Inside This Year’s Teacher Grant Awards: Expanding Creativity & Innovation

As the grant cycle for the 2021/22 school year subsists, we were thrilled to see over 40 teachers apply.  Awarding 14 different grants between teacher teams and independent teacher grants, BCPEF supported a diverse selection of innovative projects. This year we awarded over $37,000 to Bradley County Schools and just under $20,000 to Cleveland City Schools, reflecting the size of the two school systems and their existing applications. Due to the quality of proposals submitted and the generosity of donors, we achieved an 88% award rate for applications.

The next step in the grant cycle takes place as teachers make purchases and implement projects in their classrooms. In the Spring, teachers will create individual projects as they observe their grants in action. Our event, Gifts, Grants & Gratitude which takes place in early May, exists to thank grantors for their donations and connect teachers to donors.

This year, BCPEF would like to select these two projects to illustrate the diversity between grants awarded this year. First, a Team Grant from Charleston Elementary focuses on combining literacy and STEAM. This grant builds upon prior monies which allowed students to apply creative videos to a storytelling project. Through this year’s grant, teachers can now apply technology of 3-D pens, codable cubes, designer cars, bee botts, changeable mazes, and additional picture books to support and expand their projects.

In Cleveland High School, Erin Hattabaugh has been awarded a grant which allows students to interact with models of human torsos. As these high school students learn more about anatomy, they use these models to apply their curriculum further and consider the effects of diseases, viruses and cancers in the body. Through this sensory addition, students are able to deepen their understanding of this topic in a real world way. 

Other proposals cover topics related to literacy, engineering and research, and blending technology, language and culture. BCPEF is encouraged to see past projects built upon with current proposals, vertical integration among grade levels, and unique innovation among the teachers of Bradley County and Cleveland City Schools.