Members receive grants from NEA Foundation

Learning and Leadership Grant
Springfield NEA member Terre Redmon, a kindergarten teacher at Bingham Elementary School in Springfield, received the $2,000 Learning and Leadership Grant from the NEA Foundation.

Building on a professional development plan to decrease student referrals and learn how to build positive relationships with students, Redmon will attend the Jim Fay Love and Logic Conference. While attending, she will learn classroom discipline strategies that help build self-discipline and responsibility for students and how to eliminate teacher-student power struggles.

Learning & Leadership Grants provide opportunities for teachers, education support professionals and higher education faculty and staff to engage in high-quality professional development and lead their colleagues in professional growth. The grant amount is $2,000 for individuals and $5,000 for groups engaged in collegial study. Application deadlines are Feb. 1, June 1 and Oct. 15.

Student Achievement Grant
Warrensburg NEA member Kelly Brooks and instructional technology facilitator Monique Agueros, Warrensburg R-VI School District, received $5,000 in a Student Achievement Grant from the NEA Foundation.

Using video cameras, Agueros and colleagues will implement “Flip the Classroom!” This literacy activity will enable teachers to quickly record an event for projection in class, get input from students on captions and descriptions, and post the video on the district-created KinderBlog Web site. A themed mini-movie will be created each month.

Student Achievement Grants provide $5,000 to improve the academic achievement of students by engaging in critical thinking and problem solving activities that deepen knowledge of standards-based subject matter. The work should also improve students’ habits of inquiry, self-directed learning and critical reflection. Application deadlines are Feb. 1, June 1 and Oct. 15.

NEA’s Books Across America Award
Columbia NEA member Linda Cheryl Harrison, Grandview NEA member Carol Patterson and Sedalia NEA member Robin Hargrave each received $1,000 in books for their schools through the NEA Foundations Books Across America program.

In collaboration with the NEA, the Foundation presented 50 awards of $1,000 each to public schools serving economically disadvantaged students to purchase books for school libraries. The awards are made possible with support from corporations and individuals who donated to the NEA’s Books Across America Fund to bring the gift of reading to students.

Find more information about the NEA Foundation’s grant programs at www.neafoundation.org.

sb, summer '09