Established in 1854, Norwich Free Academy includes in its mission: “[to] study all that is beautiful in nature and art, and [be] prepared for the highest usefulness and the purest happiness.” Fund for Teachers Fellow Sarah Lefrancois fulfilled that mission and more with her 2022 fellowship.

After retracing the footsteps/work of Ansel Adams in and around Yosemite Park to learn about landscape photography and advocacy, she planned on inspiring a student art show documenting their local landscapes. But her community and colleagues envisioned greater vistas.

See Sarah’s post-fellowship report and photos here.

 

Sarah writes:

After completing my fellowship to Yosemite, I sat down with the head of the Norwich Free Academy Foundation, Kathy McCarthy, who is an amazing support of our students and teachers. She mentioned that the Class of 1968 donated money to establish a small gallery called “The Cube” in the Atrium located near the entrance of our on-campus museum and that my project fit well into their original vision for that space.

I began to think about what to put in there – because 2D work just isn’t shown well in the space – and started to reach out to local museums and agencies to see if they had any taxidermy that they could share. I started thinking about the Museum of Natural History dioramas but realized that creating something that looked realistic would be time consuming and stressful.

In talking with my can-do colleagues at lunch one day, we started to throw around the idea of how we could work together to produce such a display. They jumped right in, excited to be part of such a project. These women are amazing, and it felt so good to include three other people in with my fellowship project.

My photo of our local park was printed and attached to the wall in the background. The unified clay class, in partner with my photography class, worked to make pinch pot mushrooms and giant mushrooms, rocks, and a stump out of plaster of paris. The unified arts class worked on making blades of grass out of cardboard and birds.

The Advanced Jewelry and Metals class worked on making whatever their hearts desired when they saw the display put together! One student donated a pin tailed duck mount to be hung, and my boyfriend, who is a graduate of NFA and a Environmental Conservation Officer with the State of Connecticut loaned us his coyote mount to be the central focus. I worked on the birch trees and vines as well as collecting leaves and brush 🙂

The display in The Cube is bright, eye catching, and engaging. Students ask so many questions about what is inside of it and who made everything. It is a wonderful welcome to our gymnasiums and the museum. It helps guide people to view the series of photographs on display in the upper level of the building!

Thank you so much. This opportunity afforded to me [through Fund for Teachers] has been not only transformative to my teaching practice, but also the lives of my students as we learned together about the importance of publicly held lands for our wellbeing and our civic duty to protect them!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

What does Teacher Validation Look Like?

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Fellowship

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

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

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

The “Followship”

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

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

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

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

Access that exhibit here.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[minti_divider style=”1″ icon=”” margin=”20px 0px 20px 0px”]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[minti_divider style=”1″ icon=”” margin=”20px 0px 20px 0px”]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[minti_divider style=”1″ icon=”” margin=”20px 0px 20px 0px”]

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

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

 

 

 

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

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

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

Their fellowship included experiencing:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

See Lucian’s complete post-fellowship summary here.

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

The Church of San Giorgio

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

 

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

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

 

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

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

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

 

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

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

Apply today and submit by January 19

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[minti_divider style=”1″ icon=”” margin=”20px 0px 20px 0px”]

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

September 21 is International Day of Peace, declared by The UN General Assembly as “a day devoted to strengthening the ideals of peace, through observing 24 hours of non-violence and cease-fire.” Three 2022 FFT Fellows chose to devote their fellowships to the ideals of peace on behalf of their students this summer.

Christina Campbell and Meredith Branch (Vista Condor Global Academy – Santa Ana, CA) designed their fellowship to attend the World Peace Game Master Class in Long Island, NY, to bring the World Peace Game to students who will explore global themes such as the economy, diplomacy, war, and the common good. And,

Ryan O’Connell (Northeast Academy Arts Magnet School – Mystic, CT) attended a World Peace Game Master Class to become a certified World Peace Game facilitator, observing the implementation of the simulation with students and studying its guiding philosophies and unique applications for learning design in his school community.

