Once upon a time, an elementary school librarian became a Fund for Teachers Fellow, and her fairy tale dreams became a reality. It really did feel like a whirlwind fairy tale. Back in January of 2023, a friend of mine reached out to me about working together on a FFT grant. I was hesitant at first, because life felt very busy at the time, but after only a little convincing I agreed. However, the application’s due date was around the corner, so we got to work right away!

Hailey Wansick and I are both librarians, but she is a librarian at a high school, and I’m at an elementary school. We decided on fairy tales, because fairy tales and their lessons are for everyone. They have spanned hundreds of years, and they continue to enchant generations as retellings and fractured fairy tales are consistently being published today. After some research, we decided to focus on England, Germany, and France. We wanted to create a deeper understanding of fairy tale origins and their importance, promote excitement for and interest in reading, and enhance our library collections. We wanted to learn more about fairy tale pioneers like Madame d’Aulnoy, Charles Perrault, and the Brothers Grimm. When I got the email that said our proposal had been selected, and I was officially a Fellow, I ran to my principal’s office with tears in my eyes! 

A few months later, Hailey and I flew into France, ready to start our adventure. Over the following two weeks, we traveled from France to Germany and then to England. We walked the streets of Paris and the Gardens of Versailles. We visited towns along the Fairy Tale Route in Germany. One of our favorite stops was GRIMMWELT Kassel in Kassel, Germany. GRIMMWELT Kassel is a Brothers Grimm museum. We learned so much about the Brothers Grimm, their inspirations, and their life works. Our last stop was England. Before the trip, I had been in contact with the University of Oxford’s Bodleian Libraries as well as the British Library. We were able to go through the process of acquiring library cards and gained access to their special collections. Being able to see and touch rare fairy tale books was this librarian’s dream come true!  My fellowship made me realize I have so much more to learn about fairy tales! I still feel this way. There is such a rich and extensive history surrounding fairy tales. 
After I got back home it was time to work on bringing the magic to my students. Fairy Tale Week was born. I collaborated with my specials team on making Fairy Tale Week a reality. Students would have fairy tale-themed lessons in all of their specials classes: music, PE, art, STEM, and library. We would have a dress-up day on the Friday of that week, because who doesn’t want to dress up like a fairy tale character or creature? In November 2023 we had our first Fairy Tale Week, and it was a magical success. Students drew castles, dragons, and king and queen portraits. They played fairy tale games, and created their own fractured fairy tales. They participated in a musical storytelling and a Disney sing-a-long. They also competed in fairy tale STEM-related challenges.

The week had been like a dream, but as I read stories to all of my classes that week, I realized many of my students were unfamiliar with the original fairy tales. To address this gap, this year I spent more time reading classic fairy tales to all of my students in preparation for Fairy Tale Week. Our second annual Fairy Tale Week was in January 2025, and it was once again filled with fairy tale-themed lessons in all of the specials classes. Fairy Tale Friday was especially fun! Classes gathered in the gym for enrichment during specials, where they heard the story of Rumplestiltskin, played a kingdom-defending game, and showed off their wonderful costumes. Both Fairy Tale Weeks wouldn’t have been as magical without my team. With my whole team on board, we were able to create a special week for all of our students! Recently, I have had teachers express a desire to have additional grades collaborate with us in the future. It will be interesting to see how Fairy Tale Week evolves. 

I’m so grateful to have been awarded this grant and to be able to call myself a Fund for Teachers Fellow. This experience has created in me a lifelong interest in fairy tales and a desire to share them with my students. I was able to present, along with Hailey Wansick, about our fellowship at the 2024 Oklahoma Library Association conference as well as during an Oklahoma School Librarians (OKSL) Learning Module over the summer. It was an honor to share with others about this special professional development opportunity and encourage them to apply! People often ask me what my favorite fairy tale is, and I have such a difficult time answering this question, because I know I have so many more fairy tales to read and discover! However, if I have to choose, Little Red Riding Hood is a forever favorite. National Tell a Fairy Tale Day is on February 26th, and I encourage everyone to take this opportunity to share with others a tale as old as time! 

The town of Roseburg, Oregon has a few notable distinctions – the subject of the Johnny Cash song “Lumberjack” and home to a pack of feral angora goats that predicted weather in the 1980s – but a diverse demographic is not among them. The county seat is 91% white and the students at Roseburg High School mirror that statistic. In this homogeneous milieu, social studies teacher (and Roseburg native) Ashley Painter was tasked with crafting Music History and Native American Studies courses, she used Fund for Teachers to orchestrate it. 

