Fellow Friday | Conferences

Based on much of the images and narratives we share concerning our 2022 FFT Fellows, one could assume each grant recipient travels to far flung locales for their chosen experiential learning. (Have you BEEN following the learning of Marina Outwater in Uzbeckistan??) However, the majority of our Fellows actually remain in North America. Furthermore, many use their grants to attend conferences, like the following teachers…

Click here for a complete list of grant recipients

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Nora Abbott, Jordan Alley, Molly Fredrickson-Leonard, Julia Gudmunson and Julia Vaughn
Invest Collegiate Imagine 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. Those learning neurons are sometimes permanently closed when trying unsuccessfully to complete math tasks. By presenting students with a system that has been found to be successful in teaching our 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.”

Sasha Cameron, Grant Pearson & Kristy Westbrooks | Yoncalla High School, Yoncalla, OR
Participate in the AVID San Francisco Summer Institute to learn key academic supports and curriculum opportunities that use writing, inquiry, collaboration, organization, and reading-based activities that promote college- and career- readiness.

“With this fellowship, we have two learning goals. The first is to provide students with key academic supports. These academic supports will provide students the necessary foundational study skills and practices to be a successful student. These supports are based around WICOR – Writing, Inquiry, Collaboration, Organization, and Reading, and would be the foundation of each teacher’s lesson. The second is that we believe that these supports, in addition to college and career awareness which is an integral component of the AVID curriculum, will provide students the opportunity to explore college and career options earlier and be more prepared forthe avenue they choose in the future.”

Katie Dugas, Jodi Rynearson, & Kimberly Whetzel | Tri-City Elementary School – Myrtle Creek, OR
Attend the “Get Your Teach On” national conference in Orlando, FL, to learn how to foster a safe social and emotional environment in and beyond classroom walls in which students can thrive.

“It is our intent to attend the Get Your Teach On National Conference to meet and learn from the most current and innovative teachers that have proven efficacy in this field. We will bring back with us the tools and ready-to-go lesson plans that will best assist our students in developing these skills. Once these skills are developed, we can then focus our efforts and energy on their academic growth that they will continue to utilize as lifelong learners.”

Tim Dutton | The Bridge Academy Charter School – Bridgeport, CT
Attend the Monterey Bay Math Institute in Santa Cruz and interview professors at UCSC to create a more active, cooperative learning environment that better engages and prepares students for the changing jobs of the future.

“Essentially, I want to work to “gamify” math instruction with the goal of giving students multiple reps with different skills in an environment that makes learning math fun and builds confidence. With the extra paraprofessionals I now have in my classroom, I will be able to run groups small enough to make these games and investigations effective enough to provide accelerated learning and increased engagement. The plan is to make my curriculum at least 30% interactive, truly changing the current structure and flow of the math classroom.“

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 the teacher camp in Maryland will provide inexpensive projects and activities to help me as a chemistry teacher to ignite student interest, bring curricula to life, and show practical applications of materials in students’ everyday lives.”

Elizabeth Lucas, Michelle Smith, Cathy Smith, Tara Vance & Amanda Workman
Harts P-8 School | Harts, WV
Attend the Innovative School Summit in Las Vegas to learn strategies for reaching students with a variety of emotional and behavioral challenges and enhance student, school, and the community climate.

“Our students come from a variety of backgrounds ranging from living with grandparents, drug addicted family members or homelessness. Many students, especially those in poverty and those who do not receive family support, are seeing larger learning gaps than those who have family support at home. This fellowship will allow us to immerse ourselves in ways to help our students become resilient and will provide us with strategies and behavior management skills needed to help our students have greater achievement and successes.”

Jason Malli | Vinal Technical High School – Middletown, CT
Attend the Summer World Music Pedagogy Workshop at West Virginia University, SPLICE Institute for Arts and Technology Innovations at Western Michigan University, and Restorative Practices Online at the University of Maine to create opportunities for student self-expression-fostering performance as an experiential, self-paced, recreational, therapeutic, inter-leveled, individualized workshop.

“This experience will help renew my own knowledge of ethnomusicology and learn new manners by which I can share the wonders of unknown or little known music with students and encourage them to use instruments we have in the school to explore new narratives as freely as ancient and indigenous cultures have done for generations.“

Katherine Wetmore | Mathewson Elementary School – New Haven, CT
Attend the ISTE Conference in New Orleans to elevate instructional practices and develop more innovative lessons that challenge students.

“This experience will teach me new and exciting benefits of technology and how to implement them in my classroom. I will build confidence as an educator, learn to guide my students in the practices of being uncomfortable in learning something new, and I will be able to collaborate with experts and teachers from around the globe.“

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“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!