Kicking off Women’s History Month, we share this fascinating fellowship designed by two teachers from Alpine, Texas.

“An American woman with a prosthetic leg, a Black woman born into poverty and segregation, and a Sufi Muslim Indian woman facing prejudice, were not satisfied to stand still or conform,” wrote Cory Cason and Renee Parson in their 2023 Fund for Teachers grant proposal. “Stories of historical figures serve as powerful role models and as high school U.S. and world history teachers we are in a unique position to use them as a classroom tool. Their compelling stories will inspire our students to look beyond their own circumstance as they ‘see’ the world and help cultivate the characteristics of empathy, resilience, adaptability, and courage we wish to see in our students.”

Thus began this teaching team’s quest to follow Virginia Hall, Josephine Baker and Noor Inayat Khan through Europe. Why these women in particular? Because in addition to their public personas as author, entertainer and princess, they also became exceptional WWII spies.

Dead, Old and Irrelevant?

Renee and Cory live in a remote corner of West Texas and teach at a school where sports and organizations such as Future Farmers of America characterize the cadence of the school life and the surrounding community. The history teachers (in addition to coaching track and field, history fair, and UIL academic contests) realized that students’ awareness of the wider world and appreciation of historical events were lacking.

“If we do not tell compelling narratives, our students will not be affected,” said Renee. “We believed that discovering
the stories of historical figures could be used as a strategy to create empathetic global citizens, but it’s difficult to use
historical figures as role models if we and our students cannot relate to them as real people.”

Renee and Cory designed a Fund for Teachers fellowship to:

1. Become experts on Virginia Hall, Noor Inayat Khan and Josephine Baker,
2. Create substantive authentic teaching materials, and
3. Navigate international travel in search of history

to use historical figures as role models by cultivating a real connection to these women and inspire an interest in the world beyond Alpine High School’s campus. The end result would be a new unit called “Spies Like Us.”

Sleuthing Out Surprising Facts

The International Spy Museum in Washington DC kicked off the transatlantic fellowship, where all three women are featured in the “Sisterhood of Spies – Celebrating Women in Espionage” exhibit. Their narratives are told and artifacts are on display, including Baker’s sheet music with invisible ink, a clandestine Mark II radio and transmitter, the type used by Khan and Hall’s Order of the British Empire award.

Next, a flight to London, where the British Special Operations Executive (SOE) recruited Hall and Kahn. A day trip to the Beaulieu Finishing School revealed the site where British SOE spies (including Hall and Kahn) mastered radio communication, weapons and sabotage.

Chunneling to Paris provided the opportunity to visit The Pantheon Mausoleum, where Baker is one of the few women and the first woman of color to be memorialized, as well as visit the Parisian streets and arrondissements where the three women lived and worked — including Avenue Foch where Khan was arrested and interrogated at Gestapo Headquarters. Additional stops included:

• The Musée de la Libération de Paris-Musée du Général Leclerc-Musée Jean Moulin museum partially housed in former secret French Resistance tunnels,
• The Chateau des Milandes where Baker lived after WWII and is now a dedicated museum space with exhibits from all aspects of her life,
• The medieval village of Villefranche-de-Conflent where Virginia Hall began her escape during the
  winter of 1942 with a wooden prosthetic leg over the Pyrenees into Spain, and
• Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site where Noor Inayat Khan was imprisoned and executed.

From every stop, Cory and Renee sent missives to students via social media to report on their findings.

Cluing In in the Classroom

Renee and Cory are translating their experiences into a spy school for students set in the high plateau of the Chihuahuan Desert between the Glass and Davis Mountain Ranges. Students are creating podcasts about women involved in World War II espionage and hosting a dinner party or tea at which students “interview” these same individuals for a cumulative report.

Along the way, the teachers’ content knowledge and mindset expanded as much as the students’:

• The independent bookstore and public libraries asked them to speak about their fellowship; and
• The duo is producing a podcast about the entire experience and impact.

“Sometimes when you do something for a long time, you take it for granted,” said Cory. “Admittedly history was becoming a bit boring for me. But as we traveled, I fell in love with history all over again. Experiencing history outside of the classroom and in the present was an adventure. I found that even though this was my first big trip overseas in 25 years, I was able to take advantage of every moment offered.”

In the aftermath of the pandemic, Christine Mitchell’s faith in the goodness of others flagged. She saw the same disillusionment in her students. Their school community is an isolated one, with little diversity in race, culture or worldview. Covid exacerbated this insular attitude and emphasized the social and emotional challenges teens already face.

“I felt beaten down by our society and hoped that an experience like this fellowship would bring the sparkle back to teaching others; it was still there, just harder to keep bright.”

In honor of Lunar New Year (beginning Saturday, February 10), we share this visual documentation of Christine’s trek to Bhutan, the Southeast Asian country with a negative carbon footprint and a Gross National Happiness index, to help students mirror and develop a greater sense of communal compassion through deeper thinking, reflection and planful action.

Thanks to FFT Fellow Tim Barry for his reflection on his two Fund for Teachers fellowships inspired by students’ curiosity and focused on elevating the experiences of Native Americans during World War II.

I am in my sixteenth year as a Special Education Teacher and have spent fifteen of those years teaching middle
school. Based on students’ needs, much of my time is spent teaching and supporting students in English and social studies classes. Our 7th-grade students read Code Talkers, by Joseph Bruchac and Farewell to Manzanar, by Jeanne Houston as part of our English curriculum that explores the importance and impact of identity. In 8th grade, we read All Quiet on the Western Front, by Erich Maria Remarque. The beauty of this subject matter is that it fosters intellectual curiosity in our students. They want to know more, they want to ask questions, and oftentimes, these questions create dialogue and a spirit of inquiry that extends into authentic, teachable moments.

As a student of history, I am very familiar with the Pacific and European Theaters of World War II. Admittedly, the story of the Navajo was one that I was aware of, but not well-versed in. When reading Code Talkers, the idea that is most foreign and confusing to our students revolves around “why?”

Why would the Navajo be so loyal to a country that attempted to erase their culture? Why would these people be willing to save the country, with nothing in return?

As Code Talkers is our students’ first introduction to the World War I & II subject matter, it is the ideal opportunity to take an anchor text and extend the discussion beyond the pages of a book. This is not just a story of what the Navajo did, but an introduction to WHO the Navajo are. This fellowship provided me with an opportunity to gain first-hand knowledge of how their culture and identity impacted their role in World War II and bring back an authentic experience to the students.

