteLike most people who have posted already, I have no experience writing grants and very little knowledge about them. We have a teacher in our building who writes grants all the time and has gotten several of them. The benefits are great! I do know she spends a lot of time writing them and she has said after you do a couple, the process isn't so bad. I recently was on a committee that was put together because our Title One received the grant for DIBELS data. We were given a copy of the grant so I have read through one. This one basically paid us extra to put in 18 hours outside of class to go through data from the DIBELS test and make groups or see what areas students were having the most trouble with so that we could look at how we teach. I would be interested in writing grants if it was done with a group of people. I know that they benefit students and working in a "poorer" school district, that money could help with certain areas. I'm interested to find out more about where to find grants and how to write them in general.
ReplyDeleteI have heard from other teachers that writing grants can be time consuming. I worry about whether or not I will have enough time to write a grant.
DeleteI would also be interested in writing a grant with a group or someone else, too. I think I would feel comfortable working with others before I tried writing a grant by myself.
I would also be interested in writing a grant with one other person or a group! The more minds we put together the better, right? :)
DeleteI have never written a grant before, but my mother-in-law has written several and wrote one a few years back for a grant to restore a historic house in her town.
ReplyDeleteI have talked about writing a grant for several things (whiteboards and other technology), but it is an idea that never seems to get off the ground. There has been a lot of opportunities that I have come across as far as grants. Some in my junk mail, some on the internet, and some on commercials (I believe it was Pepsi that was advertising for grants).
I am glad that I have some tips for writing a grant, now one of my ideas may be able to get off the ground! I also know that I can always ask my mother-in-law for help as well! (She was a high school English teacher for years so she helps me out a lot!)
That is good to know that Pepsi offers grants. I read something that Target offers grants, too. I hope you are able to get a grant for some of your ideas!
DeleteI have not had any experience with writing a grant. Since college, I haven't had a permanent job because of the economy and thus have been in my different districts. Because of this, I have not felt as though I really got an opportunity to write a grant. I finally got a permanent job this year in the school district that I worked for this past year and am hoping to be able to fill out more grants in the future. I know my school district fills out a lot of grants each year because they always talk about the deadlines and what they are for. I'm hoping that this module will help me in the future when I am filling out grants to help my classroom, school, and district.
ReplyDeleteWell, you will get the chance to learn more here.
DeleteLike you, I don't know where to look for grants either. My building principal always mentions grants that would be helpful, but I don't know where to look on my own.
ReplyDeleteI have little knowledge and experience with writing and submitting grants. I wrote my first grant last school year through my school’s Parent Support Group. I was required to write one paragraph stating the objectives and how the materials I was requesting would enhance student learning. I decided to write this grant because I wanted to build my classroom library with more nonfiction books, and I felt that this grant was not overwhelming to write.
ReplyDeleteSince I do not know a lot of information about writing successful grant proposals, it was helpful to read the hints listed on page 249 and 250 of our book. I know teachers I work with have written and submitted grants. I think it would be helpful for me to learn about grant writing by reviewing grants these teachers have written. I think it would also be helpful to write a grant with someone who has experience with writing grants. I am excited to learn more about grant writing since I am not very knowledgeable about the process.
Did you obtain this grant?
DeleteI did! I received $175 for nonfiction books. I bought many books, including some Who Was? books. They are illustrated biographies about many inspirational and important people in history. My students loved the books and were very excited.
DeleteI do not know much about writing grants, since I have never written one before. I do know that our reading coach at our school has written grants, since she has talked to us about writing them for numerous things we have received in our building. One thing that I got from the reading that could help me in the process is when writing a grant for something it needs to be concise and to the point. If the grant is confusing and hard to understand, then the individuals receiving the grant probably won’t even read it. Another thing that I learned from the reading that will help me is that after I get the grant written I should have someone other than myself proofread it to check for any grammar or spelling errors. When writing a grant, one should get as many stakeholders involved as possible, plan thoroughly, and not wait to the last minute to plan a grant out. It is very important that teachers, reading coaches, and administrators know how to write an effective grant, since there is a lack of funding in education today to provide schools with what they need. Writing a grant may sound and look confusing, but there are numerous websites about them out there that will help you get started.
