Classroom prizes and grants available!

Project Tomorrow is celebrating Speak Up America Week 2014 this week with opportunities for schools and classrooms to win prizes and grants by participating in this year's Speak Up surveys. All the details are available here: http://www.tomorrow.org/speakup/speakupamerica.html

They are also offering sneak peeks every day at the data from the more than 340,000 surveys completed so far by teachers, students, parents and more. You can see all the data reveals here: http://www.tomorrow.org/speakup/speakupamerica_snapshot2014.html. Today, started with responses about professional development from teachers.

See below for information about all of this week's activities and opportunities.

For Immediate Release: December 8, 2014                                                

Contact: Amber Taylor, 703-201-4893, amber@taylored-communications.com

Speak Up America Week Highlights Chance to Share Views on Technology and Learning

Preliminary Data on 2014 Findings Released Every Day This Week;

Prizes and Grants Available for Schools, Districts and Participants during Speak Up America Week, Dec. 8-12

National Online Surveys Close 12/19: http://www.tomorrow.org/speakup/

Irvine, Calif. – More than 340,000 students, educators and parents have “spoken” so far as part of this year’s Speak Up surveys about how they use – and how they would like to use – technology for learning. December 8-12 is Speak Up America Week as the deadline for the surveys, on December 19, approaches. 

As part of this special week, Project Tomorrow will be releasing preliminary findings from the 2014 surveys completed so far. Today’s findings are about teachers. Among the 17,913 teachers who responded by Nov. 24th, they say “how to use technology to differentiate instruction” (51 percent) and “how to use educational games in the classroom” (35 percent) are at the top of their wish list for professional development this year. And, 37 percent of teachers in 2014 say they have participated in an online class for professional development facilitated by a college or university; 17 percent say that they have had the same experience – facilitated by their own school district. See a short video of the findings and the Speak Up 2014 Snapshots for Educators blog post.

Schools, districts and participants also have the chance to win prizes and grants just for expressing their views on some of the hottest topics in education.

One of last year’s winners reported back, “I have been participating in the Speak Up survey ever since it started [in 2003].  Technology has grown in my classroom by leaps and bounds since then, but as with any technology, there is always something new to add to the classroom,” said Dr. Karl Ochsner, Pope John XXIII Catholic School in Arizona. “After winning the $500 prize last year, I purchased an XYZ 3D printer to integrate STEM into my classroom. My students since then have created iPhone cases, key chains, tie clips and more.  Even though the survey data is an invaluable tool at our school, getting the opportunity to purchase the latest in technology was icing on the cake!”

The annual Speak Up surveys are used by schools, districts, states and national leaders as they make decisions about policies and funding. 

“With one week to go before the surveys close, we are reminding everyone that they should have a voice in the future of education, so Speak Up, America!” said Julie Evans, CEO of Project Tomorrow, about this week-long campaign to encourage participation.

Learn more about all the Speak Up America Week activities at http://www.tomorrow.org/speakup/speakupamerica.html:

• National Speak Up Day — Wednesday December 10th
• Twitter Chat on surprising preliminary findings with Julie Evans — Wednesday,  December 10 – 4:30 pm ET/1:30 pm PT
• Classroom or School Grant Photo and Video Challenge — 5 chances to win grants of up to $500
• Free International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) 2015 Conference Registrations — multiple chances to win throughout the week
• Free Regional Conference Registrations to CUE, NCCE, NETA and TCEA
• Free one-year BrainPOP classroom certificate
• Daily Speak Up 2014 Preliminary data snapshots
• How Does Your State Compare? View the “Are you Speaking Up” state participant map to see where your state falls. — Updated daily

More than 340,000 people have completed the surveys since they opened in October. The online Speak Up 2014 surveys close on December 19^th.  Learn more via http://www.tomorrow.org/speakup/.