“My $5,000 grant funded a road-trip focusing on historic sites in America’s South and Midwest that highlight Civil Rights, Native American, and musical history,” said Ashley. “While my motivation for this fellowship came from a passionate and emotional appreciation for these cultures and historical content areas, there are also several new standards in Oregon that this project helped several courses meet.” 

On the road, she toured the Greenwood Rising Museum & Black Wall Street History Center in Tulsa when documenting country music. She walked around Whitney Plantation and Congo Square while seeking out jazz history in New Orleans.

She crossed the Alabama River on the Edmund Pettus Bridge and toured the National Memorial for Peace and Justice. She stopped at the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum and Medgar Evers’ home while following the Mississippi Blues Trail and visited the Delta Blues Museum and the legendary Crossroads in Clarksdale, Mississippi.

In Georgia, she sat at a lunch counter sit-in simulator at Atlanta’s Museum for Civil and Human Rights when researching the roots of rock and roll. And in Tennessee, she stood reverently outside the Lorraine Hotel after touring the Blues Hall of Fame and Sun Records (recording studio of such icons as BB King and Elvis Presley) in Memphis before taking the stage at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium and making a pilgrimage to the Woolworth’s on 5th.  

Ashley rounded out the odyssey with visits to The Museum at Bethel Woods and Max Yasgur’s Farm, the site of the 1969 Woodstock Music Festival, Cleveland’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum; Detroit, the Home of Motown; and Chicago’s DuSable Black History Museum, Ida B. Wells House, Monument to the Great Northern Migration, and Chess Records. 

Artifacts and experiences gathered on her 10,000 mile/six-week journey now inform the majority of her Music History course, which focuses on US history from the mid-1800s through the 1990s and how music reflected and influenced current events of the day. So far this semester, students have been decoding spirituals. Ashley learned about Underground Railroad codes embedded in quilts and spirituals at Slave Haven in Memphis, where she sang “Swing Low Sweet Chariot” with the other visitors, and was led to a small compartment under the house where people seeking their freedom hid more than 150 years ago. 

“I aim for my emotion and experience to be funneled through my teaching to inspire my students to move beyond being knowledgeable, and to work for change in how they treat others and inspire other people to do the same, to travel and move beyond our state that so few of them have left, to find interest in other cultures and histories, and to yearn for knowledge throughout their lives,” said Ashley. “I believe my example of being a life-long learner, an empathetic change-seeker, and a risk-taker through this fellowship encourages my students to do the same throughout their lives, as well.” 

The inspiration behind Fund for Teachers fellowships are as diverse as our Fellows; however, only one (that we know of) stemmed from a subway attack. In November 2021, four Asian-American students were attacked because of their ethnicity by four Black teenagers. Alarmed by subsequent increasing racial tensions at Central High School, members of the school’s Asian Pacific Islander Union (APIU) collaborated with Black peers to brainstorm about ways to unite and support each other. 

One result was the re-institution of an Asian American history course Ken taught 15 years ago, previously cancelled due to budget cuts.  

“I feel that my strength as a teacher lies in my ability to work with students to create spaces where they can learn about issues that are important to them and develop solutions to problems they are currently facing,” said Ken. “My aspiration is to continue refining the course in a way that meets the needs and interests of my students. With this in mind, I designed a fellowship to better understand how the history of Asian Americans is interconnected with that of other BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) communities – specifically, how my students can reflect on how these interconnected histories have shaped Asian American culture.” 

Ken used a $5,000 grant to cover costs associated with the NEH Summer Institute: Little Tokyo How History Shapes Community Across Generations organized by the Japanese American National Museum (JANM). He was particularly interested in the events leading up to, during and after the Japanese Incarceration in World War II – when Japanese and Black Americans worked together to combat discrimination.  

“Thanks to my FFT grant, I was also able to spend time outside of the NEH Institute to fulfill the goals of my grant,” Ken explained. “Staff from the JANM helped me conduct research on how allies in the Black communities of LA supported Japanese Americans during and after the Japanese Incarceration. I met with an activist who took me on a tour of Little Tokyo and helped me understand the impact of gentrification on its Black and Asian residents. Finally, I was able to visit neighborhoods in LA, such as Crenshaw, where Black and Japanese Americans lived and challenged housing discrimination.” 