What is the World Peace Game and why do these teachers find it important enough to design a fellowship around it? We asked Ryan for more information…

[minti_divider style=”3″ icon=”” margin=”20px 0px 20px 0px”]

Since meeting World Peace Game (WPG) creator John Hunter as a graduate student and discussing its core principles with him over time, it has been my aspiration to attend a WPG Master Class to train as a facilitator. Observing students’ gameplay and discussing it with fellow educators has reaffirmed my belief that in and beyond our classrooms, no matter one’s background or ability, everyone has something valuable to contribute.

My training took place in Dallas, Texas. Each morning, my colleagues and I viewed the facilitation of the simulation with students in grades 6-8 participating in a summer session of the World Peace Game Camp at The Hockaday School. Each afternoon, per the World Peace Game Foundation, we identified “the essential attributes necessary to facilitate the Game through a series of reflective questions and activities” as well as design “learning that is inspired by the principles and spirit of the Game.” After the five-day Master Class, I am now a facilitator!

Students addressed a variety of crises drawn from current global events, from land and water rights to nuclear proliferation to climate change. Through the WPG experience, my students will better understand these often-intersecting issues and explore ways to create positive change in our school and community.

Because facilitators must construct their own World Peace Game boards, I used a portion of my fellowship funding to purchase building materials and playing pieces. During the 2022-2023 school year, I will facilitate the World Peace Game for the first time in my fifth-grade classroom as part of a social studies unit on understanding and applying concepts of history, geography, economics, and civics to the study of growing nations.

While the Game is the primary focus of the Master Class, fellow educators and I also left with an understanding of how to integrate its principles into lesson design. Hands-on learning and self-reflection are key elements in my instruction, and this fellowship has provided new insights and approaches that I am excited to bring to my classroom. Through this enriching opportunity, I have gained the tools to nurture my students’ appreciation for the role of tolerance and consideration of multiple viewpoints around an issue. The World Peace Game provides a vehicle to help them recognize what they can achieve when they work together.

Above are images of the WPG board Ryan created and will use this spring with his students.

[minti_divider style=”3″ icon=”” margin=”20px 0px 20px 0px”]

Through a classroom culture that promotes creativity and collaboration, he inspires his students to push the boundaries of their knowledge and learn through alternative approaches that express their unique talents. He is the 2022 Groton Public Schools Teacher of the Year and a Connecticut Teacher of the Year semifinalist.

The death of Queen Elizabeth II evokes a wide range of emotions and much reflection on the history associated with the longest reign in the British monarchy. The global attention on royalty also brings to mind the fellowship of Stephanie McCrary, history teacher at Decatur High School in Decatur, AL.

Stephanie used a Fund for Teachers grant to work alongside experts in British public history at the Royal Archives and British Library in London to make historical documents more accessible to the public and create video learning around the reign of the Hanovers and the British Empire during the 18th-20th centuries. (The House of Hanover preceded the current House of Windsor in the British monarchy).

Stephanie designed this fellowship to help students learn how to use primary sources, as well as to realize the relevancy of world history.

“The students in the United States have reached a point where they view history as simply a class that has to be had to graduate, and assume that it is not utilized outside of schools,” wrote Stephanie in her grant proposal. “I want to observe and analyze the methods used by England to make those connections between educational history and public history.”

For three weeks during the summer of 2019, Stephanie pursued three initiatives:

1. Research alongside experts in British public history involved with The Georgian Papers Programme at the Royal Archives and in the British Library to make the Hanoverian Documents open to the general public.
2. Analyze public history and how its benefits secondary students at The National Portrait Gallery, British Museum, Museum of London, Tower of London, Windsor, and Hampton Court. And,
3. Create a series of video lessons from these sites to use in the classroom.

See Stephanie’s post-fellowship summary here.

