Fund for Teachers encourages a holistic approach to designing a fellowship by asking teachers to consider:

• what is missing from their classrooms and school communities
• why this grant specifically will address those gaps, and
• how they and their students will benefit going forward.

For Jillian Swinford and Piotr Wojciaczyk (Pulaski International School of Chicago), COVID influenced all three answers.

“International Baccalaureate was the guiding philosophy at our school and our cohesive curriculum allowed students to apply their knowledge across all subjects for real-world learning and the transfer of their knowledge in creative and expressive ways,” wrote the teachers in their grant proposal. “Unfortunately, the pandemic forced a shift away from these principles to focus more strictly on reading and math instruction to make up for ‘learning loss.’ The negative effects of these changes can be seen in student achievement and the lack of collaboration among teachers.”

An additional COVID casualty was connections that celebrated learning, resulting in isolation from the community, their peers and even themselves. Piotr and Jillian chose to design a fellowship that would reintegrate the school’s IB focus, reunite students, and elevate a global culture within the school community undergoing a demographic shift.

With a $10,000 Fund for Teachers grant, the teaching duo learned the techniques of traditional block printing, eco-friendly dyeing techniques, and about the sustainable fashion industry in India to create a cross-disciplinary unity between art and design that teaches students about sustainability and creating clothing that expresses their identity.

Jillian and Piotr wanted to empower their students to model change, not fast fashion that comprises 10% of total global carbon emissions annually. In addition to learning about Indian culture in Jaipur and New Delhi, they also apprenticed with artisans to learning art of traditional block printing on fabric, ecofriendly dyeing techniques, and the country’s emerging sustainable clothing companies.

“Getting a chance to meet the artisans & see how the village of Bagru — where more 400 families live and work to create the majority of the hand printed fabric in India — worked together was inspirational,” said Jill. “I also learned to take things slowly & be flexible. There were times that our plans had to change & instead of getting stressed, we took things in stride & maintained a positive attitude. The fellowship also re-inspired my teaching and provided me with so many unique learning experiences that I couldn’t wait to share with my students!”

Seventh graders in Jillian’s art class and Piotr’s design class wholeheartedly dove into a new hands-on unit this spring. In addition to learning about the fast fashion industry, students carved blocks with a symbol that represented their identity, used it to print their fabric, and then created a hand-sewn outfit with the fabric in their Design class.

The culminating project took place in March — a community wide style show, complete with runway, lights and models of change sporting clothes they made that represent who they are. Watch their premiere here.

Fund for Teachers has announced our 23^rd cohort of grant recipients, bringing our total investment in nearly 10,000 preK-12 teachers to $37,000 million. This year’s FFT Fellows represent our largest percentage of Teachers of Color, 365 public/private/charter schoolteachers from 36 states and the District of Columbia.

Meet our 2024 FFT Fellows

Fund for Teachers grants support teachers as the primary learner in the classroom and trusts they know best what their students need to advance academically and emotionally. That’s why there is relatively no limitation on what a teacher can propose to learn, or where they propose to learn it. Over the past 24 years, FFT Fellows have pursued new knowledge, skills, and perspectives in 170 different countries on every continent.

“A curious teacher who recognizes students’ learning gaps, honors their lived experiences, and actively seeks innovative solutions will change the lives of those students and their families,” said Karen Eckhoff, Fund for Teachers’ executive director.  Our Fellows are models of what can happen when teachers are respected professionals and valued as agents of change.”

Fund for Teachers also invests in teachers by awarding Innovation Circle Grants that fuel Fellows’ independent research during the summer, followed by virtual collaboration with other Fellows throughout the fall followed by classroom implementation in the spring.

We are excited to begin introducing these exemplary teachers and invite you to follow their fellowships throughout the summer on our Facebook, Instagram, blog and podcast!

Today is a once-in-a-lifetime event, as he moon passes between Earth and the sun for a total eclipse — the perfect event to capture students’ imagination across math, English and art classes. That’s what FFT Fellow Jerry Hites, thought anyway, when he proposed an Innovation Circle Grant last year.

Jerry’s school, Fairport Harding High School in Fairport, OH, sits in the path of totality, which means thousands of visitors are flocking to the region to experience 3 minutes 49.9 seconds of totality. Jerry wanted to build on the local significance of the event, and his teaching team was over the moon to join in.

“I haven’t team taught in a long time, but my colleagues were excited about using the eclipse as a lens for our students to study in-depth and examine their perspectives and that of the world around them,” Jerry said. “Learning doesn’t happen in a vacuum and teaching shouldn’t either which is why this project involves science, geography, math, art, and ELA.” 