Having previously completed a Fund for Teachers fellowship to Manzanar in 2018 to examine life in and around Japanese Relocation Camps in Utah and Colorado, I was awarded a second grant last summer to engage with the Navajo Nation in Arizona and New Mexico. I examined the importance of cultural identity and explored how that identity empowered them to overcome marginalization by the U.S. Government and embrace the role as Code Talkers in World War II.

Read more about Tim’s 2023 fellowship here.

The highlight of my fellowship was hearing Peter MacDonald speak at the National Code Talkers Day event. Mr. MacDonald, at 94, is the youngest of the three living Code Talkers. He told the story of his enlistment at the age of 15 and the pride he felt in being Navajo and wearing the Marine Corps uniform. During his speech, he implored the Navajo youth to continue learning, protecting, and using the Navajo language despite its challenges because language is the key to sovereignty.

As I spoke to members of the Navajo Nation, I began to question my qualifications to teach about the Code Talkers’ story. This was not due to any unfavorable reception of my fellowship; quite the opposite, everyone I interacted with was welcoming and willing to share their knowledge. My concern revolved around doing justice to their culture, community, and the Code Talkers. Ultimately, it will drive me to deepen my learning and seek experts to share their stories.

The experiences I returned with have allowed me to provide authentic insight and perspectives to increase and enhance my students’ comprehension within our Code Talker unit. I gathered a variety of vetted, leveled texts to enrich academic discussions among students of varying ability levels. Most importantly, I have created relationships with people who can offer a cultural background vastly different from my students and foster a climate of understanding.

My Fund for Teachers fellowship reinforced the importance of self-discovery and lessons presenting themselves. My experience initially concentrated on enhancing my understanding of Code Talkers, which evolved into a story of the preservation of language, culture, and identity that is still challenging today.

When experiencing new cultures, we cannot rely solely on academics studying from a distance. It is critical to interact with communities directly to ensure that shared knowledge is culturally relevant.

Additionally, the fellowship enhanced my desire to explore and foster a sense of intellectual curiosity with my colleagues. The opportunity it provides for teachers to enrich their learning and share the inspiration of self-study rekindles much of the excitement that brought many of us into teaching.

Halloween can be a scary time for teachers, due students’ sugar highs, costumes gone wrong, and the  “ghosting” of students” the day after. For Jinafer Brown’s French students, the learning takes on a fatal feel, as well.

Jinafer used a Fund for Teachers grant to explore the mysterious megalithic stone structures in Western Europe, gather evidence from French forensic scientists and archeologists on the origins of the civilizations that built these structures and create an inquiry-based unit to improve students’ science literacy skills.

This fellowship focused on death is rooted in data: 79% of students at Jenks High School scored below proficient at in science. Additionally, an Academic State Standards for World Languages that Jinafer struggles to meet is “expanding students’ knowledge of other disciplines while using the language to develop critical thinking.” Researching Neolithic stones in Western Europe and the French forensic evidence of their origins offered the perfect mix of science and language (and also speaks to the free reign our grant recipients have when crafting their unique fellowships).

Read our 2022 Halloween post about FFT Fellows’ research of Jack the Ripper here

Enter If You Dare — And She Did

Last summer on her Fund for Teachers fellowship, Jinafer documented:

• the Megalithic Passage Tombs of Boyne Valley of County Meath, Ireland (older than Stonehenge in England and the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt)
• the Gavrinis Tumulus in France, built in 3500 BCE;
• Roche-aux-fees, a 5,000-year-old passage tomb in Western France (pictured at the top of this post);
• the Carrowkeel Mounds near Sligo, Ireland; and,
• the Clava Cairns, a 4,000 burial site near Inverness, Scotland.

Her research included filming the sites for VR headsets, touring museums — such as the Archeology Museum of Dublin, where remains of “bog people” from AD 20 are on display — and interviewing docents. Jenifer participated in a workshop about the first villages of France at Paris’ Musée d’Archéologie Nationale in conjunction with annual European Archaeology Days and joined summer solstice celebrations at stone circles in Scotland.

Her Haunting Question

Throughout her learning, one question haunted her: “Should I be here?”

“I found that I had an internal debate as to whether or not funeral sites should be excavated. Should the remains of these kings and respected leaders be disturbed and viewed by thousands of visitors each day or should they remain closed out of respect for their cultures and their beliefs?” said Jinafer. “My professional mindset is that one’s intention makes all the difference. If one is studying these remains in order to make connections and remember the culture of that civilization, this is honorable.”

Demystifying the Megaliths

Jinafer created this fantastic website for students to discover the “Mysteries of the Megaliths.” Here they will view videos and interviews in the French language.

“I gathered PDFs and hard-copy books that explain the Neolithic civilizations in French. I collected articles and 360-degree photos that allow students to examine artifacts extracted from tombs in Ireland, Scotland, and France. Using Virtual Reality headsets [which Jinafer secured with a second grant], these materials will come to life.”

Using a THIRD grant, Jinafer purchased friction kits and students will follow the science lab friction experiment procedures in French.

“In small groups, students will propose prototypes of sleds and other means to Move a Megalith, she said. “Community partners (retired engineers and business owners) will work with students to build their prototypes. Last, in a school-wide event, students will carry out their experiments to see if they can move a megalith using only materials available in the Neolithic era.”

Take advantage of the website, that includes Jinafer’s FFT grant proposal, here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For hundreds of teachers, today changes everything. Because today, Fund for Teachers’ 2024 grant application opens. Empowered by experiential learning fueled by $5,000 (for individuals) or $10,000 (for teams of two or more), our grant recipients are inspired to rethink their practice and reignite their passion for teaching, which consequently impacts their classrooms, school communities and careers for years to come.

PreK-12 teachers from across the country are invited to propose a summer fellowship that is:

1. professionally centered on students, and
2. personally supports their development as experts and exemplars for students and colleagues alike.

Our application deadline is January 18, 2024, and members of the 2024 FFT Fellow cohort will be notified on April 4, 2024.

Start Your Application Here

Are You Eligible?

