To introduce you to our newest grant recipients, we’ve started Fellow Friday. Last week, we highlighted fellowships focused on Astronomy. Today, we focus on one particular fellowship with implications on food and food security, sustainable agriculture, climate change mitigation, poverty reduction and rural job creation. That’s a lot of pressure on the back of an insect with no knees.

Laura Wilmoth (Oak Ridge High School – Oakridge, TN) designed a fellowship to collaborate with Earthwatch scientists researching in Utah how human behavior is impacting the bee population and ecosystem to develop a citizen science project for biology and environmental science students that builds trust in science through scientific literacy.

 

Click here for a complete list of grant recipients

Laura’s motivation was not to prop up World Bee Day (which the United Nations declared as today, May 20) but to prop up the validation of science. She explains:

“As a high school biology and environmental science teacher, scientific literacy including critical thinking and problem solving is at the core of my mission as an educator. However, just as we have seen throughout the nation in the last 18 months, I have many students whose parents, grandparents, or other care takers have recently begun expressing a strong mistrust of science for a variety of reasons,” wrote Laura, who holds an undergraduate degree in biology and a Master’s degree in ecology and evolutionary biology. “If we build a generation of students with a strong science foundation then they will be able to carry those skills into adulthood. As a society, we will no doubt be more prepared to tackle and make informed decisions about some of the most pressing issues facing the world today.”

For two weeks, Laura’s days will bee spent on specimen surveys, scouting wildflower/pollinators, preserving genetic tissue, collecting seeds and related tasks undertaken by researchers. Evenings will be spent listening to lectures by resident scientists.

Photo courtesy of Dr. Laura Grant – Earthwatch Expeditions

But why bees?

“Species are facing dramatic declines that have many scientists calling this time period our 6th mass extinction. Some species, called keystone species, have a central role in maintaining the health of the ecosystem,” said Laura. “Bees are keystone species because of their role as pollinators, and therefore, declines in the bee population can have wide ranging implications for ecosystem health and human food resources.”

And, because upon returning to the classroom, Laura plans on developing a project based learning, citizen science project around pollinators so students can experience hands-on science with real-world impact.

“Ultimately, if the data we collect helps in some way protect the bees, we will be benefiting the plants and animals as well as farmers in our community which can have a ripple effect on nearby ecosystems,” wrote Laura in her grant proposal. “Further, the lasting impacts of this experience on my students can improve the community and society as a whole in that students who take part will be more scientifically literate. Then, my students will develop into scientifically literate and curious people who will be better prepared to solve the problems of today and of the future.”

“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.”

We look forward to introducing you to more 2022 FFT Fellows next Friday!

This month we shipped our 2022 cohort of Fellows branded T-shirts, lanyards, and lapel pins in recognition of their accomplishment and in anticipation of seeing these items again on social media posts throughout the summer. The stylized “A” is the most prominent aspect of our logo, but the image means much more than the first letter of the English alphabet.

Fund for Teachers chose the sextant as our logo because it represents, according to Astronomy.com, “a device descended from antiquity included aboard command modules to assist with guidance and navigation.” Perhaps you recall Jim Lovell, played by Tom Hanks in Apollo 13, using a sextant and stars to navigate safely back to Earth; however, as early as the Phoenicians, people have looked to the stars to navigate land and sea. Again, according to Astronomy.com:

“Sextants measure the angular distance between two different objects — usually distant stars, although on Earth the Sun and Moon can be used as navigational aids as well. Information derived from sextants can be used to identify one’s position on a map or chart and is vitally important when no land is in sight. Sextants were widely adopted after their introduction in the 1700s, as they could be used day or night and operated even aboard a shifting or unstable platform.”

Navigate uncertainties? Works day and night? Vitally important? Operates on a shifting platform?
Sounds like a teacher to us.

That’s why the sextant and associated themes inform our Creed:

Now, when you see images of teachers proudly wearing their swag on our social media posts, we hope you’ll see them as more than grant recipients. Because WE see them as explorers, pioneers and vanguards. And we are proud to call them FFT Fellows.

Enjoy these images of previous Fellows representing around the world and watch for more on our our Facebook, Instagram and Twitter feeds in the coming months. And special thanks to FFT Fellow Julie Valsaint (Wagoner, OK) who shared the top image of the plaque crafted for her by teammate Stephen Biggs (pictured right) after they investigated the effects of water pollutants on local streams, rivers, and lakes, to see how water upstream affects the ocean ecosystem and created a unit on watersheds and conservation to use with Project WET through the nonprofit Blue Thumb.

To introduce you to our newest grant recipients, we’ve started Fellow Friday. Last week, we highlighted fellowships focused on Holocaust studies. Seeing the first picture of our Milky Way’s black hole this week made us think of the following Fellows who are looking up this summer with their Fund for Teachers grants…

Click here for a complete list of grant recipients.

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Tun Bhothinard | The Virtual Academy – Chicago
Jennifer Campagna | James G. Blaine Elementary School – Chicago
Morgan Park Academy – Chicago, IL
Experience separately different dark skies communities in the Southwest United States and Northeast United States, documenting the positions of cosmic beings in relation to the Earth, the sun and moon and how Native Americans depended on astronomy in their daily lives, to create libraries of cosmic images that help students connect to theories read in books.

“We, as teachers, find astronomy fascinating, having taken both undergraduate and summer graduate courses in the subject matter. Both have also volunteered at the city’s planetarium education department. A gap that we both have, however, is actually being in the field to dedicate time to study the constellations above. We believe astronomy is one of the most accessible units of study for fifth graders. Whether the student is from a middle class neighborhood school (James G. Blaine Elementary School) on the North Side of Chicago, or part of the very ethnically and socioeconomically diverse Virtual Academy, the wonder of space is available to all: just look up!”

Jennifer Kennedy | College Park High School – Pleasant Hill, CA
Photograph the Southwest landscape (day & night) and also ancient cliff dwellings to document the relationship of First Peoples to the land and demonstrate for career & technical education students how migration & relationship to the land is a common theme in humanity.

“The pandemic has caused many of my students to relocate -I want students to see the patterns of relocation and what drives it in human history. I also want to photograph, both in daylight and astrophotography, how the landscape & the ruins work together. Then, I can use my CTE budget to bring in the Mt. Diablo Astronomical Society to do an evening of star gazing & astrophotography on campus at night.”

Haven Daniels | Perkins Elementary – Boston
Kristen Fitzpatrick | Blackstone Elementary – Boston
Research at observatories and sites across Scotland and Northern England the phenomenon of dark skies to inform a student project that assesses how light pollution affects our city and how they can take action to preserve local dark skies.

“Space science lessons are abstract and disconnected from students’ lived experiences. There is, in general, not much personal experiences for students to draw on. The upshot of this is that students don’t understand why they should
care about what we are trying to teach them. Our learning goal is to move our instruction from research and report style learning about Earth and Space Science to more hands-on, active and empowered lessons that directly address students’
need for non-traditional learning experiences.”

“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.”

We look forward to introducing you to more 2022 FFT Fellows next Friday!

Today, millions of people received a “Breaking News” alert from The New York Times with the heading: “Over 500 Native American children died at U.S. schools where they were forced to live between 1819 and 1969, an initial federal inquiry found.” This is old news to FFT Fellow John Goodwin, who teaches U.S. History, Native American History, and an interdisciplinary research and writing course at BASIS Phoenix. In March, his book Without Destroying Ourselves: A Century of Native Intellectual Activism for Higher Education was released and this summer he will further his research to increase students’ exposure to diverse primary history sources.

