McCarthy Dressman Teacher Development Grant

After reviewing the grant resources one of the grants I found most interesting was the
McCarthy Dressman Teacher Development Grant. The McCarthy Dressman Teacher
Development Foundation provides grants for teachers or small groups of teachers in order to
support professional training and growth. The Foundation believes that advancement is crucial to
the effectiveness of educators. The grants provide opportunities for teachers to learn and
implement new strategies that encourage critical inquiry and to observe their effectiveness on
students. As a future teacher, I believe one of the best ways to support students is through your
own personal growth and development. Teaching is a learning process, I do not expect to be the
perfect teacher the first year or even the first several years. As a teacher progresses, they learn
strategies that work and others that don’t. I think the grants offered by the McCarthy Dressman
Teacher Development Foundation would be very helpful to me as a teacher, in order to support
my own development. They would allow me to grow in the profession and teach me ways that I
could best support my students.

Consider Applying if You and a Group of Colleagues…

➢ Are eager to improve classroom instruction
➢ Are willing to document your new approach in detail
➢ Have an imaginative and well documented plan for enriching classroom instruction

Eligibility Requirements
➢ Are licensed k-12 teachers employed in public or private schools
➢ Have the background and experience to complete the project successfully
➢ Are willing to work in collaboration with the Foundation

Application
1. Describe your project and how it will contribute to the development of participating
teachers.
a. For this project we want to use a different approach to teaching and learning for
kindergarten students. We believe students learn best through their own
discovery. We want to engage students in learning by developing their own
interests which will allow them to develop a long lasting passion for learning and
encourage innovative thinking. Participating teachers will become experienced in
carefully observing their students to recognize the different intelligences and
interests of each student. Using this knowledge they will create plans to teach
students and capture their attention in order to enhance their learning.
2. Please provide at least two references (models, books, or research citations) related to
your project.
a. This approach incorporates the theory of Multiple Intelligences, recognizing that
each student learns in different ways. We want teachers to have a complete
 understanding of each intelligence so that they can recognize the unique way that
each student learns and apply that information into their lessons. Aspects of the
Montessori approach will also be used as we want to focus on child-centered
learning. We believe that the best way for students to develop a long lasting
passion for learning, is when learning is centered around their own interests. In
our approach to teaching we want to find ways to incorporate student’s own
interests into lesson plans in order to spark their curiosity.
3. Describe your school/organization and the individual teacher or team of teachers who
will participate. Include pertinent school demographics. Be specific.
a. A team of kindergarten teachers will participate in this experiment. We will
collaborate with one another to discuss thoughts, concerns, ideas, outcomes, etc.
The location is a Title One School, demographics are 56% African American,
14% White, 23% Hispanic, and 7% Asian.
4. Describe how your project meets these criteria: *Will differ from your teaching in the
past *Will contribute to the development of teachers *Will increase student learning
a. The project is different from teaching in the past because it does not specifically
follow the strict guidelines of Common Core or other state standards. While still
considering those standards, we will also more strongly focus on using an
approach that encopmases students interests in order to create lesson plans. This
will contribute to the development of teachers by allowing them to easily
recognize the unique ways in which each child learns and teaching how to
incorporate that knowledge into their teaching. This project will increase student
learning because it targets student interests.
5. Describe the product(s) you will use to disseminate this project to other groups of
teachers.(Examples: teachers' reflective journals, set of lesson plans, DVD, power point,
etc.)
a. Teachers will be asked to keep accounts of their progress, outcomes, and other
thoughts in a reflective journal. These will be used during our group meetings to
reflect on the progress of our approach and discuss things that are working and
things that could be improved. Teachers will also be asked to complete various
assessments and observations in order to track students progress and ensure that
the approach is successful.