Every few years, an article comes out pointing out to the public that the average teacher spends roughly $400 each year on their classroom, with first year teachers usually spending twice that amount. Couple that with the well known fact that teachers salaries are not typically align to the value they provide, and it’s easy to get disheartened.

But fear not, loyal educators, your sacrifices are not being overlooked!  Across the country, thousands of foundations and companies have heard your pleas for funding and are standing at the ready with grant money just for you. In fact, there are so many grants out there, it can be overwhelming to find the one that is right for you.

To that end, the WeAreTeachers team has ten foundations or companies to share with you that offer grant money for teachers like you. These foundations were chosen by our team for their innovative nature, their pool of resources, and the ease of the application process.

1. WeAreTeachers’ Microgrants

We’d be remiss if we didn’t mention our fantastic (and fantasically easy)  microgrant program, which allow teachers to submit their best ideas on a given topic (currently there are two on literacy and professional development) and then compete for online votes to be one of the ten teachers awarded $200 and a flip video camera or iPod nano with video to document your project. (And, every idea is available online to inspire you!) New microgrants are available all the time, so check back regularly!

2. Digital Wish

If you are looking for a list of grants, this non profit is the place to start. Sponsored by Olympus and Flip Video, Digital Wish provides a long list of grants for various subjects.

3.  Kids In Need Foundation

This is an excellent organization that promotes creativity and innovation in the classroom through grants. According to their website, “Kids In Need Teacher Grants provide K-12 educators with funding to provide innovative learning opportunities for their students. The Kids In Need Foundation helps to engage students in the learning process by supporting our most creative and important educational resource — our nation’s teachers.”

4. Sprint Character Education Grant Program

Last year, Sprint gave out more than $450,000 in grant money to support character education initiatives in the classroom.  Grants are open to all US public school (K-12) and school districts nationwide.

5. P. Buckley Moss Foundation

This foundation awards five $1,000 grants to teachers who need money to keep their program goals afloat, with preferred emphasis on helping students with learning disabilities.

6. Toyota TAPESTRY Grant Program

Each year, Toyota supports innovative student projects by awarding fifty large grants and twenty small scale grants for projects that focus on science education.

7.  ING Unsung Heroes Grant Program

Since 1995, the Unsung Heroes program has been awarding 100 innovative, forward thinking teachers with $2000 each, usually with at least one winner from each state. Additionally, the top three winners win between $5000 and $25,000.

8. American Honda Foundation

Not to be outdone by Toyota, the American Honda Foundation has awarded $25 million dollars in grant money for science based projects since it’s inception.

9. Inspiration Software Inspired Teachers Scholarships

Twenty five teachers are awarded with $1000 towards professional development or new technology for their classroom through Inspired Teacher Scholarships.

10. Lemelson-MIT InvenTeams Grant

If you’ve got a group of inventive students and a great idea, look no further than the Lemelson-MIT grant program for a little prestige and a lot of dough. InvenTeams receive up to $10,000 for their best inventions.

Have you had any experience with these foundations? Know of an awesome grant that you think we missed? We want to know about it! Let us know your best grant secrets and don’t forget to apply for our microgrants for a quick and easy way to get yourself a little extra money!

At WeAreTeachers, our number one priority is providing teachers with the support and resources they need. Recently, we teamed up with Quantum Learning Technologies to offer a Student Engagement microgrant. The premise was simple: you give us your best student engagement ideas, we post them online and the ideas that garner the most votes receive a cash prize and a flip video camera to capture your results.

As usual, you amazed us with your submissions! There were so many fantastic student engagement ideas (which are still available online to enthuse and inspire you) and from those submissions, ten teachers won microgrants to help them implement their best ideas for student engagement.

We were thrilled by the excitement and passion that the teachers had for their winning submissions, but what we are hearing back from these teachers is even more exciting. It seems that, by submitting their ideas and asking their students and colleagues to vote for them, they created a sense of unity for their school and their community. Many teachers reported back to us that their students were going home and telling their parents and friends to vote, and entire schools and even school districts were rallying around their submission.

