Aristos Scholars Program Grants for 2007-08

ARISTOS is a Greek work meaning excellent, optimum, the best

The Aristos Scholars Program received 24 grant applications this year. The judges awarded a total of $50,522 to the Project Leaders of seven grants. Listed below are the grants, project leaders, school, and the amount of the awards.

Promoting Understanding of Hmong Culture	Katie Cerniak Franklin Elementary	$ 6,410
This grant seeks to increase the understanding of Hmong students and their families within the school district through the creation of a professional development resource. Interviews will be video-taped with a variety of Hmong individuals including students at all educational levels from elementary through college, adults, community representatives, and school staff members. The project will explore adapting to life in the US, day-to-day home and school experiences, and current challenges and issues. Katie hopes to determine how to best facilitate home-to-school connections with families. A study guide will accompany the video that will be available on the district website as an on-line course.

Response Systems Increasing Participation in the Classroom	Debora Gil R. Casado Memorial High School	$10,000
This Aristos grant will fund technical support, teacher planning, and the purchase of equipment needed for Classroom Response Systems. The author seeks to increase student engagement, accountability for learning, and integrate technology into the curriculum. Classroom Response Systems are remote control devices that allow students to respond to questions, providing teachers and students with immediate feedback. Students are able to respond to classroom material anonymously, increasing their comfort level. It is hoped that these systems will break down any barriers to classroom participation, dramatically increase teacher assessment of learning, and change the classroom format from one of imparting knowledge to actively working with knowledge.

History of Madison The First 150 Years	Susan Hamblin Teaching and Learning	$ 9,902
This grant fills a void in the MMSD social studies curriculum. The district focus for grade three is Madison and Communities Around the World. However, there is not any written material about Madison at a third grade reading level. A survey of teachers revealed strong support for age-appropriate curricular materials on Madison. The grant will support teachers and others as they write, evaluate and revise the curriculum, and provide teacher training for the pilot. The project is a collaboration among district teachers, a Madison historian, and the Wisconsin Historical Society. The grant writing team will create a booklet and a web-based teachers' curriculum guide for use throughout our elementary schools.

Creating Above the Line Classrooms and Schools	Ron Lott School Improvement Planning	$ 2,500
This Aristos grant will benefit staff and parents from all grade levels, K-12. The grant will fund a week-long staff and parent training program. The training will offer new approaches and strategies so that student behavior will improve leading to greater success in school. Goals include reducing student behavioral referrals to staff and decreasing suspensions. The training is based on Corwin Kronenberg's "Above the Line" professional development program.

Personal Education Plan	Len Mormino West High School	$ 2,000
This Aristos grant along with other funding for salary support will be used to enhance the Personal Education Plan. The Personal Education Plan, or PEP, is an internet-based tool designed by West students, staff, parents, and community members. PEP is customized for West students and may be accessed from home or school. It allows staff to work with the whole student, personalizing their education in ways that were not possible before. The Personal Education Plan allows students to: assess their study skills, learning styles, and employability skills, explore academic and career interests, customize coursework, extracurricular and community service activities, set goals for academic and personal growth, find career and college information, and develop a resume that documents their accomplishments.

World Cultural Explorations Through the Arts	Julie A. Palkowski Teaching and Learning	$ 9,810
This Aristos grant will provide music and art students throughout the district with increased skills and knowledge of world cultures through the arts. The grant will fund fine arts staff members as they research authentic artifacts, art pieces, and musical instruments, catalog them and prepare resource tubs that will travel throughout our schools. In addition, the project will foster partnerships with community arts groups enabling students to experience world cultural arts performances. The grant will fund student transportation and admission, as well as performances at schools. It is hoped that by building cultural awareness through the arts, the project will help students understand the uniqueness and similarities of their own culture to cultures around the world.

Document Projectors: Shining the Light to Meet the Needs of Diverse Learners in Student Centered Classrooms	Steve Somerson East High School	$ 9,900
This Aristos grant will cover the cost of document cameras and digital projectors. A document projector is a camera that projects work from a student's paper to a screen, allowing work to be shared with the entire class instantaneously. The document projectors allow students to display their work in class without any delay. Students receive immediate feedback and teachers may more easily establish work expectations. The project supports the math department's move to student centered classrooms. After students complete an investigation, a key activity, is to have a large group discussion. Teachers find this activity challenging because they can rarely access student work quickly and ask them to report their findings. Having student work projected will make this process much more efficient and successful.

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