Fellow Friday | A Buzzy Fellowship

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

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

Click here for a complete list of grant recipients

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

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

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

Photo courtesy of Dr. Laura Grant – Earthwatch Expeditions

But why bees?

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

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

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

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

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

Fund for Teachers’ North Star

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Fellow Friday | The Sky’s Not the Limit

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

Click here for a complete list of grant recipients.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

FFT Fellow To Research History of Native American Boarding Schools

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Top photograph courtesy of Colorado Public Radio News.

Fellow Friday | Never Forget

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

Click here for a complete list of grant recipients.

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

“Survivors of a systematic and institutional genocide are passing away, and their stories are being forgotten. However, the perpetration of genocide and intolerance continues throughout our world. It’s the duty of every educational institution, including our own, to teach and remind students of the history so that they, and those who come after them, actively speak and work to prevent such events from happening again.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

600+ Teachers Set to Embark on Self-Designed Summer Fellowships

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

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

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

A complete list of grant recipients is available here.

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

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

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

Fellow Friday | Making Math Count

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

Click here for a complete list of grant recipients.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Fund for Teachers’ Newest Grant Recipients

Last week, Fund for Teachers announced the names of 296 public, private and charter school teachers chosen to receive $1.19 million in grants for self-designed summer fellowships and experiential learning this summer.

Click here for a complete list of grant recipients.

Fund for Teachers is the only grant in the country that trusts teachers to design the learning experience THEY deem relevant to their careers and classrooms. Because of that, every fellowship is totally unique; however, they do fall into general categories. Each Friday, we will introduce you to a few new Fellows pursuing similar topics. Today, we’ll focus on Global Citizenship.

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

Meredith Branch & Christina Campell | Vista Condor Global Academy – Santa Ana, CA
Attend the World Peace Game Master Class in Hoboken, NJ, to bring the World Peace Game to students who will explore global themes such as the economy, diplomacy, war, and the common good.

“The World Peace Game will help our students and our school reach their greatest potential by simulating a complex matrix of real world global problems which teach children how to authentically collaborate to take care of the world. Together, they learn that their collective wisdom is far more powerful than the sum of any one individual’s knowledge, and they learn how to make philosophical decisions that maximize the collective good with the least amount of harm.”

Colleen Bretthauer | Colchester Elementary School – Colchester, CT
Become immersed in Korean culture while practicing Hangul as a minority, to then engage children in creation of authentic Asian music and consideration of how people are more alike than different.

Suzette Champagne | Jessie Beck Elementary – Reno, NV
Attend the Morpho Institute Educator Academy deep in Peruvian Rainforest to engage in hands-on learning that facilitates students’ realization that they are not just citizens of a specific state or of the United States, but of the world.

“After this fellowship, I will be equipped with engagement strategies and lessons to use immediately in the classroom. I will also be able to add my own expertise into the collection of lessons written by teachers who attended the Academy in the past. This professional development is directly aligned with my goal to become a better teacher and help create global citizens through education.”

Hannah Cordero Rothstein | New Roads School – Santa Monica, CA
Explore the visual culture and history of Jewish communities, with an emphasis on reconciliation and revitalization efforts, in Germany, the Czech Republic, and Austria, as a vital continuation of Holocaust education that creates accessible entry points for connecting past to present and building global citizenship.

“I am particularly interested in the reconciliation and revitalization efforts with and of the Jewish communities in each location, since most textbooks conclude the topic in 1945. The Holocaust has thus far been taught without exploring what happened next and is happening now. I intend to explore personal narratives and the visual cultures of the communities that can support in creating learning that is humanizing and engaging.”

Dana Curtis | Poison Spider Elementary School – Casper, WY
Join a 12-day excursion experiencing thousands of years of China’s history to inform students’ understanding of the Chinese people and culture and address negative stereotypes they may possess about people whom they’ve never met.

