If These Walls Could Speak

On the final day of their fellowship, Alice Laramore and Kat Atkins-Pattenson shared with us their reflection on a four-week, 9,000 mile road trip along the United States/Mexico border exploring language arts, visual arts, immigration and identity. Thank you, Team Paredes Que Hablan (or Walls That Speak) for sharing your experiences and hope for future students.

Our students cross borders every day. They switch from home language to school language and back again.Their warm presence, giggles, and questions invite new families inside our school buildings. And, everywhere they go, our students carry the imprint of their family members who came to Boston for refuge, for freedom, for opportunity. Every time these young people change spaces, they reconcile their identities and pasts with their presents and futures.

We know that for students to truly succeed academically, they must see mirrors of themselves in our curricula – art, media, and text – and validation of their identities in our classroom spaces. While we can empathize with our students, as white female teachers, we do not truly understand the depth of our students’ experiences. To effectively understand our students’ experiences, we need to cross borders ourselves and experience the displacement our students have experienced traversing these borders.

Today, the last day of our trip, we are energized by the Borders and Identity Unit that we have built and will use to launch the year with our students. We are flooded with all that we’ve seen in our seven cities. We are entrenched in the creative part of teaching, the part that involves being an interesting, engaged individual to better support the interesting, engaged individuals in our classrooms. The part that means we learn something new in order to teach something new. The experience of being a learner better prepares a teacher to teach, and this summer was an opportunity for us to authentically learn about murals on different borders, to confront not knowing and to investigate, to use art as a lens into community.

Watch in this video the artistic expression Kat and Alice captured in three countries and seven cities to help students answer the question: “How do we show other people the depth of our past and the strength of our future?”

This month, we immersed ourselves in adult project-based learning. We’ve tried lots of new things, from food to cloud-mountain hiking to driving to places we’d never been (while blogging) to talking about art from sunrise to sunset. And we’ve done the whole thing together. Often, in our classrooms, we create groups that we believe will benefit from the individuality of each member. We build in scaffolds meant to allow the group to discover each individual’s strengths and to make empathy a non-negotiable. Though we embarked with empathy and respect already in place, our twenty-six days together have illuminated the strengths and areas of growth (thanks, BPS, for the language) of our partnership. We both value efficiency, and, in the face of less-than-such (e.g., when the internet goes as turtle-pace, when people get motion sick, when you walk up the wrong side of the mountain, etc.), we have learned much about each other. That knowledge has made us better collaborators and better friends.

In San Francisco, where we started our trip, we were oriented to the idea of looking. This was not just because there was so much to look at in The Mission, but also because we did our first day with a guide, who was able to re-frame what we had seen and interpreted in the context of history and community. Carla made us cognizant of how much we needed other people’s knowledge and understanding to build our own. The Pacoima (L.A.) murals added a layer of “looking around corners” to that concept. On the hottest day of our trip, we spent the majority of it seeking out art on the walls of automotive dealerships and in the parking lots of community centers. It wasn’t always going to be all in one alley. In San Diego, a park once occupied by people and now occupied by art, had us looking for four hours and not seeing enough. We returned home those nights googling Aztec symbols and stories, trying to learn enough to know something.

Tucson and Dr. Acosta gave us yet another frame through which to experience our learning. Freedom of education does not mean freedom to learn about the American Revolution and the Civil War through a lens of whiteness. Precious Knowledge, to our generation of “urban baby teachers,” is a reflection of our intentions. Though we (the generation of “urban baby teachers”) are in no way united in our vision or our understanding of social justice, the power of conviction in ideas, history, and lifting stories and voices drove us into the work of education. We wonder if Dr. Acosta knows how many teachers who are only five or six years in are tracking his legal battle and celebrating his victories, most recently the repeal of Arizona’s ban on ethic studies which a district court deemed racist and targeting of Mexican Americans.

In Santa Fe, we absorbed the International Folk Art Market, how artists envision and reimagine, how tradition can morph modern and can accommodate the present day without reneging its roots. This mirrors the murals we’ve seen and the art of Frida Kahlo, taking symbols from the past and bringing them to life in the now. In Mexico City, we saw so much. Teotihuacan, Frida, Diego, the Anthropology Museum, street art, the culinary art of Pujol, the stained glass and craters of Toluca. With American eyes and feet, we navigated the city, and learned all that we still had to learn.

