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At DonorsChoose, we rave over books adapted to television, we’ve made holiday book exchanges a tradition, and we’ve filled our library with staff picks and the books teachers need most. The secret’s out! We’re book nerds.

Most recently, we took our love of books to a new level and created a team-wide book club. We focused on a bigger issue in the education world to increase our team’s awareness of the communities and policies we interact with every day. For our first read, we chose PUSHOUT: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools by Monique Morris. Morris chronicles the lives of black girls across the country as they try to succeed in our education system; they not only face challenges from teachers, parents, and administrators, but also the criminal justice system. Interwoven with the voices of black girls, this book offers up ways we can eliminate the obstacles, stereotypes, and criminalization that so many black girls experience at schools across the United States.

Morris helped us reframe our understanding of a variety of topics, including mental health, age compression, sex trafficking, gender, and sexuality. Morris demonstrated how these challenges collectively contribute to the disproportionate punishment of black girls in schools and ultimately push them out into unhealthy and unsafe futures. Morris also presents tools that parents, educators, and community members can use to respond to those issues.

The folks on our team who participated in the book club were incredibly moved by the book and by the conversations we had in our meetings. Here’s what they had to say about the experience:

“This book club was a wonderful way to grow our knowledge about the education system and bring to light the various challenges we can continue to help our teachers and students tackle through our everyday work. ”

— Shantaa

“I loved the book choice — the issues that Pushout covers, intersect with so many things I think about, organize around, and want to know more about ...  It was wonderful to have a space to talk about those ideas with folks... ”

— Sarah

“I think that book clubs can be a great space to self-reflect, get a little vulnerable, sharpen your critical eye, connect dots, and brainstorm for the future.”

— Morgan

We hope you can learn from this book as well. Teachers spend so much time and energy investing in the education and growth of their students and we want to remind you that it’s also okay to invest this same energy towards yourself! At DonorsChoose, teachers can create Professional Development projects because we’re committed to supporting the individual growth of teachers so that they too can continue to adapt to students they serve.

Teachers, if you’re inspired to read PUSHOUT and share these ideas with your students, you can create a DonorsChoose project requesting the book (or any other resources you need to further Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion efforts). Or, add this to your classroom library for next school year to open up a conversation about your students’ experiences with the issues the book discusses.

If there’s a book you love that you think we should read at our book club, let us know in the comments below!

This guest blog post was written by Zobaida Hossain (from our Customer Support team) and Christin Washington (from our Partnership Activation team).

Integrating technology into the classroom is a key part of giving students a 21st century education. Classroom tech can help students develop digital literacy early, explore computer science and coding, and provide opportunities for individualized learning. Bringing such tech devices into the classroom requires close collaboration between teachers and district leaders. In addition to empowering district leaders to submit their district’s technology guidelines so that we can help teachers request the right resources, DonorsChoose has implemented additional processes to help teachers get the device licenses they need for centralized device management.

Device Enrollment Programs

Many school districts manage technology through a centralized device management program, like Google Chrome Management or Apple School Manager. These programs allow for the following to be managed easily by district technology leaders:

• Deployment of apps
• Security permissions
• Running updates
• Troubleshooting issues

At DonorsChoose, we recognize the importance of such centralized device management, and the challenges that arise when teachers gain tech devices outside traditional district procurement. Our materials ownership policy states that resources received through DonorsChoose are owned by the school, and ensuring devices can be enrolled in centralized device management systems is a key way we support that policy.

We’ve taken steps over the past year to make sure sure teachers know how to request technology that will arrive ready to be set up and implemented quickly once it arrives at their school.

Apple Products

Because Apple devices requested through DonorsChoose are purchased through an authorized Apple reseller (Best Buy Education), 100% of Apple devices received through DonorsChoose can be enrolled in Apple School Manager or Device Enrollment Program. Read more about how you can work with your teachers to set up Apple devices through these centralized management programs.

Chromebooks

Chromebooks available through DonorsChoose are automatically bundled with a Google Chrome Management License. Teachers can request these bundles through Best Buy Education or CDW-G. When Chromebooks ship, our vendors either directly add the licenses to the district’s domain, or ask the requesting teacher for the domain name to complete this step. Read more about how teachers work with our vendors to activate these licenses.

