Blog - Fund for Teachers - Page 16

Blogs

Minding the Gap | Black History Month

This February, Fund for Teachers is celebrating Black History Month by highlighting some of our Fellows’ journeys to bring a better understanding of the African American experience to all students. In this four-part blog series, we’ll be diving into everything from the Transatlantic Slave Trade to student advocacy. Our Fellows explored the “past and present”…

Past vs. Present | Black History Month

This February, Fund for Teachers is celebrating Black History Month by highlighting some of our Fellows’ journeys to bring a better understanding of the African American experience to all students. In this four-part blog series, we’ll be diving into everything from the Transatlantic Slave Trade to student advocacy. Our Fellows explored how black history is…

Defining Beauty

From Idaho to Omo — that’s how far Christine Corbin went to help her students redefine beauty and identity. An art teacher at Boise‘s Riverstone International School, Christine was researching ideas for a portrait-painting unit when she found photographs of the Omo River Valley tribe in Ethiopia. She immediately wanted her students to paint these…

Seeing Ourselves in Others | Black History Month

This February, Fund for Teachers is celebrating Black History Month by highlighting some of our Fellows’ journeys to bring a better understanding of the African American experience to all students. In this four-part blog series, we’ll be diving into everything from the Transatlantic Trade to student advocacy. Our Fellows explored how Black history is taught…

Retelling History | Black History Month

This February, Fund for Teachers is celebrating Black History Month by highlighting some of our Fellows’ journeys to bring a better understanding of the African American experience to all students. In this four-part blog series, we’ll be diving into everything from the Transatlantic Trade to student advocacy. This week, we are taking a deeper look…

2018 FFT Grant Deadline

Our team is ready to answer any last minute questions you might have before submitting your application for a 2018 Fund for Teachers grant. Just email info@fundforteachers.org or call 800.681.2667. Don’t forget to proofread and compare your proposal against the scoring rubric by which it will be evaluated. Our Application Tooklit is also an excellent…

All of Us – Immigrants

FFT Fellow Chris Smith and 15 of his students recently hosted the first Chicago Immigrant Refugee Resource Fair at Mather High School. The story behind the event, shared below by Chris, demonstrates the true ripple effect of a Fund for Teachers grant. This high school music teacher designed a fellowship to attend the Blas International…

Incorporating Advocacy

Margret Atkinson’s language arts students in Zachary, LA, lead a double life. When not studying literature on historic and contemporary Upstanders, they operate an Educational Corporation aimed at engaging communities on the importance of choices that honor others. Initial investments by Donors Choose and Think It Up seeded the creation of their The Upstander Brand,…

A Grand Education

Today marks the 110th anniversary of Theodore Roosevelt declaring the Grand Canyon a national monument. Many FFT Fellows share our 26th president’s commitment to environmental stewardship and use their grants to pursue learning related to the 1.7 billion year old formations, albeit each with a different focus. Dory Manfre (Ashford, CT) designed a solo adventure…

Student’s Art Chosen for LIFEWTR Campaign

Congratulations to Luis Gonzalez and his art teacher/FFT Fellow Ari Hauben for Luis’ selection as one of three young artists whose work now adorns LIFEWTR bottles. According to the company’s website: “LIFEWTR Series 4 celebrates the long-lasting impact that art education has on our lives from youth into adulthood. The series features the work of…

Re-Routing Education

First responders in Hurricanes Harvey and Irma had no idea they were following the direction of high school students. Working feverishly behind their computers, Leah Keith Houle’s students in Red Bank, TN, created Humanitarian Outreach Team (or “HOT”) maps used by relief organizations attempting to identify safe routes to deliver supplies or evacuate people. “When…

Hero, Victim or Traitor? Students Decide

The facts represent La Malinche (or Doña Marina) as a slave, advisor, mistress and emissary. Whether those roles positioned her as a hero, victim or traitor is up for debate — which is what the students of Glen Meinschein and Alejandro Avalos did this semester. Following a fellowship investigating one of the most controversial figures…

Paving the Way for Women

Today, 42 women will be sworn into Congress, the most in US history. Susan B. Anthony and her British counterpart, Emmeline Pankhurst, would be proud of these activists, and also students of Eric Reid-St. John’s at Spain Park High School in Hoover, AL. With his Fund for Teachers grant, Eric researched Anthony, Pankhurst and the…

Conducting Dialogues

One could say that Harriet Tubman founded the Black Lives Matter movement. After escaping from a Maryland plantation in 1849, she helped establish the Underground Railroad and became its most renowned “conductor.” Almost 170 years later, Houston students take their own Tubman-inspired trek during school-wide “Freedom Nights.” Students from Quail Valley Elementary and Burton Elementary…

Our Executive Director’s 2017 Reflection

We all remember a teacher who touched our lives. No matter how old you were or what they taught, I guarantee that our favorite teachers shared common traits… • They believed in us. • They believed we could be better and do more. • They challenged us. • They brought passion, purpose and joy to…

A Year of Learning, One Fellowship at a Time

It’s the New Year’s Eve song most of us mumble through, but the English translation of “Auld lang syne” is “times gone by.” Looking back over the year in fellowships, our grant recipients spent their time actively pursuing what they determined will best impact student achievement. Specifically, 546 prek-12 school teachers completed fellowships on 6…

Inquiring Students Want to Know…

So where does our cafeteria food come from? Lu Ann Carey’s father grew peaches for most of his life and, at 84, still operates a fruit truck offering fresh produce to his community. Lu Ann inherited his passion for agriculture and has for 15 years engaged students in sustainable gardening at Bradley Central High School…

Teachers of the Year Share End of Year Thoughts

Three exceptional FFT Fellows made time amidst grading tests and hosting classroom parties to share with us their year in review. Sydney Chaffee spent 2017 on sabbatical from Boston’s Codman Academy Charter Public School to represent the Council of Chief State School Officers as the National Teacher of the Year. In 2011, she used her…