Back to BlogsThank You for Paying it Forward
Four years ago, Fund for Teachers decided that because we are about teachers, we wanted teachers’ input about what we do and how. Our Educator Advisory Council (EAC) was the first outcome of that decision. A cohort of FFT Fellows were selected from a competitive application process to inform our programming in the best interest of peers and their students. We want to take this opportunity to acknowledge and appreciate their contributions, which required time outside of very full schedules to ensure that other teachers will have the most relevant and impactful Fund for Teachers experiences going forward.
The purpose of EAC, as originally designed, was to “provide educator perspective and feedback to help guide the development of programs,” said Liza Eaton, who oversees the cohort. “This purpose on paper has turned into tangible advancement in the form of helping guide the development of new application questions and scoring criteria, boosting recruitment of Fellows of color, and refining materials that elevate the work of our grant recipients. At the core of the EAC is the invaluable perspective that keeps Fund for Teachers grounded in the authentic experiences of teachers, in schools, doing the work of educating the next generation.”
Wendy Harris teaches at the Metro Deaf School in Saint Paul, MN. With a fellowship grant, Wendy explored the intersection of culture and education for Deaf and DeafBlind students in Tanzania and Kenya to develop more culturally appropriate instructional strategies and social studies content and improve personal cultural competence in communication with East African families and their Deaf and DeafBlind children.
“The opportunity I had through FFT to explore a region and topic I knew would benefit me and my students had a significant impact on my teaching. I have wanted to repay this by helping FFT impact more teachers and students and the EAC was the right avenue,” said Wendy. “It’s been helpful for me to understand FFT specifically and education in the United States more generally in a broader/systematic way.”
“I respected FFT so much for their professionalism and for the autonomy and respect they gave to teachers,” reflected Olivia Flores, teacher at Paseo Academy of Fine and Performing Arts – Kansas City, MO. “I’ve loved being in community with others and pushing our thinking around these programs.”
With a fellowship grant, Olivia completed an intensive language immersion course in Barcelona and join an artifact-gathering/cultural enrichment experience in Pamplona, Madrid, and Valencia to bolster Spanish culture content in a dual language curriculum and firmly establish the accessibility of international travel opportunities through bilingualism in our students.
Amanda Hope (Moseley Elementary School – Dallas, TX) wanted to join the EAC to advocate for special education students and to diversity our applicant pool.
Vanessa Wylie (Hazlehurst High School – Hazlehurst, MS) used a fellowship grant to earn a diving
certification to complete archaeology and marine life trainings with the organization Diving With a Purpose, Click here to read her article on how her experiences are helping break up long-standing stereotypes.
“Being a member of Fund for Teachers’ Education Advisory Council allowed me opportunities to:
- Change my perspective
- Grow in my ability to communicate, work with others, and allow others to lead, and
- Be present for decision making, and outreach.”
Carly Imhoff (Ashford School – Ashford, CT) has been our most tenured FFT Fellow on the EAC. She received two fellowship grants: one to 0bserve in Bhutan ways in which nature and education contribute to human happiness and student success; and a second to participate in “Black Land Matters: A Gullah-Geechee Field Study” with the Nobis Project in Savannah, GA, to facilitate students’ respect of and connections between science and issues of land equity. Carly also received two Innovation Circle Grants she used to: collect evidence of natural selection in the Galapagos to inspire middle school students’ independent thinking and combat the spread of misinformation and skepticism toward parts of the science/social studies curriculums among some students and their families, and; join The Naturalist Teacher Workshop at the Bimini Shark Lab in the Bahamas to inspire students’ design of action projects that combine the excitement of “Shark Week” with opportunities that protect our environment year-round.
“Since I teach in a VERY tiny district, I rarely have opportunities to work with other teachers on big things,” said Carly. “The EAC helped me to feel engaged, empowered, and impassioned through this type of collaboration. It also gives me a taste of other aspects of working in education and helps me think about where I might want to go in education next.”
President John F. Kennedy said, “Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.” We are grateful that these educators chose to combine both as members of our Educator Advisory Council, which keeps Fund for Teachers current, relevant, and aligned to teachers’ lived experiences.