Helping Teachers and District Tech Leaders Work Together

To bridge the gap between teachers and district tech leaders, we send communications to both teachers and district leaders when technology is arriving. Principals receive a fax with details on the specific technology that’s on its way, and teachers receive an email with instructions for enrolling their device.

We’re excited to work with your district to make sure your teachers and students are set up for tech success. Submit your technology guidelines or contact districts@donorschoose.org to talk more about how we can support your district’s tech needs.

Every spring, our most generous corporate and foundation partners join us for two days of inspiration and education, helping them connect deeper to the DonorsChoose mission and to the teachers who use our platform. These partners have contributed over $60 million to classrooms this school year and love learning more about how their support helps public school teachers and students across the country.

We welcomed partners to our hometown — New York City — this year. Here are some of the highlights:

Being inspired by NYC Public Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza

We kicked off our Partner Summit speaking with Chancellor Carranza, on the very day he celebrated his one-year anniversary as head of New York City’s public schools! Chancellor Carranza, who previously served as the Houston Independent School District Superintendent, shared how he worked to rebuild Houston schools and communities following Hurricane Harvey with help from DonorsChoose. He also described his vision for New York schools, his hectic schedule overseeing 1,700 public schools, and why he loves the entrepreneurial spirit of his teachers who use our site.

Hearing from an incredible panel of teachers

We began our second day of Partner Summit by talking with the heroes of the day: three teachers from New York and Connecticut. Kara Breen, Sheena Graham, and Andy Yung — all DonorsChoose veterans with over 200 projects funded between them — had a conversation about diversity in the classroom and how important it is for their students to see themselves in their learning. We laughed, we cried, but most importantly, we were inspired by these teachers, who proudly represented the more than 100,000 educators that our partners have supported this year.

Laughing and learning with Stephen Colbert, W. Kamau Bell, Nancy Lublin, and Shankar Vedantam

Where does Stephen Colbert get his monologue topics for each show? What sticky situations has W. Kamau Bell found himself in for his show United Shades of America? How did the Domino’s Pizza Tracker inspire Nancy Lublin as she built Crisis Text Line? What parts of our subconscious brain does Shankar Vedantam think will impact our decisions to give to charity? We learned all this and more from our conversations with four luminaries and friends of DonorsChoose. Many more laughs, many more tears… next year, we’re going to bring more tissues.

Connecting our partners

Our partners love to learn from each other about their philanthropic work, strategies, and wins. This year, we heard from four incredible partners: JoAnne Anton from Herb Kohl Philanthropies, Rose Stuckey Kirk from the Verizon Foundation, James Rooney from the DICK’S Sporting Goods Foundation, and Beth Schmidt from Emerson Collective. We discussed topics spanning teacher-inspired philanthropy, elevating the teaching profession, the quest to save youth sports, and bridging the digital divide, before diving deeper in small group discussions.

Introducing partners to our amazing DonorsChoose staff

We offered our partners a peek behind the scenes with four sessions led by DonorsChoose staff in our recently expanded headquarters. We shared how we incorporate diversity, equity, and inclusion in our workplace, how we use data and insights to drive site experience, how we collaborate with school districts and administrators to meet teachers’ needs, and how we interact with our teacher community. Partners also had the chance to see firsthand how our volunteers and staff prepare thousands of adorable student thank you packages every year.

After such an action-packed few days, we can’t wait to get started planning Partner Summit 2020!

When a teacher has a project fully funded on DonorsChoose, our team springs into action to fulfill these projects. Unique among crowdfunding platforms, the DonorsChoose team purchases and ships resources directly to classrooms and works with teachers to coordinate field trips and classroom visitors for their students. As a result, teachers don’t have to worry about shopping in person or finding the right price, and we provide the extra layer of trust and accountability that school districts and donors crave.

Behind the scenes, DonorsChoose teams handle everything from fulfilling projects to answering your questions to making sure student thank-you notes get to donors. These teams were just recognized with the Business Transformation and Operations Excellence Award for pulling off the herculean task of bringing to life more 35,000 classroom projects in a single day.

