In the course Technology Impact on Society and Schools offered by Lesley University our final was to write in "plain English" a grant. This grant was to be clear, concise and convey a plan for responding to an educational need. The requirement was to focus on the curriculum and the educational benefits for students, present a need, propose a solution to the need and not whine.

The assignment required the inclusions of the following:

1. Title
2. Proposal Concept
3. Need/Problem Statement
4. Goals/Objectives/Activities
5. Project Description
6. Timeline/Action Plan
7. Budget
8. Evaluation

Here is a scaled down version of my final that was submitted to an actual grant funder. Choose from one of the two formats of MS Word or Adobe Acrobat in order to review the grant which was approved by the Newton Schools Foundation for implementation this upcoming 2004 - 2005 school year.

Please visit Adobe's website to obtain Acrobat Reader.

Having to write my very first grant made me very nervous, but excited! I have always been interested in writing grants, but never knew where to start. With a little push and some guidelines I was able to incorporate a major need within the classroom that I worked into the grant. I worked with inclusion students, one of which relied on an assistant very heavily for reading. She expressed an overwhelming cry for not being left out of regular classroom activities and being treated differently because of her disability.

This grant not only incorporates technology, but also collaboration amongst the students through multiple intelligences and presentations. By using chapter books, a tape player, headsets and multimedia software, students of many different learning styles and abilities can feel included in the lessons. This reading project is low in cost and can be adapted in any classroom with many existing software such as MS PowerPoint or Hyperstudio. The artifact above is the grant that was submitted and accepted by the Newton Schools Foundations.

The one implication to this grant project is that teachers will have to know how to use the technology and how to implement this program in a classroom setting even when computers may be limited. Next time when writing a grant I will have to remember to include expenses for teacher and student training, or even for additional computer equipment within the classroom. When writing the grant initially, I was conservative on what I was asking in regards to computer equipment. I could expand the project once they see its success and ask for additional funds.