YES, if you:

• Teach full-time in a public/private/charter or religious school with at least 50% of instruction in a classroom or classroom-like setting (including a library, gym or pull-out scenario);
• Will return to the classroom the following year; and,
• Have completed three years of teaching by the conclusion of the 2023-24 school year.

What’s Your Re?

This year, we’re asking potential applicants to consider “What’s your Re-?” In other words, what could a Fund for Teachers grant help you accomplish? 

• Reengage students in learning that centers them? 
• Recharge from burnout? 
• Reconsider narratives you’ve taught? 
• Revisit topics that once held your curiosity and could inspire your students? 

During the next few months, Fund for Teachers will offer webinars and workshops designed to facilitate fellowship proposals that have the best chance of being awarded. (Watch our website for updates and registration links).

We also encourage applicants to take advantage of our Online Learning Center, which has links to the scoring criteria, grant writing tips, and a timeline for managing the process.

“Fund for Teachers is the country’s largest investor in teachers’ professional learning, with approximately 10,000 educators awarded $32,000,000 in grants for self-designed fellowships since 2001,” said Karen Eckhoff, executive director. “Now it’s time to add to our cohort of teacher leaders committed to their profession and their students’ learning.”

Ariadne Prior-Grosch and Tom Bradway both teach at the Academy for Software Engineering in Manhattan, NY. This summer, they used a $10,000 Fund for Teachers grant to explore Enduring Issues and Crosscutting concepts in 10th-grade global history and earth science curricula across the African continent to highlight content connections, interdisciplinary learning opportunities and culturally responsive case studies and develop project-based learning units that integrate themes in global history and earth science. Three weeks after they returned home, Morocco experienced a 6.8 magnitude earthquake. We appreciate this reflection and their desire to give back to the people who welcomed them so warmly.

We ended our fellowship journey in Morocco less than three weeks ago, staying in Marrakech and visiting the High Atlas Mountains. Every person we met was incredibly excited to tell us about the deep history of Marrakech and its peoples and excited to know that we would incorporate what we learned into our classrooms.

In the mountains, we visited the town of Imlil, a gateway for hikers and the ancestral home of the Amadigz (Berber) people. We were welcomed into our guide’s home for a delicious meal and shown around their hillside farmlands and innovative water management systems. Now, the photos and videos coming out of the rural communities in the High Atlas Mountains and the city of Marrakech are devastating following the 6.8 magnitude earthquake on September 8th with the loss of life now over 2800 people…2800+ people who all had families, friends and loved ones. 

Earthquakes are not unknown in Morocco, but the last seismic event of this magnitude was in 1960 in the region of Agadir, about 150 miles from Marrakech. Morocco sits on the African (or Nubian) Plate which has an active convergent tectonic plate boundary to the north with the Eurasian plate.

However, the epicenter of this earthquake was in the southern part of the country in the High Atlas Mountains. The timing of the earthquake at night (11:11PM) made it all the more deadly given that many people were asleep in their homes, houses which are often made of mud bricks or unreinforced masonry that came tumbling down, unable to withstand that level of tremors. These rural mountain communities don’t have the infrastructure, resources, or access to medical facilities to respond to a tragedy of this magnitude so the response from international aid organizations is critical. 

In the historic Medina of Marrakech, the streets are narrow and winding, an incredible network of bustling markets, stores, homes, and mosques; many of the buildings are 1000 years old! The earthquake brought some of these historic structures crashing down, left gaping cracks in others and rained debris as people tried to flee to open areas. People are now sleeping outside in the open in the city squares and in the middle of rotaries as they fear for the structural integrity of their homes, or their homes are no longer standing.

Our hearts break for everyone who has lost a loved one in this tragedy and hope that the international aid organizations and foreign governments step up to provide rescue teams and emergency assistance to help the people of Morocco recover from this natural disaster.

This Mother Jones article provides multiple ways to support relief efforts in Morocco through organizations such as Doctors Without Borders, UNICEF and Global Giving. Read more about Ariadne and Tom’s fellowship here and follow their learning on Instagram at @mspglovesrocks and @bradwaysenduringissues.

The  day after Labor Day is synonymous with the official return to the classroom and the age-old prompt: “What did you do this summer?” FFT Fellow Kelsi Horner is hoping students at Shawnee Mission East High School in Prairie Village, KS, ask HER that question. With two colleagues, Kelsi engaged in an immersive experience of the language, history, and culture of Costa Rica to improve Spanish language skills and explore the impact of colonization on Latin American cultures to strengthen relationships with English Language Learners and build culturally responsive, relevant lessons for all students. Kelsi writes:

“Returning to work brings the “what did you do this summer” questions. This summer I had the pleasure of FINALLY getting to execute our 2020 Fund for Teachers fellowship!

Way back in 2020, myself Kristen Reyes, Nancy Blackburn and I applied for a Fund for Teachers grant. We all taught some form of World Regional Studies and wanted to improve our knowledge so that we could improve our instruction to help our students. Well two months after we applied, COVID happened. And our fellowship was put on hold, all the way until this June! Our timing was not the only thing that changed. Due to some political unrest, we decided our location needed to change and Fund for Teachers trusted us.

In June, we finally left for our fellowship! Our first stop was Monteverde. We stayed with three different Costa Rican families and attended Spanish immersion classes in the morning. Both my family and my teacher were very patient (and for that I am very grateful!)!

In the afternoons we tried to learn whatever Monteverde could teach us about environmental geography- from the El Trapiche Tour in Santuario Ecologico, a night walk through Bosque Eterno de los Ninos (lots of creepy crawlies!), and even learned some history (while atop some horses).

We had one more stop before departing- Sarchi! We stopped in Sarchi as it was the birth place of the oxcart (also where they paint them nice and pretty)! A pretty significant item in terms of the movement of goods and a nice way to conclude our adventures.

I cannot say enough good about Fund for Teachers – they are an organization that TRUSTS teachers and wants to keep teachers in the classroom. I hope to let everyone I know, know that this organization exists and that they should take part in it and dream up their own fellowship! Thank you, Fund for Teachers, for making this come true for us! We can’t wait to take this information back to our schools in the next few weeks. Teacher friends- ASK ME! I will help give you all the info you could possibly need! It’s worth it. 

Kelsi Horner is an instructional coach at Shawnee Mission East High School in Prairie Village, Kansas. While currently teaching Student Success Skills, she has taught everything in the social studies world from World Regional Studies to Economics to AP US History. In addition to her work in the classroom, she also assists in the creation of district-wide social studies and world language curriculums. In her free time, Kelsi enjoys entertaining her corgi, Stella.