Cristina Figuero-Garcia | West Rocks Middle School – Norwalk, CT
Experience present-day Egypt while also exploring its ancient wonders to create a virtual field trip supporting Global Interconnections and Human Population learning for ESL and Dual Language students.

Today’s teacher is competing against TikTok, Minecraft, YouTube, to name a few, for students’ attention. This fellowship will help me create lessons that will draw students in, enable them to choose History over media and not regret it, and provide a means of using media to help meet them with a tool they enjoy.

Katharine Joss | John W. Runyon Elementary School – Dallas, TX
Explore Colombia and Costa Rica’s biodiversity and conservation efforts to create a bilingual, hands-on, project-based science course that inspires at-risk students to pursue STEM careers and motivates them to become more conscious global citizens.

My motivation for applying to a Fund for Teacher’s grant is threefold: to gain practical experience to create engaging lessons for my students, to learn from other scientists and educators, and to refuel my own passion for research to inspire my own students.

Patrick Swift | Danbury High School – Danbury, CT
Embark in Europe on a pilgrimage around a global history of science to help students make connections between the subject, their life experiences, and their identities as scientific thinkers and global citizens.

Autism Acceptance Month

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Q: Then what?

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

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

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

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

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

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

Fellow Friday – World Cultures Edition

To introduce you to our newest grant recipients, we’ve started Fellow Friday. Last week, we highlighted fellowships focused on health and well-being. Because April is Arab American Heritage Month, we thought we’d share the plans of teachers who will explore various world cultures this summer with their Fund for Teachers grants…

Click here for a complete list of grant recipients.

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Jenny Anderson | Glide High School – Glide, OR
Observe across four sub-Saharan countries the cultural, historic and environmental aspects of East Africa to revise a 10th grade World Studies unit that addresses the region’s geographic, cultural and political diversities, as well as modern interactions between humans and the environment.

“I know that students can benefit enormously from learning about other cultures and places, but unfortunately social studies seems to be the subject that doesn’t get much attention in our school systems. Many areas of the world are left out of the curriculum altogether, especially sub-Saharan Africa, a region my 10th graders have only learned about in seventh grade — and then only Egypt. I will focus on rural areas, cultural sites, wildlife and environmental conservation, economic enterprises, and interaction with citizens.”

“It has been quite a process preparing for this fellowship, starting two years ago when I realized how little I knew about Asian culture and music. I previewed a unit on Korea, but found myself lacking in understanding. A year ago I began learning the Korean language, Hangul. Through this direct and interactive experience I will be able to confront my own subconscious biases of Asian culture, experience what it is like to walk the streets of a country where I am in the minority and then engage children in their own investigation.”

Natalie Blondis Krzeminski, Elizabeth Morales & Vanessa Viruet
Spry Elementary School | Chicago, IL

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.

“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.”

Joshua Davis, Kristin Pasculle, Ruth Quinones & Sara Sanches
International High School at Largo – Upper Marlboro, MD
Embark on a Spanish language and cultural immersion experience in El Salvador and Honduras that includes an investigation of the Mayan Chorti culture, intensive Spanish instruction, and a homestay with a host family, to create culturally responsive and inclusive classrooms at a predominantly Spanish speaking school.

“Our experiences will help us teach our students about the UN Sustainable Development goals as we learn about the ancient Mayans and connect with the Mayan Chorti people. We are especially interested in sea turtle conservation, as our school’s mascot is the sea turtle (our students come from all over the world, just like the sea turtle).”

Olivia Flores | Paseo Academy of Fine and Performing Arts – Kansas City, MO
Complete an intensive language immersion course in Barcelona and join an artifact-gathering/cultural enrichment experience in Pamplona, Madrid, and Valencia to bolster Spanish culture content in a dual language curriculum and firmly establish the accessibility of international travel opportunities through bilingualism in our students.

“I have strived to live my life in a way that honors my own cultures and allows me to foster skills I am passionate about to be a life-long educator and learner. This fund, as a professional and as an individual, is the logical and necessary next step for me to live out this crucial philosophy.”

