Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/154758
WE ARE AEA! • WE ARE AEA! • WE ARE AEA! • WE ARE AEA! Three AEA Members Receive $2,000 NEA Foundation Grants Nationwide, the NEA Foundation announced that it is awarding 55 grants totaling $176,000 to support educators' efforts to improve teaching and learning. AEA congratulates members Natalee Van Gelder, Barbara Gosney, and Linsay De Martino, who will each receive a $2,000 grant from the NEA Foundation for high-quality professional development activities. Natalee Van Gelder, a ninth- through twelfth-grade exceptional education teacher of Rincon High School in Tucson, AZ, has received a $2,000 Learning and Leadership Grant from the NEA Foundation to attend a series of sessions taught by leaders in the field of special education to learn about life-centered career education. The sessions will focus on transition assessments, social skills instruction, life-centered career education, and behavior modification strategies. Upon completing this learning, Van Gelder will present best practices at collegial workshops and train other special educators to utilize essential strategies. Barbara Gosney, a kindergarten through sixth-grade science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) teacher of Fireside Elementary School in Phoenix, AZ, has received a $2,000 Learning and Leadership Grant from the NEA Foundation to attend the Advanced Space Camp for Educators in Huntsville, AL, to gain STEM resources to share with her students. The camp will expose Gosney to intensive classroom, laboratory, and training time focusing on space science and exploration. During the program, Gosney will participate in trainings, simulations, and activities designed to promote lifelong learning in classroom settings. Linsay DeMartino, an outstanding high school teacher of Pueblo Magnet High School in Tucson, AZ, has received a $2,000 Learning and Leadership Grant from the NEA Foundation and will attend the Model Schools Conference in Washington, DC, to learn more about inclusive practices in the Common Core general education classroom for students with disabilities. At the conference, experts in the field will discuss the elements of effective instruction, provide a roadmap on Fall.13advo.indd 31 the development and support of instructional effectiveness, and discuss ways to create a culture of responsibility in schools. DeMartino will use this knowledge to develop a sustained inclusion program at Pueblo Magnet High School. "With these grants, we are supporting educator-driven solutions that contribute to improved student performance in public schools," said Harriet Sanford, president and CEO of the NEA Foundation. "Our support enables educators to engage in a wide variety of innovative approaches to the benefit of students across the country." A team of 20 educators, many of whom are former grantees, carefully reviewed all applications and evaluated each one against a set of criteria. Funded grants were selected for the quality of the proposed ideas and their potential for enhancing student achievement. The latest grants were awarded to educators in 28 different states. Eighteen grantees plan to conduct interdisciplinary projects. The remaining grantees will address nine different subject areas, reaching a total of nearly 21,000 students and more than 1,600 educators at schools, where the average free or reduced lunch rate is 48 percent. The NEA Foundation is a public charity supported by contributions from educators' dues, corporate sponsors, and others who support public education initiatives. They partner with education unions, districts, and communities to create powerful, sustainable improvements in teaching and learning. The NEA Foundation has invested more than $8.6 million in grants to support the work of almost 4,000 educators from every state in the country to help students succeed. Each year, the Foundation awards approximately 150 Student Achievement and Learning & Leadership Grants. Visit www.neafoundation.org for more information. 2 AEA Advocate x Fall 2013 31 8/7/13 2:35 PM