In addition to experiencing multiple museums and, ultimately, the Manzanar War Relocation Camp, Ken prioritized making personal connections with individuals who themselves experienced this period of history, including: 

• a docent at the Japanese American History Museum who talked about his efforts to honor Barbara Marshall, a Black American who supported Japanese American families during the Japanese Incarceration; and, 
• June Aochi Berk, the co-chair of the Minoru Yasui Civil Rights Committee, whose family was incarcerated at Camp Rohwer in Arkansas. 

(Exploring Los Angeles’ Crenshaw District; meeting June Aochi Berk, on a tour of Little Tokyo guided by members of the Little Tokyo Historical Society) 

Ken is working with the JANM to have students Zoom with a survivor of the Japanese Incarceration in the coming weeks. His fellowship will also inform their novel study of Buddha in the Attic, part of a curriculum Ken hopes to expand throughout the district through professional development workshops for teachers who wish to teach Asian American Studies using a cross-cultural lens. 

“Many students at my school, including those who define themselves as Asian American, struggle to define what Asian American culture is, especially in light of stereotypes that define Asian Americans as being a foreign culture,” said Ken. “I define culture as being the shared understanding of a group of people and believe that this understanding is shaped by the relationships that people build across cultures. Through my unit, I want students to consider the extent that Asian American culture is not only part of American culture, but is likewise shaped by the shared struggles we have with other communities of color.” 

Three years ago, Ariana Sanders (Cincinnati) used a $5,000 Fund for Teachers grant to participate in the Witness Tree Institute’s immersive educator experience in Ghana, where she explored the impact of colonization, as well as how Africans protect their natural resources. Her goal was to inform the development of learning objectives and course modules for Ethnic Studies to be offered not just at her school, Wyoming High School, but to ALL of Ohio’s high school teachers. 

“I cannot count the ways in which this fellowship was an influential time for me,” said Ariana. “It felt like an inspired experience literally from the second the plane landed — I felt more connected to my roots as a biracial person. The Witness Tree Program really allowed me to go into areas where it is NOT touristy, talk to many professors, participate in cultural activities (food, dancing, games, etc.) It is hard to put into words what that means or how much I see that impacting my soft skills — understanding others, appreciating differences…we all clearly need more of that!” 

_{Caption: Standing in Slave River, where captured men, women and children slaves bathed for the last time before they went to the auction; Ariana’s conference nametag and presentation session.}

That connection and cultural immersion informed learning standards and curriculum for a new official course offering in the Ohio Social Studies program called Religion, Gender, and Ethnic Studies, which Ariana presented at the National Council of Social Studies’ national conference. 

Additionally, Ariana sits on the advisory board for Boston University’s Teaching Africa Teacher (TAT) Certificate Program, which supports pre-service and in-service K-12 teachers and higher education instructors interested in engaging with Africa in their classrooms. As part of this opportunity, Ariana crafted an additional curriculum titled W.E.B. DuBois & Ghana: As told through 3 primary sources – which you can access here. 

“I’ve kept up with colleagues from my fellowship in Ghana, so those relationships, as well as peers through the TAT board, give me a space to advance higher education African studies and be in touch with people who are also working to ensure Africa is represented in more social studies classes. I feel like I am the biggest cheerleader for Fund for Teachers.” 

W.E.B. DuBois said, “It is the trained, living human soul, cultivated and strengthened by long study and thought, that breathes the real breath of life into boys and girls and makes them human, whether they be black or white, Greek, Russian or American.” He would be proud of the impact Ariana is making, as are we. 

At the height of the Los Angeles fires, FFT Fellow Andrea Lofthouse Quesada posted on Instagram that she and her home were safe. With her permission, we shared her post as a small form of encouragement for her and all of the educators providing students some sense of normalcy as fires continued to rage. 

On the opposite coast in Jersey City, NJ, Emily Litman (also a 2015 Fellow) messaged us, asking if she could send Andrea a gift card. Turns out this isn’t the first time she’s come to the aid of a fellow Fellow. At a 2016 Global Classrooms Symposium orientation in Washington DC, Emily met FFT Fellow Rebecca Robinson (Owasso, OK).  The two stayed in touch and when Becca’s son was studying abroad in Argentina, she stayed with Emily who was there for the summer. The two plan to collaborate on a 2026 grant proposal next year! AND, the following summer when Emily was in Oaxaca, Mexico, she sought out Nancy MacBride (Voluntown, CT) who was pursuing an FFT fellowship there. 