Jen McKay, Maria Powlow-Muller & Michelle Soldini
Tottenville High School – Staten Island, NY
Retrace the footsteps of Italian immigrants through Genoa, Naples and Rome to Ellis Island to document the importance of maintaining cultural identity, explore the causes and motivations behind immigration and inform the creation of student-led mini-documentaries that build tolerance within the school community.

“We believe a new concept can emerge after our fellowship: the idea that the future of cultural identity depends on them [the students], their aspirations, and attitudes. The fellowship findings will also create an understanding of how individual desires can affect the future of cultural identity. Lastly, we are hoping for developing among our students a long-lasting pride of cultural heritage.”

Ariana Sanders | Princeton High School – Cincinnati, OH
Participate in the Witness Tree Institute’s immersive educator experience in Ghana to explore the impact of colonization, as well as how Africans protect their natural resources, to inform the development of learning objectives and course modules for Ethnic Studies, to be offered to Ohio’s high school teachers.

“As a college student I was not prepared well enough to incorporate issues with Black history into my teaching, today’s learning standards aren’t written in an inclusive way, AND the entire country is fighting to decide what Critical Race Theory means in public schools. Due to a pretty Eurocentric model of teaching, my students know very little about Africa. This fellowship will completely change how I teach them. Although I hope to show them some things that are unique about Ghanaian culture, I also hope to be able to express ways that we are the same.”

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

The Power of Mentoring

One of the most unique aspects of Fund for Teachers is how our Fellows (9,000+ to date) support each other. From providing feedback on potential Fellows’ applications to collaborating in Innovation Grant Circles, Fund for Teachers is an organization of teachers, for teachers. Perhaps the best example of this reciprocal relationship is our mentor program, which begins a new year in May.

To understand why a teacher would take on this additional responsibility, we reached out to Adam Burns (Troy, MI) who mentored Doug Haddad last year. With his 2016 Fellowship Grant, Adam experienced British broadcasting center studios, filming locations and museums to better prepare students for careers in broadcasting and other globalizing industries. Through a matching process in which both mentors and mentees participate, Adam was paired with Doug Haddad (Simsbury, CT), who used his 2020 grant to learn writing, directing, camera and digital editing skills for collaboration on a long term film-based project for the school and community.

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I’ve always felt a debt of gratitude to Fund for Teachers and I appreciate opportunities to try to give back. I enjoy reading about the cool projects going on through FFT, and the mentorship program offered the possibility of networking. It sounded like a great chance to get connected with the teachers behind the projects and share some ideas, maybe even explore some class partnership opportunities.

It’s really easy and fun to talk to someone who is passionate about the same stuff as you, and I understood exactly where Doug was starting from and what he was trying to learn because I got into film the same way. We both had the opportunity–to start a program from nothing–and I know I couldn’t have done it without guidance from film teachers in my area. We both had to find all funding for equipment on our own and I know how crucial decisions are when you want to make your budget have as big an impact as possible. I think equipment discussions and figuring out what to buy were some of our most important topics of conversation. Each piece of your kit adds new possibilities to your filmmaking direction, so it’s pretty essential to balance what students want and need, what you are confident in using, and what will expand your creative horizons when making decisions for an equipment list.

Watch a short video Adam produced about his fellowship here.

I knew what teaching film has done for me professionally and personally, and how impactful my film-focused fellowship was for my students and school community. The opportunity to guide someone through something similar was invigorating for me, but any success Doug and I had was attributable to the initial match and the energy he brought to it. I’m pretty amazed he saw it all the way through and will be having the premiere for his film soon. I know how challenging it is to make a film, to navigate all of the roadblocks, and persevere through the endless opportunities the process will offer up to take the easy route and quit. That he has made it through is huge for his students. He has lived what he’s going to ask from them and will understand what they’re going through when they undertake the challenge of making a film.