Since 2003, more than 3.7 million K-12 students, educators and parents from more than 30,000 schools in all 50 states have participated in Speak Up. The online survey is facilitated by Project Tomorrow and supported by many of our nation’s most innovative companies, foundations and nonprofit organizations including Blackboard, Inc., BrainPOP, DreamBox Learning,  Fuel Education, Qualcomm Wireless Reach, Rosetta Stone, Schoolwires and SMART Technologies. 

Project Tomorrow partners with more than 75 different education associations, organizations and think-tanks for outreach to the schools and development of the survey questions including the American Association of School Administrators, Consortium for School Networking, Digital Learning Day, Digital Promise, edWeb.net, eSchool News, iNACOL, International Society for Technology in Education, National School Boards Association, National Secondary School Principals Association, Southern Regional Education Board and State Education Technology Directors’ Association.

Learning Resources announces the sponsorship of a teacher grant hosted by WeAreTeachers

  

Learning Resources announces the sponsorship of a teacher grant hosted by WeAreTeachers. To apply, teachers must answer this question: “How would you use portable interactive technology to create collaborative lessons?” After the application process concludes, educators can invite colleagues to vote for their favorite lesson ideas. Each of the three top vote getters will win a set of three now!Boards and three GeoSafari Tuff Cams, a prize package valued at $2,000. Additionally, two merit-based winners selected by a panel of teachers will each win one now!Board and one GeoSafari Tuff Cam, a total value of $700. Teachers can apply for the grant online through May 22, 2012.

Why limit your classroom to one room and one teacher? Instead, with the advent of new portable interactive technology like the now!Board™, teachers can more easily see the world as their classroom. We want you to start imagining the educational possibilities that come with having access to a portable interactive device that enables you to turn any flat surface into an interactive whiteboard. Imagine how you could step outside traditional lesson boundaries to explore new methods to create a flexible, collaborative and creative learning environment for your students. 

What are your ideas for:

• Collaborating with other teachers — both inside and outside of your school — to teach interactive lessons?
• Moving your students and your technology outside the four walls of your classroom for new and innovative learning opportunities?
• Dreaming up new instructional methods that are only possible with the use of mobile interactive technology.

For more information and to apply for the grant, visit http://www.weareteachers.com/teaching-ideas/grant?grantId=102.

Related:

We Are Teachers - great resource for educators

now!Board - portable interactive whiteboard technology

Winners announced in "Who is Best Teacher in America" Contest

Worth Ave. Group is a company that provides affordable insurance to help individuals, students and schools protect their portable electronics.They hosted a contest for teachers to win money and prizes and the winners have been announced. Check below to see who won.

Related:

Technology in Education Grant Giveaway - win some great tech and money

Technology in Education Grant Giveaway - win some great tech and money

Technology is becoming more and more important in schools and the technology is more and more portable. This means that the technology can break, get damaged, stolen or lost. Many schools rely on their own district or city/town insurance to deal with issues with their technology, but these are not always the best ways.

Worth Ave. Group is a company that provides affordable insurance to help individuals, students and schools protect their portable electronics. With the rising number of tablets, e-readers, and laptops in schools, protecting your investment is very important. They work with schools already, including many that have one-to-one laptop programs, to protect these devices and have over 40 years of experience.

Worth Ave. Group knows that technology plays a vital role in preparing students for the future. In an effort to give back to education, Worth Ave. Group has a Technology in Education Grant Giveaway for educators. Educators simply enter and get votes to win. Prizes include: Grand Prize - 16GB iPad 2 for the teacher and 20 iPod Touch 8GB units for use in their classroom. The school will also be given $25,000 to be used for technology in the school. Five second prize teachers will win a 16GB iPad 2 and $1000 for technology in the school. The voter prize is 5 random votes will win a 16GB iPad 2 and so will the persons who referred each one. Up to 5,000 people will win a 1 year subscription to Worth Ave. Group’s laptop tracking software, Worth Track.

These are some very nice prizes and a nice way to recognize a teacher.

Disclaimer: The Worth Ave. group is a paying advertiser on Educational Technology Guy. See their ad for the contest on the right side of this blog. They did not pay for this article though.