With his Fund for Teachers grant, John will conduct research at the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) in Washington DC to build two project based learning experiences that raise awareness of Indigenous experiences at American Indian boarding schools and enhance the physical and digital presence of one such site in Phoenix.

“So much of Indigenous history is understandably viewed under a dark shadow of colonialism, with all the violence and dispossession that comes along with it,” wrote John in this blog post. “It can be difficult, especially for young students, to work through a careful study of this history with any sense of optimism left. And yet, if we look closely at the words and actions of Indigenous people themselves, we still see it. We see not only a bare sense of resilience and survival but at times a true optimism and an infectious energy that comes from leaders’ ability to highlight and target shared opportunities for growth within struggle.”

The first phase of John’s fellowship will include documenting content and artifacts at the NMAI and taking advantage of the archival databases at the NMAI Cultural Resource Center in Suitland, MD and the National Archives. Afterwards, he will conduct additional research at Phoenix’s Heard Museum before heading to Fort Lewis College in nearby Durango, CO — a four-year college that once served as an American Indian boarding school.

“Using my catalog of observations, images, narratives from visitors, and archival documents in the subject area, I will curate a large collection of materials that will transform the capstone project experience for my students,” wrote John in his grant proposal. “Specifically, students during the final 5 to 6 weeks of the course will work in groups to develop proposals for action that use these public history sites as models, with the goal of improving the Phoenix Indian School Visitor Center, once an American Indian boarding school.”

While today’s news alert elevates once again the tragic experiences of Native American children and their families, John also sees a story of growth and resilience within struggle.

“A lot of the students who went through those schools went on to be leaders in their communities, and in fact in a wide range of American settings, both Native and non-Native spaces,” he said when we reached out to him today. “Often they did so while still maintaining tribal languages and cultural connections. I think the students I teach—and probably most American students—can really learn from those types of stories. I think those stories keep us tapped into what is best and most intriguing about our identity as Americans, without white-washing it or unnecessarily painting it through rose-colored glasses. And for our students here in Phoenix, I see the boarding school site as an often overlooked location that could be highlighted and enhanced as a public history site for students and the wider community.”

Top photograph courtesy of Colorado Public Radio News.

To introduce you to our newest grant recipients, we’ve started Fellow Friday. Last week, we highlighted fellowships focused on math-related learning. In honor of Jewish American Heritage Month, today we share the plans of teachers who will pursue learning about the Holocaust this summer with their Fund for Teachers grants…

Click here for a complete list of grant recipients.

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Sandra Burgess & Marymargaret Mineff
Morgan Park Academy – Chicago, IL
Gather materials, impressions, and insights pertaining to the Holocaust across eight European countries to inform the creation of a student-led podcast series for their middle/upper school peers.

“Survivors of a systematic and institutional genocide are passing away, and their stories are being forgotten. However, the perpetration of genocide and intolerance continues throughout our world. It’s 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.”

Amanda Fulfer | Battle Ground High School – Battle Ground, WA
Join the Seattle Holocaust Center for Humanity‘s expedition to Poland to humanize horrific statistics that lay flat on merely three pages of the textbook for AP World History, World History, Contemporary World History, and AP Human Geography students.

“I firmly believe that seeing things firsthand enhances the practice, pedagogy, and authenticity of a history teacher because I will be able to share personal experiences that bring content to life. The textbook approved by our school contains a scant three pages dedicated to the Holocaust. By weaving my first-hand experience with the stories from history, I will be able to humanize the horrific statistics that lay flat on a textbook page.”

Deb Fullerton | Moorlands Elementary – Kenmore, WA
Accompany Seattle’s Holocaust Center for Humanity on an exploration of Poland’s past and present by connecting its history and people to empower students to become change makers in their communities, nation and world.

“Our state mandates Holocaust Education; however, the bulk of resources are geared toward older students. Furthermore, resources provided are a suggested start and don’t fully address foundational issues around biased attitudes and the apex of the pyramid of hate where genocide occurs. Because of the this fellowship, I can modify current resources to fit my students’ needs while also building additional resources that teachers and students can access.”

Brooke Hopkins | Soddy Daisy High School – Soddy Daisy, TN
Explore cities in Northern and Central Europe that are the settings for two popular graphic novels pertaining to individual experiences of the Holocaust to build a greater understanding of the systematic way the Nazis exterminated more than six million Jews and help students feel connected to the victims, perpetrators, and bystanders of the Holocaust and its terrible place in our history.

“In the wake of so much documentation and variable proof, it is shocking that our current generation of high school students truly do not hold more than a cursory knowledge of the Holocaust and the persecution of the Jews (and other undesirable minority groups). It is also quite shameful that there is a growing number of Holocaust doubters and/or deniers. Great age-appropriate literature, especially graphic novels, create a literary space where students of all reading levels can grow intellectually, emotionally and with empathy in their views of others who differ from themselves within our world.'”

Kelly Anroman, Michael Gozzo & Shelley Sheriden | Derby Middle School – Derby, CT
Research in Amsterdam and Germany the storyline of Anne Frank and World War II to authentically teach the injustices and atrocities that took place so students can learn from them, grow from them, and become better global citizens.

“Our shared goal is to glean a greater understanding of events leading up to, during, and following the Holocaust and World War II. We hope to promote our own sense of empathy and bring our learning back to our students and colleagues. Our goal for our students is to have them be lifelong learners and thinkers long after they leave the classroom and for our students to develop deeper understanding of each other with an empathetic lens.”

“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.”

We look forward to introducing you to more 2022 FFT Fellows next Friday!

Just in time for Teacher Appreciation Week, Fund for Teachers announced the names of 600+ public, private and charter school teachers awarded millions in grants for self-designed summer fellowships. By pushing beyond their classrooms to pursue new knowledge and insights, these teacher leaders return to impact classrooms, colleagues, and school communities.

Founded in 2001, our organization this year surpassed
$35 million invested in teacher professional learning & leadership.

Fund for Teachers is nationally unique in that it gives educators the freedom to explore topics related to specific learning gaps and goals; consequently, no two fellowships are the same. This year’s fellowships range from circumventing Iceland with a team of scientists to facilitate students’ understanding of geological processes to attending a conference on fostering safe social and emotional environments in which students can thrive.

A complete list of grant recipients is available here.

The 2022 FFT Fellows who received $1.19 million in grants will be joined by grant recipients from 2019 and 2020 who deferred their grants due to the pandemic.

“Fund for Teachers strives to value, not just appreciate, educators,” said Karen Eckhoff, FFT executive director. “Value connotes merit, courage and virtue, traits evidenced in our Fellows’ grant proposals, then demonstrated on fellowships and, ultimately, applied in the classroom. Now more than ever, it is imperative we validate and invest in this caliber of teacher.”

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Fund for Teachers (FFT) is a 501(c)3 organization dedicated to strengthening instruction by investing in outstanding teachers’ self-determined professional growth and development. Since 2001, FFT has invested $35 million in more than 9,100 educators, transforming grants into growth for teachers and their students. In 2021, FFT introduced a follow-up grant for Fellows to collaborate through Innovation Circles focused on topics that facilitate further student impact. Over the past two decades, FFT Fellows have chosen to learn in 170 countries on every continent, with the majority remaining in North America. Visit www.fundforteachers.org for more information.

