Webinar: Grant Writing Part Two — Writing a Statement of Need

Summary

In a continuation of their three-part series on grant writing, Texas Instruments Education hosted a detailed webinar focusing on writing a statement of need for grants. The session was led by expert panelists Jen Sazama and Doris Teague, who discussed the critical components of a statement of need such as identifying the problem, using data to support claims, and proposing tangible solutions. This engaging webinar provided practical tips and highlighted various data sources educators can utilize to strengthen their grant proposals, emphasizing the importance of clearly articulated goals and measurable objectives.

Highlights

• Jen Sazama and Doris Teague led a detailed webinar on writing a statement of need for grants 📚.
• The session emphasized the importance of identifying the core problems or issues for grants 🎯.
• Practical tips were given on using data from reliable sources to reinforce need statements 🔍.
• Importance of drafting clear goals and objectives that align with the grant's needs was highlighted 🗂️.
• An engaging Q&A provided additional insights into effective grant writing strategies 💡.

Key Takeaways

• Understand the intricacies of crafting a compelling 'statement of need' 🎯.
• Learn how to identify and describe problems or issues that a grant will address 🕵️‍♂️.
• Utilize strong data sources like the Census Bureau and local school data to back up your need statement 🔍.
• Discover the importance of aligning goals and objectives with your stated needs 🎯.
• Get tips on how to propose effective solutions and measure their impact 📏.

Overview

In this engaging webinar hosted by Texas Instruments Education, the spotlight was on crafting an effective statement of need, a crucial part of any grant application. Expert panelists Jen Sazama and Doris Teague shared their insights on how to identify problems that grants intend to address and the steps necessary to describe these issues clearly.

The webinar covered practical advice on gathering and utilizing data to support grant proposals. Participants learned about leveraging data from sources like the Census Bureau and their local school assessments to back up their statements of need convincingly. This data-driven approach is key to reinforcing the validity and urgency of the proposed solution.

Crafting clear goals and objectives was another focal point of this session. The panelists stressed the importance of aligning these goals with the needs stated in the proposal, ensuring that they are both measurable and realistic. The session wrapped up with a Q&A that addressed specific questions from attendees, solidifying understanding of the discussed concepts.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 02:30: Introduction and Panelist Introduction The chapter serves as an introduction to a webinar hosted by Texas Instruments, focusing on the topic of writing a statement of need as part of a grant writing series. The webinar is moderated by Mike Houston, a teacher of algebra and calculus from near Pittsburgh who uses TI technology to facilitate learning.
• 02:31 - 13:00: Role of Data in Grant Writing In this chapter titled 'Role of Data in Grant Writing', the panelists, including Jen who has vast experience in education and consultancy, discuss the impact of data on the process of writing grant proposals. Jen shares her background working with Texas Instruments and various educational institutions to illustrate how data-driven insights can enhance the effectiveness and success of grant writing efforts. By analyzing the data carefully, grant writers can craft compelling narratives that align with funders' priorities and demonstrate the potential impact and necessity of their projects.
• 13:01 - 17:00: Examples of Statement of Need The chapter titled "Examples of Statement of Need" discusses the development and implementation of educational content and programs, particularly in the context of space camp and aviation challenges. It highlights the efforts of a team led by a woman named Jen, who, along with her team, is responsible for curating unique learning experiences at the Space and Rocket Center Museum. The chapter also mentions Doris, who has extensive experience in setting up educational programs in Texas, bringing in her past roles as a teacher, supervisor, and project coordinator.
• 17:01 - 18:00: Formulating Goals and Objectives In this chapter, Doris, a grant writer and trainer, is introduced. She is currently consulting with multiple partnerships, including serving as a grants outreach consultant with Texas Instruments. Doris has a wealth of experience, having participated in various venues from local to national levels, including involvement with the National Center for Community and Educational Partnerships. Her extensive background gives her a broad understanding of education initiatives and practices.
• 18:01 - 21:00: Upcoming Sessions and Conclusion The chapter covers the logistics of an upcoming large event, including audio muting and how attendees can communicate via the Q&A window or chat window. It also reminds participants that the session is being recorded and that a link for the certificate of attendance will be provided at the end of the webinar. Instructions are given on what to do in case of any audio issues.

