By Melanie
Tuesday,
Oct 7, 2008 at 1:20pm
The countdown is on: we have just a few days to get out the vote and win $1.5 million to support our schools.
Your votes got us this far, now minutes of your time can seal the deal. Our teachers and students need us, and we need you.
To help us win the AmEx Members Project, please take a moment to help meet our call to action in the next 48 hours:
1. Vote for our project, “Help 100,000 children thrive in the classroom.” If you voted for our project before September 30th, please vote again (votes clear out every round!)
2. Send the email text below to friends, family, and colleagues who support public education:
A project I care about, “Help 100,000 children thrive in the classroom,” is in the Top 5 of the American Express Members Project. If it wins, $1.5 million in resources will be delivered to 4,000 classrooms at America’s highest need schools. Our schools urgently need these resources. Please vote today!
If you’re an American Express cardholder, vote now!
Whether or not you hold an American Express card, please forward this blurb to everyone you know! We can’t do this without your help.
If you are having problems voting, please click here for more detailed information!
3. Use your Facebook account to tell friends about our project.
Thanks again for all you’re doing to help us win $1.5 million for our schools.
Warmly,
Melanie Duppins
Project Submitter,
“Help 100,000 Children Thrive In the Classroom!”
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By Melanie
Thursday,
Sep 11, 2008 at 4:34pm
Where you grow up shouldn’t determine the quality of the education you receive. That’s why over 2,000 voters nominated “Help 100,000 children thrive in the classroom” to make the top 25 world-changing ideas in the American Express Members Project.
If our project gets enough votes before September 29th, we will move on to the final round of this competition, guaranteeing that between $100,000 and $1,500,000 in resources will be delivered to classrooms across the country. We need your help to make this happen!
If you have an American Express card, vote today:
- Check out our project, “Help 100,000 children thrive in the classroom”.
- Log in to your American Express account in the top right corner of the project page.
- Select “Vote For This Project!”
NOTE: Once you’ve voted, you should see a box on our project page titled “My Vote.”
Everyone and anyone can help:
- Email friends and family and ask them to support, “Help 100,000 children thrive in the classroom”. For sample language to send to your family and friends, click here.
- Sign up for a guest account at the American Express Members Project and post comments to our project page.
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By Melanie
Friday,
Aug 8, 2008 at 10:16am
It started as a project idea on DonorsChoose.org: a teacher from Nicholson Elementary requested art supplies to raise awareness about violence in her community. Two people visited DonorsChoose.org, read about the project, and gave the funding needed to make her idea a reality. With these resources, this project became a school-wide “Memorial Chair” effort to commemorate the two dozen plus young lives lost in the Chicago Public Schools last year.
Next month, the Field Museum of Chicago will to feature these chairs in a special exhibit in their Maori gallery. Because of the hard work of these students and their dedicated teacher, hundreds of museum visitors will put faces and names to the young people lost and will learn, on a more intimate level, about the reality of violence toward youngsters in Chicago.
Thank you for all you do to bring projects like this one to life in the classroom. To view other meaningful projects in need of funding, visit www.DonorsChoose.org today.
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By Melanie
Friday,
Jun 13, 2008 at 2:35pm
I am a 6th grade math and science teacher in Oakland, CA. I’ve been using DonorsChoose.org for three years to get resources for my students. So far, I’ve had 37 proposals funded. It’s been relatively easy to make this happen, and I wanted to share this success with other teachers. Here are my top four tips to making DonorsChoose.org work for you as a teacher:
1. Keep it cheap! I’ve found that proposals that are relatively inexpensive (under $400) are very likely to get funded quickly. I’ve also had larger proposals funded, but they sometimes take longer to get more donors intrigued.
2. Get the donation ball rolling. I often let my friends and family know that I’ve posted a new proposal. Especially when I started teaching, those close to me really did want to help me get resources for my classroom. Even if someone can just give $20, it makes your proposal partially funded and likely to attract donors who are trying to “finish off” a proposal that has already received donations. In the past, I’ve gotten the word out by including links to proposals in my email signature and on my Facebook profile.
3. Get ideas from others. Where have I gotten all the ideas for these 37 proposals? From other teachers, of course! I’ve often searched the site for my content area (middle school math or science) to see what other teachers are asking for - it gives me ideas about what my own students could use! Whenever I visit another classroom and see something that would benefit my students, I’ll make sure to post a proposal for that item or idea when I get the chance.
4. Use classroom “down” time to get thank-you notes written. In a high-stakes world, it is sometimes tough to find time in class to write thank you notes to donors when proposals are funded. However, we all know how important it is to thank the donors; it’s also such an important lesson for our students to learn how to be thankful for what they receive. I find the time to do this during quizzes and tests - students are instructed before they begin that they should write a thank you note after they have finished their test. It eliminates the problem of quick students having nothing to do while they wait for their classmates to complete a test. I ask them to be detailed and include pictures in their letters. On the white board, I have written the name of the donor, any words or phrases they might need (such as “reusable batteries and charger”, “appreciate”, and “Sincerely”) in the letter so that they can be self-driven in writing their letter.