To introduce you to our newest grant recipients, we’ve started Fellow Friday. Last week, we highlighted fellowships focused on conservation and sustainability of our planet. Today, we’re elevating the itineraries of those counting on math-related learning this summer with their Fund for Teachers grants…

Click here for a complete list of grant recipients.

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Rebecca Janka | Odyssey Leadership Academy – Oklahoma City, OK
Explore homes and countries of both known and undiscussed mathematicians/physicists, observing how their theorems and calculations are related to historical developments of mathematics, to inform a learner-centered class that allows students to critically think through their own lives while engaging with the world around them.

“The study of mathematics has been the historical quest to understand relationships between mankind and the universe, something the traditional model of math education too often misses. However, traditional math education stops at mere calculation, leaving many students to feel frustrated and overwhelmed, missing the beauty and awe inherent in mathematics itself. The purpose of my research is to learn from foundational mathematicians who have shaped the world with their lives and work, to find the wonder they had, and pass on these lessons through my classes.”

Donna Kaiser | Stamford High School – Stamford, CT
Participate in the ASM Materials Camp for Teachers at the University of Maryland to learn methods for making math and core science principles more enticing and relevant to high school chemistry students.

“In my urban high school, we lack resources to have state-of-the-art equipment, so this will provide inexpensive projects and activities to help me as a chemistry teacher ignite student interest, bring curricula to life, and show practical applications of materials in students’ everyday lives. During the camp we’ll work with metal, ceramics, polymers and composites to develop projects to bring back to the classroom.”

Shannon Mullins & Sandy Osborne
Coffenberry Middle School – Myrtle Creek, OR
Embark on a math quest to sites in New York and England associated with the history and importance of math to make the subject and its application interesting and meaningful to rural, low-income students.

“Most of our students struggle greatly with math and are living with caregivers who struggle greatly with math. It is common to have repeated conversations with students about why math is important, necessary, and interesting. The impact of this this fellowship will help students switch from the perspective ‘Math is something I have to do that is meaningless and torturous’ to ‘Math has always been used by humans to find a pattern and make life easier.'”

Nora Abbott, Jordan Alley, Jenna Gudmunson, Molly Fredrickson-Leonard & Julia Vaughan
Invest Collegiate Imagine Charter School – Asheville, NC
Complete multisensory math training at the Siena School in Oakton, VA, to gain knowledge of cutting-edge practices that give students fun and rewarding experiences and provides real-world practice to prepare them for successful lives.

“Our students feel constantly defeated in the general education classroom when faced with concepts that their peers understand easily. While our team is very well-versed in state of the art instructional practices to engage students in remedial reading and writing, we lack equal training in hands-on math strategies. By learning a system that has been found to be successful in teaching students reading and writing and applying it to math, we know our students will be engaged and more likely to love what they are doing and persevere. By also presenting them with grade-level concepts in a concrete way, we will be giving them access to understanding and academic success in the general education classroom.”

Philip Wisler | BPS English High School – Jamaica Plain, MA
Embark on a month-long road trip documenting sites across Canada and the United States through biweekly TikTok videos aligned with math problems to demonstrate how creativity and curiosity can reveal meaningful connections between mathematics and everyday life.

“Too often, my students don’t see why math is relevant after simple procedures are mastered. For this reason, math teachers like myself may struggle to find truly meaningful connections that can inspire students in a typical math lesson. To change this inequality (pun intended), I plan on harnessing social media, starting with super-popular platform TikTok, to provide a new avenue for student learning and participation.”

“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.”

We look forward to introducing you to more 2022 FFT Fellows next Friday!

Last year The Autism Society of America changed April’s designation of Autism Awareness Month to Autism Acceptance Month. “Awareness is knowing that somebody has autism. Acceptance is when you include (a person with autism) in your activities,” said the organization’s president and CEO Christopher Banks. That’s precisely the premise behind the fellowship of three Connecticut middle school teachers. We asked Kristen Gallagher, Dwaine Vaudrey and Liz Dubreuil (Ledyard Middle School – Gales Ferry, CT) to share more about the motivation behind their fellowship this summer, which COVID postponed since initially receiving their grant in 2020.

Q: For middle schoolers, acceptance can be as elusive as the next TikTok dance. What made you think that biking could unite this age group and, specifically, students who have Autism Spectrum Disorders and those who do not?

A: For many of our students, not just those with spectrum disorders, typical team sports don’t work for them.  That in itself is unifying.  Everyone in the bike club belongs to a team with the goal of personal growth.   Kids see more in common than differences.

Additionally, the practice groupings are based on skill sets which allow for everyone to have a starting point based on their comfort level.  Challenges students with ASD face are well camouflaged during mountain biking because the overall skill sets of participants are so diverse that no one particular individual stands out from the rest.  Overall, the participants are all having such a good time challenging themselves and enjoying the mountain biking experience that a student’s impairments go unnoticed by their peers.

Q: Five years ago, you collaborated with a non-profit cycling organization to create the school’s cycling club and today it’s the largest in the state with more than 60 members, the majority of whom are special education and/or “504 students” who have a “physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activity.” How has this outlet impacted these students?

A: Anxiety, inattention, feelings of failure, and academic disabilities are obstacles many students with autism associate with school. These obstacles prevent them from crossing peer/friend barriers and taking risks. During cycling, those obstacles are removed and replaced with opportunities for new friendships and an appreciation of their uniqueness. Students who have not felt success in other organized sports come to cycling and are invested in their team and love to ride.

Socially, interactions between students in our social/emotional and autism classrooms and their typical peers happen organically on the bike trails. One example is when an academically gifted student struggled with a log on the trail; the student with autism was the one teaching and demonstrating; mentoring roles were reversed. Another example are twin girls who on the team who have difficultly speaking in specific social settings. After a race one of the girls pulled me aside and said she wore a shirt under her bike jersey that read “I love my team!” Her sister wore a special shirt under her jersey that read “Best Day Ever!” They take risks on the trails and it carries over to the classroom.

Q: What was the catalyst behind your Fund for Teachers proposal?

A: We are fortunate to have so many bikes for students to ride, but the maintenance of bikes has presented a significant challenge for us. There are often times when bikes need repairs, and we have to transport bikes to our local bike shop. This leaves a rider without a bike. The shop mechanic comes to our school when we host races, but there is a greater need for repairs and maintenance on a near-daily basis. There have also been times when we needed to change flat tires or put a chain back on a freewheel to get a rider back on the bike. These basic jobs piqued the interest of several students and this sparked the idea for students to take over basic maintenance. Our special education students who might not feel comfortable on the trails could be part of the team by keeping the bikes in working order.

Q: Describe what you and two colleagues will be pursuing this summer with your $10,000 grant.

A: We want to learn and then teach the students how to repair bikes. This will expand the cycling club to students who may not ride but like to fix things and work with their hands. The Principal of our school would like to expand our cycling repair into the school day for students on the autism spectrum and in our social-emotional classrooms. A larger plan is for a winter maintenance club for all students, a special needs opportunity for students to help us with bike and helmet cleaning and inventory, and a prevocational option for students during the school day. The FFT grant is allowing our team to go to the Barnett Bike Institute in Colorado Springs to attend a week-long bike assembly and maintenance class. There we’ll become certified for basic assembly and maintenance of bikes.

Q: Then what?

A: Once we learn the basics, we will be able to teach our students how to initially tune-up and adjust our fleet of bikes. This addresses our immediate need for bike repair and maintenance of our fleet. On non-riding days, the “mechanic team” will teach a small group of interested students predetermined maintenance skills. The greatest impact on students would be authentic learning for an authentic purpose. Students who in the past may not have connected with their peers would learn a useful and valuable skill to help their peers.