In celebration of Teacher Appreciation Week, we want to share our own appreciation for this thank you note from 2023 FFT Fellow David Cruickshank.

With his grant, David plans to research the Japanese culture that has no widespread access to firearms and has built a $2.6 billion flood protection system described as a modern marvel. Then, he’ll build and teach a criminal justice and disaster management trade curriculum for the State of Connecticut Technical High School System’s Criminal Justice and Protective Services program.

Upon returning from his fellowship, David proposed a unique implementation plan.

“I have a very exciting idea that I hope to develop and implement in our pilot program’s Emergency Operations Center, the emergency management curriculum, and push out to other programs — running a simulated disaster in the US with the emergency management procedures of Japan rather than those of FEMA.

I would like to develop a lesson that follows what my students have learned about US disaster management with the way Japan handles disaster management and then compare the two styles with a fictitious disaster and compare and contrast them. I envision the lesson lasting close to two weeks with first learning about the disaster management system and response structure in place in Japan, then simulating a response, and then using it as a springboard to compare and contrast the two systems before the ultimate assignment of challenging the students to design their own “perfect” disaster response framework. I think that encouraging students to not only learn about other cultures but then use that learning to see there are other ways of doing what they thought there was no other way to do, and then create something even different from that, will be mind-bending for them.”

The service-learning aspect of this fellowship, as well as its potential to create a state- and nation-wide emergency response system powered by students, is mind-bending for us, as well! We look forward to seeing the impact made by this FFT Fellow and his students.

This month, social media feeds will be flooded with memes for teacher appreciation and posts about how vital teachers are to our society. At the same time, Fund for Teachers will hand $1.7 million in checks to 396 teachers for summer fellowships they designed. The contrast between memes & money puts into sharp relief America’s attitude toward those with whom we entrust our children: teacher appreciation not validation.

Meet our new grant recipients and learn about their summer itineraries here.

The Latin word part “val” means strength and worth. Consider other words with that root: value, valor, valiant. Even the sound of these words evokes fortitude. Validation carries that same weight. When one validates something or someone, there’s an active acknowledgement associated with seeing, hearing, and knowing. In this light, appreciating something is tantamount to a thumb’s up emoji.

Fund for Teachers validates teachers by trusting them to design their own professional development in the form of summer fellowships. We put no limits on what or where teachers learn. We simply support their pursuit of new knowledge, insight and experiences – with $36 million in grants since 2001. In doing so, we communicate that teachers are professionals worthy of investment.

What does Teacher Validation Look Like?

For our grant recipients last summer, it ranged from documenting the Six Essential Elements of Geography throughout Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan to examining across Alabama various methods of civic engagement utilized in the Civil Rights Movement. It also looks like relying on our Educator Advisory Council for programmatic design to amplify our impact on teachers. And funding Innovation Circles led by Fellows and composed of Fellows to deepen learning around topics in teaching while building community.

But validation doesn’t have to be synonymous with funding. (Our Fellows regularly report simply knowing their ideas merited recognition means as much as the grants.) Validating teachers as professionals can also look like:

• Acknowledging their dedication to assessing and responding to students’ needs, and not just
  the academic ones.
• Affirming their commitment to addressing learning goals in ways that leverage students’
  heritage and lived experiences.
• Applauding their courage to be bodyguards who protect students from bullets. And, yes,
• Advocating for pay increases with your local districts.

And how can we do these things? You’d be amazed at how far an old-fashioned, analog, personalized note can go. Beats a social media meme any day.

Fund for Teachers announced today the names of 396 teachers to receive $1.7 million in grants to experience learning they proposed as vital to their particular students’ success. Because the nonprofit places no limits on what is learned – or where – these teachers will pursue topics as diverse as cacao farming and Yiddish music in locales as far flung as Penland, North Carolina and the fragile Alpine ecosystem of Andorra. Fellowships designed around social emotional learning and culturally sustaining teaching remain among the more common themes.

A complete list of 2023 Fund for Teachers Fellows can be found here.

“Teachers are the backbone of our society,” said Karen Eckhoff, executive director. “They educate, encourage, and empower the children who will shape our future. And in our post-pandemic, school shooting society, their role is even more amplified. There can be no better investment.” 

At a time when large numbers of teachers are leaving the profession due to a myriad of factors, Fund for Teachers grants represent trust in teachers’ professionalism and capacity for meeting the diverse needs of each classroom and student.

“The Fund for Teachers fellowship made me feel like I was good at my job, that I was capable of growth, and that I was willing to go the extra mile (or 7,468 miles) to get better at what I do,” said Sarah Slack, teacher at The Montauk School in Brooklyn, NY. With her grant, Sarah researched physical and behavioral traits of gray wolves in natural and artificial settings to support the development of a Genetics, Heredity, and Evolution unit plan that uses the study of wild and domestic canines to anchor the curriculum and promote student engagement.

Since 2001, Fund for Teachers has invested $36 million in more than 9,500 educators, transforming grants into growth for teachers and their students. In addition to its summer fellowships, the organization also re-invests in its Fellows by awarding Innovation Circle Grants to deepen learning around a topic (this year “Centering Students”) — first independently during the summer, then throughout the fall with other Fellows and led by a Fellow. Over the past two decades, FFT Fellows have pursued new knowledge and insights in 170 different countries on all seven continents, with the majority remaining in North America. Visit www.fundforteachers.org for more information or on our organization’s Facebook, Instagram or Twitter accounts.

The conservation of France’s Camargue wetlands represents the opposite of rags to riches: It’s millionaire to marshlands manager. In 1948, a young heir to the Roche pharmaceutical fortune spent a bit of it to buy an estate in a mosquito-infested, briny marshland. The region also was the second-largest delta draining into the Mediterranean Sea, behind the Nile. Twenty-five-year-old Luc Hoffmann saw the value in preserving the Camargue. And seventy-five years later, FFT Fellow Frederic Allamel saw the value in teaching about it.

“I designed this fellowship to allow learners to better grasp the fate of coastal communities facing ocean-level rise and their attempt to preserve their cultural identity in the context of climate change,” Frederic explained. “Furthermore, the aim of this inclusive approach is to generate empathy towards ethnic minorities striving to preserve their cultural heritage, including nomadic Gypsies and the iconic gardian (the cowboy of the marshes).”