“Even when a fellowship is over, it is never really over. Being part of FFT not only opened the door for me to create my own professional development that was beyond my wildest dreams, it has allowed me to connect with other educators, to encourage them to do the same, and to continue on my own lifelong path of growth and learning.” 

Fund for Teachers awards grants to individuals and teams of teachers, and one of the most common questions we get is, “What constitutes a team?” The easy answer is “two or more teachers.” For the team from Central Ohio, the answer was “one fifth-grade teacher, a special education teacher, two sixth-grade science teachers, and four eighth-grade science teachers from six schools and two school districts.”

Recently team lead Josh Flory shared an update on the team’s “followship,” a term we coined to describe the student impact of our fellowships. His communique made our day and underscores why Fund for Teachers plays a vital role in teacher retention and student engagement:

“In 2022 you funded a team proposal that allowed seven colleagues and me to travel to Olympic National Park in Washington State to participate in a week-long educator workshop focused on using the outdoors as an instructional tool. The purpose of our proposal was to:

• reconnect our students to each other after Covid
• connect them with the natural world around them as a way to enrich their learning experience and improve their mental and physical health, and
• engage them in authentic learning experiences.

After our fellowship, I had the opportunity to transfer schools within my district to be in the same building as another team member. This has allowed us to collaborate and move forward with our initiatives much more efficiently. Specifically, we have almost completed the first phase of our new outdoor classroom and conservation corridor.

During our time in the national park, we had the opportunity to do science fieldwork. We wanted to bring this experience back to our students, so we started looking at our school site in hopes of creating a natural outdoor learning space. We are located in Delaware County, one of the fastest growing counties in the nation. Farmland is rapidly being converted into neighborhoods; however, we are fortunate to have several acres of land surrounding our school. We realized we have natural features that could be the basis of a restored natural ecosystem. I rewrote my biology unit to focus on the possibility of restoring the biodiversity that was once present on the property where my school sits today. The image below shows our school building in the bottom right corner. The stream and pond became focal points of our efforts to create an outdoor learning space.

Last year, my eighth-grade students worked to create a comprehensive site plan for this area. They conducted a BioBlitz where they catalogued all of the plants growing in this area, determined which ones were invasive, and then proposed native species to replace them. This year’s students, shown below, started implementing this planting plan. We secured a donation of 500 native wetland plants from a local nursery, and my students eagerly planted them at the edge of the pond. For many of them, this was the first time planting a plant. They are already looking forward to spring to see how their plants survive the winter.

My students have also made progress on our first outdoor classroom space, partially shown below. We obtained several large glacial erratics (boulders) to serve as teaching tools and a seating area. These rocks were moved to this area by glaciers, so they help us teach students about the history of this place. We have also obtained limestone boulders from a nearby quarry to help students see how Ohio used to be under a warm shallow ocean. This spring they will be able to find fossils in those rocks showing them firsthand evidence of the changes our area has experienced.

In December, my students started working on our second outdoor classroom space (shown below). A small woodland on our property protects a vernal that provides a home for salamanders and frogs in the spring. Most of my students have never seen how these creatures use these temporary pools to reproduce each spring.

My students are proud of the work they have completed thus far. I am most pleased with the changes I have seen in my them. At the end of the school year, I have them complete a reflection assignment to think about their growth as a learner and also to give me feedback and suggestions for my class. Here are just a few of their comments:

• “I liked how comfortable our class was with each other. We felt like we could share without being judged.”
• “Thank you for believing in us and helping us do real work. I feel like I can make a difference in the world.”
• “I loved the questions that we explored, and how we tried to find solutions for the biodiversity problem we face. I feel like I can impact the world.”

Beyond my classroom, my FFT travel group members continue to encourage each other, share resources, and work toward our common goals. Collectively, your support has likely reached 1,500 students in Central Ohio in some way. The experience in Olympic National Park has also connected me with a national cohort of teachers who are passionate about connecting our students with our public lands. Our group is working with our national parks and forests to see how we can support those organizations’ efforts to create the next generation of public land stewards.

In summary – thank you. Thank you for believing in and trusting teachers. When given the resources, teachers can do great things with and for their students. I am excited for what lies ahead.”