Illinois elementary art teachers Dawn Stanislawski, who won for her submission, “In The Eyes of the Artist” pointed out that the best part of winning the grant was the notoriety it created for her class and her idea, “The most exciting part is that the buzz about it around the district and community is amazing. People really wanted for us to win it,” Ms. Stanislawski said, “I have had parents, students, family members, friends asking me on the status.”

Viriginia teacher and microgrant winner Rachel Harrison agreed, stating that the best part of the winning the grant was something non tangible: the connections it created for her. Ms. Harrison won for her idea “Documenting the Service and Sacrifice of Veterans.”

“It was a really rewarding experience!” Ms. Harrison said, “I was able to get our entire school, parents, and other teachers from other schools involved through the voting process.  Because I was able to contact so many people, they were able to see what we were doing and I made a lot of contacts with great ideas to improve my project even more!  Even if I had not won, I still would have won because of the networking the contest allowed me to do in my own school division.”

California teacher Kelly Maxey, whose project “Three Cups of Tea Business Venture” won the most votes,  said that involving her class was the best part.

“What made the experience more meaningful to me was that my class of fifth graders was so involved in the process.  They would call family members and friends to get them to vote for us.  They would tell me every day how we were doing in the competition.  Their enthusiasm made the whole thing that much better!”

You can’t imagine how much it thrilled us, the WeAreTeachers team, to hear that the microgrant itself was engaging students and communities nationwide! The best part is that it’s not too late to create some buzz for your class, as we constantly continue to offer exciting new microgrants. Currently, we are  partnering with PCI Education and turning our attention to Special Education teachers, with a microgrant designed especially for them. Watch in coming months for more microgrants, and apply often! As the winner of the Student Engagement microgrant can testify, you could win some cash, a flip video camera and, best of all, the cheers of your community!

Regardless of what subject or grade they teach, the goal of teachers is basically the same: to put their students on the road to being successful adults. But in the world of the special education teacher, that road can be paved with potholes, speed bumps and outright road blocks. Everyday, special education teachers around the world strive to peel the ”disabled” sticker that society can sometimes place on their students and reprogram them to see themselves not as “disabled” but “differently-abled.”

WeAreTeachers and our partner, PCI Education, a leader in special education learning, see the groundbreaking work taking place in classrooms all over the world and we want to inspire more of it.

We are now accepting submissions for our “Individual Attention, Collective Impact” microgrant, which enables special education teachers to share their best practices for reaching individual students. Additionally, all of the ideas will be posted in an online gallery to educate and inspire other teachers.

Kim G., a special education teacher in Arlington, TX feels her heart swell with pride every time she shops at her local grocery store where David, a former student with Downs Syndrome, works as a bagger. Friendly and affable, David is well known and liked amongst store patrons as well as one of the store’s most valued employees for his reliability and positive attitude. Kim remembers when David was one of her students, he was sweet and gentle, but frightened and sometimes picked on by the mainstream students.  “David was scared to talk to anyone because he wasn’t sure how he would be treated,” Kim explained, “it was heartbreaking because you knew he wanted to engage people, but he had some bad experiences and now was very leery and withdrawn.”

David’s parents were also afraid to encourage their son to shine, they themselves were so traumatized from hearing David tearfully, desperately recount the day a boy had frightened him in the school cafeteria with a lit match that they had curbed their urging that David participate in regular school functions.

Kim and her special education colleagues worked hard with David and his parents to draw him out and make him more assertive and self-determined and lo and behold, after years of gentle pushing and inspiring, David applied at the grocery store where he has worked since he finished school.

Special education teachers everywhere can relate to David’s story. Along with their special learning needs, students often come in with a special set of concerns: ridicule, fear, and uncertainty about the future. But special education teachers face these needs each day with a bold determination to help students, and sometimes parents, get to a place where they can be appreciated for their individual skills and talents.

The following video talks about how teachers at the O’Hearn School of Massachusetts are working towards this goal through the technique of full inclusion teaching.

Just as the O’Hearn School is using innovative techniques, teachers all over the world are finding and tailoring special solutions to their students individual needs.