It’s gratifying to know there’s going to be a generation of students who now get an invaluable chance to work in the greatest storytelling medium ever created, a chance they wouldn’t have had if Doug hadn’t gone for this fellowship opportunity. I am happy to have played any role at all in helping him make that happen.

[minti_blockquote]”Adam was nothing short of incredible in his wisdom and guidance to help me carve out a path to achieve this goal. He was the absolute perfect match for a mentor and someone I look up to in all of his accomplishments in starting his film crew of students who have created award-winning videos. I am truly grateful for all the opportunities provided and this would not have been possible without the grant received through FFT.” – Doug Haddad[/minti_blockquote]

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If you are an FFT Fellow interested in either being a mentor or a mentee, send us a quick e-mail at info@fundforteachers.org. Those interested in being a mentor can access this recent webinar and 2020/2021/2022 FFT Fellows pursuing a fellowship this summer are invited to a mentee can also join a webinar on April 28th at 6p CST. Register with this link.

Renewing Faith In Oneself

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Fund for Teachers’ Newest Grant Recipients

Click here for a complete list of grant recipients.

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Pattie Biekert & Nancee Terracciano | The Friendship School – Waterford, CT
Engage in forest bathing opportunities in England to foster student appreciation of the need to protect our natural world and support their journeys toward mental, emotional and physical health and well-being.

“Humans learn in a variety of ways,” wrote the duo. “Forest bathing specifically utilizes three of Gardners’ multiple intelligences; BodilyKinesthetic, Intrapersonal and Naturalist, but it also can positively affect the others of Linguistic, Logical/Mathematical, Spatial, Musical and Interpersonal also. We believe that teaching our students to slow down, to observe nature, feel nature, smell nature, and breathe clean air will help them develop a heightened sense of awareness for their environment.”

Amy Bizzarri | Schurz High School – Chicago, IL
Complete trauma-informed yoga teacher training offered by the nonprofit Light a Path in Asheville, NC, to bring the practice to both an afterschool and parent/community program for a school community in which more than 80% of students report significant trauma in their lives.

“By training as a trauma-informed yoga teacher, I will earn the skills that have evolved from several different evidence-based physical education-focused modalities, and learn how to use these skills to bring yoga to my diverse learning community. I plan on using my knowledge to institute an afterschool yoga program open to both students, parents, and our greater community.”

Dana Chambers & Christine Kepley | Quail Creek Elementary – Oklahoma City
Document the cognitive-motor interventions available to students with motor delays at
the North American Society for the Psychology of Sport and Physical Activity Conference in Waikoloa Village, HI and afterwards at the SPARK PE Institute in San Diego, CA to implement techniques for addressing physical and mental health, body image and learning gaps of students from low-income families.

Frankee Grove | DaVinci RISE High School – Hawthorne, CA
Attend in Elspeet, Netherlands, the Mindful Self-Compassion Intensive led by experts from the University of Texas and Harvard University, then complete a six-week virtual course entitled “Self-Compassion for Educators” by Mindful Schools to learn self-compassion strategies and create and implement a curriculum that addresses stress, trauma, and academic learning loss in foster youth.

“My goal is to develop tools to help my students reduce their stress and anxiety, grow more compassion, and re-engage in school with more focus, attention, and emotional regulation so they can focus on the academic learning they must undertake to graduate,” Frankee said. “They need new tools to overcome setbacks that have been exacerbated by the pandemic and self-compassion practices are proven to increase resilience, motivation, and focus.”

Laure O’Keefe | Anna Westin House/The Emily Program – 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.

“I provide instruction in all core subjects in cross-age groups for these students who are so different in so many ways, coming from a variety of school settings in states in the upper Midwest as well as from each coast. What they all have in common is being highly capable students with a primary mental health diagnosis of an Eating Disorder and many times a secondary diagnosis (Anxiety, Depression, OCD, PTSD) which has brought them to either Residential or Intensive Day Treatment for variable periods from 6 weeks to 5 months or more,” said Laure. “This grant will 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. 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 hands.”

