Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/166026
Grants Know&Tell A few more IFT Grant Winners C TA D U E S S U P P O R T strength-based, teacherdriven projects at schools all over California through the Institute for Teaching (IFT) grants, funded through CTA's Foundation for Teaching and Learning. Here are just a few of this year's grant recipients. A Technological Approach to the Common Core San Ramon Valley Education Association Educator Grant: $5,000 This pilot program replaces books with e-readers to help teach the more challenging Common Core curriculum in a way that motivates students to read and critically analyze more complex texts. Agriculture Literacy Marysville Unified Teachers Association Chapter Grant: $13,880 Clockwise from top: "Parents are grateful and appreciative and feel like they are part of the school," says fourth-grade teacher Kelly Iwamoto, left, with Magdalena Araiza and her baby Melissa. "We foster a better partnership with parents so we don't have to constantly reinvent the wheel every year," says Inglewood President Peter Somberg. The program offers field trips that "bring parents to see what a university looks like. They sit in classes and meet professors," says PTA President Steve Saunders, left, with third-grade teacher Jonathan Chamberlain and second-grade teacher Karla Fernandez. This program integrates agriculture education into the Common Core standards of K-8 curriculum, covering all disciplines including language arts, social studies, math and science, and includes student-to-student instruction by high school students in the K-8 classroom. Teacher-Driven, CommunityBased Conservation Science Education Partnership California Faculty Association, CSU San Marcos Chapter Grant: $20,000 This program involving local teachers, parents, docents, and teacher candidates gives students valuable hands-on experience and knowledge, which creates positive attitudes toward science and nature. Rosa Lovo attends with 7-month-old Hanley and son Heinrich Gomez. Second-grade teacher Karla Fernandez works with grandparent Terri Jernigan. READ ABOUT MORE GRANT WINNERS at cta.org/iftgrantwinners. for an IFT grant and how your dues are making these grants possible, see page 19. F O R T I P S O N A P P LY I N G See "Behind the Scenes" photos from this article at cta.org/educator. PHOTOGRAPHY BY SCOTT BUSCHMAN Educator 09 Sep 2013 v3.6 int.indd 17 SEP TEMBER 201 3 www.cta.org 17 9/3/13 2:25 PM