Webinar: Grant Writing Part Two — Writing a Statement of Need Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 good evening and thanks for joining tonight's GI technology webinar hosted by Texas Instruments for tonight we're going to continue in a three-part series on grant writing this one's specifically focusing on writing a statement of need my name is Mike Houston and on the moderator for this event I teach algebra and calculus near pittsburgh where I used TI technology to make tough to teach tough learn concepts accessible to all my students today I'm
• 00:30 - 01:00 really excited to be joined by our two panelists Jen says arms and doors Teague Jenn is a grant partnership consultant for Texas Instruments and before coming to TI she taught middle grades math and science for Carleton Farmers Branch ISD Jen also taught science health and special ed for grants in Bullitt County Schools and Jim was the curriculum development manager for the US Space and Rocket Center where she used her team
• 01:00 - 01:30 where she and her team created the content used in the space camp and aviation challenges programs as well as unique learning experiences at the Space and Rocket Center Museum Jen thanks so much for joining us tonight hi Mike hi everybody thanks for introducing us I'm excited about tonight and Doris has experience in the development and implementation of gear programs in Texas past experience as a teacher supervisor project coordinator
• 01:30 - 02:00 grant writer and trainer she is currently consulting with five Garrett partnerships and serves as a grants outreach consultant with Texas Instruments experienced at local state and national venues including the National Center for Community and educational partnerships gives Doris a broad knowledge of education initiatives and practices Doris thanks so much for joining us tonight thanks a lot glad to be here we're
• 02:00 - 02:30 expecting a large crowd so your audio is automatically muted feel free at any time to send any questions that you have to Jen or doors using the Q&A window on the right side of your screen wall sees in the chat window the send general messages as a reminder the session is being recorded and will provide a link to the event certificate of attendance at the conclusion of the webinar we hope you don't have any audio issues but in the event that you do try selecting communicate from the top of the WebEx
• 02:30 - 03:00 menu and choose audio broadcast at this point I'm going to turn things over to Jen so Janet all yours feel free to share your screen all right now let's get this show on the road so good evening everybody we are going
• 03:00 - 03:30 to cover today and in writing a grant we've this is Session two in a three part series but it is a good standalone by itself and today we're going to look at a statement of need so I'm guaranteed our and my contact information is here and you can call me on the number there you can send me an email and I'll respond either way doors Teague's information is also there you can email
• 03:30 - 04:00 Doris if you have questions after the session and of course we will be sharing the PowerPoint and information at after the session so today in part two we're doing a statement of need so part of what we're going to be looking at today is identifying the problems or issues for which you would be writing the grant and
• 04:00 - 04:30 going into how you would describe those those problems or issues then we're going to look at using data sources to support your needs and everything that we do when it comes to grant writing you want to be able to back that up with some form of data and then proposing solutions I saw somebody pop up is everybody able to hear me and Michael can you hear me yep your audio sounds
• 04:30 - 05:00 clear you're good Jam good alright just want to make sure so that in addition to supporting your your need statement with data we also want to look at data that goes along with proposing solutions that address those student needs and how that funding could help and then of course at the end we're going to close with some questions from you all and to make sure that you know we've covered at
• 05:00 - 05:30 information that you find helpful and to prepare you for next steps okay so when you look at the statement of need you want to be thinking of what it is you're trying to do so from a TI perspective let's just say you're talking about needing to purchase classroom calculators that's why a lot
• 05:30 - 06:00 of people get on to a grant session with p i-- but the calculators themselves aren't actually the need that you're really trying to address yes it is a need in the classroom but fit you just having them in the classroom isn't the need you're addressing and you want those calculators for a specific purpose so when you're doing a need statement you want to make sure that what you're doing is actually looking at the real need
• 06:00 - 06:30 that you're trying to address so there are some specific types of questions you want to look at to help you flesh out what it is you really need so first of course is you know why do you want the grant and and that's kind of general and then as you get deeper into what your actual need is it will help clarify that question so then you look at what's the issue to be addressed so for example if you're looking for classroom calculators what's the educational purpose you're
• 06:30 - 07:00 going to use them for are you going to be using them for mathematic modeling do you need it to teach students how to graph is it a combination of those things maybe your students show on this on their test that they're not doing well with linear regressions so there's there's going to be a specific issue that you're trying to address and target with whatever it is that you intend to use the grant for what are the factors
• 07:00 - 07:30 when you look at a need and there are factors outside of the need you know for example with calculators you need the calculators the calculators are actually addressing a specific math or science concept that needs and then there might be factors why not why don't the students have calculators why is this particular mathematical concept a challenge that you need the calculators to address so there's factors around that need that you want
• 07:30 - 08:00 to identify it could be you know for example if you're looking to do ear 8 you know getting them access to internet or tools to access the Internet in your area this factor might be due to rural or you're in an urban area where there is you know there's not a lot of computer access at home so you want to look at those different factors then you