Thank YOU, Josh. We’re proud to call you an FFT Fellow.

According to Monster.com’s article “The Scariest Jobs Ranked by Phobia,” teaching is one of the scariest professions out there. FFT Fellows Allison Friedman (Channel View School for Research – Rockaway Park, NY) and Carmela Gandolfo-Birkel (Baldwin High School – Baldwin, NY) decided to lean into fear – specifically by exploring horror.

“Students, teachers, and community members have had a lot to fear in the years since the Covid-19 pandemic: AI, climate change, and gun violence, for instance,” wrote Allison and Carmela  in their proposal. “Sometimes these fears can cause people to lash out. It is of vital importance that we teach our students a healthy way to process their fears–both real and imagined. We are interested in guiding our students through examining what does it mean to face fears as an individual and as a society? How do we overcome fears?”

Last summer, the friends leveraged a $10,000 Fund for Teacher grant to collaborate on a fellowship exploring how Britain’s 18th and 19th-century authors were inspired by gothic architecture. Their motivation: Guide students in the crafting of horror stories that metaphorically examine society’s anxieties about the drastic changes caused by the Industrial Revolution.

As we hear from so many Fellows, the power of place – of actually experiencing sites previously accessed only in books or the Internet – took learning to the next level and will now spark similar learning with their students. “I studied medieval and Restoration literature, but these subjects are not taught in high school,” explained Allison.

“I visited Whitby to learn about Dracula, but stumbled upon a cross dedicated to Caedmon, the first English poet, whose work was the first text I translated while learning Old English. I also came across Aphra Behn’s tomb in Westminster Abbey (one of the first professional women writers). I remembered what I feel passionate about, and now focus on how I can help my students find their own literary loves.”

Students at Baldwin High School and Channel View School for Research are now not only studying Frankenstein and Dracula, but also more modern-day monsters.

“We are incorporating excerpts from gothic novels and an examination of ‘monsters’ of the Industrial Age into our curriculum to show our students the universal themes that remain relevant today,” said Allison. “We are guiding our students through several examples of horror as a reactionary genre inspired by societies that are fearful of change and introducing the concept of how horror is shaped by the zeitgeist.”

After reviewing artifacts from the trip and learning about the original gothic stories, students are studying the American gothic tradition, supported by a trip to Sleepy Hollow to experience one of America’s first ghost stories. Students will then examine 20th-century gothic writers, including Joyce Carol Oates and Shirley Jackson, before analyzing how today’s gothic tales examine current fears.

“In addition to our individual goals [as world history and ELA teachers], we also looked at fear through different lenses on our fellowship,” said Carmela. “By challenging ourselves to face our own fears during ghost walks and visits to local hauntings, we learned how to make what is scary less frightening.”

Allison added: “By understanding the history of the fear of change, we are now developing practical ways to confront these fears in our own time. While some fears are based on fantasy, others come from real threats. Being able to differentiate between the two and process the emotions that result from fear will benefit us along with our students.”

To reach teachers working in communities across the country, Fund for Teachers partners with local education foundations and philanthropic organizations. Together we market the program, manage and support applicants, conduct selection processes and fund grants.

Perhaps our favorite aspect of these collaborations happens each fall, when many of these like-minded organizations host events at which FFT Fellows showcase fellowships completed that summer.This month, the Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence and the Public Education Foundation – Chattanooga celebrated Fellows’ accomplishments and the Martha Holden Jennings Foundation and Dalio Education are upcoming.

Vincent Pham (The International High School at Prospect Heights – Brooklyn) designed a 2024 Fund for Teachers fellowship to go back and go forward. He spent the month of August in Southeast Asia, researching his heritage to model resilience for students sharing his experiences as a refugee arriving in the United States. The following piece is an amalgamation of Vincent’s grant proposal and fellowship reflections drawn from his Instagram account, vincent.q.pham.

My parents, Vietnamese boat people who came to the U.S. in the late 1980s through the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees’ resettlement initiative, were extremely cagey about sharing their memories of growing up in Vietnam with me. They lived through decades of conflict as Vietnamese forces fought against the French, the U.S., and even among themselves. Thus, their memories of Vietnam were marred by postwar poverty and having to leave behind family and friends as they fled the country.

