Last summer, Amanda Kingston studied Carol Gilligan’s stages of moral development outlined in the book In a Different Voice by journeying through the history of women in Italy, Switzerland, the Netherlands, France and United Kingdom. With the research, interviews and artifacts collected, she created a new, cross-cultural class called “The Female Voice,” which culminates today – the International Day of Women – with the display of capstone projects.

“The class went beautifully!” said Amanda. “Students were so engaged and are so excited to share their final projects and about what they’ve learned. They each created a piece representing their biggest takeaways. We even had them do a mini-Fund proposal a few weeks ago; they proposed their own ideas for fellowships to learn more and grow as scholars around female voice. A few actually studied places they’re visiting this summer or over spring break and are planning to see some of the museums, homes, monuments, and sites they researched.”

In addition to these projects, the class dialogued about what it means to include silenced voices at the table so they are free and valued to speak, and how they can better support diverse learning in the classroom.

“One of the challenges we’re wrestle with is where we do and don’t hear voices of women in our world , along with other groups of people historically oppressed,” said Amanda. “I want them to learn how to listen to and make room for a different story, or to share their own story if they are part of a group that has been silenced.”

Click here to read more about Amanda’s female-focused fellowship.

Before Mitch McCann and Jazmine Salach‘s Fund for Teachers fellowship, teachers at KIPP Endeavor in Kansas City felt ill equipped to serve their students identifying as homeless, experiencing abuse and/or living in foster care. Now, the FFT Fellows serve as a beacon to both students and staff after investigating trauma intervention strategies at the 15th European Congress of Psychology Conference in Amsterdam.

“My work for the past four years has shown me that even the most tenured and well-meaning teachers are not suitably prepared to reach students struggling with traumatic events in their lives,” said Mitch. “By and large, we were failing our students because we were not teaching the whole child.”

For one week last July, Jazmine and Mitch met with professors from the Child Development and Education Department at the University of Amsterdam to discuss instructional strategies that reinforce children’s learning processes. Their research was then supported by the conference, which featured experts on life-changing events, strengthening resilience and effective psychological interventions. Breakout sessions provided opportunities to learn best practices from global peers and purchase books that help students understand their emotions. The fellowship concluded with site visits to two progressive elementary schools and one special education school to gain more insight on how European schools deal with trauma in the classroom.

“Trauma affects our students in various ways, and it was difficult for me to do research on my own without knowing what to look for,” said Jazmine. “The presentations given at the conference were small-scale, easy to digest, and gave a more in-depth snapshot on topics that I was interested in and now daily impact my instruction.”

Upon their return to Kansas City, the teaching team created a Trauma Task Force at their school. Training on Adverse Childhood Experiences (or ACEs) and student support strategies now help teachers better understand their students, and the school is discussing plans to become a trauma-informed campus. Jazmine participates in a Student Support Team, which identifies students who have experienced high levels of trauma and collaborates with grade-level teams to develop individualized assistance. This spring, KIPP Endeavor will also begin incorporating sensory carts (paid for with funds remaining from the FFT grant) for students who need extra space to feel safe but can remain in the classroom to avoid missing instruction.

“By better understanding where students are coming from and proactively assisting my students in dealing with past and current trauma, they are: 1) remaining in the classroom 2) more successful academically 3) learning adaptive strategies on dealing with their trauma and 4) becoming healthier, more productive individuals,” said Mitch. “In leading development of my colleagues to do the same, it makes our whole school team and family a better place to work and learn.”

Based on our Fellows’ experiences, the phrase “there’s more than one way to skin a cat” applies to student literacy. We’ll refrain from using that idiom today, however, out of respect for The Cat in the Hat – feline foil of Dr. Seuss, whose March 2 birthday coincides with Read Across America Day. Rachel Rodriguez (Waterbury, CT) and Marnie Jones (Washington DC) have much more to celebrate — reaching a wide range of students with new approaches to reading instruction.

Rachel’s elementary school has the highest transiency rate in the district. Teaching literacy to students who attend every day is hard enough. Rachel’s students (reading two to three years below grade level and often speaking English as a second language) come in and out of school due to issues worsened by poverty, making fluency that much harder. To capitalize on the time she has, Rachel sought out non-traditional reading strategies  at a local and international conference and returned from her fellowship trained in kinesthetic approaches that benefit students suffering from reading disorders and also increase their self-esteem and motivation.