Do you have a great special education idea that you would love to share? It’s not too late! The deadline for submissions is November 13th, so apply now! You could win $200 in cash and a flip video camera to capture the implementation of your idea and share with the WeAreTeachers community. And don’t forget to sign up to be a part of our Special Education microcommunity to stay connected with important news, blogs, and people in the special education field.

Look no further than remnants of dried leaves dragged in  by your students for evidence that fall has arrived, bringing with it excitement over things to come (Thanksgiving break, perhaps!) and cherished memories of times past.

This month at WeAreTeachers, we are getting nostalgic. We’ve partnered with Teaching Strategies to create the “Memorable Moments” video contest, asking teachers to share with us their earliest memories of learning and how it has impacted their teaching style now. Watching the outstanding videos that have been submitted so far has caused the WeAreTeachers team to reminisce about our first learning memories.

Sandy Fivecoat, CEO of WeAreTeachers, shared a poignant memory of the lesson of kindness she learned from her mother. “ I was six and ready to go into first grade. My dad had just been involved in a major car accident. He got better eventually, but at that time, my whole family was in a tail spin, and here I was ready to head off to school for the first time,” Sandy remembered, “I remember feeling afraid, alone, somewhat confused and even a bit neglected. Then, my mom presented me with a dress she had made me for the first day! I remember it still. It had a black background, with pictures of crayons all over it, and a white collar. Something about that dress made me feel loved, remembered and special. So my first ‘lesson’ was that my family loved me and cared about me, even in the midst of crisis!”

Donnine Souhrada, VP of marketing at WeAreTeachers, remembered a valuable lesson on the power of connection and networking. “My most memorable moment that still impacts me today is from an experience I had from Miss Hoppock, my 6th grade teacher at Magnolia Elementary in Carlsbad, CA,” Donnine recalled, “ I never will forget the day she was going around the room asking what we would like to be when we grew up or what we wanted to get better at doing. One boy named Brian Schafer answered he wanted to be a Muppeteer. Ms. Hoppock said, ‘Brian, do you know the principal of our school is trained in this and uses Muppets for educating students?‘ She immediately called the principal over the loud speaker from the classroom to the principal’s office. The principal replied in a loud voice over our classroom speaker. Miss Hoppock explained, ‘I have a student sitting in my class that wants to be a Muppeteer and I wanted him to get an appointment with you so you can provide him with  next steps he should do on his journey. Can he come up right now and meet with you?’ The principal agreed and Brian left the classroom. I was in total awe. It was so powerful how one person can fuel the desire or dream of another with a simple connection. When someone shares a goal or desire with me, I always try to think, ‘Who do I know that can help make this happen?’”

Malcolm St. Romain, VP of Business at WeAreTeachers, recalled working on a special school project with his mother, We were asked to ‘recreate’ Abe Lincoln’s log cabin,” Malcolm said, “ My mother worked with me to roll newspapers into “logs” and cut cardboard for the roof.  We used doll house furniture for the insides.  I remember being so proud to turn in my log cabin. Thanks, Mom!”

It’s evident from our own memories and from the videos that have been submitted that these first memories were critical in forming the types of people and educators we would grow to be, and reinforced just how powerful the role of the educator is in creating kind, thoughtful, successful adults. Have you taken a moment to watch all of the inspirational, funny, or touching videos submitted by your fellow teachers? Have you shared your memory and entered the contest? If not, it’s not too late! We want to hear your story. Just grab a camera and get that video in by November 23, 2009, and then be sure to encourage all of your friends and colleagues to vote for your video. The submissions that receive the most votes are awarded with a flip video camera and a fantastic Teaching Strategies gift certificate! Don’t wait, get those videos in today!

It’s no secret that teachers are resourceful and have great ideas. With the right funding and the right idea, a teacher can start a revolution in the classroom, the community and the student. The only setback: funding isn’t always easy to obtain.  At WeAreTeachers, it is our constant goal to provide you with the support you need to be the best teacher you can be, and that is how our microgrant program was born. You give us your best ideas on an assigned topic, and we give you funding to make them happen, to the tune of $200 and a flip video camera for each of our ten grant recipients. Quantum Learning Technologies is sponsoring the current microgrant to support Student Engagement.