The Fellowship

For seven weeks, Frederic conducted research from the Provencal town of Arles to accomplish three goals:

1. Establish a glossary of the most prominent markers (i.e., ’Provençal’ dialect, vernacular architecture, symbolic bestiary) along with their significance in ‘Camarguaise’ culture.
2. Focus on the articulation of these markers and the fabric of a unique blend of cultures — ‘gardians’, ‘gitans’ (Gypsies), ‘cueilleurs de sel’ (salt gatherers), etc. — through the recording of life histories.
3. Develop a partnership between my students and their peers in Camargue through the creation of visual archives mapping distinctive landscapes and human activities in this threatened region, as well as strategies to cope with climate change.

“Besides the beauty of its landscape (pink marshes surrounded by white salt domes), I experienced firsthand the harshness of this lifestyle, working under the sun in extreme heat and being blinded by the whiteness of the salt,” he said. “It was a challenging body experience, although the camaraderie felt alongside other workers helped me gain their unique sense of place.”

The “Followship”

Now, his students at the International School of Indiana are engaged in a new Global Politics class using data and images Frederic collected on his fellowship. Supporting students’ acquisition of an International Baccalaureate (IB) diploma, they are working toward projects addressing climate change and societal implications. Additionally, an intrinsic aspect of the IB diploma is a service, which Frederic intends to inject through student involvement with local organizations involved in environmental justice work.

“This fellowship reinforced in my belief that gaining firsthand knowledge is a prerequisite for being an engaged educator whose communication skills rely on experiential-based expertise that aim to be inspirational for students,” Frederic said.

Frederic is a two-time FFT Fellow. In 2017, he designed a fellowship to study Aboriginal arts in central/northern Australia with a focus on environmental symbolism to provide a case study for Anthropology of the Environment students.

“I collected numerous artifacts from the Shipibo Indian tribe with the intention of initiating a long-term class project. Consequently, my students became key actors of the Anthropology Club, whose goal was to design a bilingual catalog (English/Spanish) and curate a show that was eventually on display at Indiana University in Bloomington for a whole year. This project allowed students to develop a strong team spirit while applying a vast array of skills (translation, research, photography, logistics, etc.) to in the end deliver a near-professional publication and exhibition.”

Access that exhibit here.

(Top photo courtesy of the MAVA Foundation for Nature.)

“To forget would be not only dangerous but offensive; to forget the dead would be akin to killing them a second time.” — Elie Wiesel, Night

“It has been almost 80 years since the end of WWII and the horrors of the Holocaust. The survivors of a people’s systematic and institutional genocide are passing away, and their stories are being forgotten. However, the perpetration of genocide and intolerance continues throughout our world. Unfortunately, it seems that the lessons of the past have been pushed aside at times. It is the duty of every educational institution, including our own, to teach and remind students of the history so that they, and those who come after them, actively speak and work to prevent such events from happening again.”

These were the first sentences of the grant proposal submitted by Sandi Burgess and Marymargaret Mineff, teachers at Chicago’s Morgan Park Academy. With a $10,000 Fund for Teachers grant last summer, they gathered materials, impressions, and insights pertaining to the Holocaust across eight European countries to inform the creation of a student-led podcast series around the Five Steps to Genocide.

They shaped their itinerary based on Holocaust sites of deportation, cultural and artistic loss, memorialization and remembrance, and/or forced labor and experimentation with the goal of providing students with primary resources connected to themes of identity, choice, and responsibility. Experiencing sites in Germany, Poland, Austria, Czechia, Hungary, The Netherlands, Belgium, and France surfaced more than historical awareness.

“I think that while I was going through all of these different countries, I saw how each country had chosen to address their truth by maybe not taking away their bias,” Sandi reflected. “As a history teacher I am constantly trying to view history through so many lenses and to address my own bias and saw the result of what happens when you don’t.”

“I know a lot about the Holcaust from scholarly study, but seeing these spaces really made me look differently at the ‘facts’ as I know them,” added Marymargaret. “For example, we could not figure out why Budapest was so ‘different’ from the other places we visited and stayed until we realized that 95% of Budapest Jews did not survive and so the ‘ghetto’ never was repopulated after the war.”

Students are now using these materials in their research and scriptwriting as they curate a series of episodes outlining the history of the Holocaust for middle school and high school peers.

“Our school has a new makerspace and expanded technology center, which contains a small recording studio with video and audio capabilities,” the teachers explained. “Students are using this studio to produce the podcast series. We are also collaborating with our IT and music/broadcasting teacher, who will also be bringing back our
in-house internet radio station.”

Teams of students are now in the process of creating and producing 12-15 episodes on one of five topics:

1. Resistance
2. Rescuers
3. Cultural Genocide
4. Children as Victims, and,
5. Remembrance and Memorialization

Today, for International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Marymargaret and Sandi’s middle school students remembered those who died in the Holocaust with a special ceremony. Students created luminary bags for individuals using small biography cards distributed by the United States Holocaust Museum and Memorial to create their own symbols of remembrance.

“Holocaust education is important and has been important for a long time, but I feel an especially urgent call for Holocaust education in today’s world,” Sandi said. “I hope that from this unit and its projects, our students will share what they have learned with their families and friends. I also hope that their podcast series is a hit and is used by other schools and organizations seeking to help middle level students understand the significance of this history.”

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Marymargaret and Sandi documented their fellowship on Instagram. For more of their learning and photographs, visit @sburgessmpa.

“We have learned that trauma is not just an event that took place sometime in the past; it is also the imprint left by that experience on mind, brain, and body. This imprint has ongoing consequences for how the human organism manages to survive in the present.”

This excerpt from New York Times bestseller The Body Keeps the Score resonates with Michelle Moyer and her students for different reasons. During Michelle’s fifteen-year career as an elementary teacher, she experienced domestic abuse and subsequent diagnoses of Multiple Sclerosis and breast cancer. Her second graders at Mohegan Elementary in Uncasville, CT, also exhibit physical symptoms of trauma caused by a different set of issues, including:

• being bullied by sibling with no adult intervention
• witnessing arguments and verbal abuse between divorced parents
• fear of caregivers, and
• parents’ substance abuse and serious health issues.