Marnie teaches special education students within a traditional classroom setting, which brings its own set of challenges. She works to determine how each student learns best, then makes information or skills accessible. Along the way, she discovered the Lindamood-Bell approach to literacy that incorporates sound, sight and movement to further reading and comprehension. Marnie used her grant to attend two Lindamood-Bell workshops and now applies research-validated strategies tailored to each child.

“Learning how to read does not come easily for many of my students,” said Marnie. “I now realize there is more than one way to become a successful reader and my students are achieving fluency through movement and visualization of letters.”

Research shows that 20% of America’s students struggle with reading. In the past five years alone, 228 teachers have devoted fellowships to lowering that statistic. Literacy remains one of the most common subjects our Fellows pursue so today, especially, we offer them and their students this slight adaptation from Dr. Suess’ Happy Birthday to You:

Today you are you! That is truer than true!
There is no one alive who is you-er than you!
Shout loud, “I am lucky to be what I am!
Thank goodness I’m not just a clam or a ham
Or a dusty old jar of sour gooseberry jam!”
You are what you are! That’s a great thing to be!
So keep on reading! Love, your friends at FFT.

America’s men’s curling team won the gold and the hearts of many of us unfamiliar with the sport. However, students at World of Inquiry School in Rochester, NY, are old pros at it after three of their teachers used a Fund for Teachers grant to research curling alongside Olympians and build an outdoor “sheet” to encourage physical activity and sportsmanship.

“Kids have been very excited to use our sheet, frozen over with help from the fire department,” said Kristen Burgmaster. “We’ve extended our indoor curling curriculum from two to four weeks and hope to have an after school club, as well.”

Why did Kristen, Brian Fedele and Lisa Tilley design a fellowship around curling? Most well-known winter sports require expensive equipment that many students don’t own or can’t afford. Curling equipment is minimal (the teachers purchased stones and brushes through a local grant) and kids can wear regular clothes.

Thanks to the Rochester Teacher Association for creating this video. We love seeing students engaged in active learning inspired by our Fellows!

    

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” of black history in our last blog. In this final installment of our blog series, we look at how Fellows Shunn Rector, Diane Palm and Kristin Peterson are addressing the achievement gap impacting students of color. Read on to learn more about their experiences in the classroom and how they are honoring Black History Month in their schools.

Kristin Peterson is a special education teacher at a Saint Paul, MN, school that not only addresses students’ academic needs, but also fills needs stemming from poverty. Her school houses medical, dental and mental health clinics, as well as a food and clothing shelf. Visiting the National Museum of African History and Culture in Washington DC is not an option for her students at this point, yet she felt it vital that her students see their great heritage showcased.

Kristin wanted them to see how others have struggled also, and gone on to do tremendous things. So she went to the Smithsonian’s newest institution on her fellowship and created a Virtual Field Trip Kit with photos, interviews and primary sources she collected along the way.

“The greatest challenge that my school, students and district face right now is the significant achievement gap that exists,” said Kristin. “I believe my Virtual Field Trip through African American history is inspiring ALL students to reach for their own greatness and aspire to achieve at their very highest levels of learning.”

Inside the walls of Houston’s Juvenile Correction Facility, the achievement gap is impacted by students’ surroundings as much as their ethnicity. Shunn Rector and Diane Palm teach the incarcerated middle school students and decided to research black history in Senegal, the first African country to adopt a law criminalizing the slave trade.En route to Senegal, the duo conducted research on the Transatlantic Slave Trade at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture at the New York Public Library and, afterwards, explored Le Petit Senegal, a thriving population of 8,000 Senegalese immigrants in Harlem. The remainder of their fellowship consisted of interviews and documentation across Senegal. Now, their students design personal “Doors of No Return” to connect with this period of history and also make correlations with their own struggles.

“We recognize that the achievement gap exists when students feel like outsiders due to barriers of language, religious beliefs and race,” said Diane. “We wanted our students to understand that, unlike kidnapped enslaved Africans, they have choice when we are confronted with our symbolic Doors of No Return.”

Bridging gaps is what Fund for Teachers is all about. We step in with funding that equips preK-12 teachers with experiential learning that directly transfers to students’ needs, academic and/or otherwise. We thank Shunn, Diane, Kristin and all of the Fellows who participated in this series for sharing their experiences and their students’ learning. Make sure to see our previous Black History Month series blogs here, and stay tuned for more inspiring stories by following us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

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 impacting student identity in our last blog. This week, we are taking a deeper look at how Fellows Pearl Jonas, Ashley Porter and Kaitlyn Kraushaar are considering the past in light of current events. Read on to learn more about their experiences in the classroom and how they are honoring Black History Month in their schools.