Brandy O’Neal | Paul Revere Elementary School – Chicago, IL
Participate in trainings, conferences, and a farm immersion programs through Shelburne Farms’ Project Seasons for Young Learners, the Soul Fire Farm Immersion in Petersburg, NY, and the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx to learn strategies for integrating nature-based education in my classroom that promote deep learning, identity building, and health and wellness.

“I believe that learning courage in an engaging, therapeutic environment like nature will lead students to being more willing to take risks when learning a new math concept, more open-minded in social interactions, and more adventurous in food choices,” said Brandy. “My aim is to demystify the natural world by giving students more access to their outdoor environment, which will lead to better academic and health outcomes.”

Matt Shea | Old Saybrook Middle School – Old Saybrook, CT
Research ways to incorporate regenerative farming, holistic nutrition, and earth healing along the coast of Maine into a physical education and health curriculum that promotes wellness and connection with nature.

“As a health and wellness teacher, I believe to foster this connection, our students need innovative education about mindfulness, connecting with nature, connecting with the food they eat, opening their minds to how they can do their part in making the planet a better place and in turn create a positive and healthy environmental and social climate in the world around them,” said Matt.

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

Have the Difficult Conversation

As an FFT Fellow, I reached out to ask if I could share a post with all of you.

The first generation of my Ukrainian family born in the United States, my heart aches as Russia’s invasion unfolds. Mine is an activist family – we fought for human rights in Ukraine, raised funds for humanitarian aid after the 1986 nuclear explosion of Chornobyl (Ukrainian spelling), and raised awareness about our rich history and culture through many organizations including my years as an officer of the Ukrainian Student Association at the State University of New York at Buffalo. It’s only in recent years that I’ve made the connection that it was very likely these formative years that paved the way for me becoming an educator — which forces me daily to reflect, stretch and grow, not only as a teacher but also a learner.

I am sure many of you saw the above photo, originally posted on TikTok, that went viral a couple weeks ago of a Ukrainian teacher with her students huddled up against the wall of a bomb shelter as she continued on with her instruction trying to offer them some normalcy. I haven’t been able to let go of this image and made a commitment to myself to continue my work in honor of this courageous teacher.

As an educator committed to both personal and professional growth, I have come to strongly believe…

it’s my responsibility and that of educators around the world to have difficult conversations with our students – not just about this moment in time with the war in Ukraine but anytime important issues arise from human rights violations, racial injustices, ongoing conflicts, etc.

We cannot underestimate the intellect, curiosity, empathy, and capacity of children, even our youngest. There are some that would argue that it’s too scary or inappropriate to discuss certain heavy topics/issues with specific stages of development. I say no, it’s never too young to begin having discussions about important issues. As educators and parents, we need to be sensitive and mindful of the language we use and how we frame discussions but even the youngest have a lot to say about what they believe peace is, how it feels, what it looks like, etc. Let me tell you – they have plenty to share. Not only is seeing war emerge hard enough, it is likely that all of us, from our youngest learners to ourselves, have questions that we might not have answers. Together, we can create a safe place to explore and navigate these challenging and uncomfortable realities.

Over the past few weeks, my grade 1-3 classes have had these discussions in art class, most often initiated by them, that led to a couple initiatives at my school. One is a project I’ve titled Sunflowers of Resistance after learning that not only is the sunflower Ukraine’s national flower, but in recent weeks became a symbol of resilience and resistance. All of our students, grades 1 -8, currently in visual arts created one.

To bring our community together and encourage dialogue and awareness, I also spearheaded a community-wide PEACE Project. Over the past week, every student (Pre-K-8), staff, faculty and parents were invited to create a peace flag by selecting a Ukrainian pysanky (Easter egg) symbol of hope, love, strength, protection, health, perseverance or change to draw on their flag along with a wish and/or prayer for peace. The peace flags have been strung on rope and hung on both the interior and exterior of our school building.