Another part of the plan is to add two or three bike stands into special education and general education classrooms by the spring of the next school year. Students are naturally curious and will ask questions about the stands and bikes; student-driven learning can occur. Some students on the autism spectrum or who have emotionally impactful obstacles to classroom participation can participate in cycling maintenance for the school. Our Principal envisions cycling maintenance creating prevocational opportunities and ways to make valuable contributions and connections beyond the classroom.

Q: How do you see this fellowship ultimately impacting your community?

A: The learning and teaching will not end with middle school. Part of our long-term plan is to have former middle school “wrenches” in high school come back to support our new middle school “wrenches.” This cycle will keep our program sustainable by addressing our bike maintenance needs. We will tap into our high school mentors as a resource and role models. Inclusion of high school students will create a cycle of students who become mentors and support our sustainability.

The ultimate community outreach and connection will be with a bike fix-it-shop. Students will repair donated bikes and give them back to children in the community without a safe bike to ride.  Receiving this grant is the starting point for actualizing the possibilities.

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To learn more about the Ledyard Middle School Bike Club and how a Fund for Teachers grant will strengthen its’ success, listen to this episode of Fund for Teachers: The Podcast.

We’re in the middle of Arab American History Month, but Karina Escajeda‘s impact on education is just getting started. We asked her to share how her fellowship completing Arabic language & cultural immersion in Egypt informed her career trajectory that led to her work with the Curacao Ministry of Education through the US State Department…

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My 2019 FFT fellowship to Dahab, Egypt, was built around my role as a Maine K-12 English Language Learner (ELL) Specialist. At the time, I had a professional role as an ELL Coordinator at the middle and high school in Augusta, where all of my students and their families spoke Arabic. I was also a board member of the Capitol Area New Mainers Project, a non-profit dedicated to helping New Mainers (primarily Iraqi, Syrian, and Afghani).  I had been working with language learners in Maine, California and Japan, in both private and public settings, for my entire career.  Additionally, as a Spanish speaker myself, I felt that the experience of learning a language and participating in a cultural immersion would be a way of connecting more personally to the central Maine Arabic-speaking community in general.

In Egypt I connected with The Futures School of Dahab and studied Arabic here for five hours a day, then practiced in the community for 2-3 more.  I also had the chance to explore the pyramids along the Nile River, climb Mt. Sinai in the middle of the night to see the sun rise, and experience Bedouin culture and cuisine. While classroom drills were a big part of my Arabic instruction, my clearest memories and sharpest language retention came from interacting with people while shopping, navigating the city, and getting to know the culture and music of Egypt. The entire experience renewed my drive to make sure that all language instruction is context-based and experience driven.

During my fellowship, I was fortunate to meet up with 2019 FFT Fellow Ryan Clapp, who pursued Arabic immersion in Alexandria, Egypt, and kept an incredible blog of his experience. Although my Arabic did not become fluent in just 6 weeks (of course!), I returned to Maine with more confidence in my ability to present myself in initial introductions in the language, and the families that I work with were genuinely appreciative of the effort — and kindly encouraging about the progress that I made.

The fellowship opened my eyes, again, to my interest in creating cross-cultural connections on both a local AND global level. The meticulous effort that I put into the FFT  application was transferable to my Fulbright Distinguished Award in Teaching application, which resulted in an opportunity in Greece to study effective refugee integration into learning communities and neighborhoods.

After the Fulbright project, I became the program director for Capital Area New Mainers Project, putting my teaching expertise, fellowship learning and project management skills into practice in the non-profit sphere. Once out of the classroom and working from home as the program director, it finally became possible to take on a role that I dreamed for decades:  being an English Language Specialist with the US State Department.  In January of 2021, I took on a contract to work with the US Consulate in Curacao, the Curacao Chamber of Commerce, and the Ministry of Education in Curacao to create the curriculum for a pilot program in the country using English (rather than Dutch or Papiamentu) as the academic language of instruction. I have developed and edited curriculum for preK through grade three, and the school is slated to open the first preK classes in August of 2023. I will remain on as a consultant for the school opening, as well as the training of teachers and administrators on the new program.

TESOL professionals who are interested in knowing more about the EL Specialist Program with the US State Department can find information here.

Looking back, I see that everything is connected. It is SO important for teachers to be engaged in rigorous inquiry that makes us experience frustration, but in a joyful way because it is learning that WE have chosen to do, not that has been assigned to us as part of our official duties. Students learn from people that they LOVE. That love only comes through authenticity, and teachers can’t be authentic unless we are giving parts of ourselves that are REAL — our love for learning is reignited through funding to pursue our passions.

Fund for Teachers renewed my faith that there ARE organizations in our country that see teachers as educated professionals who know themselves and their communities well enough to be effective advocates for their own needs. Equally as vital, I realized through FFT that I AM a capable expert educator who could contribute meaningfully to my hometown, region, and now — the world.

Karen with other FFT Fellows in her Fulbright cohort. LtoR: Brynn Johnson, Michelle Boger, Karen, Leland Leslie and Deborah Bartley

Over the course of my career, I have observed the wide variety of background experiences that students bring to school and how those experiences impact learning. The more confident and savvy learners tend to get the lions’ share of the time, resources, and attention; these same students tend to be from stable homes rarely impacted by poverty and trauma. In my class, every student has a voice, but how do I ensure that they are equally heard and heeded?

Teachers all over the United States are struggling to create and implement working definitions for concepts such as equity, equality, motivation, self-esteem, and self-efficacy. Participating in Fund For Teachers’ Innovation Circle on equity and collaborating with my “fellow” Fellows to elevate every students’ voice brought these definitions sharply into focus for me.

I used my Innovation Circle grant to attend the International Baccalaureate workshop on Social Emotional Learning, which incorporated global perspectives, international mindedness, and equity mindsets. During the two virtual summer seminars, I had an aha moment – the more reticent students didn’t lack the materials or time they needed to successfully complete a 5th Grade Exhibition project, but the confidence that they COULD.

After this fellowship, I now understand that one of the greatest factors in helping students achieve equity is helping them develop self-efficacy.

Students from poverty, trauma, and troubled backgrounds often lack the self-efficacy (the belief that they can do a task) to be successful in school, and, by extension, in life. Parent contacts confirmed this and student surveys bore it out. Therefore, I am now focusing more on the development of student self-efficacy in the process of teaching. I have a new perspective on the balance of process and product, and intensive efforts devoted to building student self-efficacy is transforming a once-difficult class into a one filled with successful, positive, motivated students. (see their work below)

A few takeaways from my seminars and group work with Fellows:

• “Equity is the provision of personalized resources needed for all individuals to reach common goals:  the goals and expectations are the same for all students, but the supports needed to achieve those goals depends on the students’ needs” (Latta, 2019).  The supports typically consist of providing students with materials, supplies, time, personnel, and opportunities, all of which are indeed important for students to succeed.
• Inequity in education has been traditionally associated with groups of students who have suffered from discrimination due to their race, ethnicity, nationality, language, religion, class, gender, or disability.  I contend that the true inequity lies in a student’s belief in self, based on the experiences and treatment s/he has received. Without belief in self, no amount of materials, supplies, time, personnel, or opportunities can assure success.
• True equity, that which resides in the heart, requires intangible, elusive, but very real  self-efficacy.  Self-efficacy is an individual’s belief in his/her capacity to execute behaviors necessary to produce specific performance attainments (Bandura, 1997).   Self-efficacy reflects an individual’s confidence in his/her ability to exert control over his/her own motivation, behavior, and social environment.  All human experiences – the goals people strive for, the amount of time and energy that is expanded towards meeting the goals, and the likelihood of attaining certain levels of behavioral performance – are all rooted in self-efficacy.