Steve Jobs said, “You can’t connect the dots looking forward, you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.” Our Fellows personify Jobs’ belief as they purposefully leverage history to change the future.

Establishing that African Americans HAVE a history is the beginning of Pearl Jonas’ teaching with students at Philadelphia’s Science Leadership Academy. She begins with the Transatlantic Slave Trade, then dives deeper into oral traditions as sources for understanding cultures and the past. Senegal and the surrounding countries provide the richest historical narratives, so that’s where Pearl conducted research on her Fund for Teachers fellowship. She now leads more engaging discussions that challenge how we think in the present based on how history was taught in the past.

“There are several myths, misconceptions and incomplete histories told about African societies,” said Pearl. “This has roots in some 19^th and early 20^th century European historians’ ideology that Africa has no history to tell.”

Conflict resolution inspired the fellowship of Ashley Porter and Kaitlyn Kraushaar. As teachers at Hixson Middle School, just twenty minutes from the 2014 shooting of an unarmed black teenager by a white police officer in Ferguson, MO, Ashley and Kaitlyn struggled to give their predominantly white students perspective through this tumultuous time. To find new ways to shape conversations on diversity across their district, the teachers designed a Fund for Teachers fellowship to research how teachers around the world address social justice.

“The current climate in our city remains very racially charged and divided, and healing is needed on both sides of the issue,” said Ashley. “Bringing to light race relations and the struggles of other minorities in a safe and responsive environment is key in helping all of our students make sense of who they are and who they’d like to be.”

Students at Hixson now regularly participate in restorative circles, such as this one led by Principal Grace Lee, to reevaluate how they handle tense or even hurtful situations. Kaitlyn and Ashley also applied FFT funds to purchase a Safety Pin Box, conversation prompts and tasks designed to help students become allies for the black community.

“The Safety Pin Box is a great resource that is helping our school as we strive to eliminate the equity that still oppresses our students of color,” said Principal Lee.  “As a city, we are confronting racial inequities that support unjust systems. Hixson is at that table around those conversations and our kids are passionate about leading the work for change.”

America’s teachers no longer have the luxury of merely teaching one subject; instead, they are on the front lines of students’ academic and moral instruction, as well as their emotional and physical safety. Fund for Teachers is privileged to represent and advocate for our nation’s educators who look beyond current circumstances and resources to shape more informed and empathetic citizens.

We thank Pearl, Ashley and Kaitlyn for sharing their experiences and their students’ learning. Make sure to check our Black History Month feed on our blog here. Next week, our final post in this series will explore how FFT Fellows are addressing the achievement gap with students of color. Stay connected and find out when it’s live by following us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

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 “hauntingly beautiful” people, so began with the inquiry question, “What is beauty?”

“My students went bonkers,” said Christine. “Who are these people? What is their concept of beauty? And how is their view different from ours? were just a few of the questions I took with me to Ethiopia last summer on my Fund for Teachers fellowship.”

For four weeks, this sixty-something-year-old traveled alone in Africa with a dishonest guide, lived in areas of extreme poverty and traversed remote areas experiencing conflict between the government and various tribes. These conditions paled in comparison to the learning, however. “I was able to immerse myself completely in the beauty of the unknown and be amazed at what it taught me,” she said.

   

She’s now teaching her students about the art, customs and culture of the people with whom she fell in love. Eighth graders completed a photography unit based on her research, which included replicating versions of the images Christine brought back from her fellowship. She spent time with the Karo tribal people, whose face and body painting became the inspiration for students’ photo shoot assignments. The finished products (i.e. faces) appear in books they produced using Shutterfly. After a cross-curricular mask-making unit in conjunction with the music teacher this spring, her students will exhibit their art in a school-wide event at the local community center.

