Gold Rush; An Insiders Look at the Grant Writing Experience

A little over a year ago a meeting was held for high needs schools eligible to apply for a 3-year competitive grant. The grant application could not have come at a worse time. Schools were packing and shuttering their doors. To make matters worse, the grant was due in the middle of August when all staff members enjoy their vacations. This was going to be difficult. After all, who would want to work on a grant during the summer? Fortunately, tough economic times has a funny way of inspiring people to write even in the heat of the summer.

And so it was… Against the heat of a sweltering sun, the brave, the foolish, and just the plain naïve embarked on a Gold Rush. One such tale begins in the eastern section of Brooklyn. A teacher in his mid forties attends a grant meeting and begins his journey looking for inspiration. As a young adolescent he always enjoyed Beatles music; especially Sergeant Pepper. He always loved the opening…

It was twenty years ago today,

Sgt. Pepper taught the band to play

They've been going in and out of style

But they're guaranteed to raise a smile.

So may I introduce to you…

That was it… He would call the grant, “It Was 5o Years Ago Today” observing all the historical happenings in that neighborhood. And why not? This neighborhood produced famous TV personalities, athletes, comedians, poets, and other notables. There was only one problem; luminous as these people were… they were not connected to STEM… you know; Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. For days, the teacher would toil with this theme. Perhaps if he conducted more research a STEM connection could be found. However, he would have no such luck. The simple truth was… this was not working. He needed a new angle… a new way to look at this.

Our hero proceeds to turn on the radio and listens to Neil Young’s “Hank to Hendrix” and its comparative use of varying pop icons and cried… “I got it! Why not call the grant From Pong to the Xbox?” This grant would explore the evolution of gaming technology… starting with Pong, Space Invaders, and Galaxian. It would then move to the 2^nd generation of gaming looking at Pac Man, Pole Position, and Donkey Kong… followed by the modern era of gaming. Certainly, the elements of game design would lend itself to a project centered on STEM.

This project was starting to shape up. Our hero was finding some great resources on the web. Per chance he bumped into a few of his school colleagues and shared with them what he was planning. They did not say much. However, our hero could see from their dour expressions that they were not impressed. Needless to say he was demoralized. Our hero was now questioning the validity of his idea. Perhaps he should scrap this idea and go back to his original idea. For days he would pace in his apartment back and forth. Tommy (his 8 year old kid) asked, “Are you OK, dad?” “Yes, little man. I just got lots on my mind.” Tommy said, “Why don’t you watch Sponge Bob with me?”

Our hero watches Sponge Bob with his kid and becomes fascinated. He instantly enjoys the clever subtly of the program and does some research. He learns that the Sponge Bob creator used to teach marine biology. A few days later he unleashes the “The Legend of Ocean Town”. He shares with his colleagues the following abstract….

“The Legend of Ocean Town” will have students create a digital mockumentary depicting the life and times of Ocean Town. This mockumentary will explore the housing structures, sea life, foods, sports, politics, culture, medical advancements, and ecological issues of that fictional era. Additionally, they will create a companion web site entitled “Living in Ocean Town” which will include a travel brochure, findings from research/interviews with marine biologists/scientists/and other experts, a customized wikipedia profiling ancient and modern sea life, blue prints of proposed housing structures, personalized maps of Ocean Town using Google Map Technology, as well as pod casts documenting the making of the digital documentary.

His colleagues love the idea and offer to help him with this project. A few weeks later our hero submits the grant application. And a few months later… he receives a letter learning that his school was awarded the grant.

Editor’s Note- This story is based on a true story and is dedicated to the relentless spirit of educators.

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The 10 Zens of Technology Planning

by Jacob Gutnicki

Your principal has drafted you to create a school based technology plan. You are both enthused and scared at this prospect. Where do I start? Do we purchase iPods for all the students? Perhaps we should invest in netbooks. I hear they are really cheap. Then again… I hear they are kind of flimsy and the keyboard is too small. Wait a minute… How are we paying for this?

With this in mind, I share with you “The Ten Zens of Technology Planning”

1. Establish a committee with stakeholders of varying interests- Make sure to include a Special Education teacher, ELL teacher, Math teacher, Science teacher, an administrator, as well as teachers from the other subjects and interests as this will promote school-wide buy in to the plan.

2. Conduct a Hardware and Instructional Needs Inventory- The Hardware Inventory should catalog the age, functionality, and condition of the technology equipment. The Instructional Needs Inventory will help the school determine what instructional focus the computer hardware will be used for.

3. Developing a Long Term Plan- Ask your committee the following; “In 5 years what 3 technological milestones do we wish to achieve?”

4. Developing a Short Term Goal- Ask your committee the following; “In 5 months what one goal do we wish to accomplish?”

5. Develop Activities to Achieve the Short Term Goal- Once the committee agrees on a short term goal, it becomes important to create a mini timeline of what activities must be carried out to fulfill the short term goal.

6. Grants- Grants are often a major funding source to help schools acquire and update technology with in a school. With this in mind, schools should aggressively seek grant opportunities. This includes funds available from local politicians, private foundations, donations, and public grants. In many cases, simply writing a letter and making a few phone calls can help a school net a grant or donation. For example, a company purchases new computers and may wish to donate their old computers as it helps them avoid potential recycling costs and can be used as a tax write off. Similarly, a local politician is running for reelection and might have funds to help a local school. Likewise, a philanthropist creates a grant opportunity offering free computers to promote his/her cause. In each of these scenarios the school that proactively seeks these opportunities is far more likely to benefit from one or all of these opportunities.