This summer, we partnered with Dell for a microgrant on Digital Learning and the results were fantastic. We received an overwhelming 220 submissions for the grant! You voted and picked the top ten submissions, and they became our Digital Learning Microgrant winners.

Each of these educators had interesting, unique ideas for using digital learning as an educational tool. Greg Barclay, an English teacher from South Fulton, TN won for his project “Blogging as Writing; Podcasting as Presenting.” He is very enthusiastic about how the microgrant will help his students.

“I think the act of producing podcasts will be greatly beneficial to my students,” Mr. Barclay stated via email, “Many of them do not even know what a podcast is. In addition to learning about a different kind of technology, they will also be learning about public speaking.”

For some of the recipients, the journey to winning the microgrant was as exciting as actually receiving the grant. Dallas, TX teacher and yearbook sponsor Michael Moran, whose project “We Are Woodrow” garnered the most online votes, said that the entire process was as beneficial as the grant itself.

“When something goes ‘viral,’ there is usually an element of luck, but the paths to popularity can be utilized to educate and inform. I hoped that I could use these tools to give people an opportunity to help kids. I’ll use this experience as much as I’ll use the award,” commented Mr. Moran.

Diane Davis, an Art teacher in Reading, MA and winner for her “Growing As An Artist” project, said there was added value and inspiration in looking at the other submissions.

“I loved the Shapes All Around Us project by Leigh Kraemer,” Ms. Davis explained,   “Although a preschool project, this is also a perfect art project. Rather than pointing out shapes in pictures, they are actively searching for shapes in the world around them. I could see this adapted in middle school art classes by having students search for elements and principles of art, or making color collages with monochromatic, complimentary, and analogous color schemes.”

The benefits of the microgrants have gone beyond the doors of the classroom, reaching into the entire community for winner Tanya Jacobucci, a Kindergarten teacher from Clearwater, KS. Ms. Jacobucci’s project, titled “Retired at Five- Traveling with Grandma,” connects her kindergartners with retired teachers.

“Since our project was announced as one of the winners, we’ve also had parents of our students show interest in taking the camera with them as they travel, so it’s starting to involve even more community members,” Ms. Jacobucci reported.

We are thrilled to see that the microgrants are not only helping to fund teachers’ ideas, but are reaching out to change students, unite communities and inspire teachers as well! We’ve now announced our new microgrant, a Student Engagement project sponsored by Quantum Learning Technologies, and it’s not too late to apply!

If you could take your students anywhere in the world, where would you go? To China, to see how a country with it’s enormous population can function? To Africa, to show them that there are still parts of the world where clean drinking water is a luxury? Opening our students’ eyes to cultural diversity is becoming increasingly important in a “Flat World” environment, and fortunately, with Web 2.0 technology, you won’t be on the hook for thirty round trip plane tickets.

Wouldn’t it be great if you could connect and collaborate with another teacher similar to you across the globe?  With WeAreTeachers’ Facebook application, I Am Teacher, we are connecting teachers both across the US and on a global scale to share ideas and expose their students to new cultures and ways of life without leaving the classroom. Through our searchable database of teachers, we can provide quick, accurate matches for you based on several different search criteria.

Recently, Candace Townsley, a Gifted and Talented teacher outside Tulsa, OK agreed to connect and collaborate with another teacher internationally and allow the process to be documented for this blog.

Candace was enthusiastic about global learning projects from the start and looked forward to finding the right teacher to work with.  She connected with Shelly Terrell, an EFL teacher in Stuttgard, Germany. Shelly was also a proponent of global learning outreach, saying “[Global learning] makes students aware of global issues, dispels stereotypes, opens students to cultural diversity & motivates students to collaborate on global issues.”

They connected via Facebook chat before moving the conversation to Skype, where the discussion turned to idea sharing. “We talked about what we teach, our various school systems, and brainstormed ideas and topics that would have the students use higher order skills,” recounted Shelly.

Candace described how they made plans to collaborate on a future project, “We decided that we would work on a project to assist in dispelling various stereotypes projected upon each culture. In doing so [students] will VIRTUALLY see how students really are in Germany/America.”

They made plans to bring their students together to create a lasting collaboration that they could revisit, so they are looking to create a wiki together this fall.  (Watch this space for updates!)