Making March 27 the #BestSchoolDay for 28,000 Teachers

On March 27, 2018, Ripple, a San Francisco-based technology company, donated $29 million to fully fund all 35,648 live projects on the site in a single swoop. This was a huge day for teachers, and was also a huge day for our team!

Most days, we see an average of 750 requests funded. Prior to Ripple’s funding, the largest number of projects funded in a single day was 12,272. So the team had to figure out how to massively scale their processes to make this event happen — oh, and they only had three weeks to do it, and had to do it all in total secrecy!

To make #BestSchoolDay happen, we took some pages out of the teacher playbook — relying on the same relentlessness, ingenuity, and flexibility we know that teachers bring into the classroom every day. Here’s a quick peek behind the curtain of how they pulled it off:

Clearing the Queues

Because we purchase and ship resources to teachers after projects are funded, we knew that the weeks following #BestSchoolDay would be wild for our team, so we started prepping as soon as we could. In the weeks leading up to #BestSchoolDay, the team hustled to approve as many projects, answer as many questions, and fulfill as many funded resources as possible so their plates were clear come March 27.

Keeping a Keen Eye on Vendor Inventory

We work with 22 vendors, like Amazon Business, Lakeshore Learning, Best Buy Education, and Staples, through which teachers can shop for their projects. We have close relationships with these vendors and work to get teachers the best deals with the best service. But because #BestSchoolDay had to be top secret, we had to be a little more creative than usual!

Our team figured out how to keep an eye on the inventory of our vendors and compared it to the classroom requests that would be funded on March 27, so that we could be sure that the most popular resources would be in stock when the orders hit on March 28.

Secretly Screening Projects at Top Speed

When a teacher writes their project request, typically it’s reviewed by our expert team of volunteer teacher screeners. We wanted to make sure as many teachers as possible would benefit from Ripple’s donation, but we weren’t able to tell our teacher volunteers why we needed to screen so many project so quickly! Instead, our staff screened more than 1,000 projects in the 24 hours leading up to the big day.

Supporting Teachers & Donors at Scale

We knew that between fulfilling everyone’s projects and welcoming the new teachers and donors learning about our site for the first time through the buzz of the event, we’d likely have a lot of questions to answer! Our Customer Service team did some hefty optimization to be prepared to answer all of those questions, with huge success. In the weeks following #BestSchoolDay, we saw a 74% increase in the number of questions we were receiving, but we were able to reduce the amount of time it took to answer questions or solve problems by more than 14% — all without adding additional staff.

Reaching 1 in 6 Schools in America

Not only did Ripple fund a record-breaking number of projects, but within just a week of the big day, 87% of all projects had been ordered and delivered — that’s 31,151 project requests!

Each day we come to work inspired by the ingenuity, relentlessness, passion, and care we know teachers bring into the classroom every day. Whether we’re working with our friends at Blick to get teachers the best pricing on paint brushes, answering questions on submitting student thank-you notes, or talking to companies like Ripple to unlock more funding for your classroom, we hope to be even 1/10th as awesome as the teachers we serve.

Books are an essential part of any pre-K or Head Start classroom, helping little learners flex those growing literacy muscles while going on adventures big and small. PNC Grow Up Great® has long supported those adventures and more, with this year marking 15 years of early childhood education support.

Two years ago, PNC helped us expand our platform to all Head Start classrooms, and since then, have supported thousands of classrooms across their markets. This year they’re back to support even more pre-K and Head Start students. Not only are PNC branches hosting in-person book drives, but the PNC Foundation is also matching donations to eligible pre-K and Head Start classroom project requests in areas where PNC operates.

To celebrate 15 years of Grow Up Great and kick off this year’s match offer, we did a little digging in our data to uncover the 15 books that pre-K teachers have requested most this school year.

1. The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats

This 1963 Caldecott Medal winner brings a winter day in the city to life through beautiful collage illustrations. One of the first children’s books to feature a child of color, The Snowy Day is a perfect addition to a diverse classroom library. As Mrs. Snodgrass says in her request, “Help me give my students books for their classroom library which are culturally relevant to them and allow them to see themselves in the book.”