• 08:00 - 08:30 want to look at when you have identified the factors and who's affected and what issue you're addressing what specifically can help so for example with the calculators yes okay the calculator is going to address some of it but then what else might need to go with that do you need teacher training do you need content or materials that descriptive that are going to help you to implement it successfully so you want to look at at all aspects of the need and then of course you want to look at
• 08:30 - 09:00 what are you currently doing to address the problem and what remains to be done not every grant has to start from scratch so you may already be doing certain things and you may have great curriculum that you're using and calculators would enhance that maybe you've got calculators which you need teacher training on it and but all of those different things what are you already doing and then what what do you
• 09:00 - 09:30 still have to do and and that helps you to really put a framework around what you're trying to address doors with your educational experience could you yes go ahead I think that yeah I think you've clearly stated that and one of the things that in the first session we did we talked about some locations where you could you know some search locations for grants and if you if you think about it
• 09:30 - 10:00 if you do this need the statement of made or you assess your need early on then you know it helps you when you start to look for grants because then you know okay I really can zero in on these types of grants that are out there because you know not knowing just going through a whole search of grants and saying this one looks good and this one looks kind of good and doesn't really meet our needs but I could you know I it might be
• 10:00 - 10:30 something you really just need to kind of zero in on is it is that academic needs do you need as Jen said do you need more of the equipment do you maybe not have enough have you had you know have you had a flood at the school and you've lost equipment means there are a lot of things factors that are problems that you could write a grant to address so so just keep that in mind that
• 10:30 - 11:00 statement of need and and the way you explain it to the funders is really important so when you get it you know when you get feeling better about you know how to say it in and clearly understood language and it will be clearer to them too good job Jim thank you okay let's move right along this let's see so then we need to look at
• 11:00 - 11:30 backing us what we decide or identify as that need that we're trying to address we need to identify the data and the research that backs it up and in fact depending on the type of need it might be the data that actually lets you know that that is a need for example on our website on the Texas Instruments website we have what's called math inspired and science expired now those are activities
• 11:30 - 12:00 that work with you know one of our particular products but the reason those activities are called out from the regular activities better in the activities exchange or because those activities are what NCTM and NFPA called the hard to teach hard to learn concepts so these are concepts that have in consequence that teachers across the board have all determined are very
• 12:00 - 12:30 difficult to teach and a challenge for students to learn so those are the these are the concepts that students tend to do poorly on high stakes exams and of course exams and other state exams so that's why we created that that context so that you would have access to something that could address those types of needs so when you look at the the types of data that you need some of it is going to come from you as a professional in your classrooms there's
• 12:30 - 13:00 your observation or your students engaged are they not engaged and is there equity in your classroom or is there not equity based on what's available at home versus what's available in the classroom then there's data that you can go and gather that's going to support that so starting with this additional data sources the first one is the Census Bureau now the Census Bureau has your population data your demographic data and I'm going to stop sharing this
• 13:00 - 13:30 particular item and I'm going to take you out of that and show you I've got the websites open so when you go to the Census Bureau and it's just ad you know FactFinder got census.gov or you can just go to google and type in Census Bureau and it's going to pull the
• 13:30 - 14:00 Census Bureau out and then you can go in and look at the different types of data and I pulled that community fat so I can look at my population my income based on a zip code a county is Sydney however I want to look at my data you know for example maybe I want to find out what the education level of my community is because if you work in a community where the majority of the people in your community don't have a college education you're going to have a little bit of a
• 14:00 - 14:30 hill to climb to get the your students ready for college and which means you probably would want to do grants or programs or consider doing something that involves it gets parents involved and looks at how students are going to access college if you come from a community where most of the people in the community go to college then it may be more about keeping your students challenged but there's data there that
• 14:30 - 15:00 you can find out it's going to tell you about who your population is that you're serving and that often times can play a role in what type of grants you're going for and it's going to impact what your need is and looking at the median earnings for example when we talk about using calculators in the classroom most often the reason teachers buy them for this for the classroom is because students can't afford them at home so we have equity issues having data that backs up that equity issue is important
• 15:00 - 15:30 if you're trying to paint a picture of who you're serving to your funder so the Census Bureau is one place to go and gather a lot of really great data the next place is related to the type of solutions that you want to do so for example you know that your students are struggling with those hard to teach hard to learn concepts and so now you need a solution that's proven that you could