Thank goodness for grants and generous people - they supplied 80% of what's in my room

It just occurred to me as I looked around my classroom that about 80% of the technology, resources and equipment in my room has come from grants, not the school district. I also use all free software and web apps.

School district supplied: teacher computer and printer, Windows and Office, 5 student computers, paper, desks.

Acquired through grants and donations that I applied for: LCD projector, color printer/scanner, ethernet hub, digital camera, document camera, Multimedia Science School software, and 95% of the lab equipment that I use with the students.

Provided by me: DVD player, speakers for computer, equipment and supplies for certain labs, and two other student computers that I salvaged/created from a bunch of broken computers.

I have not had any funds from the school system to purchase supplies or equipment for physics for 5 years and the budget just keeps getting worse.

The IT department has been good to me with support and repairs.

So, I am beyond grateful and thankful for the donations and grants that I have been able to get. Thank you to the Air Force Association, American Institute for Aeronautics and Astronautics, Donor's Choose (thousands of dollars worth of supplies thanks to various donors), Fairfield University, and a variety of other organizations that have donated money or supplies to my classroom. Without their generosity, my students would not have the educational experiences that they enjoy now.

Thank you!!!!

Lowe's Toolbox for Education Grants

Lowe's Toolbox for Education Grants are now accepting applications. You can raise up to $5,000 for your school project. In these difficult financial times, it's nice to see that companies like Lowe's are still able to fund these grant programs.

Education Grant Resources

Tech&Learning has a free downloadable calendar of education grants for the 2009-2010 school year. Check it out HERE.

Sources of Funding for Teachers

(cross posted at Tech&Learning) 

Teachers have always had to scrounge for funding and the current economic situation only makes this more of an issue. Even with the government stimulus package, teachers will not see much money for our individual use. We've all wished we had more money to purchase books, supplies, equipment, and other items for our students and our classrooms. But what do we do when the money just isn't there?

The first place to look is grants. There are a lot of grant sources out there. Not all of them are easy to get though. I always suggest that people ask for help from grant writers or other teachers who have been successful in getting grants. Most grants have tips and advice on their own web site also.

Some schools may qualify for Priority School District grants and other State and Federal grants. These are for low income districts and can be used for supplies and equipment to help with extra programs related to drop out prevention and improving student performance.

A great resource for funding classroom projects is Donors Choose. Donors Choose was actually started by teachers. You sign up for an account, fill out a project proposal, selecting the items you need from a variety of vendors, and then people with money to donate go to Donors Choose and select projects to fund. I have had multiple projects funded through Donors Choose. It is a very simple process and the staff can help you with any problems.

Corporate grants are another source of funding. Toyota, Toshiba, Verizon,Microsoft, Best Buy, and Target all have grant programs you can apply for.

Some vendors have their own grant programs, special pricing or can help you find grants to buy their products. Smart Technologies, Epson, Mimio andVernier are some of the companies that will work with you to hep you find funding.

Donations are another source. Local Businesses may be looking to donate money, supplies or equipment. Many companies would rather donate old equipment and supplies to a school rather than just throw it out. Your school gets supplies and the company gets a tax write off. I have gotten lab supplies from a DNA company that updated their labs, a computer from a small company that upgraded theirs, and our school has gotten office supplies and furniture from a nearby business that was moving their headquarters. Many teachers have contacts at area businesses through friends or family. Use these contacts to your advantage.

Do more with less. Look for cheaper or free alternatives to the major brands. There are a lot of manufacturers of interactive white boards out there. Shop around and find the best deal. Use free software and web services instead of paying for licensed software.

Partner with local colleges. Sometimes they have older equipment that they can donate to you. They may also have grants that they can get that can also benefit the K-12 system.

Look for grants and funding opportunities on the web. Tech&Learning has a great section on funding tips. There is a Grant Guru column, as well as a data base of grant sources.

Edutopia and Nortel Learn It also have grant and funding resources. And of course, you can always "Google" for more information. Educational conferences are another great way to find funding resources and talk with vendors on different ways of funding purchases.

Please share your funding and money tips with us!