• Self-efficacy focuses on “doing” and self-esteem focuses on “being.” Self-efficacy is the belief that one is able to do and self-esteem is a general feeling of one’s worth as a human being. The self-system is comprised of all of these elements, which manifest themselves in attitudes, abilities, and cognitive skills.  The self-system also plays a major role in how people perceive situations and how they behave in response to different situations (Bandura, 1977).
• Equity in education must include developing self-efficacy in all students.  It does not matter how much “stuff” or time or opportunity a student has.  If s/he does not believe in his/her capacity to execute the necessary behaviors, success will always be out of reach.

The good news is that self-efficacy can be nurtured in four ways:

1. 1. Experiencing mastery experiences;
   2. Witnessing other people successfully completing a task;
   3. Being persuaded through positive verbal encouragement; and
   4. Developing psychological responses by learning how to minimize stress and elevate mood when facing difficult or challenging tasks.

More good news: 94% of my fifth graders are participating in Exhibition, compared with 75% in past years. The IB Fifth Grade Exhibition is scheduled for May 19. We started work on September 2, and we will continue to move forward with Exhibition projects with the 32 kids who are participating. Self-efficacy work is woven into the process, and also with the two students who chose not to participate in Exhibition. The equity portion is having them BELIEVE that they can do it, so that they WILL do it.

Caroline Belden, author and social justice advocate, explains it this way, “Equality is leaving the door open for anyone who has the means to approach it.  Equity is ensuring there is a pathway to the door for those who need it.”

As teachers, we have the power to create that pathway for our students. Teachers want all of our students to succeed, to become productive citizens, and to become lifelong learners.  Equity in the classroom, developed through self-efficacy, will help all students to succeed.

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Janet Key is a three-time FFT Fellow: In 2011, she attended the Clarice Smith National Teacher Institute at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, DC;  in 2014, she returned to Washington to participate in the Smithsonian Science Education Academy for Physical Sciences (pictured); and in 2021, she received an Innovation Circle Grant to virtually attend the three-day International Baccalaureate conference titled “Your Exhibition” to develop fifth graders research and presentation strategies on a transdisciplinary theme, a required component of the IB Primary Years Programme. Janet is a proud Milwaukee Public Schools teacher since 1985, and retirement is on a distant horizon.  She currently teaches at Lowell International Elementary School, in kindergarten through fifth grade classrooms.

I teach three levels of English Learners:

• those emerging from the Newcomer program
• those who have been in the country 4-7 years, and
• those who have not reached English fluency after more than seven years of American schooling.

Students in that last group — known as Long Term English Learners (LTELs) — may have been born in this country, but they have hit a plateau in academic English language acquisition. These students need robust, rigorous and culturally relevant curriculum and instruction to help them catch up to their “English Only” peers. Without it, they remain the most likely to drop out and least likely to go to college of any of the subgroups at our Title 1 school.

I used my Innovation Circle Grant to work on to finding innovative ways of blending language development with the arts in order to start closing gaps and opening opportunities for these students.

With a $1,000 grant and alongside peers in the Art & Equity Innovation Circle, I participated in the “Clay: The Remix” workshop at Penland School of Craft in Penland, NC, to learn how to use simple tools in the creation of poetry, street art and prints, then transfer those images to clay, to empower students with a new platform for public voice.

Lugo’s teapot of Ralph Ellison

I had no idea that my teacher in my learning experience would be a prominent artist who would transform me and my students. Potter Roberto Lugo shared his slides and the story of his trajectoy as an artist, he spoke about the worth of every person, about putting hidden heroes onto fine porcelain, about “ghetto” being another word for “resourcefulness” and about the need for people from different backgrounds to come together for conversation. At this moment, I knew Roberto Lugo would resonate with my students. I took his ideas, expressed in a 60 second documentary called Meet Roberto Lugo: the Hip-Hop Potter and ran with them. In doing so, I learned to be more resourceful, which included getting ideas from my Circle Members on how to convert my project from ceramics to 2-D posters.

I first taught students about Roberto Lugo and exposed them to his elaborate pottery. Then, students designed 2-D teapots, vases, teacups and sneakers in his style but with their own “hidden heroes” highlighting their heritage as they developed their academic English skills. Students chose the winning art after listening to classmates give “elevator pitches” for their submissions. The pieces tell counter-narratives of  grandparents, sisters, brothers, aunties. uncles and cultural celebrities. They honor those who have passed and those who are still alive. To my delight, some student “winners” were previously among the most disengaged students.

Students’ final exam was to write a letter to Lugo. Those letters, along with sample essays and artwork impressed Lugo so much that he highlighted them on his Instagram page. He is also planning to set up a Zoom meeting with the students.

Last week, Robert Lugo himself acknowledged students’ work on his Instagram site, sharing this video with the words:

Y’all if you need some inspiration today look at the work of these young artists lead by their teacher @fer_sha_fer_sha. I just can’t believe I’m an inspiration for these kids. All we tend to think about ourselves is our faults and not our contributions. Thank you for reminding me that I am somebody and I want to remind you that you are too.

As part of the Innovation Circle Grant program, participants create learning units based on their independent research and collaborative ideation. Download Lisa’s “Who Deserves to be in a Museum” curriculum here.

Lisa Shafer is an English Language Development teacher at Skyline High School in Oakland, CA. She also has taught journalism, the graduate capstone course and English at other high schools. She is a three-time Fund for Teacher Fellow and is a former participant in the Japanese Exchange and Teaching Program (JET). She loves incorporating journalism, storytelling and civic engagement into her lessons for English Learners.

What are Innovation Circles?   

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

What do Lead Fellows Do? 

As a Lead Fellow for an Innovation Circle, you will guide Circle participants (also Fellows) along a path to design unique classroom-based innovations. These innovations should be grounded in students’ needs and will demand a certain amount of testing and risk taking. This means you will need to create time and space for participants to build community, share, refine and problem solve. While you may have deep expertise in the Circle topic, your role is that of facilitator, not instructor.  

Why Lead Fellows?   

Fellows with experience in the Circle topic and who have worked to implement changes in their own classroom are uniquely qualified to support others. In addition, Lead Fellowship opportunities give Fellows access to teacher leadership experiences that they may not have in their schools.  

The Details: 

• Build virtual community with 10-15 Fellows in your circle.  
• Plan and facilitate monthly meetings, virtually. Some meeting materials will be provided.  
• Collaborate with FFT to identify a key common ‘text’ for the Circle topic.  
• Monitor Fellows’ progress to inform Circle meeting design.  
• Communicate with Fellows between Circle meetings to answer questions, communicate meeting logistics etc.  
• Collaborate with other Lead Fellows to problem solve and navigate Circle leadership.  
• Demonstrate expertise with the topic through ‘text’ selection, strategic questioning and feedback on Fellow’s work. The topics determined by Fellow interest, are outlined here. 
• Use Fund for Teachers for support in Fellow learning and grant administration. NOTE: FFT will provide administrative support and Fellow communications related to technology, grant funds and grant deliverables.  
• Lead Fellows will be paid a $1500 stipend. 

