It has been great over the last few months to be able to help educators acquire new technology for their classrooms through our monthly grant program. We have received hundreds of thoughtful and deserving applications in the five months since the program has launched and awarded some educators with the technology they need to enhance their teaching. We’re excited to announce that our latest EdTech grant recipient is Cynthia Rumery, an elementary, middle, and high school teacher at the American School for the Deaf in West Hartford, CT. Cynthia is extremely dedicated to providing her students with innovative and visual opportunities to help them develop the skills of tomorrow and we are honored to be able to help her achieve this goal!

We have worked with some Schools for the Deaf in the past and continue to be inspired by their willingness to engage students in new ways using technology. Over the years, Cynthia has gradually built what she refers to as her “basement workshop,” and is in the process of upgrading it to a full-scale makerspace. At the ASD, students utilize American Sign Language for instruction as well as spoken English to reinforce auditory learning. 

“While the language used in instruction routinely fluctuates, the motivation the students have when they see the different types of tech and coding activities does not,” said Cynthia. “The types of kits and tools on the Eduporium store do wonders to engage my students, who have often been overlooked or just plain misunderstood.”

Cynthia wants to keep this motivation and engagement on the rise all the time and this led her to apply for our grant. Her students have developed into truly creative problem solvers and Cynthia is excited to get her new technologies in the classroom to continue this progression. Among the tools she is going to be receiving are the Sphero BOLT, Root Robot, KEVA Planks, and MakeDo ToolSet. 

“Using these tools, I want to help my students achieve coding they can see. I am envisioning them using BOLT to send relay messages to each other from across the room or Root to unlock coding they can see on the whiteboard,” she said. 

Cynthia also wants to use her new technology to have her students focus more on the design process. She’s excited to combine KEVA Planks and BOLT, for example, to have kids build structures that the robot can roll up to and knock down. She even wants them to be using the tech tools in their English classes by creating projects they can present to their teachers.

As always, we’re very excited to see the progress of both Cynthia and her students as they soon start integrating new tech tools into their classroom. If you or someone you know is interested in applying for our EdTech grant, the application for the November award is now open. The deadline to apply is Nov. 20 and we will announce the next recipient by Nov. 30. Good luck to everyone!