It is hard to classify this experience, and even harder to know all that it will bring to our classrooms. It falls somewhere in the vicinity of sabbatical – an intentional, purposeful break that brings new insight – but also touches the realm of professional development, continuing education, and a creative project. We envision a unit with three parts. First, with our students, we will read several memoirs that broadly address the topic of borders and walls, thinking with our students about potential barriers and how to scale them. Second, we will all generate and share memoirs from our own lives on the same topic. The author of each memoir will formulate his or her own theme about the topic, communicating a piece of knowledge gained from navigating–either adeptly or crudely–a border. Finally, after examining many primary sources collected on our trip and within Boston, students will co-construct a mural combining the themes of their memoirs to create a community creation.

The idea of “insider and outsider” has been, in many ways, the crux of our travels. We asked questions and navigated our identity as visitor, as white visitor, as American, as woman. In our classrooms we are often the the outsiders to the communities in which we teach. However our ethnicities and upbringing reflect the dominant histories and tools that are demanded from dominant culture. In this unit, we hope to illuminate these walls, supporting students to name them, scale them, and ultimately paint them. As humanities teachers, we believe that providing students vocabulary and time to think and discuss the world and its issues leads to a brighter, more creative, and smarter future than the two of us can imagine. Solutions lie in the writing, in the art, in the conversations, and in the relationships that students create. Just as we wrote in our FFT proposal, students must see themselves reflected in curriculum, in physical space, and in pedagogy in order to be successful. Because we do not physically reflect our students’ identities, we think constantly about how to make all other facets of our teaching affirming. This unit and this project will be a launching point for discussions about personal identity, community, and what comes next.

In Mexico City, the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, San Diego, Tucson and Santa Fe, this fellowship made space for us to be learners. After the twelfth grade, those opportunities almost always come with one (or many) literal costs. And Fund for Teachers (along with the school year calendar) gave us the time, space and finances to learn more in a way that will support our students, but also in a way that sustains us as teachers, professionals, and individuals. It made it possible for us to end the trip feeling rejuvenated rather than depleted. There is a constant push for teachers to continue professional development; it is indeed essential. But driving this profession development experience (and literally driving more than 900 miles) meant that we could pace our learning and reflection, and that we could intentionally choose meaningful experiences that hit our “zone of proximal development.”

If you’d like to know more about our trip, we’ve been writing the whole time. Read our blog at www.writingisthinking.org

In Solidarity,
Kat + Alice

Alice is a 7th grade Humanities/Special Education teacher at the Lilla G. Frederick Pilot Middle School in Dorchester, MA. She infuses arts into her Humanities classes, most recently taking students to do pop-up Shakespearean theater in several Boston Public libraries. She works on a cross curricular team of teachers who study the intersection of English Language Learning and Special Education to build inclusive writing experiences in all contents.

Kat is a 7th grade Humanities teacher at Gardner Pilot Academy K-8 School, a Pilot School in the Boston Public Schools. Katharine was a 2012-13 Donovan Urban Teaching Scholar at Boston College where she earned her Master’s in Secondary Education. Prior to becoming a teacher, Katharine built a college access program in rural Pennsylvania that continues to help first generation and undocumented students find the appropriate post-secondary fit while developing college and financial literacy
within the community.

Fellow Friday | Speaking Their Language

Each Friday throughout the summer, we are highlighting one of our 2019 Fellows — their inspiration, itinerary, and plan for transforming student learning going forward. Today, we highlight our first team, which named themselves “Spainward Bound.” Erin Strack, Andrew Murphy, Juan Carlos Lara and Pato Cabral will use their $10,000 Fund for Teachers grant to attend the International Colloquium on Languages, Culture, and Identity in Schools and Society in Soria, Spain, this summer. Because they work at a dual language school in Kansas City, they designed this fellowship to address topics in the forefront of dual language educational practices and inform a new Spanish/English poetry unit inspired by Spanish architecture and landscapes.