   

Christine’s students shared their take aways from the unit on beauty:

“Beauty is pure, simple, and happy. The Omo Valley tribes gauge their lips and ears and scar their bodies to be beautiful. It is pure and beautiful to them. We used our photography to portray our emotions and the emotions of the tribes. Beauty is different for everyone.” -Alease

 

“My concept of beauty is a person who is confident and wise,” added Soloriana, another student. “I believe that cultures everywhere continue to redefine their definition of beauty. Beauty changes from culture to culture.” -Soloriana

 

“It’s important to understand others’ ideas of beauty. The Omo River Valley people use their painted bodies, scarification, lip and ear gauging to express themselves and their ideas of what is beautiful to them. People aren’t typically used to those types of things as something beautiful. It is important to understand what other cultures think is beautiful.” -Aiden

 

“They saw beauty in showing how tough they were and in their ability to endure pain. Using photography, I expressed my concept of beauty as seen by the Omo River Valley tribes. We got to create our own headpieces and used paint, flowers, scarves, jewelry, and makeup to express ourselves in different ways. We used angle, lighting, and special effects to create a story. A face can tell a story.” – Salma

An unintended outcome of the art study was learning about the Gibe III Dam and it’s potentially devastating impact on the Omo River Valley tribe. Her students are now brainstorming on how they can help save the people with whom they also fell in love.

“My personal and professional perspective has profoundly changed,” said Christina. “My research drove home the fact that, as an educator, I have the power to be the catalyst for change. Everything I say and do in my classroom must motivate my students to be original thinkers to impact our interconnected world, especially the marginalized and disenfranchised who have no voice or power.”

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 in our last blog. This week, we are taking a deeper look at how Fellows Merle Rumble, Melissa Petropoulos and James Petropoulos are reframing black history to help students identify with their heritage and with others. Read on to learn more about their experiences in the classroom and how they are honoring Black History Month in their schools.

Although African American herself, Dr. Merle Rumble realized her knowledge of civil rights pioneers lacked a breadth and depth she wanted to share with third graders at Fox Run Elementary in Norwalk, CT. The ephemeral Martin Luther King Day left untapped the vast legacies of those who came before and after the progressive leader. She decided to embark on an independent tour of civil rights sites across nine southern cities with her Fund for Teachers grant to increase her understanding and inspire students to see themselves in the achievements of African Americans.

“I wanted to help my students not only to dismantle the false assumptions of African Americans being relegated to slaves and protestors, but also develop their appreciation for the positive impact and contributions of those whose struggled and persevered,” said Merle.

Through guided tours and impromptu interviews, she gathered materials to inform four new units: Africa to slavery, Rosa to Martin, The Civil Rights Movement and African American Heroes. Students are now researching African American heroes and learning songs and poems from the Civil Rights era, inspiring them to identify with those leaders’ achievements.

Looking more deeply into the lives of enslaved Africans during the Colonial Period led Melissa and James Petropoulos‘ students to reconsider how unique they all are. After learning about the unique contributions made by African Americans whom Melissa and James researched on their fellowship, their fourth graders organized a school-wide Unity Day assembly.

“Focusing on humanizing the slave as a person instead of the person as a slave helped students respect what slaves endured,” said Melissa. “Their response was increased empathy for each other.”

In this celebration of kindness, acceptance and inclusion, student pieced together their individual identities to form this Unity Wall. Each description, together, represents the diverse community that Roywaton Elementary strives to be.

While the name of our organization is Fund for Teachers, students are equal beneficiaries of the $27 million in grants awarded since 2001. These teachers crafted fellowships around what they felt would most impact their students. Consequently, students – for years to come – will see themselves and their ancestors in a whole new light.

We thank Merle, Melissa and James for sharing their experiences and their students’ learning. Make sure to check our Black History Month feed on our blog here. Next week, we’ll be exploring how FFT Fellows are assessing the past and present in terms of black history. Stay connected and find out when it’s live by following us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Read our first installment in this series here.

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 at how history is taught with our Fellows Pearl Jonas, Kristen Peterson and Melissa and James Petropoulos. Read on to learn more about their experiences in the classroom and how they are honoring Black History Month in their schools.

History shouldn’t be subjective. Facts are facts. Who records and repeats the facts, however, often determines the truth that’s shared. Pearl Jonas, teacher at Science Leadership Academy in Philadlephia, PA, strives to reduce the risk of fragmented history by teaching with artifacts and primary sources. To teach African American history to freshman in an urban setting, she used her Fund for Teachers grant to go to where the African Americans’ history began — the Transatlantic Slave Trade in Africa.