But Candace and Shelly are just two of millions of teachers who are reaching across the globe, motivating, inspiring and sharing with each other. In 2006, teachers Julie Lindsay (Qatar) and Vicki Davis (US) saw the need for giving their students a sense of global unity after reading Thomas Friedman’s popular book about globalization, The World is Flat. Davis and Lindsay created The Flat Classroom Project, a project that brings teachers and classes from across the world together using Web 2.0 technology such as Wikipages and Ning. This video was created to kick off their 2009 Classroom Conference and tells more about using social learning to connect students internationally.

We want to know what you are looking for in terms of connecting globally. Take a minute to fill out this quick survey and  let us know what tools you need to get a global outreach project started. WeAreTeachers would like to track other global learning projects and share the process and learnings with the WeAreTeachers community.

If you are itching to take the first step towards creating a global teacher to teacher partnership, go to Facebook and use our I Am Teacher application to find the right match for you, and leave us a comment to let us know how you’ve used I Am Teacher to take your students and yourself on an international adventure!

In an era when the President of the United States uses a Blackberry and computers are  becoming as necessary as number two pencils, digital technology is changing the way we live and learn.  The digital age has created an exciting new environment for us all, and innovative teachers like you are embracing and harnessing the power of digital learning to blow the walls off their schools and open up their classrooms to other educators all over the world. But sifting through all of the information about digital learning can take more time than a busy teacher has to spend, so we’ve found some great resources on the web to help you find new ways to incorporate digital technology into your classroom.

The case for digital learning is simple: your students live in a time of wikis, webinars and iChat. But how could this help them in the classroom?  This video shows what your digital learners expect of you in a Web 2.0 age.

At WeAreTeachers, we want to encourage you in your efforts to be a part of this digital revolution, both by providing you with the tools you need to keep up and through the teacher’s magic word: funding.  Through WAT microgrants, we are helping teachers get their big ideas out into the digital world-and the response has been phenomenal. Our current “Digital Learning “ microgrant sponsored by Dell, had over 200 submissions! From those 200 applicants, the community will vote to determine the top ten who will receive $200 and a flip video camera to share their project with the entire WeAreTeachers community. Have you had a chance to take a look at the microgrant applications?  It’s a great way to see what your peers are doing to bring their students into the Web 2.0 age. You are sure to be inspired!  What is so exciting about each of these teacher-submitted ideas is that they all demonstrate how digital learning empowers teachers to share their passion for reaching students in a fresh new way.

We are so proud of the astonishing response to this microgrant. What this tells us at WeAreTeachers is that you are excited about being on the forefront of using this technology, and we are thrilled to support you!

And we aren’t the only ones, many companies are hopping aboard the digital bandwagon. Everywhere you look, companies and organizations are standing up and taking notice of the need for digital content. NASA has a wonderful Digital Learning Network that was designed to help educators bring the wonder of space into the classroom.  PBS will be launching a fantastic digital learning library this fall, geared especially towards educators. The Digital Learning Commons is a nonprofit organization created with the sole intention of helping teachers find the best digital learning techniques to give their students an edge. Additionally, exciting programs are being developed like the Digital Learning Lab at UC Irvine, which is currently looking for educators to collaborate in a host of digital learning projects.

How do you use digital learning? Do you keep a blog? Have your students used wikis to research information? Have you thought about using a flip video camera like the ones we are including with our microgrants to collaborate and idea share with other teachers?  Is there an area that you’d love to see supported by a microgrant? We want to hear about it! Have you been inspired by an idea from our 200 applicants?  Your feedback is crucial, so please take a minute to leave a comment and let us know your thoughts.  We cannot wait to infuse your ideas and bring you more valuable teacher-generated content that will inspire, enlighten and empower you in the days to come!

Image by Getty Images via Daylif

I have attended NECC every year since about 1980.  You can imagine the changes I have seen!  Each year I know it is one of the “can’t miss” conferences in education, and each year after I attend, I am reminded why.