Why This Experience?

We’re an urban elementary school (grades K-6) with a population of about 80% Latino students, the remaining 20% being mainly comprised of African American students. While being part of such a unique form of education is engaging and rewarding, it can also be frustrating and confusing at times:

We say frustrating because our student population has very different needs than the typical student population of a monolingual school, yet we’re expected to instruct, assess, and perform according to the same rigid guidelines put in place for those monolingual programs, and our students’ test scores are measured by the same district-wide metric used for their monolingual peers.
We say confusing because there aren’t a whole lot of schools like ours out there, especially given our geographical location. We’re one of only a handful in our state, so finding relevant professional development opportunities, appropriate classroom resources, and effective instructional practices can be extremely challenging.

There simply aren’t enough teacher education agencies in the US that can appropriately train and prepare teachers how to competently teach both English and Spanish literacy simultaneously.

Having the opportunity to attend sessions on effective bilingual teaching practices presented by people who have more knowledge and experience in dual language education than anyone we could find in the US will be immensely beneficial to our program, our teachers, and most importantly our students.
There are also many sessions on identifying culturally as a bilingual child in society and how “living in two worlds” can be as equally enlightening as it is alienating. We hope to learn how to better support our students with this unique cultural identification.
Finally, we anticipate networking with authors and booksellers at the conference and around the city, in order to obtain authentic Spanish literacy resources to take back to our classrooms.

The Planned Itinerary

The Colloquium will highlight topics that are in the forefront of dual language educational practices. When not in sessions, we’ll scour the city of Soria for natively written literature for both children and adults. There is a huge need for Spanish books in content areas such as science, as well as fiction books and comics. Most of our Spanish teachers have to create much of their content area resources themselves, as it’s next to impossible to find this variety of resources in the US.

Upon completion of the Colloquium, we’ll explore the Casa de los Poetas, which describes the lives and works of three famous Spanish poets. We also plan to visit the nearby village of Calatanazor, which was a location for Orson Wells’ Chimes at Midnight, and Agreda,
the village of three cultures: Arabic, Jewish, and Christian. In visiting these local points of interest, we can enliven our classroom teaching with vivid descriptions of Spain’s history, architecture, and natural beauty.

Panoramic view of Calatanazor (courtesy of sorianitelaimaginas.com)

Plans for Students

Our team consists of a 5th/6th grade Spanish math teacher, a 4th grade Spanish literacy teacher, a 3rd grade English literacy teacher and literacy coach, and an ESL teacher that co-teaches in 3rd and 4th grade. Working collaboratively, we’ll use our newly learned strategies and newly acquired resources to create a Spanish/English poetry unit. This would include author studies, poetry reading and writing, and shared presentations of written poetry. Both 3rd and 4th grade have poetry standards that have been notoriously
tricky to cover in Spanish. None of the nuances of poetry that make it so beautiful (rhythm, imagery, descriptive language, word play) can be translated well, so finding famous poems written in English and then translating them is not an option. This fellowship would provide our students with this brilliant new learning opportunity, to engage in a linguistically balanced poetry study unit.

Closing Thoughts

We’re incredibly grateful for the opportunity to attend the colloquium on dual language education in Spain. The knowledge, experiences, and resources we expect to return with are beyond measure. Our colleagues are equally excited, as we’re all well aware of the positive and direct impact this fellowship will have on our students and school community as a whole. We’re deeply honored, and of course, more than a little excited!

A Spectrum of Services

If you see an inordinate amount of people wearing blue or a puzzle piece lapel pin today, here’s why. Today is the 12th annual World Autism Awareness Day (#WWAD), established by Member States of the United Nations to raise awareness about people with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) throughout the world. To show our support, Fund for Teachers proudly shares the work of Guin Geyer.

Autism was a relatively new diagnosis when Guin earned her special education degree, which meant she received little to no training on how to help students and their families living with the communication disorder. While the diagnosis continues to increase (1 in 59 children according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), Guin found teacher development in the field remained non-existent. Not one teacher in her school district was trained on the spectrum.

