ANNOUNCING: Scholarship Monies!

We are pleased to announced that, through a generous grant, additional scholarship monies are now available to attend this summer’s Teaching Out Of The Box Summer Institute. We previously had some organizations sponsor scholarships for their own members and now we are excited to present scholarship opportunities to everyone. All classroom and preservice teachers are eligible to apply for a grant to help defray the cost of attending The Teaching Out Of The Box Summer Institute in Hunterdon County. We hope you will take advantage of this opportunity and join with feature presenters Brod Bagert, Carla Sonheim, Doris Ettlinger, and Dar Hosta and Deb Barends for a truly unique hands-on experience.

Dar has just returned from the IRA in Orlando where she presented to a packed house full of teachers who were excited about her presentation on bringing creativity back into the classroom. In addition she attended a STEM poetry workshop and is excited to share highlights about this up and coming initiative and how teachers can approach it creatively.

Brod Bagert also presented at IRA this year in collaboration with Tim Rasinski and together they have a series of teacher references available for grades 1-8 level: Poems for Building Reading Skill (The Poet and the Professor.)

Deb recently attended an outstanding workshop, “Voices From the Land”, in Boston presented by the Monarch Teacher’s Network with plenty of ideas for exploring language and landscapes, art and culture with your students creatively in your expanded outdoor classroom.

And, check out Carla Sonheim’s recent interview on Art And Soul Radio.  After this terrific discussion, you’ll agree that she is going to calm all our fears about drawing and our own creativity.

Additional information about the Summer Institute is available at: https://teachingoutofthebox.wordpress.com 

To apply for the scholarship, please complete and return the attached form via email to teachingoutofthebox@gmail.com by June 8th. Winners will receive confirmation that they have been awarded a scholarship which you must return with your registration to the Summer Institute by June 13th. (No cash value will be awarded and this grant money can only be used towards the Summer Institute at the Hunterdon Learning Center July 27-28, 2011.

Please feel free to share this scholarship application with your friends today! If you have any questions, please feel free to email us at teachingoutofthebox@gmail.com 

TOOTB Scholarship Application

Funding for Professional Development

Hello teachers. It’s time to get creative in finding ways to fund your professional development.  First and foremost, it doesn’t hurt to ask your PTA or PTO if they would be willing to provide mini-grants for professional development.  They often do this.  And do it willingly!

Another often overlooked source may be your own contract. I know the district where I taught had a provision in our contract for a “pot of money” to be  divided equally between all staff members who attended the yearly state teacher’s conference. In addition there was a second sum of money to be used towards all other conferences. Most teachers were unaware of this second source of money even though it was and still is in their current contract. I frequently applied to the latter funding to help cover my expenses for week long conferences I wanted to attend during the summer.

There are many resources on the internet as well that offer grants to teachers for professional development. Here are a few that may provide you with resources for funding:

http://teachingtoday.glencoe.com/howtoarticles/funding-professional-development

http://www.teacherscount.org/teacher/grants.shtml

http://www.grants4teachers.com/

http://www.technologygrantnews.com/grant-index-by-type/k-12-grants.html

I know that many districts realizing the importance of providing enriched programing to their students and staff have formed Educational Foundations. It doesn’t hurt to ask if they would be willing to cover professional development experiences for staff members too! Look at your local resources, your PTA, PTO, Education Foundations, perhaps other service organizations in your community.  You may be pleasantly surprised. Be creative!
What’s the worst that could happen?