Nine months earlier, Jerry used a Fund for Teachers Innovation Circle Grant to witness the impact of art on a small town. He visited the Starland District of Savannah, GA, a revitalized area made up of shops that expand on peoples’ talents. Then, through monthly, virtual meetings with other Fellows throughout the fall, he arrived upon the idea of this solar eclipse project:

• • English students read A Few Beautiful Minutes, Voices in the Park and The Day You Begin, and used examples of reference books to draw their own picture books for elementary students.
  • Art students created pieces using black chalk paper, pastel chalks and glow in the dark paints in space donated by the First Congregational Church.
  • Math students constructed maps and timelines converting the path into mathematical formulations. And,
  • Special education students theorized on past, present and future impact on the local region, specifically Fairport.

One of Jerry’s students designed an I Was There 4-8-24 T-shirt to sell at a local vintage store (image headlining this post). All 100 students in his classes got to do a chalk design, canvas painting and all received a copy of A Few Beautiful Minutes. “The excitement hasn’t died down yet,” Jerry said.

Later this week, his students will present about the eclipse, and their projects, to elementary students and the town’s school board.

“The driving question for this project was: We make decisions all the time. When we make these decisions, are we walking out of the darkness into the light or out of the light into the darkness?” Jerry said. “The choice is ours.” 

You can watch Jerry’s presentation about his Innovation Circle Grant and this particular project here.

Today we open our third year of Innovation Circle Grants specifically for those previously awarded Fund for Teachers grants. Participants dive into one of two topics alongside other FFT Fellows – first individually over the summer, then virtually as a cohort throughout the fall – to create positive change in their classrooms and communities.

Based on input from our Educator Advisory Council and additional FFT Fellows, the 2024 Innovation Circles are:

Advancing Student-Centered Learning and Teachers Shaping the Future of Education.

Topic #1 – Advancing Student-Centered Learning

Due to the success of last year’s Circle with a similar theme, we’re continuing to devote resources to Fellows’  research and implementation of learning informed by students’ heritage, home, and history. What does this mean specifically?

• Have you noticed a pattern of student engagement you want to shift?
• Are students telling you (with words or actions) that they need a change?
• Is your current curriculum feeling estranged and lacking engagement?

As with our fellowship grants, the subject of your learning is up to you; it just needs to be focused on and rooted in your students’ lived experiences.  

Topic #2 – Teachers Shaping the Future of Education

Too often, decisions impacting education fail to entertain teachers’ voices and wisdom. This Circle represents Fund for Teachers’ effort to further empower educators as advocates for themselves and their students. Under the leadership of two nationally recognized thought leaders (who were once teachers themselves), participants this Circle will identify an issue that they want to influence. That issue, however, can range from:

• student-driven concerns;
• school-specific dilemmas (i.e. cell phone use);
• district policies impacting students, teachers and/or families, or;
• state and/or national educational advocacy opportunities.

Ultimately, the purpose of this circle is to help teachers learn how to navigate environments to promote change that will serve your communities. 

Timeline

Now through April 18, FFT Fellows are encouraged to apply for an Innovation Circle grant here. The FFT Fellow facilitators will be announced in mid-March; the new Circle cohorts will be notified on April 29; and checks will be distributed, and virtual orientations held in May.

Fund for Teachers established this secondary grant to support our Fellows who initially took learning into their own hands through a summer fellowship grant. Innovation Circles represent the next step in their journey toward personal and professional evolution. Questions? Contact Liza Eaton at info@fundforteachers.org.

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.”

Fund for Teachers does not exist without Friends for Teachers – those of you who contribute financially and donate your time and voices to help us spread the word about our nationally-unique approach to impacting education. On the heels of our hometown of Houston hosting the College Football Championship last month, we are particularly grateful for Extra Yard for Teachers and the College Football Playoffs Foundation.

In addition to sponsoring uplifting events in local schools and collaborating with non-profit education partners in and around the city, Extra Yard for Teachers also donated $100,000 to Fund for Teachers earmarked for fellowships designed by Houston-area teachers. Receiving this gift, as well as this vote of confidence in our approach to investing in teachers, models what is possible through non-profit collaboration and makes the upcoming summer one of new knowledge and insights for Houston educators and, afterwards, their students and school communities.

If you want to learn more about how to support teachers, their students and school communities through Fund for Teachers, contact our development director Stephen Butler.

Tasked with developing and implementing an African American history course in keeping with Virginia governor’s executive order, FFT Fellow Ariel Alford (Alexandria, VA) leveraged a Fund for Teachers fellowship to build content and context knowledge. The following is her account of exploring British Black History last summer and why that matters to her African American History students.

“On August 24th, 2019 at Old Point Comfort, the site where the first enslaved Africans arrived in Virginia over 400 years ago, Governor Ralph Northam signed Executive Order Thirty Nine and announced the establishment of the Virginia African American History Education Commission. One of the Governor’s many charges to the Commission was to thoroughly examine Virginia’s K-12 curricula and make recommendations for improving the way African American history is taught in Virginia schools. The Commission found that the social studies standards presented a master narrative that erases the presence of non-Europeans from the American landscape and Virginia’s Social Studies Standards of Learning were deemed incomplete with regards to the inclusion of African American.