“I intend to become the go-to professional in the state of Oklahoma to help colleagues find the best teaching methods for severe-profound student populations they teach,” wrote Guin in her Fund for Teachers proposal.

The Picture Exchange System facilitates communication through images

She started this quest with a $5,000 grant to attend the Treatment and Education of Autistic and related Communication Handicapped Children (TEACCH) conference in Indianapolis last summer. Considered the best practice for teaching those with autism disorders, TEACCH representatives taught Guin how to structure her classroom in ways that help students better understand their environment and achieve independence over time. She then returned home to Oklahoma City and created that classroom at Bridgestone Elementary.

“With extra funds from my Fund for Teachers grant, as well as some personal fundraising, I was able to set up a model classroom,” said Guin. “I submitted another grant to set up all areas of the school with a Picture Exchange System so that our non-vocal students have a way to communicate everywhere in the building.” In addition:

The new bubble tower employs sound, lights and movement to calm students’ anxiety.

Students now have schedules that match their specific level and needs.
Every student is now included with regular education peers in one aspect or another on a daily basis.
She’s conducted several teacher professional development sessions across Oklahoma.
The Facebook page she created for Oklahoma educators reaches more than 1,200 people, supporting collaboration and reducing burnout.

As a result of these innovations, Guin reports a 98% reduction in disruptive classroom behaviors. “Very rarely do we see any problems at all and it’s easy for us to resolve them at this point,” she says.

“By funding training for me, you changed the lives of multitudes of students with special needs,” said Guin. “You have given me the tools to help them be more successful in the general education environment and to be more included in society as a whole.”

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Emily Frake (Camino Nuevo Charter Academy #2 – Los Angeles) also chose to pursue learning that supports students on the Autism spectrum. Emily used her Fund for Teachers grant to attend The Autism Show, in Manchester, UK, and, afterwards, observed leading inclusion schools in London to better understand effective and meaningful implementation of inclusion on a school-wide level.

“My fellowship opened my eyes to a society that is more accepting and accessible for people with all sorts of disabilities,” she said. “With all the learning I’ve done, I’m hoping to help general educators know that teaching kids with disabilities is not scary or even as difficult as they think. I want them to feel empowered to take ownership of ALL students.”

Giving Haitian Students Something to be Thankful For

The motto of Edward W. Morley Elementary School in West Hartford, CT, is “Character Builds Community.” Principal Ryan Cleary and the school’s staff sought a meaningful way to put that motto into action and decided to focus special attention on the country and people of Haiti. In collaboration with the nearby Crosby Fund for Haitian Education, students exchanged artwork with the L’Ecole Papillion primary school in Deschapelles, Haiti, an exchange that culminated in a community-wide art auction to perpetuate the international relationship. Further, students and parents raised money (teacher Kimberly Ashworth taught students how to knit hats, which they sold) to sponsor four Haitian students’ tuition for one year. Inspired by students’ sustained interest in the project and their new peers, a cross-curricular team of teachers designed a Fund for Teachers fellowship to visit L’Ecole Papillion, learn more about the needs there and strengthen collaborative learning opportunities.

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Kimberly, FFT team member Dave Aparo, and a student sponsored by Morley Elementary.

FFT Team from Morley Elementary in Deschapelles.

“Prior to our fellowship, much of the content I presented to my students was based on hearsay and information I had found on the internet,” said Kimberly upon her return. “Now my teaching is based on actual experiences and personal knowledge. My goal is to inspire them to help others and appreciate other cultures and ways of living.”

Judging from the actions of students Olivia Chambers and Ella Haggerty, GOAL ACCOMPLISHED. After learning about the plight of Haitian children unable to pay the requisite school fees, these fourth graders set out to be the change they want to see in the world. This dynamic duo recently presented to the local school board their impact and next steps and were gracious enough to share the transcript of their speech:

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Olivia: Since the middle of last year, we’ve been raising money for Haitian kids to go to school. We never thought that donating money to a charity would lead to writing, rehearsing and performing a speech. We would like to thank our families for supporting us and overall just being wonderful about our bumps, needs, and even our wants. Now you’re all probably wondering, why are two 10-year old’s here speaking tonight?