Classwork at The Dakar Institute of African Studies, combined with excursions to historical sites such as Goree Island, once the largest slave-trading center on the African coast, now informs one of five different African history units. The first two units of her African American history class now include primary sources, concepts, and debates that she collected and engaged with while in Senegal. Topics such as the   Negritude literary movement and Islam in Africa, as well as discussion about how oral tradition influences history, also help students reconsider previous misconceptions.

“This kind of framework is not available in textbooks,” said Pearl. “We now spend time breaking down the Transatlantic Slave Trade and learning about why it happened so we can gain a deeper understanding of what drives people and a society to commit crimes against humanity.”

While Pearl chose to design a fellowship focusing on the pre-history of slavery to construct an accurate and mindful curriculum, Melissa and James Petropoulos realized that the curriculum they taught was simply wrong. Textbooks used at Rowayton Elementary School in Norwalk, CT, stated that slaves in Connecticut were “treated as family,” giving students false perceptions of enslaved Africans in New England. James and Melissa designed a tour of sites associated with slavery during America’s Colonial period to give students the real story.

“In that erroneous history book, slavery was trivialized and in many other books there was little focus on the dignity of the enslaved,” said Melissa. “We wanted to make a clear point through this fellowship: humanity trumps slavery.”

The husband/wife team drove from Connecticut to Louisiana, stopping at museums and sites that honor the culture, beliefs, relationships, and memory of enslaved Africans. They now integrate a new story into history lessons, accompanied by artifacts and interviews collected from their fellowship.

“Rather than teaching about slavery from the point of view of slaves being victims, I now demonstrate how they were heroic, resistors and contributors to our shared American history,” said James.

As a white teacher in an urban district, Kristin Peterson, teacher at John A. Johnson Achievement Plus Elementary in Saint Paul, MN, realized that her own lack of knowledge about her students’ heritage hampered their learning and self-esteem. She identified the new National Museum of African American History & Culture in Washington, DC, as the most reliable resource for learning about the accomplishments and hardships African Americans endured during the past 300 years. On her fellowship, she spent four days roaming six floors of galleries in the Smithsonian Institution’s newest museum, photographing exhibits and filming presentations and interviews with museum staff. She also purchased items for students to experience the museum in multi-sensory ways, such as basket weaving kits, quilts, music, maps and even a cook book.

“While I understand that I can never fully empathize with the experience of African Americans, I feel like I now have a very rich understanding and insight for what people went through and what their lives were like,” said Kristin.

Kristin has since incorporated technology into lessons in order to share her experiential learning.  A “Virtual Field Trip Kit” houses catalogued items that can be checked out to teachers and students, as well. She also placed her research on a district-wide drive for access by every Saint Paul Public Schools teacher. Kristin is a perfect example of the ripple effect one fellowship can have in a learning community. Not only are her immediate classroom students benefitting (as future students will for years to come), but also students throughout the school, her colleagues and even teachers whom she doesn’t know.

These FFT Fellows pursued knowledge in response to learning gaps. In Kristin’s case, her own understanding was enhanced in an effort to encourage students with their history. For the Petropouloses, the state’s incorrect information is what needed to be addressed so their students could learn true history. And Pearl used her grant to seek information that wasn’t available anywhere else. Fund for Teachers is honored to serve as a bridge that takes exemplary educators from where they are to where they want their students to be.

We thank Kristen, Pearl, Melissa and James for sharing their experiences and their students’ learning. Make sure to check our Black History Month feed on our blog here. Next week, we’ll be exploring the topic of identity with more FFT Fellows. Stay connected and find out when it’s live by following us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

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 resource.

Deadline: Today at 5pm CDT. Good luck!

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 Summer School of Irish Traditional Music and Dance at the University of Limerick to enrich orchestra curriculum by integrating elements of Irish folk music, ensemble skills, and improvisation. He shares the progression of learning from there below. We are proud of you and your students, Chris!

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“I have continued my study of Irish traditional music since 2013 when I was awarded the FFT fellowship, which was transformative to my teaching in many ways. Not only have I incorporated lessons that I learned in my teaching strategy, but my support from FFT has led to many more opportunities for me and my students

Last summer, I attended the Swannanoa Gathering outside Asheville, NC, to again study under Martin Hayes, a teacher from Blas. I also received a small grant from the Chicago Shakespeare Theater, which I used to host a lecture/performance and workshop by members of the Irish Music School of Chicago.

Additionally, I was inspired at write a grant proposal (which was funded) which allowed for a residency at Mather High School by renowned traditional Irish performer Kathleen Keane. Over the course of two months, Kathleen visited Mather to perform and work with a small group of motivated orchestra students. She taught them a set of traditional jigs which they performed in concert.