In fact, they only began opening up to me after I received a Fulbright student fellowship to live and teach in Vietnam. Not only did they introduce me to family members still living in Vietnam, they also contemplated the challenges and triumphs of navigating the U.S. as teenagers with limited English. In return, I discussed with my parents about how my teaching and traveling experiences in Vietnam were similar or different from what they remembered. Consequently, I realized that to be a culturally relevant educator for a multicultural classroom, I needed to find ways to foster global interconnectedness.

After several more stints of teaching abroad, my personal and professional context influenced me to return to the U.S. to work in the nation’s largest and most diverse school district. For the past seven years, I have taught a two-year cycle of 11th grade U.S. History and 12th grade Government and Economics at an urban, Title I public school (right) that serves recently arrived immigrant and refugee Multilingual Language Learners (MLLs). I am responsible for supporting college readiness and English language acquisition for students who come from 30 different countries. Many students come from nations that are or were recently impacted by wars and conflicts stemming from U.S. foreign policy decisions including El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Venezuela, and Yemen, with many coming as unaccompanied minors. We do not have a prescribed social studies curriculum at our school– teachers are empowered to implement whatever material and learning scaffolds that will best engage such a heterogeneous community.

Why Vietnam? Why Now?

As a social studies educator, I embrace the position that effective classroom teaching is inherently political and that it centers students’ lives when connecting to academic content. The classroom is NOT an escape from the politics and injustices of the world. Instead, it is a space in which the students, and teacher(s) collaborate to develop worldviews, skill sets, and self-affirmations to confront these challenges. Two years ago, I made the conscious decision to teach about how government policies amplify and/or rectify social inequities.

This subject matter evokes passionate (and oftentimes oppositional) opinions in my classroom, a testament to the wide-ranging cultural backgrounds and lived experiences that my students bring with them. Thus, I believe that if I challenge my students with such complex topics, I must provide them culturally expanding and rigorous learning opportunities to critically evaluate what they learn. That is why my 12th grade curriculum on U.S. foreign policy starts with Vietnam. At the unit’s conclusion, I share my family history with students to analyze how U.S. foreign policy has influenced the trajectory of my life. Although none of my students come from Vietnam, my unit’s themes of sociopolitical upheaval, family separation, and starting anew in a foreign land deeply resonate with them.

The Fellowship

The purpose of my fellowship was twofold:

1. Experience Vietnam’s war museums (such as The War Remnants Museum in Ho Chi Minh City – pictured right), local NGOs, and interview family members, and
2. Seek out former Vietnamese refugee camp sites in Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines to obtain more primary sources and texts that center the Vietnamese experience and curate a more authentic curriculum.

This fellowship was especially relevant because my school district has partnered with a local university to assess gaps in the Asian American curriculum in our public schools. Southeast Asian history has been overlooked at the school and district level, which is why my Fund for Teachers grant will assist in filling in that void. With authentic artifacts and personal connection, I aspire to empower MLLs to love history and reflect on their own personal journeys to the United States.

Vietnam

My first stop (after a quick layover in Tokyo) were the Củ Chi Tunnels. This was a 200km network of tunnels outside of Saigon and most notably used by Vietnamese guerrillas in their fight for liberation against French colonial rule and U.S. imperialists. Through experiencing parts of the tunnels and learning about its tunnels through a Vietnamese tour guide, I was able to gain deep insights on how to frame Vietnamese resistance and integrate primary sources to my future curriculum.

These tunnels enabled covert operations (moving supplies and organizing troops) and even allowed the Ho Chi Minh trail (which went through Laos and Cambodia) to connect. Consequently, the U.S. devoted intense aerial bombing campaigns and even targeted ground pursuits (that’s where “tunnel rats” would go underground to find the Viet Cong).

Visiting historical places is a tangible way to learn about how the past influences the present. It is especially jarring and profound to navigate Hà Nội because infamous sites such as the Hỏa Lò Prison and the Khâm Thiên Street (below) are seamlessly intertwined with the residential neighborhoods and local businesses. Being able to visit these different places was crucial for me to think about how we can identify and analyze the history imbued in everyday spaces.

Singapore

While exploring Singapore, my wife Marcelle suggested that we stop in the National Archives of Singapore. What was supposed to be a short stay turned into a several hour research experience for me. I came across an enormous catalog of historical newspapers reporting on the Vietnamese boat people between 1975-1996. research I did to demonstrate how U.S. economic trade embargo and refusal to provide reconstruction aid to Vietnam surely exacerbated the suffering in Vietnam. Of course, the stories I have read and heard from my family about the chaos and struggles in the aftermath of the war cannot be dismissed, but I have the privilege to examine all this from a historical perspective. Nevertheless, it is vital to evaluate with empathy.

