Letter of Request for Tax Credit Donations

Hermelinda López Genaro C 

Los Santos District 

No. 34 Guatemala City 

Tel. 50923817 

hermeloge@gmail.com 

May 12, 2010. 

Community Association 

Los Santos District 

No. 46 Guatemala City 

AT, Mexico 

Dear individuals, groups and organizations of Los Santos community , I hereby address you on behalf of our school district. We are a non-profit civil association dedicated for 15 years to provide education to local school communities in order to offer them more knowledge and to raise their quality of life, while at the same time trying to improve their learning environment. I have taken the liberty of drafting this letter and request the most attentive tax credit donations for the cause that our association directs. From April to July of this year, we will hold a social gathering with the objective of strengthening social organizations and individuals, in order to organize the work. As you all know, we are an organization that does not receive a budget of any kind, except for the money we get through our economic project, which is not enough to do all the work that we face the day-to-day. However, the solidarity and support of many people have allowed us to continue doing our work. That is why once again we turn to you to request your support and solidarity because, to perform the school project, we require some materials and physical space. 

For more than three years since the direction of the Instituto Vicente CañadaBlanch has begun a plan to adapt the school to new technologies. Since then, the school has been equipped with structural cabling to channel the Internet information traffic to all classrooms and support of teachers in audiovisual subjects. Despite efforts, both human and economical, it has not yet been possible to end this enormous task of adaptation to the "School 2.0".Several companies and institutions have recently donated computer equipment that will be installed in the first half-term to improve classrooms. This year, the 2014-2015 course should be our year of project consolidation. There are already infrastructures that are still pending, and now we are in the physical elements, such as computers, screens, mice, keyboards, programs; things that seem very simple and that hardly have an impact economic until you multiply them by the 140 computerized posts the school: - One computer per classroom and department.- Primary ICT room with 24 seats.- High school ICT room with 24 seats.- Teachers' room with four seats- Administration and management services seven posts.- Library with nine seats. 

The integration of ICT in education makes possible not only an improvement in the management of educational centers but also a significant advance in the teaching-learning process (Tondeur et al., 2008). That is why it is necessary that they are used by the whole educational community and not be relegated to the use of experts or the seasoned They are also an instrument that facilitates ongoing training. The primary objective of this ICT Plan is to become a part of the PGA and, therefore, to be assumed by the center as a part of the reality of it. Therefore, this document is intended to be integrated into this reality, in the dynamics of work of the center itself, continuing with the work that had already been now. On the other hand, knowing the resources we have as well as the diverse training of members of our community, we should aspire to a commitment to the introduction of ICT to the extent of the possibilities and formation of each. It is also essential that the integration of ICT into the classroom reaches all students. So we must enable, to the best of our abilities, the resources, and means necessary for the students to have the opportunity to take advantage of their technological background and teachers decide their degree of in the use of the same ones taking advantage of that previous knowledge by the of the students. We do understand that ICT is not the panacea for learning or replacing something or someone. They are an element or resource with the that we have to achieve certain predetermined goals with the convincing also that everything that happens outside can (and should) happen in of the classroom as well (Yuen et al., 2003). In our center, it has been for some years already making a major effort in the introduction of ICT in teaching practice. Here are some scope programs: 

• Creation, management and use of various blogs and educational wikis in many of the departments and matters that make up our center. 

• Didactic use by many teachers of various tools of the web 2.0 as Dropbox or Google Drive that allows to create, share and Store information. 

• Training courses in the creation and application of blogs and other applications web 2.0 or specific programs for the control and evolution of students as Idoceo. 

• Training courses on digital boards. 

• Regular communication through the web of the center with the whole community education. 

• Improvement of the technical conditions of the classrooms with the generalization of the Internet cable and Wi-Fi as well as the installation of projectors, computers, and whiteboards digital images. 

• To promote the use of new technologies as a working tool in the teaching-learning process and as a key tool for the multilingualism. 

• Involve teachers in the use of ICT to the extent of their possibilities and try to motivate them to take on new technological challenges. 

• Encourage communication and coordination with other English centers and through the Internet or through other means for the exchange of information experiences and all kinds of information that could be useful for each of the parts. 

• Continue completing and modernizing, as far as possible, the infrastructure CT in the whole center so that in every one of the classrooms where gives direct teaching with the students its use is simple and natural. 

• Update and streamline the website of the center as well as blogs with new content/functionality not only to promote communication and collaboration with the entire educational community, Administration, and other centers but also to show an attractive center image academically. 

• Standardize the use of ICT in administrative tasks to unify all the documents of the center and all the information with the same format enhancing e-mail and the web as a means of families for whatever it takes. 

• Collaborate that the schedules of each department and the classroom settings integrate ICT as a methodological element. 

By October, it is planned to have Internet broadband at school (Fiber of BT) that will multiply by four the quality of service. So far, the saturation of the network at certain times of the day (ICT classrooms at one time and normal classes) causes the network speed to drop significantly. Now, the network concentrators that are in place do not allow us to take advantage of the maximum this speed, so we are going to replace the most important ones, which are one for each area of ​​the school; from video to audio ...In the field of resources obtained from the school, one of the greatest achievements of this management team and the AMPA of the School has been, in the section of the new technologies, the power to have a projection system in each classroom. When it was done, this installation was pending to provide audio to the system. 

There have been tests of with the systems of the speakers of the equipment and with loudspeakers of dessert. The result is poor compared to the possibilities offered by content. For this, we will provide a bar sound system that includes loudspeakers and subwoofer with a total power of approximately 45W. The laboratories also count. We have two magnificent labs in the school that are not going to be less than the rest of the classrooms. We are going to give the students the audiovisual complement to the group activities. For this, we will install the last two projectors that are missing in the school, and with it, we will have completed one of the most ambitious phases. 

After the installation comes maintenance and repairs. We are aware that projection lamps have a definite useful life and that the dust and other agents weaken breeding systems. That is why we will have each year for such maintenance. Regarding interaction in the classroom, we have a new project for this course, a dream-challenge: equip all classrooms with an interactive whiteboard to complement the projector and audio with the interaction of new student-teacher technologies. We are in contact with suppliers of interactive whiteboard systems to achieve quality optimal at a price adjusted to the economic reality of this school. We intend to make a pilot and install one of these smart slates in a classroom for that can be tested by teachers and assess their implementation. 

Your donation will be used to build an educational center in our local community in the north of the country that will allow hundreds of children living in the area to study. In the form of thanks to you and your company, a commemorative plaque will be placed at the entrance of the district, and your donation will be tax deductible. I thank in advance your attention and consideration; I remain at your orders. 

Sincerely, 

Hermelinda López Genaro. 

References  

Tondeur, J., Van Keer, H., van Braak, J., & Valcke, M. (2008). ICT integration in the classroom: Challenging the potential of a school policy.  Computers & Education ,  51 (1), 212-223. 

Yuen, A. H., Law, N., & Wong, K. C. (2003). ICT implementation and school leadership: Case studies of ICT integration in teaching and learning.  Journal of Educational Administration ,  41 (2), 158-170.