In light of this research, the Virginia African American History Commission was tasked with:

• ensuring that the standards were more inclusive of African American history;
• providing opportunities for students to deeply engage with the content, drawing connections to its relevance in our contemporary communities: and,
• overseeing the development of the first African American history course ever offered in the state of Virginia.

Impacting the Present

In the Summer of 2021, I was selected to join a curriculum project team and assist in the course development and implementation of a 9-12 African American History elective course within my district’s secondary schools for the 2021-2022 inaugural school year. Within this team, I was tasked with creating and revising course themes, yearlong pacing guide, unit guides, unit objectives, and driving essential questions.

I’ve taught this course from its inaugural year until the present. In these three years I have personally witnessed parents and students share their disappointment at the lack of intentional and progressive inclusion of African American history and global African Diasporic history throughout their K-12 journey. Too often when the content is presented it focuses exclusively and poorly on slavery, suffering and trauma. Students deserve opportunities to confront this “hard history” through various lens – including agency, resistance, and culture.

Therefore, when given the opportunity to propose a Fund for Teachers fellowship centered in students’ interests and culture, my focus was clear. I wanted to continue my commitment to engaging the African Diaspora and exposing my students to the connected diversity within it.

Using a $3,000 grant, I explored significant cultural and historical sites throughout London and other boroughs to document Black British history, with a focus on cross-cultural connections with African Americans during the Civil Rights era and modern social justice movements.

BCA is the only Black History museum in the United Kingdom

The World Reimagined was an outdoor exhibit featuring 36 giant globes

I sat in the British Museum and pondered the cultural plundering suffered by African people

Walking Through The Past

Because my current curriculum covers five overarching themes of the African American history course (Agency, Culture & Innovation, Memory, Power, and Resistance), I designed my fellowship to support those themes as well – examples included visiting the Black Cultural Archives in Brixton, The Museum of London Docklands oral history project, and engaging Black History Walks walking tours led by Tony Warner.

What I found most affirming about these experiences was listening to and learning from community leaders who have an unwavering commitment to justice, liberation, and self-determination. From the Black Parents Movement, British Black Panther Party, Speakers Corner in Hyde Park (Docklands), or the hidden Black history in Regents Canal (Black History Walks) I was privileged to witness the preservation of African Diasporic history and culture in real-time.

One of the most formative aspects of the fellowship was developing a partnership with Charles Golding and Lawrence Hoo, founders of the CARGO Movement and its CARGO Classroom initiative. CARGO Classroom and others are leading the charge to elevate Black History education throughout the United Kingdom by building curriculum and resources teachers need to engage African Diasporic history in meaningful ways.

Awakening the Future

This month, as a member of the DC Area Educators for Social Justice, my students are participating in the 2024 Black Lives Matter: Week of Action campaign promoting a set of national demands based in 13 guiding principles that focus on liberation and racial justice in education for youth, educators, and communities. I was able to share my 2024 plans and its connection to my FFT fellowship during our annual BLM @ School Curriculum Fair in mid-January.

For the 2024 week of action, my students and I will focus on principle five Globalism (Globalism: We see ourselves as part of the global Black family and we are aware of the different ways we are impacted or privileged as Black folk who exist in different parts of the world.) to explore the African Diaspora. In connection with my summer fellowship, students will focus on the Black led movement in the UK throughout the 1960s and 70s, analyzing the similarities, differences, and connections between similar Black led movements in the US.

Additionally, students will have the unique opportunity to participate in a virtual workshop with Charles and Lawrence (CARGO Movement) to learn about contemporary issues and movements impacting Black/Afro-Diasporic communities in the UK, preview new digital content from CARGO classroom, and engage in a Q&A session about various topics.

My passion for the holistic development of young people and positive elevation of the African Diaspora are coupled as I continue to seek out innovative experiences for my students. I believe in Dr. John Henrik Clarke’s quote:

“History tells a people where they’ve been, what they’ve been, where they are and what they are. Most importantly, history tells a people where they still must go, what they still must be.”

I am grateful for the role my Fund for Teachers fellowship plays and will continue to play in how I live out this purpose.

For more:

• Access troves of varied and in-depth learning curated by the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.
• Watch FFT Fellow Brian Scannell (Ghent, NY) share about how attending a workshop on radical nonviolence sponsored by The International Center for Nonviolence and Peace Studies informed a student field trip from upstate New York through the Deep South to coincide with MLK Day last month.
• Listen to FFT Fellow Pratia Jordan (Houston) reflect on her fellowship researching the Transatlantic Slave Trade through historical sites in Europe, Africa and North America to teach students that their history didn’t start or end with slavery.

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.

Navajo Code Talker statue with Window Rock in the background

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

At Carrowkeel Mounds near Sligo, Ireland, I was able to explore freely without any restrictions other than my own fear. Believe it or not, I did muster the courage to skinny into the tomb behind me. It was for science!

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.”