As expected there is a ton of new information and technology shared here.
There is another layer, however — one that is less tangible, but all the more important to note.  That is the incredible learning that takes place when this many people get together with enthusiasm, passion, thirst for knowledge, and desire to collaborate with their peers.  I could only think… “Wow, if teachers are this passionate about learning from each other, imagine how their students must feel when they transfer this to the classroom”.  To take it to the next level, what if students were able to learn in this type of setting as well?  Wouldn’t they also achieve the same benefit?
This innovation and teacher collaboration is one of the reasons that we started the WeAreTeachers microgrant program. During NECC we announced the latest microgrant on “Digital Learning” sponsored by Dell. Our goal is to put a small financial contribution directly in the hands of teachers to kick off a project along with a Flip Video Camera to record it and post for other teachers.
The Tweetup was a great place for teachers to finally meet their colleagues who they had only known virtually through Twitter, Facebook or their blogs.  It was a cool way to put a real person with the “personality” you have come to know on the web.  Also, this event allowed for more exchanging of ideas in real time — a truly powerful experience.  Equal to this was the Bloggers’ Café where many more informal meet-ups occurred.
Many  attendees have been blogging about their experiences at NECC. If you attended NECC, be sure to add your favorite memories here.
Some themes I found most prevalent at NECC this year included:
o    Global Education – An example is the good work at IEARN. This concept of the flat world and open classrooms with shared experiences with other students across the world was a key discussion.
o    Philanthropic Education – An example is My Hero or other Cause Oriented Projects.  There were many shared ideas on this topic as well.
o    Grassroots Teacher Empowerment efforts – like  WeAreTeachers & Classroom 2.0.   These are two places where teachers are organizing and gathering to further the causes of global education and teacher empowerment efforts.
o    Debate over the potential detriment of the brick & mortar school to learning was also a much discussed topic.  Malcolm Gladwell’s keynote brought this to the forefront.

The official stats of attendance from ISTE : 13,574 registered attendees, 849 int’l attendees, 1,253 booths, 140 journalists, etc.
Here is a list of some of my more interesting reads from bloggers at NECC:
http://www.speedofcreativity.org/
http://www.dangerouslyirrelevant.org
http://preclectic.com/
www.spirobolos.blogspot.com
http://www.freetech4teachers.com/
www.amyboehman.blogspot.com
www.uenatnecc.blogspot.com
http://www.angelamaiers.com/2009/07/necc-finally-breathing.html
http://www.isteconnects.org/2009/07/02/the-definitive-necc-09-wrap-up-post/
http://en.community.dell.com/groups/edu4u/blog/archive/2009/07/07/authored-by-kari-stubbs-necc-09-from-the-brainpop-perspective.aspx
http://coolcatteacher.wikispaces.com/

Image by Old Shoe Woman via Flickr

As some of you who have been with WeAreTeachers for a while understand, our community is a wonderful collection of teachers who enjoy collaborating, connecting, finding one another, and finding resources to help them with their important work. It’s also a place where teacher-created content can be developed, shared, or even sold.

But a place that also welcomes marketers, vendors, publishers, and other commercial partners?  My, my!  What are we thinking!  How can commercial providers and teachers actually mingle, share, even ‘get along??’  And in a network that prides itself in having no traditional ‘banner ads’ or other overt advertising for its monetization strategy?  What ARE we thinking??

This is a question we get quite often, so I wanted to address this conundrum right up front.

First, we are very clear at WeAreTeachers that our CENTRAL purpose and ‘value proposition‘ obligation is for the TEACHERS in our community.   We work every day to find better ways to get teachers connected, and to honor and support their fine work.  We work hard to provide tools and programs that support teachers at the grass roots level — not just through the institutions in which they happen to work — but teachers at the point of their interaction with students, and at the point in which they transfer knowledge and wisdom to others.  We try daily to think of ways to empower teachers, and to ensure their collective voice is heard as a powerful and compelling force in education improvement.  We try to find the very best teachers and give them a megaphone, so that great teaching and teaching ideas surface.

For ‘Marketers’ in the education industry?  WeAreTeachers also has an important value proposition for them.  Namely, we believe there is an enormous need for providers of education content to connect directly with end-user practioners — called ‘teachers.’  And we believe technology — primarily via social media tools — has a lot to offer to facilitate that connection.  While many companies are beginning to understand this need, most lack resources or expertise to understand how to connect properly and appropriately with teachers through social media.  There is great tempation to just utilize social media marketing to ’sell at’ teachers — and little expertise or understanding of how to promote a brand and, at the same time, genuinely have meaningful conversation with (and add value to) these teachers.

