Tips for Applying for a Teacher Grant
- Involve a local geographer or an experienced primary or secondary school geography teacher by asking them to review the propsal before you submit it.
- Keep your emphasis on geography. Remember to reference the U.S. National Geography Standards and your state's education standards as a framework for your proposed project.
- Don't propose to conduct "package deal" education projects. The review team will be looking for innovative projects and, regardless of the value of a tried-and-true approach associated with programs such as Project WET, reviewers will give priority to teacher-generated ideas.
- Get a letter of support from your principal. We want to see that you'll have the support necessary for a successful project. Proposals without a support letter are automatically rejected.
- Think of this as an "idea fund"—be creative about how you could spend up to $5,000 to better acquaint kids with geographic concepts or to promote awareness of geography education in the community, or help your peers teach geography better, or get students involved in asking and answering geographic questions.
- Don't merely ask for materials. We know that many schools are sorely undersupplied with maps and other geographic tools, but we simply cannot afford to provide materials to every school. And it's unfair to give materials to your school but not others. Instead, request support for things such as activities, planning time, workshops, curriculum development, and the like. If you need materials to make an idea work, justify why they are essential to the project. It always helps to know that the school will match our support.
- Trust yourself—you are the expert on what your kids need. If you have a good idea you should ask for a grant. If you're nervous, run the concept by fellow teachers, a geographer, or one of National Geographic's "geography alliance" Coordinators for feedback. Find out more about the geography alliance in your state.
<< Back to Teacher Grant Information