2. Maybe Something Beautiful by Isabel Campoy and Theresa Howell, illustrated by Rafael Lopez

Maybe Something Beautiful tells the definitely beautiful true story of the Urban Art Trail in San Diego, California, and shows how art can bring a community together. Ms. Collins in Chicago requested the book to do just that in her classroom: “Exploring issues of community, diversity, and transformation, this book will play off of our current Social-Emotional Learning initiative. With this book specifically we hope to inspire our students to beautify our community through mural work, just like the main character in the book.”

3. The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle

Is any pre-K book list complete without The Very Hungry Caterpillar? From days of the week to the cycle of metamorphosis, this book is so packed with things to learn that it’s no wonder it has stayed a classic.

4. I Wish You More by Amy Krouse Rosenthal, illustrated by Tom Lichtenheld

Saying goodbye to little ones at the end of the year can be hard! “At the end of the year,” writes Ms. Wolf, “I want to give my students something they will have to remember the incredible times we had together in our class.” I Wish You More captures everything we hope for the people we love.

5. Little Mouse Meets Santa by Harriet Ziefert, illustrated by Claire Schumacher

Teachers like Mrs. J know that literacy thrives when students can read at home as well as in class, and the holidays are the perfect moment to celebrate that idea. In her project for holiday books she writes, “I want to reinforce the love of reading by providing my students with books they can take home and read with their family members.”

6. The Pigeon Needs a Bath by Mo Willems

Mrs. Sparta puts it best: “Our kids are obsessed with Mo Willems books, but really who isn't.” From Willems's comedic drawings to his memorable characters, it’s no wonder so many teachers get help from Pigeon to make kids giggle while they learn!

7. Our Apple Tree by Görel Kristina Näslund, illustrated by Kristina Digman

This whimsical tale of an apple tree throughout the year shows the seasons and the way nature changes with them, making it the perfect addition to any unit on the outside world around us.

8. Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert

A great children’s book can teach so much more than new words. Mrs. Nicholls requests science-focused books lke Leaf Man because they “allow students to build their literacy skills, and engage in science concepts while learning about things they enjoy!

9. The Mitten by Jan Brett

With over 34 million copies sold since it was first published 30 years ago, The Mitten is a winter story time staple. Brett’s intricate illustrations make this a book worth coming back to again and again — you’ll find new details with each read!

10. Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes by James Dean and Eric Litwin, illustrated by James Dean

You might not remember Pete the Cat from your childhood, but he’s quickly becoming a modern classic! Ms. Illuminati shared why she requests books featuring this cool kitty: “They love Pete the Cat because many of the books have a musical aspect to it. They love to sing as I read the story, and Pete the Cat doesn't get frustrated or easily upset, which is a skill I try to teach my students.”

11. How to Read a Story by Kate Messner, illustrated by Mark Siegel

The first step to unlocking a love of reading is showing kids how fun reading can be! This step-by-step picture book makes reading stories feel easy and simple for preschoolers, and shows how you can even do it with a friend.

12. Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin, Jr., John Archambault, illustrated by Lois Ehlert

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom remains a teacher and student favorite for learning the alphabet. Filled with music and rhythm, there’s a reason we all remember this book (and its beat!) so fondly.

12. Brown Bear Brown Bear What Do You See? By Bill Martin, Jr., illustrated by Eric Carle

Another classic that we all remember from childhood, Brown Bear Brown Bear What Do You See? is the perfect book for helping kids with animal and color identification. It’s a classroom library staple for many, with teachers returning to it year after year.

14. Trick-or-Treat on Milton Street by Lisa Bullard, illustrated
by Joni Oeltjenbruns

“We start our class off by reading a story that relates to our thematic unit or a holiday that is approaching,” says Ms. Lee. Whether it’s Halloween or Valentine’s Day, holiday-themed books are a great way to celebrate in class — without worrying about the sugar rush!