Because of my FFT experience, I was also awarded the Teaching for Global Classrooms fellowship by the US State Department. In summer 2016, I traveled to India and, in part, taught music at a school in Vadodara, Gujarat.

Visit this website Chris created to document FFT fellowship in Limerick, as well as another site, including access to his resulting unit and lesson plans, following his TGC fellowship.

Based on my TGC fellowship, I was able to apply to then attend a conference for alumni of government sponsored international travel. As a participant, I was invited to apply for money to create a project on the subject of inclusion. I was awarded a grant from the State Department to organize and implement the Inaugural ChiUnderOneRoof: Chicago Immigrant and Refugee Resource Fair.  My students and I hosted hosted 25 local community organizations who work to support our immigrant and refugee population.

Parenthetically, since my fellowship, my wife has been awarded a fellowship along with one of her coworkers and three teachers at my school. These are just a few of the things that have resulted from the opportunities afforded me by Fund for Teachers.”

Click here to read Chris’ description of how planning the resource fair impacted him and his students.

https://youtu.be/YBqWNcvOd08?t=1s

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 six-department, student-run business that produces bookmarks, stickers and wristbands advocating for empathy in action. To date, students have raised $1,000, splitting revenue between capital costs and donations to St. Jude’s Children Research Medical Hospital and the American Cancer Society.

“Students are learning skills essential for success in the 2020 workplace, as articulated by the World Economic Forum,” said Margret, who researched World War II Upstanders across Europe on two Fund for Teachers fellowships. “They’re learning cognitive flexibility, critical thinking and emotional intelligence while cultivating their own autonomy and moral paradigms.”

See students interviewed about their Upstander Brand by the CBS affiliate in Baton Rouge, LA.

Seventh and eighth graders founded the nonprofit in 2016 after deeply resonating with Margret’s fellowship research rooted in the Holocaust.  Students now self-select one of six departments at the beginning of the school year to create products, forge collaborative community relationships, and produce podcasts, newsletters and blog posts about their mission to create global good.

Meet The Upstander Brand’s leadership team on the video above, produced by the PR/Marketing team and visit Margret’s website to learn more about her fellowships and their role in catalyzing student impact.

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 suffrage movement they incited. While in London, he found in Trafalgar Square the location of the 1908 rally for which Mrs. Pankhurst was arrested (pictured). He also studied with three avant-garde theatres, laying the groundwork for his students’ creation of a play about Lady Constance Lytton, an English aristocrat who disguised herself as a working woman to support suffragettes. “Through research, I found that I could relate a lot to Constance,” said Rachel Ponder, who played the lead. “However, most of all, I was so in awe of her dedication towards the suffrage movement. Being a part of this creative process has inspired me both as a woman and as a human being.”

Ponder and 23 students representing each grade spent three months researching the suffrage movement in the United States and Britain before collaborating on a script and set. Each performer created a character journal comprised of photos, newspaper articles and other primary resources they uncovered. An Oxford professor who authored a book on Lytton Skyped into class to inform students’ research, as well.

“Current events were on my mind when I began this process and they continue to bring about a sense of urgency surrounding women’s rights,” said Eric. “My students took the history of this topic and explored its correlation with today’s headlines. They created a story that allowed people to see that the expansion of equal rights is the natural progression of a free society.”

Reviews are in, and at a state theatre competition, Ponder won Best Actress, her cast mates won Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress and Best Ensemble and Deeds Not Words was named Best in Show.

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 spend several months each year researching abolitionists and Civil Rights activists in preparation for a community evening during Black History Month. Civic leaders, educators and parents then recreate an Underground Railroad through a network of “stations” with activities and presentations: The music teacher leads freedom songs and spirituals; an Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority member discusses freedom quilts; and a local storyteller shares slaves’ oral histories. Students’ journey ends at a “Freedom Wall” on which they write what freedom means to them.

“Even students who weren’t African America became interested in their ancestry, which led to a larger study of birth places, culture and a realization that their heritage, Black or not, matters,” said Tawanna Cherri, an FFT Fellow. “A desire to share in someone’s story is not innate, but has to be sparked from within. Our Freedom Nights are the spark we need to explore and embrace each other’s cultures.”