Ella: Thank you, Olivia. Our story started last year when we were in 4^th grade. We had something called academic choice time where we could do anything that involved self-driven learning for an hour on Friday afternoons. We knew we wanted to do something together, so we narrowed it down to something to do with making a donation, but which one? After some thought, we decided to work towards a way to donate money to Haitian girls and boys to go to school and to purchase supplies.

Make up application and mani/pedis were a few of Spa Haiti’s services.

There are a couple of reasons why we chose this path. Last New Year, I made a resolution. I told myself I would make a difference. At our school in West Hartford, we have a sister school in Haiti. We’re helping to raise money for the children there. Olivia had a big role, she’s our treasurer, so she keeps all the money safe. Olivia and I decided we would save our own birthday money, tooth fairy money and pennies from our penny collection. We also raised money through bake sales, car washes and even by offering spa services at our own spa.

We saved money all through the school year. By June, we had saved $200 to provide a Haitian child a 1-year scholarship. Morley teachers who traveled to Haiti this past summer were able to meet 10-year-old Sophia Melissa Albert. She was the girl who received a scholarship with the money we raised. We were especially glad to hear that she was chosen because we found out she no longer has her own parents. Over this past summer we continued our effort and raised an additional $375 by hosting a fundraising event to provide a 2^nd scholarship and to buy school supplies.

Olivia: Getting invited to this event touched our hearts and made us proud, excited, nervous, and now we feel like global citizens, as we know you all are too.

What we want to come out of this is not fame, or to put it on a college application. We want to change the world for the better. We want this to go national and have people donate and help us make a difference. And, we want the 2 kids that we are sponsoring to complete primary school and go on to high school and college. We hope they get a job and send their kids to school (if they have kids) –– and to create a snowball effect of goodness.

We would also like to acknowledge our 4^th grade teacher for all she did to inspire us. She will always be our favorite teacher. Thank you, Kimberly Ashworth! Thank you also to Mr. Cleary, our Principal, for encouraging Morley students to do self-driven learning. Also, we are grateful that the Fund for Teachers helps educators to go on their own self-driven experiences and that the Dalio Foundation provides the funding for them to go.

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To watch news coverage on Ella and Olivia, click here.

Beyond Dia de los Muertos

Pixar’s Coco familiarized many with the tradition of Dia de los Muertos, or “Day of the Dead.” And before Nancy MacBride‘s fellowship to Oaxaca, Mexico, the annual holiday inspired Voluntown Elementary’s singular art project honoring Latin American history and culture. Now, the celebration honoring life and death is just one in a series of year-long art opportunities linked with Latin culture in a preK-8 school that only offers 60 hours of social studies instruction annually.

“Voluntown, CT, is a rural, homogenous community with only one school (ours) where only 1% of students have other languages spoken at home,” explained Nancy. “The insular culture creates challenges for children to learn about different cultures and accept the differences in others. I felt our students needed cultures, not walls, so I designed a fellowship to make it happen.”

Usually Fellows’ implementation of their summer grants begins upon their return to the classroom, but Nancy started the learning when she applied for her FFT grant in the fall of 2017.

Through the school’s PTO and a local Mexican restaurant’s sponsorship, three groups of Mexican folk artists visited the school.
Older students read Esperanza Rising in English and created ofrendas, or altars, for loved ones who’ve passed away.
Kindergarteners created multi-media collages of a Mexican desert landscape.
Second graders learned Zapotec weaving techniques.
Fourth graders read and illustrated a Mexican legend and painted portraits of Frida Kahlo.
Fifth graders created metallic masks inspired by Pre-Columbian versions.
Multiple grades watched PBS’ “Craft in America” episodes on Mexican art and were introduced to an artisan Nancy would meet on her fellowship.

The “pre-learning” culminated in a community Noche Mexicana last spring, attended by students, their families and government dignitaries.