Upon returning home from her fellowship, Stephanie partnered with Dr. Jeff Bibbee, professor at the University of North Alabama, to incorporate the Georgian Papers Programme into her classroom. Together, they taught her students about archival work and its importance in education. Then, the Georgian Papers Programme allowed the students to transcribe Hanoverian Documents — making them the only high school students ever to do so.

“During this fellowship I learned about the collaborative efforts that occur between archivists, public historians and educators. In order to have a true historical and educational experience for students all three have to come together to create and organize historical content in an accessible way for students,” said Stephanie. “This time in Europe  allowed me to make connections with archivists and historians and empowered me to bring primary source content into my classroom, impacting my students for years to come.”

A secondary outcome was demonstrating how learning is accomplished beyond the classroom. Stephanie served as a role model who pursued knowledge and experiences in a variety of individuals and sources — not text books or Google.

“According to the United States Library of Congress, using primary sources fosters active reading and response and makes students question creator bias, purpose, point of view and even their own assumptions,” said Stephanie. “When students learn to compare competing points of views, they become better equipped to be productive and active citizens of our society.”

Top photo features Stephanie (front row/far right) at Windsor Castle, where she toured the Royal Collection Trust archives and transcribed historical documents.

Take a closer look at this image.  What story does it tell?  Who do you think is telling the story?

Our Fellow, Stephanie Graham, embarked on an in-depth study of forced migration of the Stockbridge-Munsee tribe from New York to Wisconsin. Not only did her Fellowship lead her to deepen her understanding of the history of her community but it also helped her and her students grapple with important questions like, Who gets to tell History? To learn more about the Stockbridge-Munsee Tribe, you can learn more on these Tribe-created websites:

• History of the Stockbridge Munsee Community
• Brief History of the Mohican Nation
• The Mohican People – Their Lives and Their Lands A Curriculum Unit for Grades Four to Five

Fellow Curated Resources

• Stephanie’s Fellowship Passport
• Art project 1: Altered Book Project
• Art project 2: Hexagon Project

“In the current teaching and understanding of indigenous peoples, students in my school feel very removed from the stories. I have seen this in my high school art classes in the superficial use of imagery in their practice of making objects. I also see it in their lessons in social studies, where the knowledge is presented as history and not as living culture that continues to be affected by westernized notions of stories, practice, and object relevance. Students should be taught to understand their role in the relationship between past atrocities and the current climate of injustice… However, the ideas are almost too abstract for children to understand because they lack a sense of connection to the land, stories, and practices of their place of living and learning. Our land is not only tied to indigenous history, it is also the home of important figures in black history, including Mumbet, Dubois, and others. It is through that connection to “place” that students will better understand their identity, which is necessary in developing a sense of empathy towards the people from whom the place was stolen.” 

Additional Fellow-Created Resources

• Hannah Sherk – How landscapes influence and inspire our creative endeavors.

• Sunny Zheng-Herb – Exploration of Native Alaskan arts and culture.

 

Do you have a moment to give us some feedback? Take this quick survey.

Mural Legend

Today marks the final Friday in August, the end of summer and the conclusion of most of our our 2022 grant recipients’ fellowships. We’ve proudly introduced you to many of these deserving educators through this Fellow Friday series by grouping them in similar categories (math, literacy, music, world cultures, etc.) But some of our Fellows’ plans defy being pigeonholed. To close out the summer, we share a few of those below…

Click here for a complete list of grant recipients.

[minti_divider style=”3″ icon=”” margin=”20px 0px 20px 0px”]

Thomas Houston | Sturgis Charter Public School West – Cape Cod, MA
Gather resources and learning about the historiography of the Irish Independence movement in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland to create a model International Baccalaureate paper 2 for the Independent Movements unit.