15. The Night Before Kindergarten by Natasha Wing, illustrated by Natasha Wing and Julie Durrell

Teachers and parents alike know that change and transition can be tough on little ones (and on us grown ups too!). Mrs. Morrison requests The Night Before Kindergarten for her students on their pre-K graduation. She says, “This gives the students and parents an opportunity to bond while reading and having an open discussion about what is to come.“

Feeling inspired? Teachers, find out if you qualify for the PNC Grow Up Great pre-K match and request the books, manipulatives, and other resources your pre-K or Head Start classroom needs.

At DonorsChoose, a 501(c)(3) public charity, our top priority is ensuring that the teachers who use our site and the students they serve are protected. Our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy are designed to support the specific compliance and accountability needs of public school teachers and districts and are in line with industry best practices.

These documents govern the ways in which teachers, donors, and the general public are expected to use our platform and the content found on our site. All teachers and donors agree to these terms before creating or giving to a project.

Our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy cover all aspects of site behavior, and here are a few of the key ways we help keep teachers, students, and school districts safe.

Teacher Terms of Use

Our general Terms of Use contains a Teacher Terms of Use section, outlining which public school teachers are eligible to create classroom project requests, the types of requests they are able to create, guidelines for keeping student privacy intact, and what’s expected of teachers should their project request be fully funded.

FERPA & IDEA Compliance

We know how important it is for districts to stay in compliance with federal laws like FERPA and IDEA. While DonorsChoose is not directly governed by these provisions, we take precautionary steps to help schools and districts remain compliant.

We require teachers teachers follow all laws or institutional and school district policies while using our platform, including FERPA and IDEA. Our policies support these practices; for example, teachers are given guidelines on how to ensure no identifying student information is displayed while creating projects or submitting student thank-you letters, and teachers are required to receive and maintain written permission from parents before submitting any photographs of students to our platform. Read the other ways we protect student privacy.

Materials Ownership Policy

By agreeing to our Terms of Use, teachers also agree to our Materials Ownership Policy. This policy explains that materials received through DonorsChoose should stay in the classroom for which they were purchased, unless the project essay clearly states that materials are for student use or ownership outside of the classroom. Our policy also states that, should a teacher leave their school, materials remain property of the school so that students can continue to benefit from them in future years.

501(c)(3) Status

Since our founding in 2000, DonorsChoose has been a 501(c)(3) charity. Our Terms of Use outlines this and highlights that all donations to teachers through our platform are tax deductible to the fullest extent allowed by law. Our dedication to efficacy and transparency has earned us the highest possible rating from Charity Navigator, America's largest independent charity evaluator, for 13 consecutive years. This achievement is held by fewer than 1% of nonprofits. We include more information about our nonprofit status and financials on our site’s Financials Page.

We encourage you to read our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy to understand the full scope of DonorsChoose policies that support the needs of school districts and teachers alike.

DonorsChoose is dedicated to supporting the unique needs of U.S. public school districts — especially regarding transparency, accountability, and student safety.

We’ve released a model PreK–12 Crowdfunding Policy for school boards and district leaders looking to empower teachers who request additional classroom resources through crowdfunding platforms like ours, while maintaining transparency and accountability best practices. This policy was designed with input from the AASA, NSBA, ASBO, and school administrators around the country.

With both a condensed and expanded policy, we hope that school boards and district leaders can use this to inform their existing crowdfunding policy, or implement it directly.

You can find this policy on our District Controls page, where you can also sign up for free, custom reporting, submit principal emails for automatic project notifications, and submit your district technology guidelines.

Read the policy.

Fast Company released their 2019 list of the world’s most innovative companies and organizations, and we’re so thrilled to share that DonorsChoose is one of them! This honor belongs to the community of teachers and supporters who work every day to make sure every student can get an excellent education.

We celebrated this honor by making it even easier to support innovative teachers. On Thursday, February 28th, we boosted donations to every classroom project on the site. (For example, a $50 donation became a $75 donation, and so on.

As usual, our community came through for teachers in a big way. February 28th was officially one of our community’s top 5 days of all time! Here are the (frankly quite awesome) details.