How Might Your Time be Divided?

The Ideal Candidate:

• Believes that teachers can and should stretch and try new things in their classrooms – that they are designers and creators. 
• Is interested in growing their skills as an adult learning facilitator.  
• Is passionate about the Circle topic. 
• Has experience teaching and/or facilitating online. 
• Has  approximately 30-40 hours to spend on this project between April, 2022 and January, 2023. 
• Is currently an educator and FFT Fellow. 

Interested in applying? Complete the application, here.

Have questions about the position? Reach out to Liza Eaton, Director of Programs, The Ramsden Project.  

On the 80th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, we appreciate these words and plans of FFT Fellow Patrick McCarney (Stonington High School – Stonington, CT). Patrick is a 25-year teaching veteran who teaches a variety of social studies courses to 100 students, including two sophomore classes called Great Movements of the Sixties, two junior sections of AP US History and a 9/11 class comprised of upperclassmen. Next year he will teach a new, semester-long class called Global Wars, which focuses on World War I and II.

Recently, there has been a decline in interest for social studies courses offered at our school. As a result, there has been a reduction in course offerings and a decrease in the number of sections of particular courses. As a member of the social studies department, I feel a responsibility to find new ways to stimulate student interest and increase enrollment in our department’s offerings, and I am inspired to create story driven lessons that allow my students to explore and better understand people living in other times and places.

According to award winning documentary filmmaker Ken Burns, “storytelling is the most powerful tool for human connection. Weaving stories into [classroom] instruction…helps students connect to and retain information.” Embracing Ken Burns’ philosophy, on my fellowship I will visit World War II landmarks, museums, and monuments in New Orleans, Hawaii, and California to gather the stories of those on the battlefront and the home front—young soldiers, women, and minorities—to make the diversity of the American war experience more visible for students.

NEW ORLEANS

Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Barbara Tuchman wrote, “students need to imagine the lives of people who have lived in the past….” The National WWII Museum in New Orleans will provide me the framework in which to explore, collect, and integrate into my curriculum the WW II experiences of individuals and groups. I will spend three days at the museum.

• Day one will include a “Campaigns of Courage” small-group tour of the “immersive, interactive European and Pacific Theaters.”
• On the second day, I will participate in a “Behind the Lines” workshop during which I will handle WW II artifacts. I am particularly interested in this program because artifact exploration is something I want to incorporate into my curriculum. Allowing students to see and touch history stimulates student inquiry and investigation.
• On my last day at the museum, I will attend a “Lunchbox Lecture” by World War II scholars and storytellers. Lecturing is a teaching approach I occasionally use in my classroom. This lecture series intersperses content with learning activities, and I am excited to learn from uniquely qualified individuals.

HAWAII

In addition to the National WW II Museum, I want to visit the places where the war shaped our nation. By walking the ground where history happened and learning from ranger-guided tours, I will become that storyteller for my students. I will spend four days in Hawaii—ground zero for US entry into the war. During my stay, I will:

• Tour the USS Missouri, and stand on the spot where the Japanese officially surrendered in 1945.
• Travel by boat to the USS Arizona Memorial, a sunken battleship that is the final resting place for over 900 sailors.
• Visit the USS Oklahoma Memorial that honors the 429 servicemen killed when Japanese torpedoes destroyed the ship.
• Experience the Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum and see Japanese and US fighter planes that attacked and defended Pearl Harbor on that infamous day.
• Go to the USS Bowfin Submarine Museum and board one of the few remaining submarines used during the war, and
• Culminate with a visit to the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific where I will pay my respects to the 13,000 interred soldiers of the Pacific Theater.

CALIFORNIA

From Hawaii, I will travel to San Francisco to view the SF City Museum’s collection of newspaper articles and photos of Japanese relocation from the city. I have scheduled an appointment to meet with the curator and make copies of articles detailing the city’s removal efforts. The Presidio—the US Army’s Western Command—is also in San Francisco. The Presidio’s museum has a special exhibit I will attend called “Exclusion.” The exhibit chronicles the Presidio’s pivotal role in Japanese American incarceration and “invites visitors to investigate the choices…that led to this dark chapter in American history.”

A short distance from San Francisco is the Rosie the Riveter/WWII Home Front National Historical Park. I will take a day trip to Richmond to learn about the challenges and hardships women confronted during the war years, such as workplace discrimination and dangerous working conditions at the Richmond shipyard. The highlight of my visit will be the Education Center’s “Rosie Fridays,” a guest speaker program with a real WW II home front worker. Coupled with the interactive exhibits and a docent-led tour, I will learn how WW II-era women worked, lived, and persevered. Including the breadth and depth of women’s contributions is very important, especially for my female students who need to see and hear “themselves” as active participants in the nation’s past. “Herstory” does not rewrite history, but it does provide different perspectives and judgements about what is important.

My last stop in California will be a day trip to the town of Martinez and the Port Chicago Naval Magazine National Memorial. The memorial honors the 320 sailors and civilians who died in a munitions explosion in 1944. The majority of the deaths were black sailors working for the racially segregated military. This tragedy was a catalyst for the desegregation of the US Navy. Visiting this memorial allows me to explore the valiant—and often overlooked—contributions to the defense of our nation of African Americans.

STUDENT IMPACT

One of my high school’s 21st century learning expectations is titled “Connect,” and requires students to “become participative members in the social and civic community.” My fellowship’s focus on the stories and contributions of those who served in WW II will manifest itself in a Memorial Day “armed forces” luncheon for current and retired service members. The luncheon will be held at the local VFW and co-hosted by the local Lions Club and my students. The Lions Club will prepare the food and my students will advertise and organize the event, which will include a color guard, opening and closing statements, a keynote speaker, and entertainment. Gratitude unexpressed is easy to overlook, and the luncheon will allow my students to “salute” our community’s current and former servicemen and women.

SCHOOL COMMUNITY IMPACT

I plan on engaging the community in a number of ways. One of our town’s elderly residents served in World War II and was part of the D-Day invasion. He has agreed to share with my students his first-hand perspective of the most pivotal battle of WW II, one that was fought and won by citizen soldiers, like himself. I have also arranged a field trip to the Home – WWII Foundation, a local museum devoted to sharing the stories of those of fought in the war. Tim Gray, a WW II filmmaker and the museum founder, has agreed to lead a discussion about a WW II documentary he produced, allow students to handle WW II artifacts he has collected, and invite WW II veterans to share their oral histories with my students. Additionally, I am planning a town-wide event/exhibition on World War II in partnership with the local historical society.

HISTORY

Texts are often devoted to coverage rather than depth, and important events or people are reduced to a few sentences or a paragraph at best. This does not stimulate most students. Stories, however, not only transport students back into history, but the colorful characters, complex challenges, and believable settings inspire enthusiasm. Everyone has a story worth being told. I want to use stories to pique students’ curiosity to the point that they become invested in their own learning.

Day of the Dead is actually a two-day holiday in Mexico when families celebrate life and death simultaneously. From October 31 – November 2, people create ofrendas (or offerings) adorned with items such as foods, photos and items once enjoyed by family members who have died. This year, in the wake of COVID and also their Fund for Teachers fellowship, Rebecca Gauna and Sasha Villagrana decided to host a community-wide Day of the Dead Celebration at Chicago’s Robert Lindblom Math and Science Academy High School.

