Brain and Behavior Institute Grant Proposal

Describing some aspect of my experiences with the
Brain and Behavior Institute '08

One thing that stood out for me in the institute was the way the professor and his co presenters made us realize that each and everyone of us is unique in our own way and that when we let everyone bring his own individuality into what we are doing the products of our endeavor will be unique. This will lead to new ideas being generated in the world of science.

The institute brought out the creative ability that had hitherto been lying more or less fallow in me enabling me to come up with tangible contributions to discussions or even ideas that were of great benefit to my group in general and the whole body of participants in general.

The particular changes I want to try out in my own classroom:

It’s transparently evident to me that no two individuals are exactly alike in terms of the way they think, act or look and that this is true for the students I teach. However after I had the experience with the Institute I’m more convinced that there’s an urgent need to differentiate instruction in my 4th grade classroom in order to meet the diverse learning styles of my students. I need to do some background check on my students and group them appropriately to facilitate cooperative learning in my class.

Secondly, I intend to put to rest any form of anxiety or low self esteem my students might be having about themselves by allowing for more time for them to complete their assignments or even answer questions when we do oral review of previous lessons.

The last but not the least, my kinesthetic, visual and auditory learners will be well taken care of this school year. This I intend to do by purchasing necessary audio-visual equipments that will make my class come alive to them daily in the year.

A budget indicating how I will spend $200 to bring about changes

My school principal plans to get us LCD projectors this year so I intend to use the $200 grant money to pay in part for a laptop that will go with it. Please find below a brief description of the equipment:  

Inspiron13: 13.3" laptop from Dell {$699}
•    Up to Intel® Core TM 2 Duo processors
•    Genuine Windows Vista® operating system
•    Sleek design, Pacific Blue exterior with piano black accent

Tola Oronti