ReplyDeleteTake a look at some of the granting agencies in the post above this.
DeleteI have no experience with writing grants myself. I have always put that on a “to do” list eventually since I have heard you can get amazing things in your classroom through grants. However, when I was completing my student teaching, my cooperating teacher was off writing grants while I took over the classroom! I have heard how amazing things can be accomplished with taking the time to write a grant. This past year, another teacher and I had discussed sitting down and writing a grant to get more computers or technology in our classrooms. Except…we ran out of time and that never happened! I think learning how to write grant proposals will give me relief and more of an understanding of what needs to be written to make it successful. The writing process has me a little nervous, but I am excited to learn more about it and hopefully be able to write a grant in the future!!
ReplyDeleteSo do you feel like it took you taking over the room for your cooperating teacher to be able to find time to do the grant writing?
DeleteI have never written a grant, but I have reviewed grants prior to their submission. I work for a large district that submits grants on a regular basis. We use to employ an individual that only had one responsibility-writing grants. Now we have multiple people whom write grants and others who review them. It would have been beneficial to learn about this in college. I am looking forward to the grant writing activity/project for this course. I think grant writing is becoming more important due to all of the cuts to public education.
ReplyDeleteWhat do they ask you to look for when you review the grants?
DeleteI know NOTHING about writing grants. I am slightly lucky at my school because, if I wanted or needed something, I would go to our development director, who writes and handles all the grants in our school. I have to be honest in that I have never taken any interest in it because it doesn't really sound like that much fun!!! (Sounds like taking a general ed class in college!!!) But, on the flip side, I need to be more informed, so I am looking forward to learning how to write and submit one!
ReplyDeleteWell, I applaud your honesty! I would not say writing a grant is fun. Some people might enjoy it more than others. I really think success in grantsmanship is a combination of need, the right foundation, and collaboration between colleagues. If you have a person who takes care of grants in your building, it sounds like you have a good situation. I believe knowledge is power though, so it is good to see what the process is.
DeleteI have never completed an educational grant for supplies or experiences for my classroom/students. I have written informal proposals for a fundraiser at my school to local businesses. I have seen many of my co-workers get great pieces of technology and supplies for their classrooms. I'm anxious and excited to learn the ins and outs of grant writing.
ReplyDeleteYou should check out some of the links in the post after this one just to get a feel for the process.
DeleteI haven't ever written a grant for school. My job is funded by a Title I grant, but I am not part of the writing process. Because we get title I funding for instructional supplies and parent involvement materials, I haven't written a grant for any materials that would be helpful to me, my students or teachers at my school. As I read the pages in the book, one piece that stood out to me that I've heard teachers discuss is that grants need to be concise and to the point. I know many teachers that have written grants and not gotten them because they didn't stick to the point of the grant, they added to much unnecessary information, or they were too wordy. So if I were to write a grant, I would make sure to read and carefully follow the guidelines listed.
ReplyDeleteI remember in grad school when I was working on my Phd, a fellow student who was very smart didn't get something accepted the first time because it was too wordy. That stuck with me because the feedback said that she had to address a broad audience rather than use a lot of specific terminology. So... I took note that you have to be as clear, precise, and readable as possible when communicating with an audience that includes non-educators.
DeleteI tend to be very wordy when I explain things, and it will be a good test for me to be very specific in my wording in order to speak to a broad audience. Will we discuss through the Grant study who typically reads grants and the qualities that are preferred?
DeleteI have some experience with writing grants. Through my school corporation, the Merrillville Education Foundation offers teachers opportunities to write grants for educational materials. I was very disappointed by the promptness and response that I received, so I was dissuaded from writing another grant through this means. I have had great success with www.donorschoose.org. This website walks teachers step-by-step through the grant writing process. My project was fully funded. I think the keys to being successful with grant writing is to have research to back up what you are asking for, so that the grant committee sees educational merit in the request. Also, be sure that you follow the rules, and make sure your administrator is aware that you are writing a grant, so that they can offer support or suggestions.