• 15:30 - 16:00 implement that would address that or maybe your program you need to do an after-school program and so you look at what types of after-school programs work best so you go to different places to find that data you can look up research data but you can also go to the what works clearinghouse another what works Clearinghouse is a government database the benefit of this database is that everything that's posted in here has
• 16:00 - 16:30 been vetted so if you're looking to tap into federal funds this is an excellent place to go find a solution that works funders aren't going to be turned off because you are looking to use a solution that someone has a bite elsewhere because they're always seeking to grow the body of knowledge they're seeking activities and things to fund that work and are going to be successful and so when you're implementing
• 16:30 - 17:00 something that already works you're able to expand that and and Jim can I jump in there on this a lot of grant a lot of grants nowadays are asking for the research that supports the need and your solution to the need and so this is a great location for you to use and it gives you some ideas of other other other programs and other grants that
• 17:00 - 17:30 have been funded and how you know what their outcomes were so if you're thinking about now and wonder if you know if anyone else has ever done anything like this this is really a place where those really good practices have been vetted and you can go there and you know I like to I like to look at what other people have been funded for and see you know how it measures up on what we're trying to do so I would suggest this is something even this site as well as the other one with the Census both of those have when you go to them
• 17:30 - 18:00 you can join them and join those sites as they will send you updates on the topics you put in that you're interested in I'm not trying to you know to cram everything into your inbox there to crowd it up but these are really good if you're really thinking seriously about writing grants these are two really good sites to use and this even just as an educator it's there's a lot
• 18:00 - 18:30 of really great information here that can inform what you do in the classroom most countries you look under the Quick Links you've got intervention reports practice guides and reviews of individual studies and as a professional when you're implementing a strategy in the classroom having data that helps you to implement it to its best effect is always something that as teachers we want to do and so this is a great place to get that kind of information so
• 18:30 - 19:00 looking at some other places there's also going to your the national organization like NCTM or NFPA they're going to have research around education in their in their particular topic area there's going to be grants that you can also find but there's a lot of standards information a lot of research data
• 19:00 - 19:30 around what's working what's not working that will help to inform what you put into your proposal so don't forget your state organization absolutely and that's a really good that's another good source for finding out about you know what's working what you know it's kind of comforting and in a way to find out that you're not alone out there that life indeed this these are tough standards other people are having these problems too and these are some of the solutions
• 19:30 - 20:00 that they've come up with so look everywhere use use it use everything you find so the next one is looking at your State Department of Ed I pulled up the Alabama one because I happen to be here right now and every state department head the format is a little different that they have basically the same type of information so if they're looking for how does your school's compare to other schools in
• 20:00 - 20:30 your state how does your school compared to the national standards how is your school doing on certain assessments or what's your enrollment levels there's a lot of information right here related to student assessment on your State Department of IDI website and when you pull those reports or that data and you know the data stated the data is bedded you know that it's span is solid and
• 20:30 - 21:00 it's a great place to go and pull data and it's also a great place to get a better picture of your population that you're targeting and how things are working whether it's within your district or at your state so this is another great site and every select a set of estates different but you could go to their assessment department if you're not sure where to find something there's usually a place where you can contact and they'll help
• 21:00 - 21:30 you to figure out where to go pull data and how to use the data and then they also because they have grants usually listed here this is also a place where you can sign up to get emails about grant opportunities ok not last for here but not least is of course going to your own district site your district assessment office whether you go online or just walk over to your
• 21:30 - 22:00 you know your administrative office and ask for somebody from there to help you with the data that you have you'll be able to find out you know the your campus demographics your district demographics and what type of funding your school has you may discover that there's programs and opportunities that you didn't even know of at your school that are within your district that you could tap in or that you could and replicate at your school with additional funding so your your district is another
• 22:00 - 22:30 really terrific site to go to your own you think uh huh I'm sorry to interrupt Jeremy had a question I was hoping that maybe you could answer it Jeremy asked with us also apply for comparing private schools against the state or other private schools yes you could do that as well different state departments of it are going to have different information and then of course your school districts should have even a private school is
• 22:30 - 23:00 going to have assessment data because that's how they attract parents showing our students are doing at you know this well on their exams or you know here's how they perform and so pulling that data and then finding a constable public school so let's say your school has five hundred kids you want to pick a school in a similar area or even within your is the same location that has about the same size student population and you can
