Grants averaging $500 to North Carolina teachers to enhance classroom English instruction. Applications are invited from both individuals and groups. Consideration will be given to proposals that involve new strategies and enhance current instruction methods and curricula.

Funded projects will be directly related to English language arts instruction and will be of clear benefit to the members of NCETA and to the students and teachers in North Carolina.

Projects appropriate for funding:

The objectives of funded projects might include, but are not limited to, developing classroom materials, innovating methods of instruction, designing curricula, and improving conditions of professional life. The project should demonstrate sustainability beyond the school year of the grant.

Publications resulting from projects might include packets and kits, annotated bibliographies, instructional units, materials for classroom activities, anthologies of student work or a myriad of digital resources.

Expenses covered might include materials, directly related travel, substitute pay, communications, and software.

Because the projects should be as widely usable as possible, support for funding will probably not be granted for expensive materials such as high cost computer hardware. Major in-service education expenses or tuition should not be included because NCETA must assume proposers already have expertise sufficient to assure worthwhile results.

The grant recipient is expected to:

-Share results of the project at the NCETA fall conference through a 5 minute spotlight presentation to the membership.

-Prepare a reflection and description of their findings about their project. This will be published in the NCETA journal, North Carolina English Teacher (NCET).

-Submit a brief and concise final report of spending of the grant money.

-Make materials which are developed available to members of NCETA. The Grants Committee will assist recipients in determining the best method for sharing.

-Serve on the grant committee for the following year. This will involve vetting award proposals, considering development of the awards process, helping to deliver the awards at the next year’s fall conference.