“As a student and teacher of history I have learned with increasing clarity that the memory of history is almost as important as the actual events themselves. This historical memory; how we teach students about the past, and how that changes – the historiography – is fascinating to explore with students. The Irish Independence movement carries a lot of historical memory in Ireland and informs actions that people take today. It played a huge role in the Troubles in Northern Ireland and is now being reassessed again in Ireland due to the centenary anniversaries of the events of the Independence struggle and the discussions over what Brexit will mean for Northern Ireland and the border with the Republic. “

Darlene Martino | Wayne Primary – Ontario Center, NY
Participate in puppetry workshops for teachers in San Francisco, CA and Eugene, OR to introduce puppets as tools for students to build social skills, experience other perspectives, tackle difficult conversations, express opinions, and resolve conflicts.

“Compared to previous youngsters I have worked with over the past two decades of my career, many of my current students are profoundly more emotionally needy. My students are hungry for conversation, they ask for opportunities to work with peers, and they are eager to find connection with others. I see a need to nurture resilience, develop active listening skills, and grow empathy among students and am optimistic that I have found a solution in puppetry. I believe that this highly engaging medium will help students build civic skills, experience other perspectives, tackle difficult conversations, express opinions, reduce prejudice, and resolve conflicts.”

Rachel McMinn | Success High School – Meriden, CT
Bryce McMinn | Orville H. Platt High School | Meriden, CT
Research notorious crimes of the 19th and 20th century in the United Kingdom to create cross-curricular learning through the lens of technology in the field of forensics and the role of investigative journalism in solving crime.

“Our fellowship focuses on real-life examples of crimes that were investigated by pioneers of forensic science and journalism in England. We will visit, photograph and 3D survey the the crime scenes for the late 1800 serial killers of London. We will also visit crime labs, and interview historians, detectives and newspapers to discuss crime scene evaluation, handling of suspects, and collection and analysis of evidence collected from the crime scenes. We will learn the role of the media reporting to determine how this helped/hindered identifying and apprehending suspect(s). This will be high interest content that will be used to engage students and teach to the appropriate level of rigor in our classrooms.”

Amare McPherson & StaceyAnn Palma
New Beginnings Family Academy | Bridgeport, CT
Document best practices associated with the Reggio Emilia experienced-based pedagogy where it was founded in Italy to implement its progressive, student-led and focused learning experiences with PK-8 students at an urban charter school.

“Reggio Emilia has a long history of progressive, student-led and focused learning experiences that we as educators can learn from. Reggio Emilia encourages students of all ages to express themselves through their hundred languages, giving voice to the social, and emotional needs and challenges that are particular to students in our urban charter school community. Giving students the power to authentically and constructively express their thoughts, fears, joys and concerns can generate meaningful discussions, observations, ideas, and possible solutions to personal, familial, communal and global issues of impact.”

Krista Peltier | Mohegan Elementary School – Montville, CT
Investigate the differences in Italian, French, British, and Dutch fashion culture — past and present — to inspire self expression, self reflection, and creativity amongst students in their own fashion designs during makerspace.

“Fashion is a method of self expression and who we are as individuals, while also being a creative outlet. Through examination of fashion in France, Italy, England and the Netherlands, I can bring back historical perspectives and cultural differences amongst fashion in different countries to my classroom. I want to inspire my students to create their own pieces of fashion during Makerspace that express who they are as individuals, but also promote self-reflection and their cultural identities to intermix our academic and social emotional learning.”

Michelle She | District of Columbia Public Schools – Washington, DC
Learn to repair broken braillewriters through Perkins’ Braillewriter Repair Workshops; study non-visual and adaptive techniques for personal care through CN Vision Image Consulting, and improve fluency while learning healthy cooking skills in Oaxaca, Mexico, to enrich the personal and educational experience of students with visual impairments.

“One of the biggest problems facing our vision team today is the lack of fully functioning braillewriters. We currently have approximately 30 broken braillewriters in our inventory. As a result, one of my main goals for this professional development project is to learn about the inner workings of a braillewriter and how to repair broken ones. My second goal is to learn adaptive hygiene, grooming, and self-care techniques to teach my students so that they can be more aware of how others perceive them while in public. People who are visually impaired often feel very ‘other,’ and learning some skills to make sure they look their best will help boost their confidence and self-esteem.”