Is this because the education industry lacks great people or great products?  Of course not.   Rather, it’s simply that this level of end-user connection — particularly through the on-going engagement today’s technology represents — is just something most companies have little experience in utilizing.

That’s where WeAreTeachers comes in.  We look carefully at the needs of teachers — and we listen closely to our community.  Then we seek corporate sponsors to help fund and support things that really matter to teachers.    Like MicroGrants for supporting creativity.   Or a scholarship program to support inner city learning.  Or a MicroGrant to support environmental education.

We also seek ways to help marketers in the education space connect with teachers during the product development phase.  Soon, we plan to launch a program to ask Teachers what they really NEED to be better teachers, then connect that need directly to the companies who have the resources to meet that need.  We also connect teachers using particular commercial learning programs to one another — in WAT Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) — to encourage best practice sharing, and collaboration.

We’re still learning, but we hope to find the careful intersection of ‘WHAT TEACHERS NEED’ and ‘WHAT VENDORS MIGHT PROVIDE’ — and to connect those dots that also promote proper and useful conversations and sharing between end-user teachers and those commercial providers who publish great content.

What a wonderful thing if we make a dent in this arena!  We think its about time that all the stakeholders connected!   And what better place to make that happen than in the online community called WeAreTeachers?

I’d love YOUR thoughts about this!   Our commitment to the community?  We’ll work hard to bring on the very best commercial partners, and to facilitate the very best conversations and programs to support great teaching and learning.

Image by rosefirerising via Flickr

We’ve just started a new program at WeAreTeachers — MicroGrants.

We designed this program to be consistent with our philosophy and commitment to this important community:  Namely, we want to put teachers at the center of the Web 2.0 world, AND we want to work hard to be sure EVERYTHING we do has some value to the community and its members.

We were inspired by the idea of Micro-Loans. . . and the notion of what magic can happen when even small resources are placed in the hands of people who are in a position to make an immediate impact.  You may have heard of Muhammad Yunus of Bangladesh, the current Nobel laureate.  Yunus said the tiny loans distributed in the developing world, most of them to women, have already lifted 100 million people out of direst poverty and brought them the dignity of running small businesses, many of which eventually create jobs for others. These simple, sustainable businesses – weaving, raising chickens, selling groceries in small shops – are proven development vessels that can be launched with loans as small as $100.

SO — we considered — What might happen if we — through our relationships with businesses in our network — could secure corporate sponsors to help provide small grants directly to teachers, then track what they are able to do with this direct resource.  What happens when a real TEACHER — with a super idea, has enough money to, say take kids on a field trip, or buy some microscopes for a classroom, or a musical instrument for a Mariachi band?  And what if we also provide a simple Flip-video camera and ask him/her to let us know what happens with a video story?

We are pleased that our first such MicroGrant (sponsored by Alchemy Systems in Austin, Texas), is providing resources to promote Creativity.  We want to know what great ideas teachers have to keep creativity alive in the classroom — especially given the current focus on basic skills and testing that is crowding out the arts and other creative curriculum.

Here’s how it works.  Unlike other education grants that take an advanced degree and hundreds of hours to seek, our grant form is a single page form.  We don’t want big documents, just big ideas.  Once your idea is submitted, we’ll post all the entrants, and ask the WeAreTeachers community to vote — in true Web 2.0 form.  The best ideas will be selected, and winners will receive $200 to make a difference for kids, as well as a flip-camera to record their success.  We’ll ask teachers to submit their videos back to the community, so that great ideas can be shared.  Cool, eh?

We are looking for other MicroGrant areas you’d like to see us fund. If you are into creativity, submit for this grant.  Or send us a note and let us know what other areas you would like to see funded.  We’ll find a corporate sponsor, and keep this program going.

Small resources can make a huge difference IF applied where the ‘rubber meets the road’, and we think that’s right in the hands of our best teachers.