Here is the statement that accompanies our PEACE project:

Our school recognizes that atrocities towards any one individual or peoples are in violation of their rights to live freely and safely. In light of the recent events and war in Ukraine, as well as ongoing conflict which harms and displaces many people around the world, including right here in Chicago, we stand in solidarity for peace and unity.

To give illustration to our collective hopes for and actions toward peaceful resolutions, we raise these flags in the spirit of reflection, in support of these crises ending swiftly, and as a reminder that we are united by our shared humanity.

These five colors are most commonly represented in every nation’s flag. Community members were invited to draw a symbol that speaks most to what is in their heart. The symbols derive from the ancient Ukrainian art form of pysanky, decorated eggs. A text with either the meaning of the symbol and/or a wish, intention, or prayer accompanies the symbol.

Fellow educators, please lean into the challenge and discomfort of navigating these topics. We expect this of our students and we need to be exemplars, ourselves, and guide them. I offer myself as a resource for anyone who wants to brainstorm, have a safe place to talk, and/or find ways to integrate art into your classroom.

Additionally, shared below are a number of resources for our own learning and processing, as well as that with students of all ages.

With Peace & Hope,

Olenka Bodnarskyj

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EducationWeek, How to Talk With Students About the Russia-Ukraine War: 5 Tips
MsGreenEdu, Sample Lesson on History of Ukraine and Russia
The Choices Program, The Ukraine Crisis
New York Times, Lesson of the Day: The Invasion of Ukraine: How Russia Attacked and What Happens Next
Hanane Kai Studio, Children in our World book series
Teaching for Change, Booklist on war and anti-war
Colours of Us, Books about peace
PBS Kids, Books about peace
LiberatED Resource_Discussing Putin’s Invasion of Ukraine with Students.pdf
An elementary teacher in Bellingham, WA created this sharable slideshow on Globalism and empathy
Educators Institute for Human Rights, list of resources for educators
EdWeek, 8 Resources Teachers Are Using to Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine
ABCNews, Honesty, reassurance: How to talk to kids about Ukraine
PBS News Hour, Tips for helping young people cope with news about Ukraine and Russia

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Olenka Bodnarskyj is a Lower School teacher at Chicago’s Catherine Cook School. With her 2017 FFT grant, she explored aspects of the Japanese aesthetic Wabi-sabi through experiential learning in Nara and Tokyo, Japan, to develop of a unit that sheds light on similarities and differences between eastern and western ideals of art and nature.

Student Equity & Self-Efficacy

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Who Deserves to be in a Museum?

I teach three levels of English Learners:

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

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

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

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

Lugo’s teapot of Ralph Ellison

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

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

: Berenice works on a 2-D pitcher design honoring her hidden hero — a beloved auntie who died of breast cancer.

: Dean demonstrates her oral speaking skills in an “elevator pitch” for her teapot design commemorating her grandfather.

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

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

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

After this work, I know more about my students and their families, heritage, passions and heartaches than I have ever known before, making it easier for me to tap into their interests for future learning. Students felt safe telling their stories and using academic English to express themselves. Students stretched themselves in their writing because they wanted to do justice to loved ones’ stories. They cared so much. I have never had a unit or project that allowed students to open up as much as this one did. I also realized that I am better at unit planning than I thought I was. I was able to turn “test prep” for the annual exam English Learners must take into a compelling unit that drew out some of the best writing and speaking I have seen from many of them.

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

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

Making the Grade — Differently

“Will this be on the test?”

“Can I get extra credit?”

“Are you going to grade this?”

Teachers can attest that these questions come up all the time as we introduce assignments, discuss grades, and present new material. We might get frustrated with students, feeling like they are only focused on what will be quantified, rather than on what they might learn or what skills they might develop. This has certainly been true in my own 11th Grade English classrooms over the years at a small public high school in New York City.