With their $10,000 FFT grant last summer, Becci and Sasha researched in Nayarit, Oaxaca, and Chiapas, Mexico, indigenous history, traditions, and folklore to inform learning for a Latino culture course, facilitate collaborations with English Language Learners in the special education program, and engage Spanish speaking parents. (Learn more about their experiences at Becci and Sasha‘s post-fellowship reporting.)

This fall, they began implementing their own learning with their students by creating a religious syncretism curriculum for their Latino Culture Colloquium. They also created an advisory lesson that was used school wide to talk about cultural identity. The community-wide Day of the Dead Family Night last week featured an ofrenda (above), performances by the Latino Dance Crew, and five craft stations in which students and their families created sugar skulls, made marigold flowers, and had their faces painted. Students led each activity and explained the significance and symbolism at each station.

“Many Mexican Americans who were born in the United States (including our students) often have a deep sense of feeling connected to Mexico yet have only visited a handful of times,” said Sasha. “The variety of the culture and languages we experienced within each state of Mexico really is so diverse that it is often hard for many Mexican Americans to comprehend or even understand how different it can be. This experience opened my eyes to how diverse the culture and language of Mexico really is and how little many of our students may even know about their family origins.”

“Indigenous groups in Mexico have been oppressed for centuries and this is clear when looking at poverty, access to healthcare, levels of education etc. in highly indigenous areas in Oaxaca and Chiapas,” Becci added. “Their stories too often go unheard when examining the history and culture of Mexico. We want to highlight the importance of indigenous subcultures within the dominant culture of Mexico and bring back inspiration for how marginalized communities maintain their culture and identity.”

Going forward, Sasha and Becci plan to create an interdisciplinary project between the school’s Latino Culture Colloquium, students in the school’s special education program, the art department and the library through a bilingual story time.  The teachers also established contacts with a nonprofit in Chiapas called Sueninos and a nonprofit in the Puerto Vallarta region called Entre Amigos through which will participate in language exchanges and cultural “intercambios,” as well as topics around dual identities and immigrant rights. We will also pursue our relationship with the Mexican Museum of Art in order to conduct an art and identity workshop.

“Our fellowship provided us with pictures, anecdotes, and most importantly, local perspectives and insights into our course units which will help students feel pride and connection with their heritage and engage with the material,” said Becci.

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Becci Gauna has taught Global Civics, Honors Psychology, Honors Sociology, US History, and World History. She has also helped design and develop her school’s Latino Culture program and sponsors the school’s Latino Dance team. Sasha Villagrana has been a New York City public alternative high school teacher for six years — two of which were in prison to a range of incarcerated youth populations facing the most severe challenges. She has also served Lindbom’s bilingual coordinator, foreign language department chair, and has taught the Latino Culture Colloquium, as well as Chinese.

At Oregon’s John Day Fossil Beds

The initial learning goals for my fellowship focused on my relative lack of knowledge about geological science. When I lead my students through explorations of the geological timescale, fossils, and distribution of resources, I stick close to published curricula to ensure that I provide them with factual information. With my Fund for Teachers grant, I sought to contextualize this science in our geographic space of the Western US and to learn enough to provide connections to which my students can relate. I planned a two-week RV road trip itinerary circling from Portland, Oregon, down the coast to Los Angeles, over to Arizona, and up through Utah and Idaho. 

As I researched sites of interest along this route, I noticed the prevalence of Indigenous cultural sites, museums, and partnerships between the National Parks and Indigenous Nations. After a day of planning and writing, I shared my excitement with my 9- and 11-year-old children, who would be my travel partners. My daughter’s reaction added another primary learning target: “There are still Native Americans?” I was aghast that her formal learning in elementary school and our casual learning as a family had left her with this thought.

My itinerary shifted to ensure that we learned together both about modern Indigenous culture and the events that lead us to the intentional erasure of history.

I approached this learning with humility, respect, and an understanding that the lands I was planning to visit were taken from people who lived in and cared for these places since time immemorial. Three sites in particular stand out for providing opportunities to learn from Indigenous people: The Heard Museum in Phoenix, the visitors center in Bryce Canyon National Park, and the Utah Museum of Natural History in Salt Lake City.

The Heard Museum (picture courtesy of kid101.com) is an art museum with a beautiful collection of traditional and modern American Indian art. It houses a powerful collection that showcases the diversity and commonalities of Indigenous art and craft. The portion of the museum that left us in quiet contemplation, however, was not the stunning artwork. Upstairs, there is an exhibit that documents the experience of American Indian boarding schools. Through a collection of historic documents, photographs, and recorded interviews, the exhibit conveys the horror of the intentional cultural genocide, as well as the resilience of the students, who found ways to preserve their identity. Our visit coincided with news reports of the mass graves in Canada.

Standing at the Grand Canyon

With this experience center of mind, we continued north through the Grand Canyon National Park, the Navajo Nation, and into Bryce Canyon National Park (top picture). In the Bryce Canyon Visitors Center, there is an exhibit called Native American Perspectives. Through interviews, representatives from several nations communicated a clear theme: You are always on Indigenous land. These parks which are your vacation that you will enjoy for a week are sacred. We have lived here for tens of thousands of years and we are still here.

Traveling onward, we visited the Utah Museum of Natural History. The Native Voices exhibit again showed the rich cultural history and the dispossession of land and resources. This exhibit had an additional focus: “We are among you. We are not limited to reservations. We are thriving, preserving our heritage, and teaching our children to continue our legacy ever stronger into the future.

At the Heard Museum, there is a placard referring to Navajo weaving that stuck with me. It reads:

“All at once, hundreds of years of songs, prayers, and traditions come together in every contemporary Navajo textile. All at once, an artist’s idea crystalizes. All at once, the artist’s years of training and practice combine to make the idea a reality.”

Together, these three exhibits provided me with a perspective of the “all at once” message that I internalized on this fellowship: I personally benefit from a brutal history of genocide and dispossession. I am always on Indigenous land. I have an opportunity and responsibility to incorporate this history and contemporary reality into my students’ learning.

View more of Melody’s photographs on her Instagram page.

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Melody Childers (pictured on her fellowship at the Grand Canyon) teaches middle school science at Beaverton Academy of Science and Engineering in Beaverton, Oregon. She enjoys writing curriculum that present students with an opportunity to learn about current scientific challenges in a solutions-focused context. Melody has worked with the Bonneville Environmental Foundation on solar, hydrogen, and renewable natural gas technology project-based units. She sees outdoor recreation as a pathway to develop a stewardship mindset in students.

Forty years ago, the United Nations declared September 21 the International Day of Peace to, according to the event website, “provide a globally shared date for all humanity to commit to Peace above all differences and to contribute to building a Culture of Peace.” FFT Fellow Amanda Hope (Dallas) committed her Fund for Teachers grant to this same cause last summer by examining in Birmingham, Montgomery and Selma, AL, various methods of civic engagement utilized in the Civil Rights Movement. She chose to conduct this research to then teach students at Moseley Elementary not only learn what it means to be a citizen, but also what it means to be an active and engaged citizen who strives to make a positive impact on their communities and nation. We asked her a few questions about her learning  and plans for student learning this year:

Standing before the National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, AL.

[minti_dropcap style=”circle”]Q[/minti_dropcap]

Why did you design this particular fellowship?

[minti_dropcap style=”circle”]A[/minti_dropcap]

Given the current political climate of our country, teaching civic education in schools is imperative. Students need to not only learn what it means to be a citizen, but also what it means to be an active and engaged citizen who strives to make a positive impact on their
communities and nation.