To date, more than 1,000 students have participated in Freedom Nights, the vision of four Fund for Teachers Fellows who used their grant to research the Underground Railroad’s final station, known as “Midnight” (Detroit) to “Dawn” (Canada). Tawanna, Brooke Wilson, Destiny Parker and Kelly Caldwell designed this fellowship after realizing their students’ disconnect from their connection to this history.

To learn more about this team’s fellowship, click here.

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 continents
• in 88 countries
• now leveraging $2.1 million in Fund for Teachers grants
• into amplified learning in 321 public private and charter schools across America
• with approximately 11,000 students.

Fund for Teachers is proud of the way our Fellows transform learning communities after dreaming big and clicking “Submit” on the FFT application. Enjoy this homage to our dedicated 2017 Fellows and to all we wish a new year of interests and impact!

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 Fund for Teachers grant to witness post apartheid-era restorative justice efforts in South Africa to inform her school’s Fairness Committee and justice-centered curriculum. Watch her interviews on ABC News and CBS This Morning.
• This year, the state of Oklahoma recognized Donna Gradel as its Teacher of the Year. Donna teaches high school environmental science in Broken Arrow, OK, and is a two-time FFT Fellow. Watch her talk about her students’ work that garnered the attention of MIT and took them to Kenya to build an aquaponics system for an orphanage.
• Ashli Dreher, a 2016 FFT Fellow, was one of five inductees into the National Teachers Hall of Fame this year. With her grant, Ashli attended the International Conference on Computers Helping People with Special Needs in Linz, Austria, to investigate assistive technology solutions implemented with differently-abled students in school, community and transitional work experiences, to learn strategies for integrating these devices locally.

 

Goals Accomplished

Sydney: One goal I accomplished this year was being brave enough to take a stand by speaking and writing publicly on issues that matter to me–like the role of social justice in education or  the importance of white teachers talking about race–even when I knew some people would strongly disagree with me.

 

Donna: One of my goals for the year came to fruition in the form of a new class I was able to design and teach at our high school. The name of the class is Innovative Research. Student groups research an area of interest and try to help solve a local, national or international problem.  Some of the projects include mentoring and buddy reading programs utilizing high school bilingual students paired with elementary English Language Learners to increase proficiency scores, designing a motor room for autistic students to increase student engagement, sustainable chicken farming and feed for developing countries, bio-decomposition of Styrofoam, and sustainable non-conventional energy sources.

 

Ashli: What a busy year! I completed the work in a second certificate area of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards in the Exceptional Needs Specialist area, and I also successfully defended my dissertation proposal. Inside the Classroom, a television show I produce and host weekly, was selected for national Hometown Media Awards in 2017 for excellence in public broadcasting and has expanded to an audience of 12.5 million on local cable. Episodes focus on individual teachers, their teaching careers, and the creative ways in which they engage their students in the classroom.

2018 Goals

Sydney: Next year, I hope to increase my students’ engagement with people beyond our school, both within the local community and globally.

 

Sydney (right) was the keynote speaker at the University of Central Oklahoma’s annual Honoring a Noble Profession event, where Donna Gradel caught up with her for a photo.

Donna: A personal goal I have accomplished was to give more of my time to volunteer to help those with special needs. In the classroom, I hope my students will be engaged in successful learning and the research projects they have undertaken. We have also begun a collaboration between the city of Broken Arrow and our school district to help test, monitor and improve water quality in all the Broken Arrow streams and ponds throughout our city and parks. I hope to see my students working with city engineers, architects and storm water specialists to help improve our local environment.

 

Ashli: Next year I want to continue to develop innovative, student-centered thematic units that expand the world view of our students. As a FFT fellow, I had the opportunity to visit the Manor School in London, and I am working on preparing grants to implement the flexible seating arrangements we experienced while visiting their classrooms. After observing students with autism using flexible seating at the Manor School, I think my students with special needs would benefit from having flexible seating arrangements.

 

Bonus Question – What are you reading?

Sidney: I read a lot of good books this year, but one that stuck with me was Michael Eric Dyson’s Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon to White America. Next on my list is Ayiti, by Roxane Gay.

 

Donna: For enjoyment, Dust Bowl Girls about the history of women’s basketball in Oklahoma was my favorite. In Order to Live, the journey of North Korean Yeonmi Park is on my list for next month.

Fund for Teachers wishes all of our grant recipients and those whom they impact a happy holiday and year full of learning adventures.

