Teaming Up With the Help of Tech Tools

School:: Lake Park Elementary
Subject:: Language Arts
Teacher:: Kristin Merrill
Students Impacted:: 50
Grade:: 4
Date:: September 8, 2018

Investor

Thank you to the following investor for funding this grant.

Harlan & Heather Dam - $160.00

Impact to My Classroom

# of Students Impacted: 80

We live in a great city with a supportive community around us. Most of my students come from families with equal support, but some do not. Simple requests like bringing in a pair of earbuds can be daunting for some students, and a burden on a teacher to provide for them. Because of the product I found, I was able to share earbuds with my entire 4th grade team allowing the benefit of the grant to extend well beyond the four walls of my classroom.

These earbuds have changed the way our classroom runs. Students are now free to use technology more often, and to do it in ways that are less distracting to those learning around them. They are able to work on assignments tailored to their needs because they now have the freedom to work at their own pace due to individual technology tools like earbuds. Students store their earbuds in their own case and use daily for individual and whole group lessons. As far as the earphone splitters, we have been using them for video editing and currently for a novel read aloud. Being able to share what you are working on or listening to strengthens collaboration among the students and allows us to incorporate our iPads since we do not have enough for every student to use one on their own. We use the microphones for our many film based projects including our school-wide 4th grade film festival and the stylus pens are awesome to use alongside our newer schoolwide technology like touchscreen laptops.

Thank you again for investing in the learning that is going on daily in our classroom! Because of your generosity, over 90 students were given the freedom to use technology and more will be affected in the years to come.

grant photo

Original Grant Overview

Goal

My classroom is very diverse in ability, culture and socioeconomic status. I have students living in the wealthiest of communities, along the beach, in the same classroom as students who walk to school from the public housing development. But, I find that, no matter what kids don't have in common, there is always one thing they can do together: LEARN! My students come in, each day, eager to learn new things, to become innovators and to grow as independent learners. I am requesting various tech tools because I want to enhance the usage of the technology in the classroom.

What will be done with my students

We currently have several iPads in our class, and my students use them both independently and cooperatively. I am looking for ways to keep my class "in the know" with what's going on locally, nationally and even globally. I want to be able to ignite their interests and allow them to explore the world beyond our four walls. Technology is a great tool that can transform the classroom, but it can be costly to maintain the costs of all the accessories that go along with it.
I strive to build a classroom that is interactive where learning is authentic and students are creating, collaborating and constructing meaning on their path to understanding. On a weekly basis you might see them recording videos, filming on green screens, animating artwork, researching information, and filming book reviews to name a few. Many of these tasks require tools other than our iPads. Tools such as stylus pens, earbuds and microphones will allow students more independence throughout their collaborative activities.

Benefits to my students

Tools like earbuds, styluses, microphones and splitters will allow my students to quietly work both independently and cooperatively, in a way that prevents them from bothering other learners around them. These tools would also give students more freedom to work and less wait time due to sharing equipment with classmates.

Budget Narrative

Price includes 20 stylus pens, 2 headphone splitters, 5 lapel microphones and 100 pairs of earbuds.

Items

#	Item	Cost
1	TFD Supplies Wholesale Bulk Earbuds (100)	$60.00
2	Eocean Professional Grade Lavalier Lapel Microphone (5 total)	$65.00
3	Stylus Pen LIBERRWAY 10 Pack	$6.00
4	Stylus Pen LIBERRWAY 10 Pack	$6.00
5	Belkin RockStar 5-Jack Multi Headphone Audio Splitter (2)	$23.00
	Total:	$160.00

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