• All told, over $2 million was donated yesterday alone!
• Over 17,000 classroom projects received support
• Over 28,000 people donated to the projects that inspired them

What do all of those donations look like in action? This support meant that Mr. Andy was able to bring a diverse classroom library to his PreK kiddos. It helped Ms. Paulson bring in a local theater company to help her students learn to think critically about the world. It made sure Ms. Sarmiento was able to create a sensory area for her students with autism. Now picture the impact of these three projects replicated in thousands of classrooms across the country. As usual, our teachers say it best:

My first DonorsChoose project got funded!!! My yearbook students are going to receive a brand new camera for next year!! I’m so grateful for the generosity of others. – Mrs. Anderson

Fast Company’s “Most Innovative” list recognizes organizations who are making “the most profound impact on both industry and culture.” They describe the award as a “road map for the future of innovation,” and that’s exactly what we see in the classroom projects teachers are sharing on our site every day. We’re here to provide a platform for teachers to share exactly what they need to bring learning to life for their students, and for donors across the country to support the ideas they believe in.

Thank you to Fast Company for recognizing the work of our community, and to every one of you for making this possible!

DonorsChoose and the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN) have partnered to create a toolkit designed to help technology leaders across the country empower their teachers to use DonorsChoose.

In this toolkit, you’ll find:

• Case studies from district CTOs who help teachers leverage DonorsChoose to support school-wide technology priorities
• Information on signing up for free, regular reporting from DonorsChoose
• Steps for submitting your district’s technology guidelines so that we can help your teachers request resources compatible with your existing set up

Learn more about our work with the CoSN, and download the toolkit.

Updated on 12/4/2019

What’s your teaching philosophy? In their DonorsChoose classroom projects, teachers from across the country have shared their north star, their roadmap, the core idea that drives their teaching practice. It’s no surprise that so many teachers mention their teaching philosophy in their classroom projects: Bringing that philosophy to life is a common reason that teachers need materials and experience for their students.

Teaching philosophies take many forms, from focusing on the student’s learning experience to encouraging community service. Here are 11 ways teachers have described their teaching philosophies in their DonorsChoose projects.

Teachers, want to bring your teaching philosophy to life? Get funding for the classroom resources you need most.

Teaching philosophies that focus on the student

“My teaching philosophy is grounded in the idea that students' minds are not empty vessels waiting to be filled. Each one of them brings their own particular brand of genius to my classroom, and my most important job is to discover and empower that genius.” – Ms. D, “iPads for English Language Learners”

"’If a child can't learn the way we teach, maybe we should teach the way they learn.’ This quote by Ignacio Estrada represents my teaching philosophy. Teaching and education are not one size fits all.” – Ms. Thompson, “The Holocaust ~ Empowering Students Through the Arts”

“A tenet of my teaching philosophy is that failure IS an option; mistakes are an invaluable part of learning. Education often is not linear. It is through the process of recursive inquiry -- observation, exploration, analysis, and evaluation -- that meaningful learning takes place.” – Mr. Bowen, “Young Meteorologists”

“My teaching philosophy is based around the idea of ‘I do, We do, You do.’ This means that the teacher shows the students how to do it, then students do the lesson with the teacher, and then students take what they have learned to work independently.” – Mrs. Ciampaglia, “Stamping Our Way to Success!”

Building a classroom environment that supports your teaching philosophy

“My teaching philosophy is that students learn the best when they are in a positive learning environment where they feel welcomed, comfortable, and safe with each other.” – Mrs. Blackwell, “Carpet Time for Sharing and Collaboration”

“My teaching philosophy is to maintain a friendly, supportive classroom so school is a joyful place for everyone to learn. The possibilities are endless when you have the tools you need to learn.” – Mrs. Monahan, “Help Us Fulfill Basic Needs First and Innovation Will Follow!”

