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Passport to Learning

[minti_dropcap style=”normal”]A[/minti_dropcap]s part of the “follow up” portion of an FFT fellowship, grant recipients complete a Passport that documents their learning and where they plan to go from here. Teachers answer brief questions in three categories: Personal and Professional Growth Impact on Your Classroom, School & Community, and, Imagining the Future During the month of…

A Teacher’s Thank You Note

We received this note from Lana Greenawald last week after she returned from her fellowship. Inspired by her work and her words, we’re pleased to share it with you. To the Fund for Teachers team: I am writing to express my deepest gratitude for the opportunity to study the Spanish language and Mexican culture…

The Depths Teachers Will Go…

As we watched Shark Week from the safety of our sofas, FFT Fellow Edwin Yoo (Dorchester, MA) chose to get a little closer to the action. He is currently conducting field research on the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System in conjunction with Project AWARE, an initiative taking action to create change for the ocean and communities…

Teachers Providing Refuge | World Refugee Day 2018

More than 100 families entered the Meriden Public School District in Connecticut last year from Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria. Consequently, Mariah Abatan and Marjorie Eager quickly became more than teachers at Hanover Elementary — they became a lifeline for displaced, confused and scared English Language Learners (fifty percent of whom also presented with speech…

Monsieur Monet, How Does Your Art Garden Grow?

This is the question that inspired Jeff Wolfson’s 2017 fellowship to Monet’s most famous painting spot – Giverny, France. His goal was to develop with students and community partners a similar artist’s garden as a place for reflection and inspiration at Nathan Hale Arts Magnet School in New London, CT. “My school is situated in…

I’m from WHERE?

The majority of Lori Lyn’s students at Hicks Elementary in Houston are new to America and, thus, new to Texas. Therefore, in addition to providing the fundamentals of an education, she’s also tasked with teaching state history in accordance with state standards. This responsibility inspired her to assume the role of tour guide AND teacher…

Talk Shakespeare To Me

To be (relevant) or not to be (relevant), that is the question high school students ask when it comes to reading Shakespeare. In response, Fund for Teachers Fellows annually set out for Stratford Upon Avon and related sites to prove how a 400-year-old bard has still got game. Gretchen Philbrick, teacher at Norwich Free…

What the Middle East Teaches About Peace

The American embassy’s relocation to Jerusalem and ensuing violence underscores the importance of students’ having a working knowledge of Middle East politics, culture and history. Often in an attempt to increase their own understanding as much as their students, teachers design FFT fellowships focused on the Arab-Israeli conflict. The insights they bring back to class…

Holocaust as Comic?

“For the past two years, my eighth grade English class has used Art Spiegelman’s Pulitzer-Prize-winning graphic-novel, MAUS, as our primary text to study the Holocaust. My students enjoy the fascinating imagery, the break from traditional textbooks, and Vladek Spiegelman’s captivating experience in Nazi concentration camps. While they enjoy the unit, it can be challenging for…

When Fargo is Far from Home

In 2000, the English Language Learner (ELL) population at Fargo High School barely hit 3%; 15 years later, refugees and immigrants make up 10% of the student population. Leah Juelke, ELL specialist, makes it her mission to welcome and educate these teenagers and, so do their peers native to North Dakota, thanks to the school’s…

Water They Doing to Support UN Goal #6?

As part of Sara Damon’s AP Geography curriculum, students at Stillwater Junior High School in Stillwater, MN, read They Poured Fire on Us from the Sky: The True Story of Three Lost Boys from Sudan. Sara arranged for one of the authors to visit her class, which led to a fundraising project that raised $5,000…

Reducing Plastics Pollution, One Ecobrick at a Time

Millions of people around the world are celebrating Earth Day 2018, with a specific emphasis on ending plastic pollution. As recently as last month, the “Great Pacific Garbage Patch,” a floating island of plastics, measured three times the size of France. Several years ago, FFT Fellow Megan de Ritter used her grant to raise student…

All Fairy Godmothers, No Big Bad Wolves

“Once upon a time there were two teachers in search of a way to make fairy tales come alive for their urban students.” This is how preK and kindergarten teachers Carmen Kaemingk and Kirsten Carlson began their FFT grant application, proposing a journey along the Fairy Tale Trail in Germany, Italy and France. By researching…

When Learning Goes the Extra (200) Miles

FFT Fellow Ariel Laguilles, chairperson of the Modern and Classical Languages Department at Gonzaga High School in Washington DC, just returned from an extended field trip. Inspired by his fellowship, Ariel and his students navigate the ancient Camino de Santiago from France to Spain as the culmination of an elective that reflects on the history…

Congratulations, 2018 FFT Fellows!

Fund for Teachers fellowships begin with an If/Then equation: “If I could just [do this/learn this/experience this], my students’ [interest/engagement/achievement] would soar.” Public, private and charter school teachers across the country envision experiential learning that will transfer directly to their preK-12 students. Then, these teachers design and submit a proposal to make it happen. Then,…

Making MLK Meaningful for Elementary Students

by, Cecilia Cornejo, Mary Beth Porter, Deidre Ann Hensley | Port Hueneme, CA It isn’t easy to look at our failings as a society/nation. It is worse, however, to ignore them. We want our students to realize that they have to take ownership in the racial struggle. They can’t expect others to do it for…

Kinder-Yogis

Preschool teachers have to be flexible, but Dianna Langdon (Park Early Childhood Center – Ossining, NY) is taking that necessity to a whole new level. She used her FFT grant to obtain certification as a registered children’s yoga teacher and now incorporates the practice daily to unite four-year-olds’ minds, bodies, thoughts and actions while also…

Sharing Stories, Shaping Multicultural Literacy

Wisconsin is home to the third largest population of Hmong immigrants in the country, but students at Pittsville Elementary knew little about their peers from Southeast Asia. Kate Van Haren turned to textbooks, but most social studies information focused on European ancestry. Online research surfaced only immigration statistics and an occasional Hmong recipe. “I realized…