Pulau Galang, refugee camp located in the Riau Archipelago, near Singapore, was the first former refugee camp that I visited as part of my fellowship and I have to say, it was quite somber. In 1979, the Indonesian government and UNCHR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) established a camp for Vietnamese refugees. From 1979-1996, an estimated 250,000 Vietnamese boat people and asylum seekers from countries like Cambodia and Laos were temporarily accommodated while their potential refugee status and resettlement was being processed.

Experiencing the Galang Refugee Camp was haunting, as much of the area lies in ruins. Besides the relatively newly built Buddhist temple and some renovated gravestones placed in the cemetery by former camp residents or their relatives, there is much decay as the understaffed workers barely do much.

Malaysia

Pilau Bidong was the first refugee camp that my mother and most of her siblings resided upon their exodus from Vietnam. My research indicates that Pulau Bidong was only intended to host up to 4,500 people. However, the humanitarian crisis resulted in 18,000 people living there by January 1979. By June 1979, the numbers had crescendoed to 40,000 people living at a small camp on the south side of the island, which was no bigger than a football field. During that time Pulau Bidong came to be the most heavily populated place on earth. My mother and most of her siblings were part of these 40,000 people.

When the Pulau Bidong refugee camp was shut down in October 1991, the Malaysian government essentially tore down all the remaining shelters and material built by the Vietnamese. When I visited, I experienced the ghosts of the past via the makeshift burial grounds and plaques left behind by former Vietnamese boat people who came back to visit. This was an incredible historical and personal experience that I will be eternally grateful to Fund for Teachers for providing me the means to carry out this task. I cannot wait to integrate these visuals and videos into my unit to humanize the experience of people fleeing from sociopolitical upheaval.

The Philippines

I visited the Philippine Refugee Processing Center (PRPC), located in Bataan (roughly a 3-hour drive from Manila). This was the last refugee camp my mother and members of her family stayed at before transitioning over to the U.S. By the time the PRPC closed in 1995, an estimated 400,000 refugees had come through.

Unlike my previous refugee camp visits to Pulau Galang and Pulau Bidong, nearly all refugees were confirmed that they had been accepted to resettle in another nation. Consequently, the ESL education and vocational courses offered by the camp took on even deeper significance for the people.

Visiting this former refugee camp was the most inspirational and hopeful due to its history. Unlike the previously aforementioned refugee camps in Indonesia and Malaysia, the Filipino government has sought to revitalize the area surrounding the PRPC- the territory is now called Bataan Technology Park. There are many assigned workers who actively look after the area. The wonderful museum has excellent documentation of the refugee camp and experience- the photos and videos I took will serve as profound primary sources for my students to explore in the class.

PeaceTrees Vietnam

For so long, Vietnam has been defined by Americans by the war. However, we need to consider the ways that the Vietnamese people have addressed the legacies of American intervention. More importantly, I want to demonstrate how Vietnamese people are actively trying to move forward with their lives. Primarily based in the Quang Tri province, the #PeaceTrees organization began in 1995 (in Seattle of all places) as a humanitarian mission to remove landmines and cluster bombs in Vietnam’s most heavily bombed region. Land that has been cleared of explosive ordnance has been returned to Vietnamese ownership. In fact, many community centers and schools have been built on top of these lands to symbolize the repairing of American harm.

Thanks to mutual connections, I got the chance to visit the city of Dong Ha, and see the work being done firsthand. Not only did I get to see the maps demonstrating all the places that the organization has de-mined, I also got to attend their educational community outreach to ethnic minorities in Vietnam who are oftentimes the most at risk of encountering unexploded ordnance. It was especially incredible to witness the PeaceTrees team in Vietnam have 7am virtual meetings to accommodate the evenings in Seattle and then turnaround to conduct their educational outreach. I deeply admire their ethos.

My experience with PeaceTrees Vietnam was so memorable because this organization demonstrates that Vietnam’s postwar story is not just a chronicle of suffering and sorrow. Instead, it is a powerful story of resilience and empowering the local community to address their needs as they see fit. This is what I hope to impart to my immigrant students, to embrace the fact that their continued existence is powerful and worthy of celebration.”

