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Leaving a New Legacy in Hiroshima

On this day in 1945, an atomic bomb flattened Hiroshima – one of two bombings that induced the Japanese to surrender and end World War II. FFT Fellow Kelly Loubier (Orville H. Platt High School-Meriden, CT) participated in the anniversary ceremonies at the Hiroshima Memorial Peace Park, where she also delivered to the Children’s Memorial…

Fellow Friday | Magical Mystery Tour

Fund for Teachers invites PreK-12 educators to design learning adventures wherever their imaginations can take them, which is the same thing author Mary Pope Osborne does for young readers through her Magic Tree House series. These award-winning books transport main characters Jack and Annie on quests that pursue people and topics they previously only read…

Final Tour of Auschwitz with Survivor Eva Kor

Middle school language arts teacher Amy Taylor designed her Fund for Teachers fellowship to accompany Holocaust survivor Eva Kor back to Auschwitz to learn about her subjection to Mengele’s twin experiments, her liberation from the camp in 1945, and her ability to forgive. It would be the last such tour Ms. Kor hosted. She died…

Fellow Friday | Whose American History?

This month, 230 prek-12 teachers are learning around the world with Fund for Teachers grants, making this our busiest “Fellow Season.” Highlighting one teacher for our weekly Friday Fellow post is tough, as our exemplary grant recipients are checking in from near and far with updates that inspire wanderlust from behind our computers. In light…

Helping Deaf Students Speak Up

Alexander Graham Bell’s most well-known accomplishment is the invention of the telephone; however, his first job was as a teacher. In fact, he was teaching at the Boston School for Deaf Mutes when he began creating a machine that changed the way we communicate forever. Deborah Tubbs and Dana Smith share a lot in common with…

Fellow Friday | It’s Never Too Late

The Wall Street Journal recently shared an article titled “It’s Never Too Late,” referring to how the “multiple cognitive peaks throughout our lives, and the talents and passions that we have to offer can emerge across a range of personal circumstances.” Such is the case for Larry Shortell, special education teacher at Explorations Charter School…

Fellow Friday | World Refugee Awareness

Monday begins World Refugee Awareness Week, an extension of the United Nation’s annual World Refugee Day on Wednesday, June 20th. In solidarity with those forced to flee as a result of resettlement, poverty, unemployment, stigmatization, and bias, we share one day in the fellowship of two teachers from Naperville, IL. Christine Halblander and Jenn Nekolny are currently exploring…

Fellow Friday | This Learning Is Your Learning

The primary distinction of Fund for Teachers grants is the freedom we give teachers to design fellowships THEY consider most vital to students’ learning. That can be across the world or across the state, which is the case for Nathalie Lee and Janet DeMarco, teachers at Cedar Ridge Elementary School in Tulsa, OK. They are currently embarking…

Teacher Discovers Personal Connection with D-Day

Today marks the 76th anniversary of D-Day, when 156,000 American, British and Canadian forces landed on five beaches along a 50-mile stretch of the heavily fortified coast of France’s Normandy region. We share below the remarkable experience of FFT Fellow Dan Lundak. He designed an experience to retrace the steps of the US soldiers (specifically…

Fellow Friday | Speaking Their Language

Each Friday throughout the summer, we are highlighting one of our 2019 Fellows — their inspiration, itinerary, and plan for transforming student learning going forward. Today, we highlight our first team, which named themselves “Spainward Bound.” Erin Strack, Andrew Murphy, Juan Carlos Lara and Pato Cabral will use their $10,000 Fund for Teachers grant to…

Fellow Friday | Helping Students Beat the Odds

Each Friday, we highlight one of our 2019 Fellows — their inspiration, itinerary, and plan for transforming student learning going forward. Today, however, we celebrate the completion of our first fellowship of the year! Kristin Gladish (Newcomer Program – Indianapolis) obtained permission from her administration to embark on her fellowship during the first week of…

Fellow Friday: Ramadan Edition

Back in the ’80s, when Saturday Night Live was funny, Jon Lovitz did a skit called “Get to Know Me!” espousing how people (i.e. Steve Martin) benefited from knowing him. We believe the same is true of our 2019 Fellows and are, therefore, continuing a blog series throughout the summer to introduce you to many of our grant recipients….

Piecing Together Learning

Tammy Friedman believes the link between art and its history can help build bridges among different cultures, including the culture of a school. Cloonan Middle School in Stamford, CT, is experiencing a sharp increase in English Language Learners who speak Spanish at home. Realizing the lack of relationship between herself and students’ parents, Tammy turned…

Hitting the Road

[minti_dropcap style=”normal”]B[/minti_dropcap]ack in the ’80s, when Saturday Night Live was funny, Jon Lovitz did a skit called “Get to Know Me!” espousing how people (i.e. Steve Martin) benefited from knowing him. We believe the same is true of our 2019 Fellows and are, therefore, continuing a blog series throughout the summer to introduce you to many of our grant…

Water, Water Everywhere, but…

…not a drop to drink. That’s what Richard Lebowitz discovered on his Fund for Teachers fellowship last summer in Indonesia. For two weeks, he collaborated with Balinese municipalities, scholars, citizens and tourists to research the country’s inability to overcome its water shortage crisis. Richard’s inspiration came from observing water waste at The SEEALL Academy in…

“Get to Know Me!” Blog Series

[minti_dropcap style=”circle”]B[/minti_dropcap]ack in the ’80s, when Saturday Night Live was funny, Jon Lovitz did a skit called “Get to Know Me!” espousing how people (i.e. Steve Martin) benefited from knowing him. We believe the same is true of our 2019 Fellows and are, therefore, continuing a blog series throughout the summer to introduce you to many of our grant…

Happy Earth Day from our Fellows

“From the ashes of disaster grow the roses of success” is the chorus from a song in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, a film produced months before the catastrophic Santa Barbara Oil Spill in 1969. The lyrics proved prescient. This environmental disaster that spewed three million gallons of oil and killed more than 10,000 seabirds, dolphins, seals, and sea…

New Blog Series: “Get to Know Me!”

[minti_dropcap style=”circle”]B[/minti_dropcap]ack in the ’80s, when Saturday Night Live was funny, Jon Lovitz did a skit called “Get to Know Me!” espousing how the lives of people (i.e. Steve Martin) benefited from knowing him. We believe the same is true of our 2019 Fellows and are, therefore, beginning a blog series to introduce many of our…