How to get things for your classroom and your students

Though I am a bit afraid to share, since there is only so much money to go around and so many things needed… and this is the basis of a talk I have proposed for an upcoming conference.

Donor’s choose at http://www.donorschoose.com is a great way to get small items for your classroom.  I started out asking for XBox Controller’s and have graduated to netbooks and XBox’s. 

Here’s how Donor’s Choose works:

• Sign up and get initial points.  Since I am doing Game Programming, I asked for XBox controllers.  It took a few months but I got donations and got them.
• Once you get a project funded, you get the item, and then you have acknowledge the award.
• They want pictures of the items being used.
• Signed permission slips from the students.
• Thank you letters.
• Once you’ve done the above, you can get more points.

Couple of hints: 

• Make your projects as small as possible. I find it easier to get Netbooks funded than it is for Notebooks. BTW, Netbooks are great for programming NXT Robots, with RobotC.
• Go back to your old projects so you don’t have to write everything from scratch.  Each project gets easier to write and to fund.
• Be creative in your writing.  Keywords are low income, minority, etc.  Also, my Game Programming and my Robots projects are hits with the techies.

I’ve also received several grants and have been on the evaluation end of a yearly reward given by my district.  To get a grant, work on it in pieces, don’t try to do it all at once.  If you need letters of recommendation, write the letter for the other person, email them and let them tweak it.  That’s makes it easier for them and lets them focus on the aspect you need for the grant or the award.

The biggest thing when filling out any form, is to give them only what they need and make it as clear and succinct as possible.  The reader will glaze over after the third sentence. 

In the past few years, I’ve gotten the following:

• TI Teaching Fellow and Innovative Teacher in STEM (first year it was awarded)
• 2 grants from the Texas Workforce Commission for Robotics
• 1 grant from the Junior League
• 11 projects from Donor’s Choose
• 1 student so far – Dallas Maverick’s Co-Captain

The biggest thing – FOLLOW AND READ DIRECTIONS!