ReplyDeleteI am glad you kept going after the rejection. I think a lot of places give little feedback, but there are those who are systematic and helpful. I also believe that anyone who writes, whether it be for a grant or publication, has to develop that hard shell and put up with rejection and criticism. Now I say it like it is easy, but I know better. It took me several rounds in the publication process to put up with the criticism, but one thing I learned is that almost no one gets their work published right off. Usually it takes revisions at the very least. I have tried to keep this in mind in other endeavors.
DeleteI have heard about writing grants through Donors Choose, but I have not ever looked into it. Did you find it to be a difficult process?
DeleteMelissa,
DeleteThe process is very user-friendly. The wesbtie walks you through the process step-by-step and gives examples. I am going to apply for another grant this fall.
I have also used DonorsChoose.org and loved it! I used it during my first year of teaching as a way to gain more books for my classroom library. My project was also fully funded and I have considered entering more proposals. I agree with Melissa that it is very user-friendly. It also does a great job of keeping your deadlines organized and informing you of each step you need to complete.
DeleteTake a look at some of the granting agencies in the post above this.
ReplyDeleteI have some experience writing grants. So far, I have written two grants and have received money for both grants that were written. I have found that writing a grant for a grade level seems to be considered more than writing a grant for an individual classroom. The more students the grant money can help seems to be looked at in such a positive way. However, these were not big, lengthy grants, they were grants within our community. I have also helped to write for the High Ability Grant from the state. Now that grant was very time consuming and lengthy! Each year my school has a committee that completes the grant together and we usually do obtain money to help fund our high ability language arts program. To me, grants are very intimidating and finding the time is very difficult. Also, finding grants that are out there and available is also intimidating to me as well.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of having a committee complete the grants together, since it wouldn't seem so time consuming and a group of you could work together. That is neat that you were able to get both of the grants.
DeleteI agree, knowing where to find available grants can be very intimidating. It's exciting to see the list Dr. Walker posted! I actually came across a grant that is sponsored by Build-a-Bear! I never would have thought to look on their site for grants. I think there are countless grants out there, we just need to know where to look.
DeleteYou are so right - just knowing where to look is an exciting step for me!
DeleteThat is neat that your school has a grant committee. How many people are involved in the committee? That is cool that you received both grants!! I agree that the more students could benefit would be better than just a couple.
ReplyDeleteThe committee consisted of any teachers who had their Gifted and Talented license. Usually one person from each grade level. If there is a teacher that doesn't have their GT license within a grade level usually a teacher just volunteers for the committee. That committee is only for the High Ability Grant. We don't have any other committee for any other grants, but that is something I should definitely look into.
DeleteI have never been a part of writing a grant before. Honestly I have heard so many teachers talk about spending so much time writing grants that never recieved. It sounds like so much work and I have just never taken the time to look into it. It reminds me of all of the scholarship applications I filled out before and during college. I have been thinking about it this summer though because I would like to add some technology pieces to my classroom, and I think grants would be the only way to make that happen. I think this is a great topic to look into and gain more knowlege on since so many teachers use grants to supplement their classroom supplies!
ReplyDeleteI have never written a grant before either, but maybe after looking at the website links that were posted we will have a better understanding of them. Yes, it reminds me of all the applications I had to fill out for collage and apply for teaching positions. A lot of the time they were a waste to fill out, so I agree with you there. I agree though that this will be a great topic to look into.
ReplyDeleteAs with many of the other students I have never had the opportunity to write a grant. Our Micro coach...we are a micro society school....writes several for supplies and field trip monies for the program though. I am excited to learn how to do this. My student teacher this year had to write one for her class and recieved a grant for an incubator and supplies so she could hatch chicks in our room. Unfortunetly she wasn't a recipient of one. I think it's an excellent idea to teach educators how to write a grant, especially with the lack of funding for classrooms today.
ReplyDeleteWhat is a micro society school? Is a micro a team within the school?