Back To School

As the son of displaced people, my existence derives from the sociopolitical consequences of U.S. foreign policy. I believe that I must serve as a conduit between the past and present. Hence, my fellowship is deeply personal because I will not only delve further into my family history, but also the Vietnamese diaspora as well. I have been collaborating with Professor Christian Lentz of the University of North Carolina due to his research focus on Vietnam. Along with several other teachers, we will be submitting a piece to the American Historical Review. Our piece, scheduled for March 2025 publication, will focus on how high school teachers integrate scholarly sources and fieldwork to produce innovative pedagogy.

Additionally, as the only Southeast Asian individual in my school, I am compelled to contribute to the community’s global identity through educating about the nuances of this region’s history. My MLLs often tell me that they first learn about Southeast Asia through my unit about Vietnam. Teaching about Southeast Asia is crucial because my MLLs see how their diaspora and many Southeast Asian diasporic communities were formed in response to the forces of war, colonization, and imperialism. Ignoring Southeast Asia dismisses a significant critique of U.S foreign policy and obscures discussion of on-going struggles and triumphs of people affected by American intervention.

My lived histories as a child of refugees plays an important role in my school because I can dialogue with my students about the legacy of migration and resettlement. Moreover, I am empathic of how my MLLs’ cultural identities are in flux since I grew up navigating between American and Vietnamese cultures. Thus, the final part of my fellowship happens back in the classroom: intertwining these histories to my students and my pedagogy.

Vincent Pham is a National Board Certified educator at International High School at Prospect Heights in New York. As the son of Vietnamese refugees, he recognizes that education is political. Thus, for the past seven years, he has taught social studies and English as a New Language (ENL) to immigrant students. Other achievements include: a Teacher Advisory Council Member for the National Humanities Center, a mentor teacher for the Teacher Residency at Teachers College (Columbia University), the National Educators Association (NEA) Global Learning Fellowship (2023), a Pulitzer Teacher Center Fellow (2020), and Fulbright Fellow to Vietnam (2014). Listen to Vincent share part of his lived experience on The Moth Teacher Institute Story Slam here.

Half-way through the summer means roughly 50% of our 2024 FFT Fellows have embarked on their self-designed fellowships. Their images and insights, make us even more excited for the rest of the summer…

“We dared to dream of a self-guided and personally driven professional development opportunity for the summer of 2024 and Fund for Teachers made our dream come true. Our time here not only broadened our knowledge but also deepened our appreciation for the resilience of the human spirit. Our hearts are full, our minds enriched, and our spirits uplifted by the profound experiences we have had.”

Tammie Crosby & Vilma Martinez (Rosenberg, TX) used a $10,000 grant to explore in Germany locations tied to the Holocaust to gain a first-hand understanding of its impact and transform lessons that will empower students to foster empathy and inspire commitment to building a better future.

Jackie Du and Alex Whedbee (Brooklyn, NY) used a $10,000 grant to explore fiber arts of Vietnam through visits to various cultural institutions and by participating in a variety of textile workshops led by indigenous communities and artists with disabilities to learn how traditional and modern techniques disrupt stereotypes and to introduce differentiated, sustainable artmaking to students.

“Natural Bundle Dyeing incorporating natural materials to dye 100% silk. Giang (our teacher) showed us how to use onion skin (rust/brown), hibiscus (pink/purple), butterfly pea blossoms (blue), annatto powder (orange), and turmeric (yellow) to create the color palette and design we wanted. Such a wonderful experience! Thank you! We are excited to bring this into our classroom for our students!”

Lindsay Berk (San Francisco, CA) used a $5,000 grant to attend the Morpho Institute Educator Academy in the Peruvian Amazon and Machu Picchu Extension to participate in inquiry based professional development and to investigate how international scientists and local indigenous communities have partnered to preserve the rich biodiversity of the area, and to open students’ minds as to why they should care.

“I just wrapped up a jam-packed, enriching and eye-opening professional development experience in the Peruvian Amazon. From experiencing awe and wonder firsthand to conducting inquiry explorations, to deeply connecting with a community actively protecting the rainforest, [the fellowship] went beyond my expectations.”

RJ Christensen (Houston, TX) used a $1,000 Innovation Circle Grant to gather visual and analytic information from university research labs and coral reef dives in Florida to educate students on marine conservation, culminating in a large-scale community sculpture built by students that highlights the interconnectedness between endangered marine life and human well-being.