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Sunday, September 20, 2009

Nominate a Teacher: 'A Day Made Better Contest'

I am super excited to tell you about a great way that you can give back to the teachers in your community: through the “A Day Made Better” campaign. You can nominate a teacher in your local community that is in need. I honored to be a “Max Mom” and to be a part of this wonderful campaign.

Did you know that teachers spend an average of $1200 of their own money on classroom supplies each year? That’s $4 billion annually! That’s why OfficeMax joined with Adopt-A-Classroom to create “A Day Made Better“—a national cause event founded to erase teacher-funded classrooms. This year, “A Day Made Better” will take place on October 6 where 1,000 teachers will be surprised in their classrooms each with $1,000 worth of essential supplies from OfficeMax. That’s more than one million dollars donated to help teachers! Principals at needy schools nominated the teachers for demonstrating dedication, innovation, and passion.

To pay-it-forward, OfficeMax and Mom It Forward have teamed up to create awareness about the issue of teacher-funded classrooms and to give you the opportunity to get involved and help a teacher in your community on behalf of the “A Day Made Better.”

Here’s how: Nominate a teacher of your choice to win this giveaway by following the entry requirements. Be sure to check out the prize and criteria!


Prize:
One exceptional teacher will receive a $100 gift card to OfficeMax. This can go a long way when it comes to classroom supplies!


Criteria:
This is a giveaway that is meant to be given away. What does that mean? You get to nominate a teacher by sharing why this person is exceptional and deserving of this giveaway. The best part, every story told helps raise awareness in an effort to erase teacher-funded classrooms. The winning teacher will be chosen based on the following criteria, so be sure to tell us why your teacher is most deserving:

*Dedication: does everything in his/her power to deliver the best possible education for his/her students.
*Innovation: thinks outside the box and engages his/her students through creative learning activities & programs.
*Passion: expresses a genuine passion for education and shares this enthusiasm in the classroom. *Need: demonstrates a need for essential classroom supplies.

Entry Requirements:
To enter your teacher, you are required to do two things. (Note: post a separate comment for each entry.)

1. Nominate them through a comment on this post. Tell me all about this deserving teacher.
OR

2. Nominate them through a blog post or on Whrrl.
Write a post on your blog.

*You can include photos, video, etc. but please stay under 400 words or 3 minutes.

*Please include these links: http://adaymadebetter.com/ or @adaymadebetter.

*Include a link to your post in the comments section.

OR
Create a story on Whrrl.com.

*Go to our custom Whrrl page at http://whrrl.com/search?q=omx, click “Start A Story” and upload photos and text about why your teacher is most deserving.

*Be sure to include the #omx hashtag in the text of your story.

*Post a link to your Whrrl story in the comments section.

2. Post these messages on Facebook and/or Twitter.
(Note: Be sure to leave comments here with links to your messages.)

*Teachers spend an avergae of $1200 of their own money on school supplies annually! Help erase teacher-funded classrooms. http://alturl.com/673k PLS RT #omx

*Nominate a teacher 2 win $100 in OfficeMax classroom supplies. Enter here: PUT YOUR POST URL HERE PLS RT #omx

*Join the “A Day Made Better” movement to end teacher-funded classrooms at http://alturl.com/4dg9 #omx

More than 30 sites are participating in this campaign between now and Sunday, October 4. Visit http://momitforward.com/ for a list of all the giveaways! You may enter a different teacher on every site, but you may only win once!

Thank you for helping to pay-it-forward to teachers in your community!

Please join us on Tuesdays, September 22 and 29 from 9 to 11 pm ET for Girls Night Out (#gno) on Twitter if you’d like to meet the team behind the cause: @officemax, @adaymadebetter and @Adopt_Classroom. Hope to see you there!

Details:
Entries are due Sunday, October 4 by midnight CST. No purchase necessary to enter. Winners will be selected by me based on the entry that in my opinion meets the above criteria. OfficeMax, Adopt-A-Classroom and Mom It Forward play no part in choosing the winner of this giveaway. OfficeMax, Adopt-A-Classroom, and Mom It Forward employees are ineligible to enter. In a spirit of fairness, my personal friends and family members are also ineligible. Entries that do not follow all of the entry requirements will not be considered. The winner will be notified and have 24 hours to confirm receipt of the email. If no response is received within 24 hours, another winner will be selected. Open to participants in the U.S. 18 years and older.

12 comments:

Roxanne T said...

Jen,

I would like to nominate a teacher in the New London Middle School. (I will email you her name separately if you need it but I'd rather not post it on a public blog right now since I don't have her permission.) She is a resident of Westerly and has years of teaching experience from middle school to Ivy league college. She has chosen to work in New London to make a difference in her students' lives. Many of her students come from lower-income families that are struggling to pay bills and buy food, let alone buy school supplies. She spends a great deal of money buying classroom supplies and other necessities for her students.