• 23:00 - 23:30 compare the data and to identify the need or to showcase the need you know we have this many kids they have this many kids and their kids are doing well and discs but our kids aren't here's what's difference between these two populations so that data you can use that data that way and it's a great comparison data is an excellent way to really highlight a need it is and that's you know if we're talking about a statement of need then you're almost always in a statement of
• 23:30 - 24:00 need in any grant even if they don't ask you for one that they say what's an introduction or tell us about your school it's always a really good idea to give your school data compared to other places it could be higher to be lower give the percentages give the areas of concern if there are some usually there are give you know so that always you're always going to see those percentages and those numbers almost in any
• 24:00 - 24:30 statement of need or any introduction for our grant people like to just kind of jump right into it and say okay here's what here's what we have here's our school here's the number of students here's what they score here's the socio-economic level they they can you can look at subpopulations so all of that is going to be in the in a lot of these external sites that Jim is talking about and the reason you want to have
• 24:30 - 25:00 that not only is it to document the need for the funder but the reality is what you're really trying to do is tell your story and you need to tell it in a compelling way and they need to be able to see in their mind your students your population your need and so comparing is a great way to do that because they it's one thing to say he's tall it's another thing to say he's as tall as Wilt Chamberlain okay that kind of gives you
• 25:00 - 25:30 a frame of reference and so when you compare data that allows you to kind of put a frame of reference on it but ultimately the end goal is of course to make sure that they see the pop you're trying to work with and they can really comprehend your need in such a way that you've made them real to them and real enough to care about I mean that's why they have the you know the poor pitiful Cady commercials you know
• 25:30 - 26:00 you see the kidneys they talk in this it's because they want you to see the need so that you would want to do something about it and it's the same thing here so I'm going to go back to the PowerPoint and I'm not pulling it up right now but and you know obviously not not least but he also maintains a really great research library so if you're looking for information about math or science and the use of calculators or
• 26:00 - 26:30 about the professional development for math or science teachers we keep a lot of that data at Lisa and it's not Ti data in terms of key ice dentists for example the data and research on graphing calculators there's some that ties specifically to our calculators in general but there's also data out there about graphing calculators in general for example the research shows that students that use graphing calculators
• 26:30 - 27:00 in their math or science classroom consistently from the teacher who's been properly trained score significantly higher in their math and science scores and students who don't you know in that big caveat there's the properly trained teachers doesn't matter which graphing calculator it is whether it's ours or somebody else's it's that professional development in using it properly that makes the difference and so there's we have a ton of research there now the nice thing is is you have me so if
• 27:00 - 27:30 you're having difficulty finding something that ties to what it is you're trying to look for from our research library you'd contact me and I will help you dig through and find the right piece of information for what you're trying to do so let's move along because I want to make sure we have time for everything so doors I'm going to have hand the ball over the wheel and okay so this is a lot
• 27:30 - 28:00 of times when we do these people will say like well do you have an example of that and how could we get started and so this is what we're going to show you in just a minute what a statement of need could look like I'm going to ask you when you're looking at it to look at it and say well you know they could have added something else here maybe maybe they need to give a better description of their district or maybe they need to give a better description of maybe even
• 28:00 - 28:30 the fact that they have a whole lot of brand-new teachers that are teaching there that year so and then and then I'm going to open it up to questions that you might have so you can use the Q&A over there to ask things if you want to but right now Jen if you'll pull up that sample of the statement of need we'll we'll look through those okay okay so
• 28:30 - 29:00 this is your just this section is just you know again it's just a general idea you're going to you know obviously have the needs and issues though in this case it's going to be we're going to if you'll pull it up a little bit more for that example in this particular in this particular grant this is how it might start out okay for example you a group
• 29:00 - 29:30 of team of teachers maybe meet or or maybe you all have a meeting with your with math the math department and you say look we've got this yearly technology survey and it says that only 30% of our teachers are integrating technology into their classrooms so you know why is this an issue and and what professional development could be offered to increase the numbers so
• 29:30 - 30:00 that's a need the need is that you maybe you have the technology and maybe people are just not using it and they're not using it because they're not sure how to use it or they're you know I hear teachers so they're afraid to use it sometimes or they know what they're doing without the technology they're afraid to venture over and use it in a soap so that need is something that rises you know to the top there in terms of what you want to
• 30:00 - 30:30 run a grant about or you want some additional help with that so you know when you go to a district they'll say well yeah that's good but you know we've used up our professional development budget and so this is where writing a small grant or even a medium-size grant can help with some of these kinds of things so what other data could you use if this is what this case is what other data would be available for you to use in a needs assessment our needs
