Grants
One on June 13, 2016, the Center Grove Education Foundation Board of Directors awarded five Teacher Grants and seven Professional Development Grants totaling nearly $22,000 for the 2016 Spring Cycle.
Excerpts from the grant applications are included below:
TEACHER GRANTS
- Mike Leavitt and Angie Marsh, Center Grove Alternative Academy Teachers – Student Standing Desks ($828). “We plan to set up three standing desks in each of the two CGAA classrooms, making them available to students who feel they will work better while standing. Rather than zoning out or falling asleep in their chairs, standing will allow them to focus more on their work. We impress upon our students that they are in control of their learning, and this will give them one more way to take ownership.”
- Danielle Myers, CGHS Science Teacher – Forensic Foray ($1,000). “This grant will make forensics come alive for students. It will fund equipment necessary to allow students to carry out field and laboratory investigations. They will learn how to identify blood types, determine the cause of blood spatter patterns, and how to analyze identifying characteristics of fingerprints. Students will conduct DNA, hair and fiber collection and analysis, trace analysis techniques, and will learn how to process a crime scene, document and store forensic evidence.”
- Jennifer Dice, CGHS Choral Director – Choral Scholarship Program ($1,000). “The purpose of this project is to help ease the financial burden for students who would not otherwise be able to participate in performing groups. This affects the entire ensemble by ensuring the most talented students at Center Grove are properly placed in the choirs according to their abilities. By assisting the CGCPO (parent organization) in this effort, we are maximizing the number of students who are able to participate in this one-in-a-lifetime high school experience.”
- Lisa Thielmeyer, President, CGHS Red Alert Robotics Parent Organization – Red Alert Robotics($1,000). “The goal of Red Alert Robotics is to inspire young people to be science and technology leaders by engaging them in exciting programs that build those skills and inspire innovation. The grant will be used to help fund our main annual project for the Red Alert Robotics team, which is to build a fully functional robot from scratch and then compete against other robotics teams. Each year, the competition challenge is different, requiring students to develop a strategy, create a design, manufacture and assemble the parts and systems, and test the robot.”
- Courtney Allen, Middle School North 6th Grade Math Teacher – Breakout EDU ($1,000). “The grant will fund 10 Breakout EDU kits. When using the kits, students are given a scenario that introduces a story and purpose for opening a break out box. Players have a fixed amount of time to solve a series of challenges, riddles, and mysteries in order to ‘break out.’ Each scenario is aligned with common core standards – Language Arts, Ancient History, US History, Math, Science, and STEM. The game requires critical thinking, collaboration, and creativity in the approach to solving the problem, helping them to understand that there is more to learning than textbooks, worksheets, and cookie-cutter answers.”
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT GRANTS
- Nora Hoover, Assistant Director of Secondary Curriculum – Math Process Standards ($3,457). “A full day training and workshop on effective teaching of the math process standards for 39 math teachers (grades 6-12), 3 instructional coaches, and 4 administrators. Training will be provided by a Department of Education Math Specialist. The process standards will put math in action through reasoning, constructing arguments, modeling, practicing precision, using tools strategically, and perseverance. Through focused professional development, our teachers will learn to imbed these skills in everyday work, build college and career ready skills, and push students to think in more complex ways.”
- Pam Price, CGHS Director of Guidance – Professional Development for Guidance Counselors($1,050). “This grant will fund professional development for guidance counselors that will prepare them to provide options for students based on their interests and needs, increasing the likelihood that they will graduate and be college and career ready after high school. Included are live webinars and asynchronous, self-guided discussions during monthly Early Release meetings. Training is provided by Fleck Education’s Intentional Counseling online workshop series for implementing an effective K-12 college and career readiness program.”
- Instructional Coaches Lindsay Hardin (CGHS), Jeanne Schwartz (MSC) and Nancy McDowell(MSN) – Intensive Instructional Coaching Institute ($4,670). “Jim Knight is a foremost voice on instructional coaching. This summer, we will attend a conference hosted by Knight and his colleagues. Starting with this intensive training will allow us to understand the big picture of instructional coaching, and help fill our ‘toolboxes’ with the tools that are most impactful for our students and teachers. We will be able to show these strategies to the teachers, provide training, and support them as they implement those strategies in their classrooms.”
- Megan McKinney, Center Grove Elementary 1st Grade Teacher – Math Daily 3 ($225). “First grade teachers will learn how to help our students achieve mathematics mastery through the Math Daily 3 structure, which comprises Math by Myself, Math with Someone, and Math Writing. We will be exposed to the underlying brain research, teaching, and learning motivators. We will also learn about classroom design, how to create focused lessons that develop student independence, organizing student data, and differentiating math instruction.”
- Heather Gant, Maple Grove Elementary Instructional Coach – Words with Friends ($2,500). “All Center Grove elementary teachers will be invited to a summer workshop to build professional capacity and sense of efficacy in implementing Words Their Way into their daily word study instruction with an increased emphasis on vocabulary development and cross-curricular integration. Building leaders within the district will model best practices and serve as instructional resources for collaboration and professional development.”
- Brian Proctor, Principal of North Grove Elementary School – Reading, Writing and Math, Oh, My!($2,500). “The impact of this professional development opportunity is to continue to seek out best practices and strategies in Reading, Writing, and Math that will impact student achievement at North Grove Elementary. By sending at least three teachers to the National Conference on Reading, Writing, Math and More, they will then provide training modules to be integrated into our July Staff Retreat and throughout the school year.”
- Julie Young, Instructional Coach at North Grove Elementary – Math Fluency and Problem Solving($2,500). “By sending math grade level representatives to two workshops led by math teaching expert Ryan Flessner, a professor at Butler University, and Courtney Flessner, a math methods instructor at IUPUI, teachers will receive math professional development tailored to fit the needs of the Center Grove math curriculum. The impact of a district-wide ‘train the trainer’ model has the potential to improve the math instruction of every K-5 student.”
Leave a Reply
Copyright © 2019 Center Grove Education Foundation | Developed by NewFive Creative