DeleteI have only written and submitted one grant individually through our school corporation. The grant was written for publication of a classroom book. I wanted my students to be able to own a copy of our published class book without having to be individually responsible for the cost. My written response from the grant committee stated that they were very impressed with the project and felt it was a wonderful idea; however, they had to deny the request because my project would not support students year after year. I was incredibly disappointed and have since wanted to look for another grant program to try applying to. I think the most helpful thing for me as an educator, would be a greater awareness of the variety of grant programs available which teachers can research and apply to. I was very excited to see Dr. Walker’s Wednesday post which listed granting agencies and resources!
ReplyDeleteI have written a few grants, but they have mostly been PTA grants. Our school PTA allows teachers or teams to write grants for classroom and curricular needs. I have written and received PTA grants for kindergarten carpets, math games/manipulatives, iTune gift cards to purchase iPad apps, and decodable books for our reading series. Our PTA grants consist of a one page form and they are really easy to fill out. I love the fact that our PTA supports us by providing a grant writing process that is not very time consuming. The Perry Township Education Foundation, PTEF, is a group within our district that provides grants to teachers. These grants are very detailed and time consuming. Several years ago I wrote a PTEF grant requesting listening centers for our kindergarten team. I received the grant, but I haven't made time to apply for another grant since. Several of my colleagues write grants each year. I think it is a wonderful way to acquire resources, but I feel a bit overwhelmed by the process. I am looking forward to learning more about writing proper grants and learning to organize grant writing so it is not as overwhelming.
ReplyDeleteThat is really cool that the PTA allows you to write grants for things you need in your classroom, but like you I would like to learn more about writing a grant so it won't feel so overwhelming. I am also tired of spending my own money on everything I want or need for my classroom too.
DeleteI do not have any experience with grants but it is something I am very interested in. Last year, when I was a long term sub, I started writing a grant to help pay for our class pets because another teacher was doing it and said it was so easy. I was not able to finish it because I wasn't a permanent teacher. I recently was looking at literacy stations in another classroom and she had some really great stuff! Every time I asked where she bought something, she would tell me she got it with a grant. She offered to help me learn how to write these but we didn't have time at the end of the year. I plan to work with her on this next year and I know she would be happy to edit and check for understanding, as the book suggest. I liked what the book said about looking at past grant proposals and think that would be really helpful. I also thought that starting at the end result and working your way backward would be something I would keep in mind.
ReplyDeleteI have not had any experience with writing grants. One of my fellow teachers received a Lilly grant a couple years ago and took a trip to several countries to study folklore. I just remember her saying it was a tedious process. In our corporation we have as grade level teams received grant money. These were just basically forms with several questions that we answered and submitted. This did not seem very hard, but I realize that this was a different type of grant. I honestly looked at the process as something that I would do at some point in my career, but have not looked into the details any further.
ReplyDeleteI never really considered looking for grants that allowed me to travel to explore different cultures firsthand -- interesting!
DeleteI too hoped to come to grant writing at some point in my career...what better time than now!? :)
I also am not familiar with grant writing- I know that some teachers in my building have tried it, and have been successful, but I know it took a lot of work for them! I think it seems overwhelming, and there are probably many grants available- where to start? I am excited to learn about the process and to have a better understanding.
ReplyDelete-Sarah Beiler
I also have heard it is time consuming. However, so many schools are able to receive so many things with these grants, so I know it would be well worth the time and effort! Good luck with your grant writing as well!
DeleteI have never written a grant before. I did take some interest this year and attended a grant writing workshop put on by a grant committee. I went with the hope of gaining insight on how to make my grant stand out. I was disappointed. All the man shared with us was to follow the rules of the application process and not to apply for technology or books. With all the ideas I had come up with being centered on both those items, I left the workshop and never applied for the grant. I think the biggest thing that could help me would be to find grants available that support the materials and ideas I’m trying to bring into the classroom. I’m looking for grants that will allow me to be innovative instead of limiting the resources I can incorporate into my classroom for my students.
ReplyDeleteWhy did the man say not to apply for technology or books? I find that comment interesting.
