Technology in Education: Notes from the Closet

This weekend I presented "Grant Writing 101" for Chicago Foundation for Education's Annual Teachers as Leaders and Learners Workshop.  CFE's Small Grant was the basis for the presentation but the content is applicable to any grant.  The presentation is below.

Update! Back in May 2013 I used  Teach Your Monster to Read  with a group of two kindergarten classrooms. The program was a success and I blogged about the ease of use for educators and the enjoyment of the students involved ( see original post ).  Since then I have relocated to a new school within my district and have had the opportunity to introduce the program to eight classrooms at the kindergarten and first grade levels.  The response has been overwhelmingly positive!  Many features of this program have remained the same as written in my post below but there have been some additional updates that have made the product even better. The Same (but still fantastic) Game 1: First Steps  is focused on helping students develop speed and accuracy of letter recognition. The game contains 8 islands each with 4 graphemes to focus on.  Students practice these sounds in different game settings and the islands of sounds must be completed in the order they are presented. There is some

Staying Connected  I am a connected educator.  I blog, share resources, tweet, post to Facebook, teach for three educational institutions and present at conferences to share my passion about technology in education. I ask my PLN (Professional Learning Network) for help when I need it and lend a hand when the need is theirs. Connected Educators share and learn year round but October brings extra attention to the concept. #CE14  is an international effort to connect educators that is led by the US Department of Education.  The organization does a great job of offering suggestions and activities for each day of the month.  The website contains a downloadable pdf that has daily activities for you to learn about to become more connected. Connected Educators.org  also contains a daily calendar of worldwide events that you can participate in. Why Bother? Educators are some of the most overworked folks out there (we won't even delve into the pay). So many of you may be wonder