• 30:30 - 31:00 statement well you could use it's the fact that you have the equipment that the technology equipment that you have you could state the number of features that you have you could state even you could tell a story or a testimonial kind of about this I mean and you need to be very clear about why your school should be funded I mean if you want to have a good start on something it makes sense to to get some more funding to make it
• 31:00 - 31:30 yeah scale up to the next level okay Jim so we can scroll down here and so just going through here here's a sample so an openness is a different nugget and and this is this is a sample it is not it's but think about this is a different a different example here that is a good opening needs statement okay so you've got USA Elementary School at a k5
• 31:30 - 32:00 setting Steven tell them where it is and what right it serves 335 students the distribution of students is their percentages sometimes that matters sometimes not it really and just give people a glimpse of what your school looks like it offers these are significant pieces of information they offer to ESL programs at the primary and intermediate level
• 32:00 - 32:30 students are integrated into regular educational classrooms can pull out I work with ESL teachers during the day so you know there's some they're missing some instruction there too when they're pulled out even though they're going to a different kind of instruction and they also have primary and intermediate transitionally developmentally handicap unit where students work in the regular classroom and are served through a pullout program so they're showing here
• 32:30 - 33:00 in this particular needs assessment that they have a variety of types of programs at that school they have some challenges and pull out versus regular and transitional so you know these are some things that get a funders attention it's like okay this is a campus that is you know it's trying to do it all they have a lot of challenges here so this could
• 33:00 - 33:30 be this could further explain why a grant is proposed so here's a here's us a Elementary again a campus needs assessment and this is what could be in a need statement a campus needs assessment examined academic achievement in both math and literacy through the state proficiency test in 2017 only 44 percent of the students passed the math portion a national math achievement test
• 33:30 - 34:00 and make it even named with that you could even name particularly what that test was confirmed similarly low success across every grade level so based on those findings our focus must be to focus on math success and this is where we need the most help it's okay to say hey you know what we need help in this so okay in addition the technological capacity within the school was measured using the 2017
• 34:00 - 34:30 technology assessment survey so it's got the low math scores we've got this technology assessment survey these are all local and and probably state and even national data that you're including in here and that the technological capacity when the school was measured using that assessment in terms of the technology results show that the teachers have limited access to computers or use in their classrooms and
• 34:30 - 35:00 inadequate training on the use of instructional strategies for all students and that includes mathematics and technology so right there you have painted a picture that we go back to the PowerPoint now Jim you painted a picture that you have that you have a need you definitely see a need there and you would go on further probably in that and say you know you could add things like
• 35:00 - 35:30 in looking at research related to this issue here are some things that we found that work and we would like to try those things at our school and so you can always continue to add things to it you've done a lot that needs statement that I read had a lot of good data in there but they could also have added things that they've tried things that are barriers to to teachers getting the
• 35:30 - 36:00 training and using the technology that they want or have at the campus so you can continue to add things in your needs statement that kind of builds the case so to speak for why you're a good candidate for a grant okay Tim we can go long okay so then you get to the next portion and it will say in in most
• 36:00 - 36:30 grants that are of medium size that will say you know explain or detail your solution to the problem if you write a grant for a Foundation a lot of times foundations will just have you right they'll have you right the need the problem the solution and generally you know it's all kind of in one long narrative if you write a
• 36:30 - 37:00 federal grant or a lot of times a state grant they'll say you know detail your solution to the problem so again you want to paint a clear picture of what your organization is going to do to address the issues maybe even some things you have done and whether it may be maybe you've had some moderate success and you think if we just had you know more training that we just had more material that we had more equipment if we had more time you know these things could could could
• 37:00 - 37:30 be resolved provides the big details best action she plan to take whatever it is you know if it's it can you know I'm talking about time or equipment or training all of those things in there ask other staff members are partners if you have any community partners or any business partners or any educational partners to to give information that they would bring to solve the problem
• 37:30 - 38:00 you know what could t I if you if you're thinking about buying TI equipment then what are the things that t I could additionally help you with in that process to get the teachers trained get them more using technology you know what are the ways that they have a lot they bring these partners bring a lot of resources that a school district doesn't always have so it makes sense to look
• 38:00 - 38:30 around to find a partner who can help with with a grants who could be a part of it and then look at other team members so they can add specifics and statistics and any research that they've conducted or any possible solutions that come across so all of these you're all you're using all of this to help you state what what's your solution is you've already told them in your needs what your problem is than what you've what you need now you aren't moving on to a solution there