DeleteI would also like to write grants for technology and literature. This is very interesting. I would be curious to know why he said not to apply for thise things as well.
DeleteI have very little knowledge and no experience with grants. One thing that I have always thought when people at school bring up writing a grant is that I would help, but can’t imagine writing it by myself. I think this is how many teachers feel. Our school corporation office sends out emails from time to time about grants being offered, but it seems like a very overwhelming task. I think I would feel more comfortable if I had an expert who could help me with the process. I look forward to learning more in this class so that I can feel more comfortable with the task.
ReplyDeleteI also think people equate writing a grant with writing a huge amount. Hopefully we can look at some different types of grants and consider varying levels of effort.
ReplyDeleteLike most of us, I have zero experience writing grants. Even though it does seem a bit daunting, it's definitely something I'd love to try! It's exciting to think of all the opportunities grants offer students and teachers. One of the middle schools in our corporation offers "administrative grants" from funds the principal distributes. A friend of mine, an 8th grade teacher, applied for one of these "mini grants" and received money to purchase exercise balls to use in place of chairs in his classroom. A neat opportunity that wouldn't have been possible without a grant! I thought it was very interesting that one-third of grants are thrown out because directions aren't followed. Definitely something to keep in mind. A similar situation happened about a year ago in our corporation. The director of curriculum said our corporation didn't receive a large technology grant because, as a corporation, teachers were not logging onto the Learning Connection as much as we should have been. This was before we even knew logging in regularly was "required." Has anyone else heard of any connections between receiving grants and the Learning Connection?
ReplyDeleteYes, I believe most of the time granting agencies are weeding out serious applicants because they believe is if something is important to a person they will make sure everything is just right.
DeleteI agree with the "weeding out"process ,but it sounds like this could have been communicated better to the the teachers that they should log on to learning connections. Now the teachers are still lacking technology. Those little catches with grants need to be communicated. For example, this last year we received a grant to implement MCLASS assessing K-3. Then we were told we we to pilot IREAD K-3. It made the end of the year very stressful with too many assessments. At the check out meeting with my principal he inform me that we had to pilot it as part of the MCLASS grant and we won't have to do it again.
DeleteI also have no experience with writing grants. However, it is something I would really like to be involved in. Our corporation does not have the resources other schools have in the area. Therefore, a lot of teachers in my school have been talking about jumping on board to writing grants for these resources. Some of these resoures included document cameras, ipads, ipods, and laptops. Everyone in my building did receive a document camera this year, except me. They were one short and I happened to be at the end of the hallway. It was a sad day when my principal told me I wouldn't be getting one last week. That was his last day as principla so I won't be expecting one anytime in the near future. Therefore, I would really like to learn about writing grants to receive some more technology for our classrooms.
ReplyDeleteOk, that is frustrating, but I see a glimmer of grant writing motivation there!!
DeleteI have co-written one grant from our district's education foundation. I do remember the process as being very tedious and time consuming, but worth it since we received the grant. I also co-write PTO grants on a yearly basis with my kindergarten team. However, these grants are much shorter and only consist of about 5 short narrative answers. Thank goodness. The list on page 249-250 is a great starting point on writing grants. I think the research aspect is crucial to include in grant writing. Businesses need to be convinced that their money will yield positive gains is awarded.
ReplyDeleteI agree with that. I also like the point you make about the different types of work involved in different grants. They don't all have to be 20 pages long!
ReplyDeleteI agree that it is important to be concise, and to the point. The professionals that are evaluating the grants do not want to read something that rambles on.
ReplyDeleteI am like many others here and have no experience in grant writing. I saw the lesson listed on the calendar at the beginning of the course and was excited to see it. It is certainly something that I need to learn about so that I can take advantage of resources available that might benefit my community, school and students. It can only be an advantage as a teacher to realize what types of grants are available and have the know how to move forward and try to obtain these grants.
ReplyDeleteRoberta, I have to say, at first I was terrified to "grant activity" on the syllabus. All those horrible things you hear about grants popped into my head. But now, I am excited to get started. You are right, it can only be an advantage.
