u398352_sm.jpgDonorsChoose.org is an online charity that connects potential donors to classrooms in need. Here is a proposal from a 10th grade teacher that should mesh will with the proclivities of the TeleRead audience. You can donate here. Thanks to Erin Biba for the heads up. I’ll start the ball rolling by donating $25. Now the teacher’s proposal:

“When creativity and technology coincide in the classroom, the outcome is a limitless engaging opportunity for the students. My 10th grade Ethnic Lit. students crave this opportunity, and when I can provide it, amazing things happen.

Writing essays is one form of assessment that students participate in, however, in my classroom I attempt to provide diverse forms of assessments to meet the needs of my diverse student population. Visual and performing arts and media is something new and exciting, and it is certainly something the kids enjoy and understand. I give them the opportunity to write a script, film it, direct it, edit it, and then present it to their peers.

In order to do this, we need the hardware. While we have access to an LCD projector, it is a shared unit that is hard to acquire forcing us to limit our use of technology in the classroom. Without a lap top, the LCD is useless. We scramble to find laptops, then figure out how to connect it to the LCD, then figure out how to download the file, either from a CD, or an email attachment, or USB drive, and our class time feels abused and wasted. The students would like their own laptop with all of their files throughout the year stored on the hard drive for easy quick access.

The solution is to have a classroom laptop giving us endless opportunities to utilize technology in the classroom. We may be able to incorporate smaller projects in our weekly lessons instead of the occasional big project that is assigned less frequently.

Not only will this sort of project become a strong and solid part of the curriculum, as a teacher I often feel the need to teach a difficult concept in more than one way. The diverse learning styles in my classroom need to be met, and in order to that I diversify my teaching. Using a more visual approach to complex concepts, for example, power point presentations, short video montages from online sources, etc., can be a powerful learning experience that I feel my students would benefit from and appreciate. HIDE

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To go: $399
My students need a netbook computer. The cost of this proposal is $428, which includes shipping for any materials requested and fulfillment .”

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