Tag Archive for 'education'

Checking in on DonorsChoose Bloggers Challenge

Published
by
Amy Sample Ward
on October 24, 2008
in challenge
. 0 Comments

I wanted to touch base with you all about the DonorsChoose.org Bloggers Challenge taking place this month.  I created a challenge page for this blog and have encouraged readers to get involved.  But, I haven’t had much inspiration to be as dedicated as many other bloggers and want to explain why.

I browse through the many projects on the DonorsChoose.org website, take the time to select ones I think you all would like to support (as I explained in an earlier post, I’m selecting projects that focus on technology in the classroom), and add them to the challenge page.  But, by the time I come to blog about the challenge or encourage donations about a specific project added to the list, they are already funded!  This is great news, that so many projects are successfully reaching their funding goals, but it does make it difficult to inspire donations from readers!

The Bloggers Challenge widget is in my sidebar, so that readers who come to the site, any time, can see the challenge information and participate.  But, it isn’t very compelling to donate any amount of money when the highlighted project is fully funded already.

I have edited, refreshed, and selected new projects for the challenge many times this month, but the same thing keeps happening.  Now, I’m certainly not mad or frustrated.  Quite the opposite - I’m thrilled to know that so many projects I found insteresting and deserving of the spotlight have been funded!  That’s the goal of the challenge, right?

Here’s my question, and I do hope you’ll weigh in: How could I do a better job in the future of 1. inspiring you to participate and 2. keeping up with the ferocious turn over of funded projects?

I’d really love to hear your thoughts!  And, if you have a minute and five dollars, here’s a great project that you can help support!

I teach kindergarten in a low income neighborhood. My students do not have a lot of parental support at home. I have to provide for all their education needs.

I am currently allowing my students to use my big CD player to listen to books on CD. The problem with that is the whole class has to listen to the book being read. It becomes very distracting for some and the noise level makes it difficult for me to work with small groups. Therefore we are not able to listen to the books very often. Listening is a important part of reading instruction. It allows students to follow along and develop word recognition and fluency.

Being able to provide my students with a kid friendly CD player and headphones would allow them to listen to books independently. The headphones would allow for a quieter classroom which would be appreciated by all.

By supporting this proposal you are providing my students with a kid friendly CD player and headphones. You are also helping my students develop fluency and the word recognition that is important in learning to read.

My students need a CD player and 4 headphones to use in the listening center. The cost of this proposal is $160, which includes shipping for any materials requested and fullfilment.

Help support the Bloggers Challenge and this great project!

Thanks so much for your ideas, thoughts, and participation!

Help me help teachers with technology!

Published
by
Amy Sample Ward
on October 1, 2008
in fundraising
. 1 Comment

DonorsChoose logoToday is the start of October’s BloggersChallenge with DonorsChoose.org and I’m a blogger stepping up to the challenge.  Let’s help classrooms in need of technology!

Last year, the BloggersChallenge raised $500,000 through the help of nearly 50 bloggers!  I’m excited to see the impact we can make for classrooms looking to use technology in the way they learn, share, and collaborate together.

Why Technology?

I use technology every day, and can’t really function effectively without much of it.  Just think about the impact simple tools like a digital camera or headphones make on the way we are able to share with my family, friends and colleagues on a daily basis by sharing photos or using the internet to make a call and connect personally—don’t you want those simple tools available in classrooms?  I’ve selected proposals from teachers integrating technology into their classrooms to make learning exciting and effective.

Why DonorsChoose?

DonorsChoose.org is an organization and an idea that I really like: the simplicity and the purpose.  Connecting teachers directly with people who could help them in their classroom, whether they are interested because they share a geography, a subject matter, or just an awesome idea for igniting learning in students.  I also added the DonorsChoose recommended actions from Social Actions earlier this summer.

What can I do?

Please participate this month in the BloggersChallenge, here’s how you can get going now:

  1. Support classroom projects by donating!
  2. Find more projects you think should be added to our Challenge, just put a link in the comments and I can add them to our challenge page!
  3. Send this link to others to participate and donate!

I’m excited to tackle this challenge together.  Let’s make a difference in classrooms across the US!

Social Actions launches plug-in for bloggers!

Published
by
Amy Sample Ward
on July 31, 2008
in blogging and socialchange
. 9 Comments

Social Actions helps individuals and organizations use social media to plan, implement, and support peer-to-peer social change campaigns so that grassroots solutions to local and global problems can flourish.  I have blogged about them before (and am involved as a project mentor), most recently here.

Today, Social Actions launched a plug-in for Wordpress bloggers that will place ‘possibly related classroom projects’ from DonorsChoose.org at the bottom of posts, so that readers can find opportunities to take action to help classrooms around the world.  DonorsChoose.org “is a simple way to provide students in need with resources that our public schools often lack. At this not-for-profit web site, teachers submit project proposals for materials or experiences their students need to learn. These ideas become classroom reality when concerned individuals, whom we call Citizen Philanthropists, choose projects to fund.”

Social Action Labs, Lead Programmer, Eric Cooper, really did a lot to make this happen and deserves lots of props.  So does Joe Solomon and Peter Deitz from Social Actions, as well as the rest of the crew.

If you have Wordpress, why not check it out!  I will be installing it tonight and you can watch the blog here to see it live in action!  I’d love to hear your feedback about the new plug-in and ideas for other ways Social Actions Labs can be working to build actionable content you and your organization can use!  Learn more on the Social Actions website.

Can you teach new media?

Published
by
Amy Sample Ward
on July 31, 2008
in otherblogs
. 2 Comments

Marshall Kirkpatrick post a great article today for ReadWriteWeb considering the questions: Can New Media Be Taught in Schools?  What do you think?

Tests on Twitter, wiki-style study groups, students quizzed on yesterday’s most popular YouTube videos and the biggest hits on Del.icio.us/Popular - is this what the future of education is going to look like? In some journalism schools around the US, it just might be. Would that really be so bad? Though many may disagree with us, we think there is some merit to teaching new media in journalism and other schools.

Marshall even quoted me, as I described just one example from my experience as a student of new media in college.  There are many comments over on the article, go check it out and weigh in on the conversation!

How do you learn new media?  Do you think it can be taught/learned in a ‘classroom’ or do you lean towards personal investigation and experimentation?