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!

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.