[minti_divider style=”3″ icon=”” margin=”20px 0px 20px 0px”]

“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.”

If you missed any of this summer series, take the time look back and meet many of the other educators whom we highlighted on Fellow Fridays. Their courage, curiosity and creativity could be just the thing to propel you into another schoolyear. We are proud to call these and ALL of our 9,000+ grant recipients Fund for Teachers Fellows.

We are winding up our “Fellow Friday” summer series next week, after focusing on 2022 grant recipients who are pursuing similar categories of learning, such as literature, special education, Holocaust studies, math, conferences, indigenous studies, music education, and even farming. In advance of International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition on Tuesday August 23, today we share FFT Fellows’ varied approaches to the topic of the Transatlantic Slave Trade…

Click here for a complete list of grant recipients.

[minti_divider style=”3″ icon=”” margin=”20px 0px 20px 0px”]

Elise Barnes – KIPP Academy Chicago Primary | Chicago
Janae Reynolds – KIPP Zenith | Houston
Compare and contrast enslaved experiences in Ghana and Cape Town through museums, historic sites, and storytelling, to create a unit in which students learn about the art of African storytelling and create personal stories reflecting their heritage.

“What we know about our student population is that we both teach black and brown children. Some of those children are exposed to their family’s culture daily, and others unfortunately do not have that knowledge. When a child knows or understands their story or what brought them to where they are today, they can feel a sense of belonging and self-worth. We believe that through this fellowship, we can give students more of a sense of identity and who they are.”

James Dolan & Brad Vinson
Sparkman High School | Harvest, AL
Research in Ghana, the United Kingdom and Williamsburg, VA sites pertinent to the Atlantic Slave Trade to create location-based videos, lessons, and primary source activities on Triangular Trade that are currently lacking in availability for history teachers.

“As citizens of the United States, slavery is everyone’s history. The Atlantic Slave Trade is a hard subject to teach, but even harder without resources to supplement. Visiting the locations of the Slave Trade and learning from their local environs will help us showcase their histories to our students. We plan to include primary sources such as maps, pictures of artifacts, and first-hand accounts that can be used in our classrooms, and uploaded on the internet for mass consumption. We plan to interview experts, in videos and outside of videos, to obtain information on the Slave Trade during the 16th and 17th centuries then and its continual impact on the world today.”

Pratia Jordan | O’Donnell Middle School – Houston, TX
Retrace the transatlantic journey through historical sites in Africa, Europe and North America to create multi-modal, 3D virtual learning experiences that allow students to deepen content knowledge and make personal connections to the past and its continued relevance to our present.

“When discussing the content and context around the transatlantic slave trade it is imperative that I get it right, because for some students I am talking about a place they call home. Many of my African students who were born in Africa or are 1-2 generations removed have a strong sense of identity, heritage and pride in their tribe and culture connected to Africa. My sense of responsibility has also been heightened knowing that the lessons I create will not just impact the 120 students I serve in my classroom, but thousands of students who will be taught using the curriculum I am revising for the entire district. I intend to breathe new life into our TST curriculum with the results of this fellowship by seeking out and bringing back vibrant, personal, relevant and multi-dimensional information, primary sources, artifacts and audio-visual documentation on the content such as interviews with historians, residents of West Africa and my own personal blog/vlog.”

Garrett Griffin | East Rock Community Magnet School – New Haven, CT
Ray Walters & Kurt Zimmerman| Highville Charter School – New Haven, CT
Experience UNESCO sites associated with the enslavement of people in Connecticut, Louisiana, as well as related museums in Massachusetts and Washington D.C. to facilitate culturally-relevant and emotionally-thoughtful classroom conversations about the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade.

“Having a diverse collection of books is essential in any school library, but I think it’s especially important in a school with such little diversity. The graphic novel books are some of the most popular reading materials in the library: The combination of the written word and pictures make them accessible to all students, even those whose reading comprehension is below grade-level. I believe understanding the culture will help when students have questions about Japanese culture and beliefs that frequently come up while they are reading manga, and help in the decision-making process to bring appropriate, engaging materials to the students who desire it.”