7. Repair and Repurpose Technology- All too often, schools are ready to throw out equipment that appears to be older. This is a shame as older computers can often be nursed back to health by re-imaging the machine. Additionally, older machines can be used as dedicated writing and research centers where as newer machines could handle photo and video editing applications which tend to be more taxing. If a machine is beyond repair, cannibalize it and use it for spare parts. Not only is it environmentally sound, it also teaches students a valuable lesson about computer repair.

8. Be Wary of Purchasing the Newest Technology Toy- New products typically are ridden with hardware problems, have a limited number of applications, and are cost prohibitive. For example, in 2007 the iPhone cost 500 dollars, was buggy, and had very limited features. Three years and several upgrades later the device costs only 100 dollars and has approximately 200,000 applications that can be used. One may also recall a number of school systems purchased the 1^st generation tablet based laptops, which proved to be costly, underpowered, and buggy.

9. Research Software Solutions- As we all know there is no shortage of vendors trying to sell their wares. The best way to determine the effectiveness of a program is to test the software. Fortunately, acquiring trial versions of the software is fairly easy to do as reputable companies will usually offer white papers documenting the effectiveness of their product and will offer a demo version of their software.

10. Avoid Drive By Professional Development- All too often, schools will conduct one-session of professional development. This is a recipe for failure, as multiple sessions are needed to see a cohesive improvement. Additionally, follow up workshops are critical. It is also important to offer a menu of workshops as adults learning how to use technology have very different needs.

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Related post Incorporating Innovation into Strategic Planning that Will Enrich Learning

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The Evolution of Teaching Science

by Jacob Gutnicki

When you were in middle school what was your least favorite subject? Was it Math, ELA, Science, Social Studies, Art, or was it something else? I have often posed this question to college students enrolled in a teacher preparation program. Invariably, the top 2 answers are always Math and Science. Even more telling, Science always wins the “unpopularity contest” by a landslide.

I proceed to continue my line of questioning and ask them why they feel this way. The answers vary but the consensus is that they do not see the point of science. Simply put, it is not relevant to their lives. I then follow up by asking, “What is the purpose of science?” This question usually gets all kinds of responses like to learn about life, machines, chemicals, weather, and other big scientific words. I then respond, “The purpose of science is to learn how things work.”

This in short is the problem with the current approach used to teach science. Much time is spent doling out vocabulary words that do not help the student understand science content. In fact, the use of acronyms and scientific words succeeds in only confusing students more. Many educational experts have stressed the importance of using hands on materials and have advocated for the purchase of Science labs. Unfortunately, the high cost of science materials has been a major obstacle in assuring the meaningful teaching of science. Additionally, many science teachers do not have the pedagogic background to teach science in a way that is meaningful. It is no wonder that many college students avoid majoring in Science programs as science is viewed as bad medicine. Subsequently, only 29% of United States middle school students are considered proficient or above proficiency in the area of Science on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) exam. Even more disturbing, Middle School students have shown no progress since the last NAEP exam.

In an effort to address this educational crisis, our government and private foundations have devoted money to various grant programs including the Math Science Partnership Grants, National Science Foundation Grants, Toshiba America Foundation Grants, America Honda Foundation Grants, Motorola Innovation Grants, and various Science Scholarships. Thanks to the Math Science Partnership program, school districts across the USA have offered its teachers professional development in the area of Math, Science, as well as Science Technology Engineering Mathematics (STEM). Similarly, other funding sources have given students the opportunity to use state of the art science equipment in a hands-on manner.

However, many of these grant programs have not fostered the paradigm shift needed to transform Science Education in a manner that will address the needs of the 21^st Century Student. This is because many of these grant programs are limited in their mandate as they simply require that pedagogues take college level courses in the area of science. However, the grant programs do not require direct instruction with students. In fact, student after school programs are discouraged. Additionally, the audit of these grant programs amount to simple bean counting. Another words, the external evaluators will count how many teachers took 30 hours of course work. However, they will not assess the effectiveness of the given course work. Subsequently, it is no surprise that the elementary cohort of schools showed only modest progress on the most recent NAEP Science Exam.

With this in mind, I propose the following;

1. Require the infusion of technology in all science courses. This is essential as technology gives students access to; virtual labs, science experts via video conferencing, USB Science probes, authentic science data with a computer, real-time computer based models, and other innovative science practices.

2. Require that every science lesson have a hands on component during which the student will perform the science concept, demonstrate the science concept, or create a presentation on the scientific idea in their own words.

3. Provide veteran and new science teachers with the requisite training and resources needed to teach science in a hands-on manner. This initiative would require professional development that is carefully designed to address the knowledge gap that many science teachers have. Similarly, pre-service programs must address the knowledge gap as well.

4. Future Science Grants should directly target the middle and secondary schools. This in turn will ensure that limited funds are directed towards the student population that desperately needs sound science education.

5. Hold vendors and Higher Education Institutes accountable for the services they provide. All too often we direct accountability measures towards the pedagogues but turn a blind eye to the content providers mentioned above. This in turn has resulted in sub-standard professional development services from content providers. With this in mind, professional development offerings given by vendors and colleges should be observed and evaluated. The results of the evaluation should then be made public via the What Works Clearing House web site.

Final Thought- Naturally, it goes without saying that these ideas only scratch the surface of this very complicated issue. However, it is clear that our current practices must change. In short, we must reverse the trend in which a shrinking number of students enroll in science-based programs during their post secondary years. In a quest to address this perplexing issue we must be prepared to invest properly and welcome educational change.

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