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“William Butler Yeats said, ‘Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.’ This quote is the focus of my teaching philosophy. I think my science classroom comes alive for students because their experience in my room is real, engaging, hands-on and meaningful.” – Mrs. Sherburn, “A GIANT Polymer Periodic Table”

Encouraging service through your teaching philosophy

My favorite quote is, ‘The end of all education should surely be service to others’ by Cesar Chavez. My teaching philosophy revolves around that quote. I am a teacher who inspires and motivates students to be good and caring individuals.” – Mr. Gonzalez, “Unit: Night by Elie Wiesel”

“‘Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world,’ Nelson Mandela once said. This quote is the foundation of my teaching philosophy. The students of today are the leaders of tomorrow.” – Mrs. DeTrolio, “Exploring Environmental Science through Inquiry”

Teaching philosophies focused on creativity

“Second grade at my school is filled with excitement, curiosity, and hands-on learning. My teaching philosophy is driven from the Maya Angelou quote, ‘I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.’” – Ms. Marchio, “Classroom Materials for 2nd Graders”

“This quote perfectly sums up my teaching philosophy: ‘It's not just about creativity. It's about the person you're becoming while creating;. I make it my mission every year to raise my students' artistic confidence, grow their skills, and teach them to enjoy the art-making process.” – Mrs. Rensing, “Eager Artists: Raising Art Confidence with Helpful Technology”

What’s your teaching philosophy?

DonorsChoose and the National Association for Secondary School Principals have teamed up to create the Principal Toolkit, designed to help principals across the country empower their teachers and advisors to use DonorsChoose.

In this toolkit, you'll find:

• Case studies from principals and districts who help teachers leverage DonorsChoose to support school-wide goals and priorities
• Four steps you can take to set your teachers and advisors up for success
• Information on signing up for free, regular reporting from DonorsChoose

Learn more about our work with the NASSP, and download the toolkit.

Since 2000, tens of thousands of teachers have used DonorsChoose to get the tools and resources they need to make their classroom ready for blended learning. Adding personalized, digital learning to a traditional classroom often requires new technology, a challenge for schools already struggling with budget cuts.Blending learning is an instructional strategy that uses digital content and teacher-led activities to maximize student success. The goal of blended learning is to provide individualized, self-paced instruction for all students, making it easy for teachers to pull data that informs their weekly instruction; this usually looks like differentiated, small group activities that keep students engaged. To build their blended learning classroom, teachers are requesting iPads, Chromebooks, Kindles, and other mobile technology along with learning software, like Reflex or Study Island. We’ve compiled some of the most popular blended learning tools that our community of experts (teachers, of course!) are using in their classrooms right now.

Chromebooks for Blended Learning

To provide her students with access to online learning resources, Ms. Nguyen requested five Chromebooks, which she now hosts in her small computer lab. Students use the Chromebooks to access interactive software with adaptive technology that challenges them according to their individual growth.

“We will be using these Chromebooks to practice literacy and math skills... in creative, individualized ways.”

Flexible Seating to Personalize the Learning Experience

For her diverse classroom of early learners, Mrs. Linch requested new seating options, which she uses to keep her students focused on the variety of tasks they encounter on a daily basis. We love this project because it highlights an important element of a successful blended learning environment: personalization. Because the learning needs of each student are different, a blended learning classroom should also account for the needs of more active students who find it challenging to sit still even in front of a tablet or computer screen.

“These resources will give my students the chance to move around the room and have comfortable seating to help enhance their learning.”

Headphones to Encourage Independent Learning

To keep every individual student in her classroom of English language learners engaged with their online English, Math, and Science lessons, Ms. Dutcher requested headphones for her blended learning classroom. In this case, headphones allow students to engage in individualized learning, meaning that they are developing their grammar at a pace that meets their specific needs.

“During reading, students go on two great websites that help foster their learning and understanding of reading comprehension.”

Software for Individualized Learning

In order to make her history lessons more relatable, Ms. Kerrissey requested a subscription to Flocabulary, a learning portal that uses hip-hop culture and educational raps to make learning fun for students. Learning software like Flocabulary uses educational gaming, video lessons, and projects to make it easier for students to retain key facts. This blended learning method has been popular for teachers who are looking for ways to get their students excited about each lesson. Ms. Kerrissey says that the catchy content makes learning engaging, empowering, and inspiring for her young historians.

“Learning should be engaging, empowering, and inspiring!”

While tablets and headphones are the most requested resources for blended learning, there are many other ways that teachers can integrate technology into their lesson plans. After all, who knows students and their unique learning needs better than their teacher? Post a project and get blended learning tools into your classroom this school year.

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