ELIDA, Ohio (WLIO) — For more than a decade, retired teachers in Allen County have been helping current educators create new opportunities for students through classroom grants.
The Allen County Retired Teachers Association recently heard presentations from recipients of the Doctor Jon Rockhold Teacher Grant, who explained how they used the funding during the school year. The grants are supported through member dues, raffles and other fundraising efforts and are intended to provide teachers with resources for projects that might not otherwise receive funding.
“This year we gave we're able to give 10 grants to the Allen County Public School. So, we had many of the schools represented to use for special projects in their classroom that maybe the schools could not otherwise fund. And each June when we have our Allen County Retired Teachers Association meeting, we enjoy having them come and sharing how this worked for them in the classroom this past year,” says Barbara Hochstetler, Allen County Retired Teachers Association.
The Allen County Retired Teachers Association recently heard presentations from recipients of the Doctor Jon Rockhold Teacher Grant.
“I think when they do their presentations, most of us who have been out of the classroom for a number of years are just overwhelmed by the creativity and perception that they get from their students and how they utilize this money,” says Norma Penn, Allen County Retired Teachers Association.
At Apollo Career Center, one grant helped seniors in an English class studying Macbeth obtain costumes for classroom readings of the play. Teacher Ally Zvara said the hands-on approach improved engagement and helped students better understand the characters.
“I'm very thankful for the Allen County Retired Teachers Association to give this money. It's able to enhance my classroom's learning and engagement and especially at today's age, doing something without technology can be a little bit difficult, but having hands on costumes and a whole show right in front of you. It's done wonders for my classroom,” says Ally Zvara, 11th & 12th grade English Teacher, Apollo Career Center.
At Perry, students in the junior high Career Connections class used grant-funded equipment to explore health care careers, including practicing blood draws on a phlebotomy arm and learning oral hygiene techniques with dental hygiene tools.
“So, for career exploration, the hands-on is so so important. Just to see if kids like it and link up with different things. So, at junior high level, we just want to expose them to all kinds of different career pathways and this is a great element to add to my healthcare unit and the kids were so excited to do it. We took pictures, sent it to their parents. They were very excited,” says Brooke Hedges, Junior High Career Connections, Perry School District.
Allen County teachers will be able to apply for the next round of grants this fall, with recipients scheduled to be selected in December.