Daniel Warner & Valen Warner
East High School | Memphis, TN
Explore understandings and experiences of Black identity abroad by examining the legacy of the Transatlantic slave trade; abolitionist & anti-lynching campaigns in England; and the emergence of African American artists and intellectuals to Paris to create interdisciplinary curricula on Black identity & belonging throughout the African diaspora.

“Our students bring an impressive depth of knowledge about their own varied experiences as Black Americans to the classroom, and as teachers who strive to value the cultural experiences of our students, we have geared previous professional development toward this subject…Yet both we and our students find ourselves limited in our knowledge of the Black experience abroad. We want to begin our study of the questions raised by our students in our classrooms by looking at Black identity and experience in England and France, with special attention to Black Americans who have chosen to depart the United States to seek personal respite from discrimination and exclusion in the United States.”

[minti_divider style=”3″ icon=”” margin=”20px 0px 20px 0px”]

“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.”

Join us next week for our final installation of “Fellow Friday” for the year!

Today we continue our “Fellow Friday” summer series — despite knowing that many of you are completing your first few days of school. Let these peers be inspiration for you to begin thinking about what YOU could learn and where next summer with a Fund for Teachers grant! These FFT Fellows who designed learning around various aspects of literature…

Click here for a complete list of grant recipients.

[minti_divider style=”3″ icon=”” margin=”20px 0px 20px 0px”]

Drew Bicknell-Gates
Mohegan Elementary School | Uncasville, CT
Experience Key West’s influence on Ernest Hemingway’s writing and explore my own creativity at Walt Disney World, culminating in a writing retreat aboard a train, to motivate my students to grow in their writing and creative-thinking skills through inspiration in their everyday lives. (Pictured at Hemingway’s studio)

“As a special education teacher, I often struggle with how to balance teaching incredibly structured programs to meet the needs of my students receiving special education services with creative teaching that I know will be more engaging for my students. Creative people are able to think critically about problems and come up with unique solutions, skills which are gained through practice and experience. I want to help my students build these crucial skills to help them set a foundation on which they can continue to learn for the rest of their lives.”

Stephanie Brown | Floyd I. Marchus High School – Concord, CA
Research in England key sites from Jane Austen’s life and the novel “Northanger Abbey” to design a curriculum that incorporates the use of social thinking curriculum to make novels and their focus on interior thoughts accessible to neuro-diverse students.

“The ability to imagine how another person thinks and feels is a long-recognized weakness among students on the Autism spectrum. However, reading literature improves one’s capacity for empathy and strengthens one’s theory of mind. How, then, do we accommodate students with these challenges so that they may access contemporary literature? The modern novel depends heavily on understanding the thoughts and feelings of others. The very insight the modern novel is meant to provide, then, is potentially inaccessible to students with communicative disorders like autism. My fellowship seeks to make novels and their focus on the “interior” thoughts individual accessible to such students.”

Kim Buckley | East Lyme High School – East Lyme, CT
Get firsthand knowledge of Shakespeare and Bronte by visiting English sites in which they lived and worked and also access the knowledge of experts there to improve anti-racist teaching by adding counternarratives that address the problematic nature of White-centered texts, specifically canonical texts by these authors.

“One genuine problem of my practice is making Shakespeare and Brontë relevant to my students and supporting their engagement with these writers who they see as outdated. Furthermore, I want to address the passivity of students in my classroom to get them actively engaged in their learning through performance. Finally, I want to continue to improve my anti-racist teaching by adding counternarratives and addressing the problematic nature of White-centered texts, specifically canonical texts by Shakespeare and Brontë, an approach that will benefit students not only in my AP classes but also in my other classes as well.”

