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Student Equity & Self-Efficacy

Over the course of my career, I have observed the wide variety of background experiences that students bring to school and how those experiences impact learning. The more confident and savvy learners tend to get the lions’ share of the time, resources, and attention; these same students tend to be from stable homes rarely impacted…

Who Deserves to be in a Museum?

I teach three levels of English Learners: those emerging from the Newcomer program those who have been in the country 4-7 years, and those who have not reached English fluency after more than seven years of American schooling. Students in that last group — known as Long Term English Learners (LTELs) — may have been…

Making the Grade — Differently

“Will this be on the test?” “Can I get extra credit?” “Are you going to grade this?” Teachers can attest that these questions come up all the time as we introduce assignments, discuss grades, and present new material. We might get frustrated with students, feeling like they are only focused on what will be quantified,…

Letter to a Future Leader

Last week, we announced our second year of Innovation Circle Grants — an opportunity specifically for Fund for Teachers Fellows to pursue and create solutions, first independently and then collaboratively, to challenges they see in the classroom using a $1,000 grant. A defining aspect of these Circles is the fact that they are LED by FFT…

A $300 Grant + Harvard = Meaningful Math

Bette Sloane (Mineola High School – Garden City Park, NY) applied to join the Equity Innovation Circle last year because she wanted to figure out how to elevate the minuscule cross section of famous mathematicians representing her students of color. “If students do not see themselves represented in mathematicians,” she asked, “how can they see…

We Need You…to Lead a Circle

What are Innovation Circles? Innovation Circles is a new grant program at Fund for Teachers (FFT) designed to stimulate and enrich teacher innovation. Through self-designed learning experiences and virtual Circle meetings, Fellows have the funds and collaborative peer support to design outside of the box. What do Lead Fellows Do? As a Lead Fellow for…

Innovation Circles Grant 2.0

Building on the success of our inaugural grants specifically for FFT Fellows, we are excited to launch our second year of $1,500 Innovation Circle Grants. Based on Fellow feedback, we refined this year’s Circle topics and decreased the number of Fellows per circle to enhance interactivity and collaboration. Applications for 2022 Innovation Circle Grants open…

Highlighting Humanity

Joey Cumagun, a veteran special education teacher, seeks the human potential in every student of every ability. Through community-based instruction providing students with real life experiences, Joey helps prepare students aged 18-22 years old for their next steps in life. With a $1,000 Fund for Teachers Innovation Grant, Joey completed an online course on Teaching…

A Legacy of Learning

COVID continues to wreak havoc on schools and challenge teachers, parents and students alike. But an earlier global pandemic also thwarted (kind of) the plans of FFT Fellows Kerensa Elzy, Andy Gomez and Eric Bethel. In 2009, as the teaching team designed a Fund for Teachers fellowship to learn more about the Singapore Math concept,…

Releasing the Reins

Are you an Amazing Race fan? We’re pulling for these teachers in CBS’ 33rd season, airing on Wednesday nights. Akbar Cook Sr. is the principal of Newark West Side High School, where his wife, Sheri, teaches. Since they started the school’s “Lights On” program to provide a safe place for students from 6 am to…

Remembering Jane — and William, and Laurence…

As part of a partnership with Wesleyan University, my high school’s Humanities program exposes students to a wide variety of reading at a very rigorous level. Many of the students in my classes lack the cultural, historical, and literary background to effectively access texts at this high level of rigor. Wesleyan faculty present college level…

Adding Story to WWII History

On the 80th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, we appreciate these words and plans of FFT Fellow Patrick McCarney (Stonington High School – Stonington, CT). Patrick is a 25-year teaching veteran who teaches a variety of social studies courses to 100 students, including two sophomore classes called Great Movements of the Sixties, two…

Training Students To Honor Veterans

In September 2019, I launched a pilot program with three sections of my United States History II course. More than seventy juniors and seniors in high school wrote letters to potential pen pals around the United States. They cold-mailed senior centers, retirement homes, and veterans’ affairs offices with an introductory letter and a request: to…

Ofrendas, Fellows and Day of the Dead

Day of the Dead is actually a two-day holiday in Mexico when families celebrate life and death simultaneously. From October 31 – November 2, people create ofrendas (or offerings) adorned with items such as foods, photos and items once enjoyed by family members who have died. This year, in the wake of COVID and also…

All At Once: A Fellow’s Perspective on Indigenous Peoples’ Day

The initial learning goals for my fellowship focused on my relative lack of knowledge about geological science. When I lead my students through explorations of the geological timescale, fossils, and distribution of resources, I stick close to published curricula to ensure that I provide them with factual information. With my Fund for Teachers grant, I…

Let Curiosity Launch Your Learning

UPDATE: In recognition of the challenges facing teachers at this time, Fund for Teachers will be extending our 2022 grant application deadline to February 24, 2022. Today Fund for Teachers opens our 2022 grant season with the belief that: Curiosity Launches Learning. Since 2001, 9,000+ teachers let curiosity to lead them to new insights, experiences,…

Teaching Peace

Forty years ago, the United Nations declared September 21 the International Day of Peace to, according to the event website, “provide a globally shared date for all humanity to commit to Peace above all differences and to contribute to building a Culture of Peace.” FFT Fellow Amanda Hope (Dallas) committed her Fund for Teachers grant…

Water Cycle = Life Cycle

Closing out Water Quality Month, we share the words of #FFTFellow Tammy Laakeri, who used a Fund for Teachers grant to conduct independent research of water pollution and conservation efforts in Chesapeake Bay and the Everglades, then attend a teacher workshop at Marine Lab in Key Largo, FL to compare local ecosystems and develop local…