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Vonderbruegge Grant Proposal Final Draft
Vonderbruegge Grant Proposal Final Draft
Applicant Information
Scott Vonder Bruegge
800 Maryville Centre Drive
Town and Country, MO 63017
(314) 997-2900
Dr. Tom Stoner, Head of School
(314) 997-2900
II.
Grant Title
Better Readers and Better Writers from Better Tools - Utilizing
Chromebooks for more effective implementation of Reader Writer
Workshop in the 9th grade English curriculum at Westminster Christian
Academy.
III.
Grant Scope
With 187 students expected in the 9th grade class at Westminster Christian
Academy for the 2015-2016 academic school year, 42 Chromebooks will
enable every freshman to more effectively engage the Reader Writer
Workshop model of instruction implemented in every English class at that
grade level. All 187 9th grade students are part of English classes taught
by three different members of our faculty in classes that are capped at 14
pupils. If each of these three teachers has a class set of 14 Chromebooks,
they can effectively provide all 187 students in the 9 th grade class with a
uniform tool of instruction.
IV.
Grant Budget
The funds generated from this grant will go directly to the purchase of
Acer Chromebooks for each teacher teaching 9th grade English. We
currently have 10 English teachers and three of them teach the 9 th grade
Expository Writing classes with maximum class sizes of 14. This would be
a total of 42 Chromebooks. At a cost of roughly $199 each, the three
teachers teaching Expository Writing in the English department could be
outfitted for a total close to $8350. This grant does not include any request
beyond the $8350 cost of the Chromebooks for several reasons. Our
current IT budget is formulated in such a way as to allow support for all
technology in the building. Costs such as repair or replacement or any
necessary cabling, power supply needs, etc. appropriately fall under the
maintenance portion of this budget. The Director of Technology has
already agreed to vigorously support this initiative once funds for
procurement of the devices has been secured.
This is, by design, a simple straightforward request and allocation of funds.
For a little over $8000 we can effectively expand our aging fleet of laptop
carts and free up technology funds for the maintenance of that group of
laptops that are becoming increasingly problematic. It could be argued
that our current carts, outfitted with Apple MacBooks should simply be
replaced. However, Chromebooks can replace the majority of the used
functionality of the MacBooks at one-fifth the cost.
Grant Budget
Quantit
y
42
TOTAL
Item/Supplier
Acer C720 Chromebook
Sold by Amazon.com
Unit
Price
Total Price
$198.61 $8341.62
$8341.62
V.
Grant Description
A. Implementation
The purpose of this grant proposal is to supplement Westminster
Christian Academys (WCA) current iPad initiative with classroom sets
of Chromebooks for our freshman English teachers. Currently WCA is
phasing in the implementation of a 1:1 BYOD program. Students in
grades 7-9 are required to purchase an iPad for use with schoolwork
and at this point the program is slated to add a class each year so that
by 2017-2018 every student in the building will have a device. For
most of the teachers in our school an iPad represents a workable
solution for needs encountered by their students in the areas of
curriculum delivery, research, and content creation. The areas where
the iPad is deemed insufficient are localized in our English department.
The purpose of this grant is to overcome the lack of adequate
keyboarding interface in our classes that are almost entirely writing
based by providing our 9th grade English teachers with classroom sets
of Chromebooks. These would easily connect to each students Google
Apps for Education account. Sometimes a specific tool for a specific
purpose is better than a general tool for many purposes. We believe
this to be one of those times.
Toadegree,wehavecreatedaneedthroughourcurrentiPadinitiative.Nextyearwill
includetheninthgradeandwillalsobetheevaluationyearfortheprogram.WCAhas
determinedthatbeingmarriedtoaparticularhardwaredeviceformorethanthreeyears
canbeproblematicinlightoftherapidchangesintechnologybutespeciallypersonal
handhelddevices.Thus,theneedforanevaluationyeararises.Inthemeantimehowever,
studentsstillwillneedtowriteandthegreatestidentifiedneeduncoveredthrougha
recentneedsassessmentistheinsufficiencyoftheiPadwhenitcomestolargerand
longerwritingassessments.TheonlyclassesthathavedemonstratedthattheiPadisnot
sufficientareourEnglishclassesbecauseofthesheeramountofwritingthatisdonein
thoseclasses.Itisthelackofakeyboardthatisahindranceintheseclasses.The
ChromebookcoupledwithouruseoftheGoogleAppsforEducationsuiteofsoftware
productsmakesthemtheidealsupplementaltoolforourBYODiPadinitiative.Theyare
onthelowendofthecostspectrum.Theyaremadeforthecollaborativeenvironment
thatGoogleAppsforEducationprovidesandReadingWritingWorkshopmethodology
requires.
We want what is best for our students. To that end we want them to be
excellent writers. Students will become better writers through
increasing the volume of writing they are able to do. Chromebooks help
us get to that place with or without iPads.
The common platform also provides an easy entry for teachers into
something that already has a high priority placed on it, and that is
collaboration among teachers through professional learning
communities (PLCs).
B. Benefits
WCA has made it a high priority to build its English curriculum around
the basic skills of reading and writing. This sounds elementary yet is
elegant in its simplicity because as students progress through their
years at Westminster the complexity and thoroughness with which
they read and write grows constantly and in the end produces students
capable of thinking critically and speaking with authority. Ultimately
the reading and writing process results in learning expressed in
students ability to communicate in writing the following ways:
They can:
1. Explain their understandings relevance.
2. Describe how their understanding connects to or conflicts with
prior learning.
3. Communicate their understanding effectively to others.
4. Generalize and apply their understanding effectively to new situations.
5. Reflect critically on their own and others learning.
6. Ask questions to extend learning.
7. Create meaningful solutions.