On this day in in 1095, Pope Urban II called all Christians in Europe to war against Muslims and regain the Holy Land, beginning the first of nine crusades. Two Chicago Public School teachers/Fund for Teachers Fellows have set out on a related, conciliatory quest rooted in culture. We share their student impact below…

 

 

 

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Sounds of clay drums filled the air as visitors strolled among stalls of Islamic art, stopping to have their names written in Arabic. A storyteller shared tales of adventure in one corner as craftsmen carved woodblock animals in another. The musicians, calligraphers, storytellers and artisans weren’t occupying a Moroccan souk, but rather an Arabic Fine Arts Night in the cafeteria of an urban Chicago elementary school.

Earlier that year, art teacher Shana Pearlmutter (Bell Elementary) and Arabic teacher, Mohamed Danja (Lane Tech College Prep) documented with a Fund for Teachers grant the effects of tourism, global development and poverty on the ancient culture of Morocco. Shana’s students recreated art forms researched on her fellowship and both Shana and Mohamed’s students crafted personal biographies to exchange with young women the teachers volunteered with in Marrakesh. Mohamed’s Arabic students continue to write pen pal letters with their Moroccan peer, with whom they also participate in a video conferencing/global awareness project.

“Through relationships we forged during our fellowship in Morocco, we have now an international troop of artisans, students, teachers and collaborators dedicated to helping us promote a cross-cultural dialogue about society, stereotypes and prejudices between students in Marrakech and ours in Chicago,” said Shana.

View this slideshow of images from the Arabic Fine Arts Night.

Inspired by their new global literacy, eighth graders graduating from Bell Elementary decided to dedicate their school’s 100th birthday year to combating hunger and inequality as outlined in the United Nations Global Goals for Sustainability in 2030. Every K-8 student pledged to support the UN Global Goals and, on UN Global Buddy Day, partnered with peers from different grades to discuss their intentions for changing the world. Their written pledges eventually comprised a permanent “Change the World” mural.

“My experiences in Mr. Danja’s Arabic class were instrumental in my continuing to study the language in college,” said Seth Davis, a former Lane Tech Arabic student. “By making the Maghrebi culture part of the class and collaborating with the festival at Bell Elementary, he tied the teaching of language into the appreciation of culture. We were exposed to fantastic artists and craftspeople and I still listen to the music he introduced to me in class and at the Bell event.”

This winter, Bell Elementary and Lane Tech will host in Chicago a peer met in Marrakech, coming to shadow their classes and share with students more about life in a Muslim country.

“This work keeps me going,” said Shana. “I love making connections that build awareness and cultural bridges.”

To learn more about this fellowship, visit the blog Shana and Mohamed maintained for students to follow throughout the experience.

Pam Ulicny’s students are capturing lightening in a bottle. Using solar energy kits and curriculum she created, students in the heart of coal country are bringing photovoltaic energy to peers around the world through online tutorials.

In 2013, Pam developed a STEM curriculum for her students to make solar powered lanterns using an upcycled glass or plastic jar. She then manufactured the lanterns as kits accompanied by lab manuals and supplemental activities, which she also wrote. Two years later on a Fund for Teachers fellowship, Pam introduced the project to impoverished youth in South Africa to help them learn STEM/business skills, increase hours of productivity, and eliminate fire hazards related to kerosene lanterns.

Building on Pam’s experiences, her students at Tri-Valley Jr/Sr High in Hegins, PA, now serve as online ambassadors for alternative energy. They regularly host Skype sessions with classrooms across America, providing solar lantern construction tips and educational input for spinoff humanitarian projects. Internationally, students in South Africa, Mali and Nicaragua now build solar lanterns after watching instructional videos Pam’s students research and produce.

“Working on the solar lantern project teaches us not only about solar energy and electricity, but it also helps us to understand the situations people in third world countries are dealing with and appreciate what we have more,” said one student.

The social business enterprise Pam developed to empower South African youth continues to grow, as well. Kwelanga Solar recently hosted its first Cape Town workshop, combining construction of solar lanterns with an English class around the theme of peace. Pam helped secure a $10,000 grant to cover hard costs associated with supplies.

“My fellowship learning in STEM applications, social entrepreneurship and sustainability efforts now impacts students in four countries,” said Pam. “Fund for Teachers helped me accomplish my mission as a teacher: To do the most good and give my students the best tools to succeed.”

For more information on Pam’s fellowship, visit the blog she maintained throughout her time in South Africa.