DeleteI have no experience in writing a grant myself. Like Roberta, I am excited about this project because it's a process I have wanted to learn more about for quite some time. Our English department got a big grant a few years ago to totally remodel their classrooms with computers and computer desks. I know they can be a lot of work, but they seem to be well worth it. At the end of school this year our special ed. department head informed us that someone had gotten us a grant. I know we are getting ipads and some training on them. We are also spending money toward improving our transition plans for our students. This particular grant seemed to be written pretty broadly so we have options on how we want to use the money. I do know there are categories in which the money must be spent and a certain amount in each category. I'm interested to see where things are with it when we go back to school in August.
ReplyDeleteThat is an exciting way to end a year and something new to look forward to in the new school year!
DeleteI do not currently have any experience in writing grants. However, when I was in the Peace Corps, I had to attend a workshop on writing grants because it is something they promote. Sadly, I have since forgotten most of that information. My father writes grants for his job and it always seems like a very lengthy and tedious job that gets left to the last minute; like I have seen my former school corporation do many times, wait till the last minute and then rush to beat the deadline. I would definitely like to learn about grant writing because I have always been in classrooms and schools that lack the wonderful supplies other schools have. I would like to be able to provide my students with great learning opportunities through amazing resources and be able to contribute to my school in that way.
ReplyDeleteI do not have any experience with grant writing. Prior to visiting the websites that Dr. Walker provided, I only knew that grant writing took a lot of time to complete, and that my students have benefited from a variety of grants through the year by getting books and P.E. equipment.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading the grant websites, I am now aware that most grants have criteria of who will be considered for a grant depending on their demographics and what they are asking for.
I have a lot to learn about writing grants. I'm curious about how you work with administration to approve your idea to begin the grant writing process. What is the corporation's responsibility in both the grant writing and the approval process? Are their financial specifications that you need to consider before seeking funds from an outside source? I would also like to see examples of winning grant and explanations as to why those grants stood out from the rest.
I have signed up for DonorsChoose.org, but haven't found time to figure out how to set up a smaller request. From what I understand, you can start asking for the bigger items such as laptops or iPads.
You have listed many good questions. I often hear that money within our building came from a grant and I often wonder what type of grant it is and who is behind it. The idea of seeing examples and explanations of winning grants is also excellent.
DeleteI have never personally written a grant, but when I worked at IPS, the special education department was awarded stimulus money and special education teachers in the schools were given the opportunity to write grant applications to the department. I was part of the committee to review grant applications and it was really fun and interesting to read the teacher's ideas for how they could spend money to improve student achievement. In the setting I'm in now, I'd love to look into grants that would increase the number of titles in our leveled library, particularly for non-fiction at high levels. I'd also love to have some money to pour into classroom libraries that have been neglected for a long time and are looking really shabby.
ReplyDeleteI agree that it would be great to find grants that would help teachers build their classroom libraries. I have taught a different grade every year, so I haven't had much of an opportunity to build a classroom library tailored to the grade level that I am teaching.
DeleteAt this point in my teaching career I have not had any experience writing grants. I honestly know very little about grants. It seems at my school grants are typically last minute chances to secure extra resources. The short amount of time to write grant proposals is an issue for me, one of the primary reasons I never applied for a grant. I would love to attend a grant-writing workshop. I learn by doing so having the opportunity to “write a grant” under the watchful eye of an experienced mentor would be helpful. I also think having a copy of grants, which have previously been selected, would be helpful. I like to have a working model to use as a reference. I think perhaps securing data for the grant writing might be the most difficult aspect. Having the opportunity to have someone grant savvy read over my proposal before submission would be tremendously useful.
ReplyDeleteI actually have a coworker in my department who has written and received several grants. He seems to have a knack for writing grants...I guess I should use him as a resource.