• 38:30 - 39:00 let's say Jim we've got another another slide with this on there I think next hey Jenny before you move on to the next slide we have one quick question from Christina and the question is defense a good idea to have your students maybe give reasons or to include those reasons from your students for needing the new equipment ok so so I'm Jen you can answer - I like I like testimonials
• 39:00 - 39:30 myself and when I when I read a grant some funders you know they just want the bottom line but I can't help but think that people who read grants a lot of the time would like to hear some really individual student voices coming through in some of those I put a lot that I put some I would I think I'd be a great idea yes and I concur it when you have that testimonial or that quote from a student
• 39:30 - 40:00 you're making your your target audience stand out and the funder is actually hearing directly from them the other thing is and if you're if you imagine yourself as the reader and they're reading hundreds of grants and if you can break it up from just a bunch of text especially a bunch of text with a bunch of numbers with quotations and things like that without losing the important information you're conveying
• 40:00 - 40:30 and that makes your application more visually appealing and so that's also going to add to the appeal of your proposal I agree it just gets very dreary just reading numbers and percentages all the time so you know when you're writing this solutions try to think of solutions that are kind of outside the box something that's very created that you know you think okay this is something that might work we've
• 40:30 - 41:00 tried we've tried a lot of things and there's no use doing stupid things that don't work so try to you know try to be thinking about creative ways let's stay within the guy of what the grant is asking you to do and then I don't think I hit on that first one it you know don't just restate what the Grand Tour is is asking don't just say you know we want to integrate technology so our students scores improve tell them you know what the need
• 41:00 - 41:30 is and and why this is so important why is that so important it is the future is this a skill for those students future is this going to help them in the next level of their education it is something that is going to embed learning more more prominently and in their in their educational process I mean just try not to just restate the obvious and then try
• 41:30 - 42:00 to make each proposal that you write kind of unique is so that you don't just kind of keep writing the same things over and over again some people will keep a grant and they'll just you know cross out a few you know insert a few new words and write write the same old grant for a new purpose and I will say this that's kind of dangerous to do because sometimes you forget the tofu you're writing it for
• 42:00 - 42:30 and you get wrong information in there so it's talked about every one of those grasses if it was you know a new one and unique one and then the very last thing is to try to write a compelling story and I think the suggestion of adding your students you know your students words their students voice in there is very good I think I think that you make a good case for that and always in any
• 42:30 - 43:00 story you're going to tell students are at the forefront of the story it's all about them and that's what the Graduate right for education that's what we say what is what does this have to do with students who is most important here and and keep those kids in mind when you're writing those okay so Jenny you want to go on to them next one you can see that Jen is running the slide show and so the next step is
• 43:00 - 43:30 you want to talk to you on goals and objectives because this is a good way and it's a good way to keep on track when you're when you're writing those needs and solutions so with the goals and objectives when you're looking at those and you want to cover some some very specific things you want to identify the who what when where how your means of measuring so for
• 43:30 - 44:00 example who obviously you're keeping students front and center and but it may be that your your proposal is actually targeting teachers so whoever that target group is that you're working towards you want to make sure that when you're looking at those goals and objectives that you've identified who who is four you want to be very specific in defining the service or program that you're going to do that's going to meet
• 44:00 - 44:30 that objective and a lot of times you'll have an endorse has a great example of this where and they're writing in particular activities but there's no connection between the activity and the goals of the grant so you want to make sure that whatever it is you're doing that that activity actually seeks to achieve the goals that you've set out for what you wanted to do with this
• 44:30 - 45:00 grant you have to have a very realistic and well will clearly define time frame for completion if you're looking to do something and you tell the funder it's well we're going to achieve you know a 50% improvement in math scores in a month and that's not very realistic so being able to state a clear timeframe that's realistic with specific things
• 45:00 - 45:30 happening across that time lines that are going to help meet your goals is very important then of course how was so what are those activities that you're going to do in order to meet the goals and objectives and then of course how are you going to assess whether or not you were successful with it the key thing about this particular section to remember is of all the things in grant writing that you're going to do this is actually the one that teachers have down
• 45:30 - 46:00 and dead right and the reason for that is because every day you write lesson plans you write unit plans and that's really what this is it's looking at how are you going to achieve what you want to achieve what are you going to do to get there so it's starting with the end in mind and then working your way backwards to make sure that each one of those things that you're putting in there is necessary essential and drives the goal
• 46:00 - 46:30 that you said you're trying to go doors you have anything you want to add here now just that this is something that you know what it because you usually write grants in different sections be sure that the needs and the solutions and match the goals and objectives okay because you know that sometimes people will get off and they'll you if you're if you're a reader you'll look at a grant you'll think well you know these