Good luck with your proposals!
–
Jessica Eastman
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By Melanie
Wednesday,
Apr 16, 2008 at 2:00pm
On Saturday, April 5, 2008, two dozen Washington, DC teachers stormed the streets of Chinatown with disposable cameras, photocopies, and a mission: to learn the ins-and-outs of how to conduct an interactive walking tour of Washington, DC – without breaking the bank. To these teachers, DonorsChoose.org isn’t just a “great idea” or “something to think about,” but a way to accomplish an out-of-the-box learning experience with their students, which might not otherwise be possible.
The DonorsChoose.org Atlantic Team, in conjunction with the National Geographic Society, informed these teachers about the process of requesting the “interactive” elements of their walking tours: the camcorders, digital cameras, voice recorders, and other supplies that would help them invest students in learning about their communities.
We are so excited to read their proposals and to connect these teachers with willing donors that care about geography instruction in the nation’s capital.
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By Melanie
Tuesday,
Mar 4, 2008 at 11:10am
This year, the DonorsChoose.org Atlantic team partnered with Progress Energy to deliver $50,000 in energy education resources to classrooms in North and South Carolina.
Shortly thereafter, a local chapter of the eco-friendly nonprofit, Earth Force, conducted a two-hour training for its educators – all about DonorsChoose.org.
Next month, DonorsChoose.org will work with the Washington, DC Environmental Education Consortium to inform 20 environmental education nonprofits about the resources available to Washington, DC science teachers at DonorsChoose.org.
Coincidences? We think not.
Since the DonorsChoose.org model hinges on innovation, collaboration, and collective responsibility for our communities, it is no surprise that groups concerned with environmental citizenship are strong advocates for DonorsChoose.org.
Together, we’re working to ensure that teachers concerned with ecology, environmental conservation, and alternative energy know about and use our site to execute their most dynamic instructional ideas.
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By Melanie
Monday,
Nov 26, 2007 at 11:28pm
For the last 3 weeks, Systemic Teacher Mentoring Schools in Baltimore City competed in the first-ever Post Off Challenge – an opportunity for instructional leaders to motivate their teachers to submit as many proposals as possible to DonorsChoose.org. At the end of the challenge, three STM schools (one elementary, one middle, and one high) would take home the prize of being considered Baltimore City’s STM Post-Off Challenge Winners garnering funding for participating teachers at their schools.
It turned out that teachers at Belmont Elementary, Lemmel Middle School, and Augusta Fells Savage High School posted more proposals than any of their peers. Congratulations to their instructional leaders: Principal Mary Faye (BB) LaMartina, Ed D. and Mentor Cynthia Cook-Wilson of Belmont Elementary, Principal Quianna Cooke and Mentor LaVaughn Wilkins of Lemmel Middle School, and Principal Theresa Lance and Mentors Kris Sieloff and Darlene Malat of Augusta Fells Savage High School, for all their hard work throughout this challenge.
While these schools deserve special recognition, ALL participating STM schools deserve a round of applause: within three weeks, these schools have submitted 282 Baltimore proposals, requesting $98,000 worth of classroom supplies!
A special thank you goes out to Lynda Anozie, Coordinator of Systemic Teacher Mentoring for BCPSS, and Tom Bowmann, Director of Baltimore City’s Teacher and Principal Quality Team. They coordinated the STM Kickoff Event, Mentor outreach, and other support that truly made this challenge a success!
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By Melanie
Monday,
Nov 19, 2007 at 7:06pm
Prince George’s County (MD) teachers have “All the Right Stuff.” Take Meredith Rowe, for instance. Meredith has posted 4 proposals with DonorsChoose.org between September 5th and November 10th of this year. Two of her proposals have already been funded, and she’s already started to use her requested supplies in the classroom. Meredith Rowe is also spreading the word about DonorsChoose.org to her colleagues at Robert Frost Elementary School. In no time, teachers throughout her school will also be requesting free supplies via DonorsChoose.org. Kudos to Meredith and to her awesome colleagues at Robert Frost Elementary!
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By Melanie
Tuesday,
Nov 13, 2007 at 8:09pm
All hats off to STM Mentor Elizabeth Allen of Nathan A. Pitts-Ashburton Elementary-Middle in Baltimore City. She and Principal Lucy Miller will be spending their Monday and Tuesday afternoons helping their teachers write, edit, and post their supply requests to DonorsChoose.org. On these afternoons, both Allen and Miller will be fielding questions, editing essays, and working with teachers to post supply requests that are meaningful to their school and their students.
In addition, all hats off to STM Mentor Kimberly Boles of Alexander Hamilton Elementary School in Baltimore City. Heather managed to bring the highest percentage of her new teachers to the DonorsChoose.org Kickoff Event at the Systemic Teacher Mentoring Site. In addition, she will be helping teachers at her school post their first proposals to DonorsChoose.org.
These are a few examples of the awesome leaders in our nation’s public schools. If you’d like your leader included in a future installment of “All The Right Stuff,” e-mail melanie (at) donorschoose (dot) org!
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