Unfortunately, we have only ourselves to blame.

As instructors, our grading practices fundamentally reflect our goals as teachers, our values as a school community, and our overall attitudes about learning. Through our grading, we are implicitly or explicitly showing students what is important, and they adapt accordingly.

All too often, our grading routines show students that they must only do the minimum to get by, that high achievement is more important than making progress, and that making mistakes is costly and should be discouraged. Unfortunately, these routines are also counterintuitive to students making genuine improvements, taking risks, and fostering authentic learning.

When I look through my own gradebook, I can see its weaknesses as well: some assignments are connected to behavior or compliance. As such, missing assignments receive a zero. Other student work may be penalized for arriving late.

None of these grading practice decisions are connected to directly measuring student learning. Timeliness, unsubmitted work, or grades that are connected to student behavior run the risk of diverging from the measurement of actual student academic growth.

With all of these frustrations, I turn to Joe Feldman’s Grading for Equity in hopes of constructing a new system of grading that fosters intrinsic motivation, student voice, and authentic learning. And I am sold: this text inspires me to make drastic changes that I had only casually considered in the past.

The problem: I don’t know anyone who’s really done this. What could it look like? What mistakes might I make? How do I reimagine my gradebook? Will students go along with this? Are there teachers or resources that could help me work this all out?

The solution: applying for a Fund for Teachers Innovation Circle Grant that provides funding for me to buy additional texts, work with experts, and share progress with teachers pursuing similar or related work. These grants allow teachers from around the country to write proposals around some aspect of their instruction that they wish to try a new and innovative practice. Teacher projects and focus vary widely, and we collaborate at different points in the project to share progress or brainstorm around challenges.

With FFT funding in hand, I reached out to the guru himself: Joe Feldman. He is gracious and kind and connects me with a fellow High School ELA teacher (and consultant for his organization), Sara Schopfer.

In several summer sessions, Sara and I wade knee-deep into the practices and structures that might work for my classroom. She unpacks her own non-traditional grading system, unit plans, policies, and assessments. We weigh the benefits and drawbacks of various non-traditional practices.

In our FFT Innovation Circle meetings, I’m thrilled to meet Christine Paterson, a teacher in Texas undertaking similar work. We geek out about grading, and swap ideas for what these projects might look like in our individual schools. We are both the outliers at our schools trying this, so the Circle meetings offer a welcomed space to commiserate and brainstorm.

Now halfway through the year, I’ve tried non-traditional standards-based grading across my five English sections. It is a struggle to help some students adapt to a drastically different grading system; some would probably prefer to go back to our traditional grading practices.

Yet when I poll students at the halfway point in the year, I am encouraged: the majority of students want to continue with the grading experiment. They tell me they feel less stress about their grades. Several say they feel like they understand better what they are learning with the standards. Others are gratified that this grading system rewards progress more than just high achievement.

Most important to me is that students are now more actively engaged with the grading process. They make their own argument about the grade they deserve based on evidence in their work. There is more student ownership through the process.

I still have some work to do to refine the practices, but overall I am excited to disrupt and reimagine traditional systems in order to give students this voice in grading, and in their education. This, after all, is the goal: that students are not passive recipients of instruction and education systems, but that they are active agents within it.

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: At the Hispaniola Academy in Santo Domingo

: With Professor Mbongiseni Buthelezi at the University of Cape Town

Amy Matthusen is a four-time FFT Fellow. In addition to this Innovation Circle Grant, she has also received three Fellowship Grants: In 2007, she attended Scottish literature courses at Edinburgh University, visit and document Scotland’s literary and historic sites; in 2012, Amy enrolled in courses on South African literature at the University of Cape Town and also visit major historical sites comprising South Africa’s social, cultural and literary past, to create a unit on South Africa that promotes tolerance and challenges cultural assumptions; and in 2018, she studied Dominican history, culture, and literature through coursework at the Hispaniola Academy in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, to inform two units in two different courses intricately tied to the Dominican Republic. Amy has taught in NYC public high schools for eighteen years. She believes in bringing the outside into the classroom, and regularly invites authors and experts to video chat with her 11th and 12th grade English classes. Her career accomplishments include: Award for Classroom Excellence (now Big Apple award), Honorable Mention for National Fishman Prize, and presenting and publishing through the National Council of Teachers of English.