• 46:30 - 47:00 are great goals and objectives but they don't really match what they said they were writing this grant for or even the solution and so they share this - you know you line those all up and I always like someone else to read it might read the entire grant but I really like them to read the goals and objectives and the needs statement and state you know you're you're not involved in this would you know what this means when I you read this is it clear as to what we're asking
• 47:00 - 47:30 for and what we hope to do and what we hope the outcomes will be because an objective person outside source can often you know help you clarify that so that's just a little little tidbit there it seems to help and another little thing that can help with this is to use logic ladders or to use sparkles and because those are really help you to clarify and make sure that you're
• 47:30 - 48:00 hitting all the pieces when you're putting together your goals and objectives it will absolutely so we know you probably have some questions where we're happy to if you want to send those along now or you want to send them later that's okay too even when you get into grant writing don't forget we've given you our contact information there and then the big piece that we have not talked about so far is budget developing
• 48:00 - 48:30 a budget in a grant this is this is really where it tells a story of how you're going to take that money and and use it to a most effective way so we're going to do that in part three it is it's if you go back and look at to where you signed up for this one it also has grant writing workshop number three that's on September 20th and we're going to show you like the ins and outs of developing a budget what we can do
• 48:30 - 49:00 within an hour and and then some sample budget so you'll see like why those budgets tell a story how do you explain what since what those numbers mean and why they're in there that way so we are so happy that to say that we have gotten such great feedback from all of you so please continue to you know please continue to email and call and let us know you know what you need additional help with and at the end of the session
• 49:00 - 49:30 please do the survey because that will certainly help inform us to do a much better job each time as we go along absolutely so nice to be with you tonight I think Jen we have one less goodbye slide and then we toss it to Michael so you have this and when this will give you an idea of how to contact us again
• 49:30 - 50:00 we're here to help you let us know what you need and it's been a pleasure thank you very much for staying with us it stink you hey Doris and Jennifer before you actually talk control talk to me we had a question from Nancy Nancy wanna know how they could access or how she could access logic ladders there's a lot of information on Google that you could go and do but I also have some
• 50:00 - 50:30 information that's in the and we have a link where we've we keep grant information online and if you'll send me an email I'll make sure to send you all that information if that's a good question that is yes yes this is we have divided this into three short workshops we usually do at least a day at a time of grant writing where we actually do you know get into a lot of the developing grants so thanks for
• 50:30 - 51:00 listening to the short version and let us know what else you need and if you have a group of 10 or more that you want to get together to do a one day workshop you can email either drawers for myself and we would be happy to work with you to set that up well thanks much guys i'm jena Philmont tossing control back to me real quick I just want to share one thing our website
• 51:00 - 51:30 as far as registering for part 3 perfect thanks much so if you visit our website education TI calm and under the professional development tab in the middle top metal slide on down to webinars and as was mentioned tonight
• 51:30 - 52:00 you can sign up for our live webinars and one of the upcoming ones that you might be interested in is this one on September 20th about grant writing part 3 if you maybe missed part one if you go back to the webinars tab and now this time choose on-demand and we could select the topic such as
• 52:00 - 52:30 grant reading and we've already done a few grant writing webinars including the part one which is already archived including all the documents that were used in that webinar as well so please feel free to revisit part one if you missed it where you want to see it again as well as register for part three we're excited to have the t-cubed
• 52:30 - 53:00 international conference coming to Baltimore this year in early March it's really a great place to connect with other educators and learn more about chat technology and about pedagogy and learn some content too I know in the past Doris and Jen you guys have actually had some great writing sessions offered there I know I'm putting on the spot I wasn't sure if there's going to be any something this year already yeah yeah there is we have submitted a
• 53:00 - 53:30 proposal and yes I channel is it a day or half a day I can't remember but if there is a grant writing session yes I'm not sure if it's a half day or two half days you know where we're doing like a morning session and an afternoon session and but yes there's a session that's great so if you're interested there's currently special pricing for the international conference so for the vendor website to learn a little more
• 53:30 - 54:00 and as genders mentioned when you read the webinar brief survey automatically appears in your browser really listen to your feedback and we appreciate it and we went from it so please be please submit that survey and be honest with your feedback we really do appreciate it to receive a certificate of attendance go ahead and click that link in the chat window also this is a link for the
• 54:00 - 54:30 documents tonight if you happen to miss either these two links or maybe if they're not working for you for any reason go and just hang tight in your email you automatically get a follow-up email here in a couple days and that in that email will be a link to the recording as well as a link to the documents and a link to the certificate as well and if you're watching this on demand go and copy that link into your favorite browser to receive your
• 54:30 - 55:00 certificate thanks much Doris and Jen for everything sharp tonight we really appreciate it thank you what's that yes thank you thanks what's everyone for joining us we hope to see you back online real soon have a great night