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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…

Helping Students Remember Emmett Till

Sixty-six years ago today, fourteen-year-old Emmett Till was lynched and shot for allegedly flirting with a young white woman at her family’s store in Money, MS. His body was recovered from the bottom of the Tallahatchie River three days later. Brandon Barr‘s students in Chicago are the same age as Till was when he died….

Supporting Students Who Self-Harm

When the pandemic grounded our 2020 grant recipients’ plans, we wrestled with ways to continue honoring their passion and professionalism. The spaces normally filled with updates from teachers actively pursuing self-designed fellowships fell silent. That is, until we handed our Fellows a microphone. Even prior to the pandemic, experts widely acknowledged that America’s students…

Diving & Learning With a Purpose

When the pandemic grounded our 2020 grant recipients’ plans, we wrestled with ways to continue honoring their passion and professionalism. The spaces normally filled with updates from teachers actively pursuing self-designed fellowships fell silent. That is, until we handed our Fellows a microphone. Almost thirty FFT Fellows have since shared their stories on Fund for…

Debating All Sides of Nuclear War

Teaching hard history motivates Gina Higgins in her work with middle school students at Carmel Middle School in Charlotte, NC. Often, the topic isn’t the only hard aspect of her work, but also detangling and discerning from what perspective the topic is told. Almost always, in her experience, “History is written by the victors.” Gina…

Teachers Leading Teachers

In her book Teacher Leadership That Strengthens Professional Practice, Charlotte Danielson defines teacher leadership as “that set of skills demonstrated by teachers who continue to teach students but also have an influence that extends beyond their own classroom to others within their own school and elsewhere.” Today, we are pleased to announce that the following…

FFT Fellow Researches Canada’s Attempts to Erase its Indigenous Past

The New York Times today reported that “remains of as many as 751 people, mainly Indigenous children, were discovered at the site of a former school in the province of Saskatchewan, a Canadian Indigenous group…jolting a nation grappling with generations of widespread and systematic abuse of Indigenous people.” FFT Fellow Lavie Raven (North Lawndale College…

Students Showing Students Their Actions Matter

This picturesque library near the Mark Twain National Forest will be the site of student activism this summer. During weekly “read-ins,” students from Rolla Junior High and Bourbon High School in Cuba, MO, will read at story time the book they illustrated — a book written and inspired by their teachers and FFT Fellows Kevin…

Designing with Teachers, Not For Them

This is the final in a four-part series in which we consider what innovation in the classroom will look like going forward. Thank you to today’s contributor, FFT Fellow Liza Eaton. Liza is also our director of Ramsden Project programming. In 2017, Fund for Teachers began to envision a new chapter for itself — doubling…

Closing the Equity Gap

This is the third in a four-part series in which we consider what innovation in the classroom will look like going forward. Thank you to today’s contributor, FFT Board Member Jonas Zuckerman. With over 25 years in education, Jonas is dedicated to building the capacity of educators and providing disadvantaged students a high-quality education by…

Learning Out Loud: The Stonewall Inn Riots

On Monday, we shared the work of an FFT Fellow to educate his Tulsa students about the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre for the first time. Today, as Pride Month begins, we elevate another lesser-known, yet seminal event in our nation’s quest for social justice — this time for the LGBTQ+ community. On June 27-28, 1969,…

Supporting Students Post Pandemic

This is the second in a four-part series called “Fellow Voices” in which we turned to our grant recipients for their insights into what innovation in the classroom will look like going forward. Thank you to today’s contributor, Kari Baransky. Teaching in this post-pandemic world has been, to say the least, challenging. There are many…

A Massacre In Their Hometown, But Not In Their Curriculum

Today marks the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre, a historic event that occurred in the town where Kyle Peaden taught students who knew nothing about it. We are grateful he shared his design process that led to his fellowship and its outcomes… In my 2012 Fund for Teachers grant proposal, I wrote: I…

How the Pandemic Brought Innovation to my Classroom

The last four years have been exciting. I have been working at developing an arts-integrated environmental education and outdoor skills program at my school. I have watched as students connected with nature, became involved in volunteer work, got internships, added healthy hobbies to their schedules and explored possible career paths. Then… the Pandemic happened. As…