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Can you describe a specific moment from your fellowship that is particularly memorable?

[minti_dropcap style=”circle”]A[/minti_dropcap]

One experience I had during my fellowship was learning about my own family members who were some of the unsung heroes of the Civil Rights Movement in Alabama. Words cannot express the pride I felt when I saw my two uncles, Ulysses Blackmon, Jr. and James Gildersleeve, featured in an exhibit at the National Voting Rights Museum in Selma, AL. Seeing my uncles being honored reminded me that anyone, no matter their social standing, can play a role in the greater collective good.

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What are some specific plans you have to implement your fellowship in the classroom?

[minti_dropcap style=”circle”]A[/minti_dropcap] My specific plans are to reintroduce my students to the “Good Citizens” unit that is a part of our curriculum. The goal of this project is for students to identify what a citizen is and develop an understanding of their roles as citizens in the classroom, school, community, state, and nation. The product of this unit will be a multi-media presentation that will be exhibited on our classroom website. I want this unit to be an opportunity for them to learn not only about the roles of citizens in a society, but I also want them to learn that citizenship is a right that has been denied to many. I will do this by specifically focusing on the civil rights denied to African Americans in the American South and their struggle to be recognized as full citizens. Our study of the Civil Rights Movement with a focus on the state of Alabama will allow my students to gain a deeper understanding of how civic engagement can be used as a tool to shape
legislation and pressure lawmakers to protect the rights of all U.S. citizens regardless of their race, class, religion, sexuality, gender, etc. I want my students to see how everyday citizens can unite and organize around a problem and/or injustice in our communities and our society-at-large. My plan is to introduce my students to how citizens can utilize civic engagement strategies to push policy makers to create and implement change for the greater good.

[minti_dropcap style=”circle”]Q[/minti_dropcap] What is one way you can leverage your fellowship to create an authentic learning experience for students?

[minti_dropcap style=”circle”]A[/minti_dropcap] I would definitely like to use this fellowship as a means of getting my students more involved with our community. My plan is to get students to start thinking about a problem or injustice within our school community and begin to brainstorm ways to get involved and put their ideas into action. I think allowing my students to determine a problem and figure out ways to address it will allow for them to feel a sense of connection and autonomy regarding how we decide to civically engage.

[minti_dropcap style=”circle”]Q[/minti_dropcap] What did your fellowship teach you about teaching peace?

[minti_dropcap style=”circle”]A[/minti_dropcap] My fellowship taught me that achieving peace is always active and never passive and that everyone plays a role. I hope to instill within my students the value of seeing themselves as vital and active stakeholders in the pursuit of peace and justice in our communities, nation, and world.

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Amanda Hope is a K-5th grade Gifted/Talented Program teacher at Nancy Moseley Elementary in Dallas, Texas. Amanda has served as a classroom teacher for nearly 10 years. She most recently received the 2020-2021 Campus Teacher of the Year award at her school. In addition to teaching, Amanda is a senior policy fellow with Teach Plus, an organization that empowers teachers to advocate for policy changes at local, state, and federal levels to increase equitable opportunities for students. You can follow Amanda on @crayonsandsacapuntas.

Sixty-six years ago today, fourteen-year-old Emmett Till was lynched and shot for allegedly flirting with a young white woman at her family’s store in Money, MS. His body was recovered from the bottom of the Tallahatchie River three days later. Brandon Barr‘s students in Chicago are the same age as Till was when he died. Brandon felt that similarity would resonate with his English students in a powerful way. This FFT Fellow plans to add anecdotes and artifacts gathered from his exploration of sites associated with Till’s murder, as well as Civil Rights sites in Memphis, to develop a unit focused on his life and the legacy of his death. Brandon shared his motivation and plans for students below…

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As a veteran middle school teacher, a lot has changed over the course of my career, including learning standards, forms of standardized testing and the novel uses of emerging technology. For the most part, I have been able to navigate these changes well. One change that I have not been as quick to adapt to is creating curricular opportunities for students to think about why advocating for equity is important in history and in the present day.

The Civil Rights Movement is rife with historical moments that are sad and unfortunate. I have seen a number of my colleagues, and I include myself in this, who have taught in a way that victimize African Americans. While it is true that many African Americans were victims of living in segregated and oppressive societies, the Civil Rights Movement is also rife with examples of individuals asserting their collective power and resistance in fighting oppression. I am looking to reframe how I have taught history from the this time period to focus more on empowerment while also improving the accessibility of learning materials and increasing engagement for all learners. My students need to see examples of what it means to fight for justice in order to be ready to engage in “good trouble” when they encounter injustices and inequity in the future.

To that end, every year I try to teach about Emmett Till because his death has a significant legacy; it is often evoked when injustices happen in the present. I want to make the case study that I do with students more robust and highlight the actions of both Till’s mother and uncle. Both acted in ways that demonstrate agency and upstander behaviors, and my goal is to highlight their actions rather than leave my students focusing solely on the brutality of Till’s death. I think I can teach this history in a deeper way that shows the impact that direct confrontation of inequity and injustice can have when deployed in a strategic fashion. That’s why I designed this particular fellowship and joined Fund for Teachers’ Equity cohort with an Innovation Circle Grant. Next week, I will visit the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis and the Emmett Till Interpretive Center in Sumner, MS, to strengthen my instructional approach to this period of his history using an equitable lens for how the information is shared and presented to my students.

In thinking specifically about equity, there is the principle of direct confrontation that dictates that there is no path to equity that does not involve a direct confrontation with inequity. When we think about the historical legacy of the Civil Rights Movement, we see the power of individuals actively confronting inequity. The actions of individuals created real change because of their engagement and advocacy. I want my students to understand that African Americans lived (and in many instances still live) in environments that sought to diminish their collective power and privilege. I want students to see the creativity that many individuals demonstrated in finding solutions that fought inequity and dramatically improved the quality of life that African Americans can have in the United States because of their direct action. By extension, I want students to think about problems in the world today that stem from inequity and reflect on how they may use their collective voices and actions to induce change.

In 2010, Brandon received a Fund For Teachers grant to explore Holocaust and WWII sites, meet with survivors, and build a relationship with a partner school in Berlin, Germany. From that experience, he became a regional consultant for IWitness and was present for the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. Read more about that experience on his blog published by Facing History & Ourselves. (Photo of Brandon courtesy of the USC Shoah Foundation.Top photo of Emmett Till courtesy of the Southern Poverty Law Center.)

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

Even prior to the pandemic, experts widely acknowledged that America’s students were experiencing a mental health crisis. A 2017 CDC report showed that suicide was the second-leading cause of death for 15-24 year olds. Add incidents of self-harm into the equation and the outlook is even more bleak. The average age a student begins self-harming habits is 13 and 45% of people use cutting as their method of self-injury. And who has the most exposure to students during these years? Ostensibly, its teachers.

Earlier this year, the Brookings Institution published an article titled “Educators are key in protecting student mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic.” Cassi Clausen, teacher and founder of The Open School in Mission Viejo, CA, realized she was not equipped for this challenge. In 2018 Cassi received a Fund for Teachers grant to Attend the annual Sudbury Schools Conference in Kingston, NY, to learn best practices for supporting at-risk students. Using one of Fund for Teachers’ new Innovation Grants, she spent the summer in dialogue with psychology Dr. Thomas D’Angelo, an expert in pre-teen and teen mental health and self-harm practices, to shift her personal understanding of self-harm and learn how to create safe spaces for struggling students.