Thank you for taking the time to be a part of this fundraising blog, as we rely on you and your feedback to make this year's fundraising efforts a success! Myself, along with the other teachers of the Faculty Technology Committee, have ideas to help fund our school's technological growth. Please post any questions, concerns, comments, or ideas you have to help this forum become an interactive one.
There will be several upcoming fundraisers this year in order to gather the neccessary funds to help our school gain access to more technology in the classroom. While we know not everyone will be able to volunteer at every event, we do ask that you help us out for at least two events. Fundraising events planned so far are:
- Library Book Faire
- School Carnival Night
- Sees Candy Drive
- Jog-A-Thon
WE NEED YOUR HELP!!!
I know many of you may be a bit hesitant to the use of so much new technology in your child's classroom and would prefer the focus to remain on traditional ways of teaching. I assure you technology is quite useful in education today, and some of it's benefits include:
- Increased motivation and holding attention on tasks
- Visual demonstrations and increased interactions between teachers and students
- More immediate feedback to help students learn
- Faster grading and return for review by students and parents
- Learning of technological skills that will be helpful in the "real world"
- Lowers cost of consumable materials (Roblyer & Doering, 2010, p. 16).
Through the use of the previously mentioned fundraisers, we hope to be able to buy a SMART Board for every classroom. SMART Boards are interactive whiteboards that link up to the teacher's computer so every student can see the screen and interact with the lesson at the same time. Students can even write on in with a special pen! Think of it as a more interactive version of an overhead projector. More information can be found here: http://smarttech.com/SmartBoard
Also, we hope to purchase an Accellerated Reader program for the entire school to encourage reading in our students. With this program, you and your student will be able to find books to read and take quizzes online, all of which teachers will be able to track and monitor, with the goal of increasing reading and comprehension levels. More information can be found here: http://www.renlearn.com/ar/
We hope that you will be able to join us in our quest to utilize educational based technologies in our classroom, because we are learning that certain tools can actually help, not hinder, your child's education. Please let me know of anything that you think could be helpful, as well as any questions or concerns you may have; your input is always valued!
Happy fundraising!
Ms. Bruice
References:
Renaissance Learning. (2012). Accelerated Reader Enterprise. Retrieved from http://www.renlearn.com/ar/
Roblyer, M. D., & Doering, A. H. (2010). Integrating edcuational technology into teaching (5th ed.). Boston, MA:Allyn & Bacon/Pearson
SMART. (2012). SMART Board interactive whiteboards. Retrieved from http://smarttech.com/SmartBoard
DISCLAIMER: This blog is an assignment for an educational technology course at National University. It is not a real fundraising blog.