Kaycee Hallett | Mohawk School District – Sycamore, OH
Interview therapeutic horticulturists and horticulture therapists in Denver, Knoxville and Nashville to create for highly capable students addressing eating disorders the opportunity to utilize plant care/gardening for personal stress management and demonstrate the ability to practice health enhancing behaviors through skills learned.

“Having a diverse collection of books is essential in any school library, but I think it’s especially important in a school with such little diversity. The graphic novel books are some of the most popular reading materials in the library: The combination of the written word and pictures make them accessible to all students, even those whose reading comprehension is below grade-level. I believe understanding the culture will help when students have questions about Japanese culture and beliefs that frequently come up while they are reading manga, and help in the decision-making process to bring appropriate, engaging materials to the students who desire it.”

Brook 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.

“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. These two graphic novels: Maus: A Survivor’s Tale and Anne Frank’s Diary and The Graphic Adaptation (adapted by Ari Folman) are the focus for an enhanced literary unit and the structure and itinerary of my fellowship. My experiences will deepen my content growth, empathy, and ability to help my students feel connected to the victims, perpetrators, and bystanders of the Holocaust and its terrible place in our history.”

René Peña-Govea | June Jordan School For Equity – San Francisco, CA
Attend the Tin House Summer Workshop at Reed College in Portland, OR, to hone writing, workshopping, and editing skills that inform student writing workshops and provide them additional spaces for self-expression.

“As a teacher-librarian, I am well-versed in encouraging and teaching literacy, but not so much in teaching or holding space for creative writing. I would like to add to my experience as a student of creative writing so I can put myself in my students’ shoes as well as observe skillful teachers to hone my own skills as a writing teacher. My goals are to engage with creative writing as a student in a writers’ workshop and then put my teaching hat on to dissect what the writing faculty is doing. I will then bring those skills back to my school to open creative writing workshops, clubs, or other spaces up for students.”

Victoria Rosenburg | St. Matthew’s Parish School – Pacific Palisades, CA
Explore Great Britain’s geography, cultural landmarks, and historic sites to revitalize a middle school English curriculum with a unit on heritage and literature that expands a nature writing component and brings Shakespeare’s works to life.

“While I am very lucky that my family has been able to trace our ancestry, many of my students do not have access to information about their ancestry. I have taught students who are American Born Descendent of Slaves, who are refugees, and who come from chosen families. I am cognizant of these different backgrounds and aware of how that can impact a student’s experience when participating in a unit on ancestry or heritage. My learning plan, and in turn, the revitalization of my 6th-Grade unit, will be focused on cultural heritage – the traditions, artifacts, history, and stories that are passed down from generation to generation. By refocusing my unit, I broaden the opportunities for students to make connections, experience engagement, and feel included.”

Lorrie Storozuk | Tolland Intermediate School – Tolland, CT
Journey through two National Parks and part of the Nez Perce Historic Trail in Montana and Wyoming to experience the historical setting of the book Thunder Rolling in the Mountains and enrich learning about Native American history for an integrated English Language Arts/Social Studies curriculum unit

“By sharing personal visuals, photographs, and current stories of travel from the region, I can show students the evidence that people eventually understood how the Native Americans’ lifestyle and culture is connected to their homeland and the natural resources because, not only did the U.S. government protect the land of the region by creating several National Parks, but also preserved the Nez Perce National Historic Trail from 1877, and we are still able to visit it today.”.

[minti_divider style=”3″ icon=”” margin=”20px 0px 20px 0px”]

“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!

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act defines special education as: “Specially designed instruction, at no cost to parents, to meet the unique needs of a child with a disability.” Those needs run a wide gamut, with the essential similarity being students who are not best served in a “general education” setting. Teachers called to this sector of school communities often work in non-traditional environments and employ out-of-the-box skill sets to most effectively impact their students and their families. So it should be no surprise that the Fund for Teachers fellowships these teachers design are equally as unconventional. Meet a few of our 2022 FFT Fellows pursuing experiential learning to benefit their special education communities.

Click here for a complete list of grant recipients.