“Due to my own life experience with trauma and anxiety, I can identify and understand many of the [trauma-induced] behaviors the students are exhibiting,” wrote Michelle in her grant proposal. “I know the challenges and difficulties associated with processing and moving past these feelings and I want to help my students successfully conquer, or in the very least, begin their journey to conquer them.”

Their mutual path to wholeness involved a Fund for Teachers grant and a rowboat.

Last summer with a $5,000 grant, Michelle learned to row a single shell on lakes in Italy. She designed this unique fellowship to engage in personal trauma recovery as a role model for students with trauma and to revise a social-emotional learning (SEL) curriculum using skills and strategies learned to build a safe, supportive classroom community.

Rowing with a local club was already playing a role in Michelle’s recovery. The activity aligned with the four steps to trauma recovery documented in Dr. Jennifer Sweeton’s book Trauma Treatment Toolbox by:

1. Providing a safe space of acceptance and individuality;
2. Fostering community, healthy connections, and a sense of belonging;
3. Helping to realign emotional systems, and;
4. Igniting a new self to dream and hope for a joyful and successful future.

Designing this particular fellowship was the next step for her and her students.

“My fellowship provided intensive, guided instruction with a one-on-one coach designed to focus on skills such as self-trust, risk-taking, adapting to unfamiliar circumstances, physical challenges, asking for help, receiving constructive criticism, trusting someone else, potential trauma triggers, and facing failures,” said Michelle. “It encompassed the same four steps I want my students to experience, so this grant supported my own journey through trauma to inform and increase understanding of my students with trauma.”

“My very first day of rowing, was in a coastal boat, which I had zero experience in. I was soooo nervous!” she said. “It was also one of the hottest days of the summer. Being nervous, and now fearing my MS may come into play due to the heat, I hesitated. I paused, took some mindful moments, processed my fear, and said ‘I will NOT allow fear to take this from me.’ I got in the boat. Acclimating to the boat, I began to row. I began to row strong! Best Rowing! Best Rowing! the Italian coach cheered!”

Michelle is now modeling for her students what resiliency and healing look like. She’s also refining an SEL curriculum that includes specific activities to help students begin to think about, define, and create a positive self-identity.

“I want to show them the possibilities truly are endless for their young selves, IF they ALLOW themselves to try!” Michelle said. “Through journals, role play, read alouds, discussions (I researched, bought, and organized many new books), and relationships (making sure I dedicate time to talk and listen to each student), I am committed to connecting and discovering the needs of each student.”

She is also leveraging her personal growth to see her students through a new lens and guide a pedagogy switch from behavior management to behavior modification. “No more reacting to behaviors,” she said, “but leaning-in to them with the student to understand ‘the why.’”

“Through therapy, personal reflection, and exercise I am only now discovering myself, my authentic self,” said Michelle. “It has been a long and difficult journey, but very rewarding. One that equipped me to help my students on a new level — especially vital in this new world of pandemics. I want to be that one person, that one place, where my students have the chance to find out how the beautiful the world really is!”

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Michelle Moyer is a second-grade teacher who has taught in Hawaii, Massachusetts, and Connecticut. She believes teaching and learning in the elementary classroom should be meaningful, integrative, value-based, challenging, and active. Michelle empowers her students through comprehensive SEL and restorative practices, collaborative environments, and high standards. A teacher for 15 years, her career accomplishments include being an FFT Fellow and earning a master’s degree in education.

For the past eight years, I have been a middle school social studies teacher in an American Indian pre-kindergarten through eighth grade magnet school. Our school was created by community elders to provide an American Indian perspective and to welcome students of all backgrounds where teaching is rooted in American Indian culture, traditions, values, history and art. The challenge is finding relevant resources to create lessons that are geared toward the school’s mission of teaching from American Indian cultural perspectives.

Some additional background: I grew up the son of a naval officer from the Cold War. It was instilled in me to honor the sacrifices made by all military, but I have always sought more knowledge and information about the contributions made by American Indians, especially during World War II. I grew up with stories about my great uncles landing on the shores of Normandy and have always wanted to visit there and other sites in Europe where the war was fought. A recent article about the dedication of the American Indian Memorial at Normandy renewed my passion.

I combined that passion with the aforementioned curriculum challenge into a Fund for Teachers fellowship. Last summer, after a two-year delay due to COVID, I researched at major European World War II sites the American Indian warriors who fought for their country. In France, Belgium and Luxembourg, I gained first-hand knowledge and experience of this war by visiting some of the major sites, which solidified my own understanding, and I can now share with my students what I have experienced and documented about the American Indian warriors who fought and died there.

Walking the cemeteries of Normandy and Henri-Chapelle and the grounds of the Battle of the Bulge, was a powerful, moving experience. One could still feel the soldiers’ presence, their spirits, 76 years later. The emotion, knowing that these soldiers gave the ultimate sacrifice, was quite raw. Many were teenagers, not much older than my students. I walked the beach at low tide and crouched in a foxhole trying to grapple with what sounds, smells, sights, fears these individuals experienced.

I am proud of my Native American Heritage. My family is very involved in our tribe. Having said that, I am not one to wear my heritage on my sleeve. Furthermore, I am considered an introvert. When we pulled into Normandy’s parking lot-a parking lot full of cars and tourist busses, nervousness and apprehension flooded over me. My wife and friends talked me through this anxiety. I donned my regalia shirt, stepped up to the plate and took my best swing.

At Normandy American Cemetery, I was expecting to say a prayer for three Native soldiers, instead, I said a prayer for five. The guide told about brothers that were buried near each other, Sam and Gafford Sanders-Native soldiers. She asked if I would say a prayer for them. Sand from Normandy’s beaches was rubbed into the engraved name, flags were placed beside the cross. I said my prayer and placed tobacco. I was given the flags from each grave along with the remaining sand. The reception was humbling.

When I teach the WW2 unit in the spring, I can incorporate my Fellowship experiences into the unit. The curator of the Henri-Chappelle Cemetery gave me a list of 17 Native Americans buried in US cemeteries, in Europe. The list will be a starting point for a research project honoring Native soldiers. I plan to have students investigate these soldiers, create a display and present their findings at the yearend school and community powwow.