DeleteWe actually had a curriculum director that was very savvy with grant writing as well and many times there are just small things that help.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI have had a little bit of experience writing grants, but only within my own school district. When I first started teaching, I wrote a grant proposal to an education foundation in my district for money to buy books, supplies, games, etc. to start up my classroom. It was a two-step process, but I found it to be relatively simple, just time consuming. They had given me specific guidelines in writing the grant. I had to include my rationale for applying for the grant, what the money would be used for, and how the money would benefit my students. Once I made it through the first round, I had to provide them with a detailed expense spreadsheet for exactly how much each of the supplies cost, how many I needed, and taxes, etc. I was approved for the grant and received several supplies for my classroom that I still use today!
ReplyDeleteI have also submitted 2 other grants over the years to my school PTO. One of the grants was part of a grade-level grant in which we asked for literacy and math games. This was a pretty simple process also. We simply followed the guidelines (very similar to the first grant I wrote) and then had to present the grant to the PTO board members. The last grant that I have written was for specific classroom games and materials to improve my literacy stations. This was also written and presented to the PTO board members and was approved.
I have found grant writing to be very beneficial. It has provided me personally with over $1,000 in materials for my classroom! It does take some time and research, but it is totally worth it in the end when you have valuable resources for your classroom and your kids!
You have inspired me to do more grant writing. I always think about it, but now I will do it!
DeleteIt sounds like grant writing can be a simplified process, if you go through all the steps correctly. I miss my school had a PTO like that could approve our grants but we don't. I thought that I hadn't wrote a grant before but I know remember during my 4th year in teacher in a different school system that I worked with my grade level team to get literacy and math station supplies for our grade level. It was an easy process since we did it all together.
ReplyDeleteI have honestly had just a bit of grant writing with my grade level team. We wanted to apply for more technology so we wrote a grant to a local grant provider call the Heritage Fund, and we found the process relatively easy and after being granted the funding we did have to present to their board as to how the money was spent. Of course we did that gladly. I know also that we wrote an online grant to target for a program that we wanted to purchase, but did not receive that grant. I was truly excited to see grant writing on our syllabus for this class because I aspire to get IPADS for our kindergarten team to share and utilize. Our school culture is changing and I feel the more differentiated instruction can only help us reach the kids. I have had colleagues that have been successful with the grantsforteachers site. The thing that I have found that can be a catch with some grants is that they require you to do something in return. As another classmate has already stated about the corporation not receiving a grant because they were not logging on to the Learning Connection.
ReplyDeleteI definitely see how IPADS could be so useful and beneficial for teachers. I know one teacher who uses her IPAD to type all of her reading and writing conferences. It is so fast, easy, and organized and she does it right there on the spot as she is talking to each student.
DeleteI am excited because I just found out that my school is purchasing 60 iPads for our upcoming school year. I can't wait to use them with my second graders! While talking to one of my technology friends this week, I heard that the new iPads (to be released around the same time as the iPhone 5) would have a feature on them so that teachers could lock them into a program that they wanted students to work with. This way, students could not simply hit the home key and browse apps.
DeleteI really have no experience with finding or writing grants. I have recently had the intentions of trying to find a technology grant that I could write to acquire a smartboard for my classroom. I did ask our principal about grants and he really didn't have a whole lot of information either. However, he did advise me that getting a grant for technology is rather difficult in our school corporation because of our tech department. They have strict guidelines and only accept what they deem to be absolute necessities. He said this is the case because although the equipment would be paid for they would still be responsible for setting it up, maintaining it, and fixing it if something would go wrong. I think that it's kind of sad that they don't encourage or support teachers who want to branch out and try new kinds of technology to improve the quality of their instructions. I've noticed there have been several links posted for finding grants and I am excited to take a look at them and see what I can find!!
ReplyDeleteI agree that it is sad that your principal didn't support you - smartboards seem to be awesome and I would love to work with one too! I think it would be hard to maintain if there isn't the technology support, but I would think that it would be something that the support team would have to learn how to do and maybe it would spread to other classes or schools in your district.
DeleteSimilar to many others in our class, I, too, have no experience with writing grants. It is something I have been very interested in, though, and have taken the time to look for available grants online. However, with each grant opportunity I have found, I quickly became intimidated by the process and did not pursue it any further. I am anxious to learn more about the grant writing process in this course and appreciated the tips listed in our book. I had never considered asking to see the previous year's winning grant proposal, but see this as an excellent way to learn more about the grant evaluators' expectations. I realize that having a strong team together is also extremely beneficial during the grant writing process.