Kim_Lou (on Twitter) said...

I would like to nominate my daughter, who is only in her second year of teaching elementary school near a prestigious ski resort. Many of her students are those of the local Hispanic blue collar community. Due to the high cost of living in the area, compounded by (local) low income levels, some residents can't even afford basic school supplies (such as tissues). My daughter pays for them out of her own pocket. I've also known her to fund "special projects" on her own because she knew the supplies needed would not be approved as part of her regular budget. Providing her students with what they require in order to be successful learners is a priority for her. She can use all the help she can get. Thank you.

LoneStarLifer said...

Joe Hays teaches in a high-poverty inner-city St. Louis, MO elementary school. Joe has named his students the Superstars and is teaching them to live up to that name. He has created a cool, colorful learning space for the kids, all with his own money. Get this: he even has to buy his own COPY paper!!! He is currently plastering the classroom walls with college/univ t-shirts and pennants to encourage his students to think about and work towards college, not something usually considered in their environment. Joe is a person who believes in people and their possibilities, and those Superstars are so blessed to have him as their teacher.
For more info on Joe, I have a blog entry about him and the Superstars: http://lonestarlifer.wordpress.com/2009/09/29/real-superstars/
Thanks so much for having this giveaway. I would so love to show those kids that there are folks out there who DO care about their future.

LoneStarLifer said...

I also posted the three tweets on my Twitter page: http://twitter.com/lonestarlifer
Remember, Joe Hays!

mandemhamm said...

Jen, I would like to nominate Madeline's kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Carroll. She is a kind-hearted, enthusiastic woman who thinks outside the box. I most appreciate the blog she has created to keep parents informed. Mrs. Carroll updates the blog daily detailing the activities of each day's class. She is a wonderful teacher and very deserving of the $100 prize. Thank you.

Laura said...

I nominate Erica Sousa who is an Early Reading Specialist in the Chariho School System. She provides the most important instruction of any teacher. Without the ability to read no one can become a fully functioning member of any society. Erica loves what she does and as a result her enthusiam spurs her students to not just learn to read, but love to read. You cannot ask anymore than that! She, like so many public schools teacher, spends her own money on school supplies to ensure that she has the proper resources to teach her students.

KR said...

I’d like to nominate my husband Professor C. He teaches high school Chemistry in rural South Carolina. Our school district is featured in the Corridor of Shame video.
He has been teaching for 26 years. He teaches all levels of Chemistry. He leaves home at 7am even tho he doesn’t have to be there til &:45 to help kids before school. He often doesn’t get home til 4:30 for the very same reason. His students often call at home when they need help with problems.
The money could be used to buy a graphing calculator to be used by a student who cannot afford one.

mj.coward[at]gmail.com

KR said...

I tweeted @sumrthyme

Unknown said...

HI Jen,
My nominee for A Day Made Better Contest is Mrs. Jen Williams from So. Amboy Elementary School in N.J.
Her enthusiasm for teaching is so contagious. She has a wonderful teaching style that is refreshing to watch through my son's eyes. Teaching for the fifth grade, when children are entering their pubescent years is not an easy task. Jen Williams is definitely someone who thinks outside of the box and constantly reminds her students to think about the choices that they make. She is so deserving of any extra funds to help her classroom. Thank you.

Vanessa said...

Kristel Hansen works as a science teacher at a jr high in West Valley City, Utah. This year she isn't getting any help with science supplies, and not always lab supplies either. She buys those out of pocket.

In order to inspire her students, she presents one with a "Student of the Week" award...out of her own pocket also.

The school doesn't have air conditioning, and it's pretty hot in her classroom - upstairs with no windows. She buys them bottled water and Otter pops to help cool it down, and brings in her own swamp coolers and fans to make it cooler.

She also coaches soccer there, and spent $60 of her own money to repaint the soccer field since the school ran out.

She stays on her own time, unpaid, after school to help students with her homework and do soccer coaching.

I know this card would help her out so much - even if just for ink for the printers. They only get so many copies a year, and have to pay for anything over their allowance.

Tweets posted on http://twitter.com/treesandshrubs/

Unknown said...

I would like to nominate half the teachers I know. We must all use our own money to support our students. I believe that Dave Caplette, a 4th grade teacher at Richmond Elementary School, deserves to be nominated. He has won teacher of the year for the Chariho School system! He is a wonderful teacher that believes in his students ALL the time. You will always see him at school before and after hours helping somewhere. He enjoys the kids and all the responsibilities that come with the job. Dave is always positive:)

Donna said...

My post:
http://donna444444.blogspot.com/2009/09/day-made-better.html

My tweets:
http://twitter.com/donnak4/status/4621404499

http://twitter.com/donnak4/status/4621718488

http://twitter.com/donnak4/status/4621359291

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