Beyond the classroom, I’m thinking about riding my motorcycle to some of these warriors’ communities during the summer and reaching out to their tribes and family members to share my photos and experiences. Many tribes have cultural centers and/or sections that honor their warriors}. It would mean a great deal if I could share a picture and the flags from the graves with family and tribal centers. It would be such an honor to learn more about these soldiers’ lives.

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Bret Godfrey is a 34-year teacher at American Indian Magnet School in Saint Paul, MN. He teaches 7th and 8th grade social studies. He is also member of the Potawatomi Tribe. Listen to our interview with Bret prior to completing his fellowship on this episode of Fund for Teachers – The Podcast.

Top photo: At the Charles Shay Indian Memorial, Bret said a prayer for all Native American soldiers who fought during the Normandy Beach invasion, including his great uncle.

 

 

 

Today Hispanic communities begin Dia de Los Muertos celebrations to remember with joy — not grief — their family members who have died. A team of teachers from Chicago’s Little Village community are striving to help their elementary students remember their Latinx heritage year-round with the help of a Fund for Teachers fellowship.

This summer Vanessa Viruet, Elizabeth Morales and Natalie Blondis Krzeminski (Spry Elementary used their $10,000 Fund for Teachers grant to document Mexican and Belizean cultural and historic sites to educate students on Afro-Mexican and Indigenous culture and counteract the negative impact that Mexican hegemony can have on students from these regions.

“Our school is located in a predominantly Mexican-American community in Chicago. Most of our student population is Latinx, yet we only celebrate our students during Mexican Independence Day with a school wide parade.,” wrote the teachers in their 2022 grant proposal. “The overt and covert racism through xenophobia that is felt has an impact on our student’s self-image, self-worth, and appreciation for their cultural upbringing. Many of our students combat societal pressure to assimilate and distance themselves from their native language and culture. As educators we must counter these direct and indirect attacks on our students’ communities, empower them, demonstrate to them that we do not place limitations on their capabilities due to their culture.”

Their fellowship included experiencing:

• Mexico City’s National Museum of Anthropology (pictured right), which contains the largest collection of ancient Mexican art;
• La Casa Azul, Frida Kahlo’s home and now musuem;
• Teotihuacan, the site where one of the largest empires of the pre-Columbian Americas flourished;
• the Mayan World Museum in Merida, along with a re-enactment of the ancient game Pok Ta Pok and local artisan markets; and
• the Actun Tunichil Muknal Cave was known as “Cave of the Stone Sepulcher” which had an immense spiritual significance to the Mayans, and it is evidence that Belize was once one of the major hubs of the Mayan Empire during Mesoamerican times.

“Through this experience, I learned that I am missing this connection to my own ancestors and history,” said Vanessa. “As Latinos, we have assimilated to American identity and lost touch with our roots. It is incredibly important to pass down traditions, healing practices, art, recipes and stories and to my students and my children.”

They will do this through a unit that explores pre-Colombian cultures through pottery and other art mediums, as well as creating a Latin Culture Night which will draw in talent and resources from the surrounding school community. A new storytelling unit will incorporate parents’ participation and invite them to share memories related to their upbringing. and they will put forth their best effort.

“My new Social Studies unit on Native American history in North America focuses on the importance of storytelling and how elders in native communities passed down knowledge, history, life skills, and entertained through storytelling,” added Elizabeth. “Students’ upcoming project will require students to ask an elder in their family to share an important story that was passed down to them from their grandparents or parents. Students will either retell their story through writing or draw a sequence of images depicting the story and then showcase these with the class.”

“Our goal through this fellowship is to teach in a culturally-responsive way that will help our students to feel stimulated and connected to what they are learning by having more opportunity to discover where they come from and their birth culture. When students feel an emotional connection to their learning it breeds creativity.”

We honor all celebrating those who have passed on by remembering their legacy, and also honor those (like these Fellows) committed to enriching the present and future of their students with an awareness of their past.

“Teaching” might not have made this list of scariest jobs, but teaching about Jack the Ripper might have made the cut (pun intended).

With their Fund for Teachers grant, Bryce McMinn (science teacher at Orville H. Platt High School in Meriden, CT) and Rachel McMinn (English/Journalism teacher at Success Academy, also in Meriden) researched notorious crimes of the 19th and 20th century in the United Kingdom to create cross-curricular learning through the lens of technology in the field of forensics and the role of investigative journalism in solving crime.

“There is little high interest content to demonstrate the evolution of forensic science, evidence collection techniques and crime scene processing. Additionally, there is the same lack of high interest content for that time period to adequately teach investigative journalism and the links between fiction/non-fiction writing,” wrote the teachers in their 2022 grant proposal.

To bridge both curricular gaps, Bryce and Rachel designed a fellowship to:

• Study the work of Dr. Joseph Bell and Dr. Henry Littlejohn, early forensic scientists who inspired Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to write Sherlock Holmes
• Identify the evolution of the science in crime scene investigation
• Define the role of investigative journalism in the help/hindrance of crime solving
• Study the history of investigative journalism from 1800’s Victorian England (Jack the Ripper Case) to modern day and recent media coverage of crimes such as The Golden State Killer, and
• Determine the role of the press in bringing public awareness to criminal cold cases and unsolved crime and how this impacts societal views toward journalists.

Their investigation included experiencing the Jack the Ripper\True Crime Museums to examine and document evidence of his crimes; documenting with a 3D survey crime scene of late 1800’s serial killers; interviewing at Kings College London Fellows from the Forensic and Analytical Science Department; touring the Sherlock Holmes Museum to examine evidence collection techniques; and viewing the British Library’s St. Pancras Newsroom‘s extensive collection of original newspapers from 17th-21st century, including those from the time of Jack the Ripper.

“We plan on using our fellowship experience to create authentic learning experiences for students that spark interest in STEM and investigative journalism,” said Bryce. “The learning experiences will consist of mock crime scenes from London and the students will have to attempt to solve them using modern era techniques and science.” A Forensics Club is also being proposed.

Rachel is pioneering an elective that leverages her fellowship learning into a study of investigative journalism and the role it plays in solving crimes both in the past and the present day.

“While London may be beyond their reach today, there are links to these units right here in the state of Connecticut,” she said. “Meriden is home to a world-renowned forensics laboratory for example. This might open students to think about career options in forensics and journalism.”

In the words of Sherlock Holmes, “Education never ends, Watson.”