ReplyDeleteI can understand why grant writing could be an actual job. It's not only the writing of the grant, but sifting through grants available and making sure deadlines are met....if you had several going at the same time it could certainly keep you hopping!
ReplyDeleteI have never written or directly reviewed a grant. I know that my school has received many grants and I have reaped the benefits of those. My school received a grant that allowed all teachers to purchase more leveled books for their classroom libraries. Some teachers wrote grants last summer to purchase WittFitt Balls for their students to use instead of chairs. I would like to write a grant to get the balls for my class this year, but the whole process is a little daunting. Connie Erickson's guidelines and helpful hints will come in handy when working on my grant proposal. I will also ask the teachers who received the grants last year if I can look at their proposals and then have them review mine before I submit it.
ReplyDeleteI have never written a grant, but have helped review grants written by members on my team. A teacher on my team last year recieved a grant for a guest story teller to come do a presentation for our students, which they greatly enjoyed. I've always thought that grants required a lot of work, and I never really knew how to go about getting started writing one.
ReplyDeleteLike many of my classmates, I have had very little experience writing grants. My last year of college, I worked with a partner and wrote a hypothetical grant proposal. I do remember it was not a quick and easy task. It was very time consuming and the questions and sections of the grant had very specific instructions that had to be followed. We had to do a lot of research about the exact costs and needed evidence to support why we needed the grant. This project was helpful in taking the first steps to learn how to write a grant and collaborating with a partner was beneficial because we were able to talk things through and support one another during the research and writing process. I do know there are some websites out there that allow for teachers to describe the project they want to complete with the class or the specific resources that the students may need and anyone can go on and donate their money to these classrooms. A couple of websites are: http://www.donorschoose.org/ and http://www.adoptaclassroom.org. I think this would also be good to do along with grant proposals. The best way for me to learn the grant writing process would be to have an example of an actual grant that received funding and having someone who has written grants before helping me get through the first one and being available to answer any questions I might have.
ReplyDeleteLike many others, I do not have experience with writing grants. Each year I say that I am going to write a grant to get materials for my math and reading centers, but I never follow through. The grant that I would apply for is done locally. As far as I know everyone who applies for this grant gets some money. The largest grant they give out is $2,500. That would go a long way in my classroom. I just need to take the time to apply. I guess my fear is they will reject my proposal. And I need to stop putting other things in front of this goal so I can stop spending my own money! ☺
ReplyDeleteIn order to be successful at writing the grant I need to be sure what I want as an outcome. I then need to work with others to help write the grant. Hopefully this fall when I am finished with college classes I will put this back on my “to do” list. I think many other teachers that I work with would benefit from this as well.
I, too, have very little experience with grant writing. I think one of my undergrad courses covered grants in a brief chapter, but I don't remember much of it. I haven't had any experience with writing grants in my school either. Our corporation provides grants for smaller projects and such, and I keep meaning to look into what kinds of things I could write a grant for (under their guidelines). However, my small school has a sort of mantra of "make do with what you have," so most of the teachers in my school do not persue grants. As I grow into more of a leader in my school, I can see myself stepping into the grant writing arena. However, I feel that I would need much more information about the process, and I would love to see some examples of successful (and unsuccessful) grant writing.
ReplyDeleteI have worked on the Title I grant and have seen how that process works although it is much different than most one time grants that we write. Each year at our school our Parent Council awards grants and I have written one of those each year for leveled library materials and have been awarded. My collegue and I also did a nontraditional pepsi grant, which is awarded based on popular vote, so we had to spend a lot of time out campaigning and asking people to vote for our grant idea. We did not receive the grant, but were in the top 25 and were able to try again the next month. We decided not to try it for the second month because the amount of time it took to try to drum up votes was not the best use of our time at that point, in our opinion. It was an interesting and fun grant to work on however.
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