phew!

Ok, things have been going fine on the grant-writing front. Apparently Google thought my "e-mail had been compromised" and blocked access for about 10 days!! Yikes. Sorry for the delay.
The tally so far is 8 people have requested and/or accepted my offer to write a Junior League grant for them. I have completed 2 so far.

One entitled "Cyberchase the numbers away" which uses the PBS program Cyberchase to provide an engaging anticipatory set for some hands on math games. These hands-on materials are special because they are manufactured by the same company but the difficulty is embeded in the activity questions and procedures so that the ability grouping would not so apparent. It will address the broad range of abilities in heterogeneous classrooms while preserving the dignity of all. This is the antithesis of the Bluebirds, red robins grouping.

The second one is incorporating the inquiry process in science by providing scaffolding for the new County standards and newly adopted textbook. It has some great manipulatives and fabulous structure to allow and encourage the asking of questions, "what if....", and the testing of the students' hypotheses in cause-effect relationships.

I will keep posting to see how things unfold.... that gives me an idea.

Maybe I should do one on "Ori-geometry"

grants for all

OK, I have come up with an idea for my creative project that appeals to my productive side as well. I have decided to make a grant-writing challenge to all the teachers at my school. I have applied for Junior League mini-grants before and had alot of success. As I read the requirements I noticed that one teacher can be the secondary applicant for an unlimited number of grant applications. It also stated that no two identical applications would be funded.

So I sent the school the following proposal via e-mail:
"Hi there. I have to do a "new creative endeavor" for my grad school class and blog about it a few times a week. Since we don't have time to waste on hobbies :-) that are not productive, I decided to try and see how many junior league grants we could get in one year. The guidelines state that "A teacher may submit as many applications as they want as secondary applicants." This is my offer to you. I am willing to write up a grant for anyone if you tell me what you want and point me in the direction of a GPS you think it would address. I will write a grant for every teacher in the school if asked. You will be the primary and I will just be listedc as secondary applicant if anyone has questions. I will not make any guarantees, but it will really cool to see how far we go. I did not see any limit listed on the application information. If you know otherwise, fill me in!"

Since you cannot have duplicate requests and they fund based on creativity and innovation of projects, it will stretch my creative strength. I already have had 3 takers. One for a listening library in first grade, one to create a period specific art artifact for each grade level depicting the period of time they study in social studies, and one "yes!!! but I'm not sure yet. Now that one project is for a listening library, that item will be considered "taken" and other requests will need to be something different. I think it will be great. I am familiar with some GPS of different grade levels but this will help me with some vertical curriculum alignment as well. I will keep you posted on the progress.

ideas

I like the idea of creative projects and have a lot. I don't want thisto sound as if I don't think a creative endeavor is a good idea. I like to try new things, too. I think my point-of-view is that I have alot of those already. Most of which were stumbled upon. Maybe it will make more sense to see what I mean. First, I will give a little background on what I have learned while on my everyday path. Most of these skills were icked up under the auspices of frugality. I figured if I could learn to do something cheaply, I'd rather not give the profit to anyone. :)I have a short list of possible things to tackle and I think I have found a project.

• When trying to redecorate my daughters room I learned to sew curtains, pillows and bedroom sets.
• When she wanted a unique fashion statement that was within our modesty guidelines, I tackled making doll and girls' dresses.
• In order to repair or buy needed furniture pieces cheaply, I have learned how to build furniture from kits and modify (not build from scratch). They actually give you step-by-step directions...with pictures of each step!
• So communication would be easier and to check translations of opera lyrics, I studied Latin, Spanish, and Italian I can now read and/or understand a few different laguages.
• In order to help with the needed downpayment to buy our house, I got a Real Estate license.
• Whe working for the Child Protection Unit in Gwinnett County, I need a permit to carry a firearm.
• I have done arts and crafts for everyone from 2 yrs old to senior citizens.
• I have directed vacation bible school.
• I have sung in choirs, at churches, in jazz groups, and even got a small record sampler recorded a long time ago.
• I have written articles and short stories.
• I have made movies and taught computer skills to perform my job more efficiently.
• I bake cookies and muffins and delier to teachers during stressful times.
• I recreate county documents to make them more effective and user-friendly.
• I have a small notebook of inventions, poems, and songs that I may get to someday. I think I may be forced to open that invention journal before semester's end. :-)
• In order to help make room in my limited space house, I learned how to fix arcade games (that I would get for free) and sell them on e-bay.
• I learned about home theater components and the wiring, designing, electronic needs to understand my husbands job better.
• I trained him to bring home copies of alll reciepts so I could track, sort, and send info to all the manufacturers to benefit from the incentive programs they offer.
• I went to tax school to learn how to save money on my taxes and to help others prepare theirs for free.
• I started to draw, sketch, paint, and sculpt but this has to be done in miniscule steps to avoid scaring the truly artistic. I may not be good at it, but it sure is fun and messy.
• I have a humor hanger where we write and share funny things we encounter, see, find or hear.
• One of my favorites is my Rosie Project. I force myself to find something good in every situation. My colleagues have tried to pierce the rose-colored-glasses view of all things educational, but to no avail. I started it to help my own negativity, but it's almost become a challenge from others. they'll come up to me and tell something bizaare and I'd find some small nugget of possible goodness that could happen. I still fall off the wagon sometimes, but it does wonders for the readjustment. I almost chose this as my creative project. especially when I saw the great, "Seriously Stop" idea. But I figured it needs to be something new, not just unperfected.

As promised, I have shortened the list to things I feel strongly about. Rosie was one finalist. Another was this Calvin & Hobbes project I started. I got approval from the publisher and 'handler' for Bill Waterson who approved a mock-up of my use of different C &H cartoons as the 'grabber' feature for a middle school curriculum guide. I haven't finished it, but I also thought this wasn't a new idea. I thought about a video documentary of life in the trenches of teaching. You know, kind of survivor-style with how many hours it really takes, how much no one tells you, how much of the materials you need to purchase yourself so kids can be productive, how much accounting, paperwork, legal disclaimer and expertise is required to seem credible. The monumental amount of counseling required to get the children to a place where they can be ready to receive information. I didn't choose this option because of the potential to jeopardize my Rosie project. (smile)

I will tell you what I did choose....tomorrow.

Beginnings

Okay, I'm not real sure what to do at this point. I have always meandered my way through my obligations and whenever I reached a point where I was confronted with something I didn't know, but it interested me, I learned about it. I am creative by nature and I am frequently engaged in a new "hobby" or experiment, just to figure out what it does, how it works, or how it can help me reach students in my classes.
I have to admit, the mere thought of organizing and planning to be creative is proving difficult to digest. I suppose it is another way to work us out of our comfort zone into getting more productive evidence or proof of creativity will make us better grad students?!? Maybe? I have several projects I have begun but haven't had the time to complete, but I don't think that is the goal here. I sense newness is a necessity or at least such time that it is a memory, not a periodic thought. I will give it some more thought and post tomorrow a short list of things I have begun since this course started and hopefully determine a final choice in the next day or so. Tomorrow I will post the shortlist and pros and cons as I see them. Feel free to comment at will, as I welcome all thoughts to add to the substance of the debate.
Thanks.