You might not know that October 25 is the birthday of Georges Bizet (composer of the opera Carmen) and Johann Strauss II (composer of multiple operettas). Or that today is World Opera Day, the fourth year in a movement to increase awareness of access to opera. Perhaps most surprising of all, one of our grant recipients designed a fellowship around OPERA.

Lucian Guilmette (Meriden, CT) crafted a fellowship to attend the Ancient Greek Music seminar in Riva del Garda, Italy, research the origins of opera in Florence, and the later development of opera and origins of antiphonal polyphony in Venice, to facilitate teacher collaboration across disciplines and increase student engagement through the use of authentic materials and deeper context. Why did a high school music teacher choose opera as his focus?

“Our western musical tradition, like so much of our culture and society, can be traced back in a direct line to the music that was studied and practiced by Greek philosophers, poets, and musicians in the fourth, fifth, and sixth centuries B.C.” said Lucian. “Like most music teachers, however, my formal training in musical history is very scant before the year 1700. I have done what I can to fill in the gaps in my own education, because I recognize how important it is to be able to draw a solid line from the past to the present, whether my students are studying the theory or the history of music or musical theater.”

See Lucian’s complete post-fellowship summary here.

We checked in with Lucian to ask about any updates since his 2017 fellowship…

The Church of San Giorgio

My fellowship was indeed an amazing experience.  One night in Venice I went to the church of San Giorgio. I had heard that the monks there sing vespers every night, and it was my hope to be allowed to listen to Gregorian Chant sung by those who truly understand it and do it the way it is supposed to be done. Imagine my surprise when the abbot handed me a missal and invited me up with them! It seriously taxed my language and music skills, but I participated fully. It was a profound and moving experience.

 

In the conference room in Riva del Garda. The students and professors I met here are some of the most intellectually accomplished people I have ever known.

In addition to singing with the monks, I also attended two operas–La Traviata in Venice, the city where it had premiered, and Barber of Seville in Florence in the Pitti Palace, site of the very first opera performance ever, back in 1597.  But the centerpiece of my fellowship was the week I spent in Riva del Garda attending a conference on ancient Greek music.  That conference was made up of the most important figures studying ancient music today.  For example, when I was in college, we learned that while we had surviving examples of written music from ancient Greece, no one could read the symbols and therefore we didn’t know what that music actually sounded like.  Well, in the intervening years people have indeed deciphered those symbols–and those people were at the conference!  Much of the conference was over my head–I was by far the least knowledgeable, least educated person in the room.  I was amazed to watch, for example, a young Italian graduate student asking questions in English about a book she was holding that was written in ancient Greek, then making notes in the margins in Italian (as she was receiving answers in English).

 

At the feet of David–it was amazing to see so many fabulous works of art!

I did learn quite a bit however and came back with a much more solid grasp of how music worked, both technically and philosophically, in the ancient world.  I was able to do two things with that–on one hand, I injected that material directly into the college-level class I teach in Music History.  On the other hand, I was able to give a Professional Development session (both well-attended and well-received) on the lessons we can draw from the Greek approach and utilize in our classrooms today.

The biggest change for me is that beginning in the fall of 2021 I now teach primarily mathematics at my school.  I didn’t change schools, just departments!  And while I am now primarily a math teacher, I still teach a college-level music class every year and still incorporate what I learned during my fellowship.  I should also mention that I know of three other fellowships that happened fairly directly because of mine–two different ones by other teachers in my school and one by my cousin who teaches in a different school.  It was a very rewarding experience to assist those people with their applications and to see them be awarded the fellowship and then be able to have their own experiences.

 

Now that the five-year window has gone by, it is very much in my mind to apply for another fellowship.  Now that I am teaching math, I am exploring areas where I may be able to gain some deeper understanding of my subject area, and perhaps before long I will be off again!

On October 1, Fund for Teachers launched our 22nd year of investing in educator’s self-designed experiential learning. It’s also our 22nd year of recognizing teachers as professionals worthy of respect and their students deserving of engaging curriculum. We stand by this mission and remain proud of the national cohort of 9,000 strong preK-12 teachers who returned from fellowships validated, empowered and seen as changemakers in their school communities.

Apply today and submit by January 19

Our application process is 100% transparent — we even make public the rubric by which proposals are evaluated. The process is also 100% blind, meaning that any identifying information (name, school, district) are redacted. Here are a few more facts to consider when starting your 2023 grant proposal:

• Public, private and charter school teachers from across the country are invited to apply for up to $5,000 as an individual or $10,000 as a team of two or more for a fellowship to take place during the summer.
• PreK-12 teachers are eligible to apply after three years of teaching in a classroom or classroom-like setting at least 50% of the day. Therefore, librarians and coaches are eligible to apply; principals and administrators are not.
• Applicants must plan to return to a classroom or teaching environment the year following their fellowship and demonstrate the ability to incorporate what they learn into their teaching.
• Successful proposals reflect thoughtful documentation on why this experience is vital to students’ learning.  Click here for more grant writing tools and resources.
• This Fellowship Search catalogs 20 years of projects by key word, subject area and grade level to provide examples of what’s possible with a Fund for Teachers grant.
• Previous recipients must wait for five years before reapplying.

To simplify sharing this opportunity, we created this poster, program information sheet and brochure:

We’ve also scheduled multiple opportunities to dialogue with our staff and FFT Fellows to learn more, including:

• Information Session co-hosted with Latinos for Education on October 4 at 5 p CT | Register Here
• Grant Information Session on October 26 at 6p CT | Register Here
• Weekly webinars for Applicants of Color | Register Here
• Travel Tips Information Session on November 9 at 6p CT | Register Here
• Grant Information Session on November 30 at 6p CT | Register Here

Learn more about our grant recipients and their impact on our podcasts, this blog and Facebook, Instagram and Twitter pages.

“Now more than ever, it is imperative that we invest in the most important component of any classroom — the teacher,” said Karen Eckhoff, Executive Director of FFT. “Educators are facing countless challenges every day, and Fund for Teachers is dedicated to further diversifying the ways that we can support them. Our grants represent trust in teachers’ professionalism, creativity, and vision, offering flexibility to meet the unique needs of each classroom, with the students remaining the ultimate beneficiaries as they continue to grow and learn in today’s ever-changing world.”

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Want to encourage others to apply? Feel free to use this graphic and direct peers to fundforteachers.org.