[minti_divider style=”3″ icon=”” margin=”20px 0px 20px 0px”]

Melissa Florio & Carissa Miller
Emerson-Williams Elementary School |Wethersfield, CT
Complete a yoga/mindfulness retreat in Portugal’s Sintra National Park to learn techniques for supporting children exposed to trauma and replicate these strategies within the school setting so students can develop emotional regulation skills that empower them to thrive socially, emotionally, and academically.

“Trauma impacts the brain and the body. Students who are dysregulated are unable to access the executive functions they need to pay attention, emotionally regulate, and problem-solve. By attending this retreat, we will gain techniques that will help students calm their amygdala so that they can be successful learners in the classroom.”

Sam Gurung | Hanes Elementary School – Irving, TX
Complete a Spanish immersion program while staying with a host family in Cusco, Peru, to learn culturally-relevant information that enhances communication with Spanish speaking special education students and their families.

“I am excited for the prospect of innovating in collaboration with my students and the school community as a whole to bridge the gap (specifically the communication gap) between the special education students and general education students, and monolingual students and bilingual students. The fellowship will enable me to design learning experiences for my students where we will make personal connections, work in collaboration and communicate effectively with one another, while also reflecting on our progress, ways I can improve and celebrate our actions, talents and abilities.”

Ryan McGoff | East Boston High School – Boston, MA
Complete intensive language lessons in Medellin and Cartegena, Colombia, to enhance fluency and develop culturally-responsive curriculum for English Language Learners with disabilities.

“By approaching this learning experience through the framework of Culturally and Linguistically Sustaining Practices (CLSP), my goal is to gain a deeper grasp of the cultural, political, social, and economic influences that shape these realities. Additionally, I hope to be responsive to the conditions of a student’s lived experiences and the histories that created them..”

Laure O’Keefe | The Anna Westin House – Saint Paul, MN
Interview therapeutic horticulturists and horticulture therapists in Denver, Knoxville and Nashville to create for highly capable students addressing eating disorders the opportunity to utilize plant care/gardening for personal stress management and demonstrate the ability to practice health enhancing behaviors through skills learned.

“This grant is to provide students the opportunity to utilize plant care or gardening as a personal stress management plan and demonstrate the ability to practice health enhancing behaviors through skills learned. Discussion of personal container gardens and life-long benefits of plant care or gardening will precede selection of a particular garden type (fragrant, colorful, textural, herbal) and the beginning of the plant selection process to create a that personal garden. That little patch of nature will sit on the student’s table and our class will be full of lush plants to feed our hearts and calm our minds and hand “

Michelle She | DC Public Schools – Washington, DC
Learn to repair broken braillewriters through Perkins’ Braillewriter Repair Workshops; study non-visual and adaptive techniques for personal care through CN Vision Image Consulting; and improve fluency while learning healthy cooking skills in Oaxaca, Mexico, to enrich the personal and educational experience of students with visual impairments.

“My passion as an educator is to give my students the tools they need to become meaningful contributors to society. As someone with a visual and physical disability myself, I can say that we are often the ones in need of others’ help, and nothing is more powerful than realizing that we, too, can make a positive difference in others’ lives..”

Jeff Timberlake | Guild Elementary School – East Boston, MA
Investigate in Medellin, Colombia, the Metrocable and railway system, learning how it became a symbol of transformation for low-income communities, to inspire English Language Learners and students with special and/or high needs to harness their unique strengths and interests so they have the best opportunity to be productive and thrive in a rapidly changing world.

“All students need to harness their own unique strengths and interests and reflect the myriad of opportunities that exist so they have the best opportunity to be productive and thrive in a rapidly changing world. This is especially vital to the students in my school which is made up of 71 English language learners (ELLs), 25% students with “disabilities,” and 92% “high needs” because they have a difficult time integrating into their communities and the wider society.”

[minti_divider style=”3″ icon=”” margin=”20px 0px 20px 0px”]

“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!