(illustration created by George Wylesol and courtesy of the Harvard Graduate School of Education)

Letter to a Future Leader

Last week, we announced our second year of Innovation Circle Grants — an opportunity specifically for Fund for Teachers Fellows to pursue and create solutions, first independently and then collaboratively, to challenges they see in the classroom using a $1,000 grant. A defining aspect of these Circles is the fact that they are LED by FFT Fellows, as well.

We are in the process of hiring Circle Leaders to coordinate this year’s Circles on the topics of:

Building Student Self-Awareness

Learning Partnerships

Student Agency, and

Student Civic Engagement.

To provide some insight into what this opportunity entails, we reached out to last year’s Equity Innovation Circle leader Mekiva Callahan, who shares her experiences below.

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I believe that everyone can make a difference by choosing a cause and supporting a nonprofit doing good work in that space. For me, that cause is education and the organization is Fund for Teachers. The mission of the organization is so needed and teachers so deserve this support. Although I received my grant sixteen years ago, I remained involved through various volunteer opportunities, like helping select new Fellows each spring. When I heard about the Innovation Circles, and especially the one devoted to social justice, I jumped at the opportunity to help lead teachers in their pursuit of equity on behalf of and to benefit their students.

My role as a Circle Lead was to facilitate teacher conversations and help them manifest their individual fellowships into student impact. That role could really be defined as “Chief Listener.” Hearing the challenges they faced around teaching and modeling equity, and the creative ways they sought insight and experiences to address that topic during the summer, was really eye-opening. Land equity, food scarcity, and are just a few of the areas these teachers pursued with only $1,000. When school resumed, we met monthly throughout the fall and collectively fleshed out ways to transfer their independent learning into student impact.

As a leader, I moderated discussions, ran down resources, offered feedback and served as a sounding board. It was inspiring and humbling. I’m now in the higher education space, so witnessing the dedication and professionalism of these teachers was enlightening and made me feel so much better about where we’re headed as a country.

If you’re looking for a way to encourage teachers and insert yourself into relevant, timely conversations around vital topics in education, I highly encourage you to also step into this leadership opportunity. It provides a rare chance to engage teachers of varying experiences and backgrounds around a common topic you value. We all know the challenges our communities are facing, but these Innovation Circles are made up of people facing them head-on. This is your chance to be part of a solution. I hope you take it!

If you are interested in applying to be an Innovation Circle leader,
read more about the role here and apply with this link by March 17.

Fellow Friday | A Buzzy Fellowship

Fund for Teachers’ North Star

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

Fellow Friday | The Sky’s Not the Limit

FFT Fellow To Research History of Native American Boarding Schools

Fellow Friday | Never Forget

600+ Teachers Set to Embark on Self-Designed Summer Fellowships

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

Fellow Friday | Making Math Count

Fund for Teachers’ Newest Grant Recipients

Autism *Acceptance* Month

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

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

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

Q: Then what?

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

Fellow Friday – World Cultures Edition

The Power of Mentoring

Watch a short video Adam produced about his fellowship here.

Renewing Faith In Oneself

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

Fund for Teachers’ Newest Grant Recipients

Have the Difficult Conversation

Student Equity & Self-Efficacy

Who Deserves to be in a Museum?

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

Making the Grade — Differently

(illustration created by George Wylesol and courtesy of the Harvard Graduate School of Education)

Letter to a Future Leader

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

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

Autism Acceptance Month