This summer, students followed Nancy (a working artist herself) via Instagram as she lived out the learning they shared the year before. Nancy spent a month in Oaxaca, staying in a community that caters to local artisans, taking language classes, sketching World Heritage Sites and experiencing Pre-Columbian and folk art in surrounding museums and cultural centers. She practiced weaving through the Weaving Oaxaca initiative alongside a twelve-year-old teacher whose family has dyed natural wools and created art for generations; she also worked with Zapotec ceramist Adrian Martinez for a week. The highlight was visiting the artist studio of Magdalena Pedro Martinez, whom students came to know through the “Craft in America” series.

This fall, Nancy’s experiences in Mexico continue to inspire projects and discussions with students. Fifth graders are preparing to create wooden assembled animals inspired by Mexican alebrijes. Sixth graders are creating their own versions of sculptures modeled after artifacts Nancy brought back from Josefina’s Oaxacan workshop. And beginning this week, students of all ages will have the opportunity to join a new Spanish Club Nancy initiated as an elective.

Perhaps more importantly, students have a new appreciation for “our neighbors to the south,” according to Nancy. As a volunteer with the Voluntown Peace Trust, she collaborates with the Hartford Catholic Worker to bring urban minority children out of the city to enjoy the surrounding nature. Nancy’s leadership as a role model through this effort, combined with the cross-disciplinary learning she provides, is creating a new culture in the school community.

“My admiration of artists from other cultures helps break down the walls and build bridges to other cultures for students,” she said. “My Fund for Teachers fellowship wasn’t just about the place visited, or knowledge, skills and capabilities I gained; it also moved appreciation of Mexican culture from my head to my heart and that passion is now spreading to my students.”

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Nancy (pictured with a state selectman and superintendent at Noche Mexicana) has taught art for 31 years, a career that has included teaching sculpture to widows and orphans in Zambia and earned her Connecticut’s Outstanding Elementary Art Teacher award. She frequently exhibits her own work in galleries and museums, which you can see on her website. (Top picture of students dressed as Frida and her fawn at the Noche Mexicana.)

Today in History – Alaska!

The name of our 49th state derives from the Aleut word alyeska, or “great land.” Many FFT Fellows would agree after experiencing the culture and ecology of the land that – 151 years ago today – was acquired from Russia for $7.2 million. In celebration of Alaska Day, enjoy the following images, insights and impact of grant recipients’ learning in “The Last Frontier.”

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2018

Panning for gold in Mineral Creek.

Robin Barboza-Josephson & Catherine Gardner (New Milford High School – New Milford, CT) joined an expedition through the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge and Denali National Park to demonstrate the work of scientists and move ecology education to a model supporting Next Generation Science Standards. (Featured in clip above.)

“We hope to trigger a need for changes in human behavior to try and combat global warming before it is too late. I hope that by sharing my photos and experiences with them, they will realize that their behavior here (4000 miles away) still has an impact on environments they have never seen before.”

Listening to a lecture by Sheeren on Glacier Bay.

Jill Hanley (Journeys Secondary School – Saint Paul, MN) boarded Steve Spangler Science at Sea expedition to the inland passage of South East Alaska to strengthen approaches to Next Generation Science Standards and support student learning surrounding geology, geography, animal science and life cycles.

“I didn’t see Alaska, I experienced it. I went places I had only read about and connected information that I was receiving to the places that I was seeing. The amount of information that Naturalist John Scheeren share with us was amazing. I feel grateful that he shared his knowledge and I can pass his knowledge on to my students.”

Rose Abbey, Sarah Henry-Pratt, LeAnn Olsen & (Oakland Elementary School – Oakland, OR) join the Steve Spangler Science at Sea expedition to the inland passage of South East Alaska to strengthen approaches to Next Generation Science Standards and support student learning surrounding geology, geography, animal science and life cycles. (Featured in clip below.)

“This grant has allowed us as educators to revitalize our way of thinking about instruction in the area of science. We come away from it knowing that science needs to be in every part of our day, not just in science time but also in reading and writing. We know that students need to be engaged to learn. Exposing students to phenomena in science begins the scientific process, and unlocks their interests for the future.”

2017

Christine Dunbar and Charles FitzGibbons (Metropolitan Expeditionary Learning School – Forest Hills, NY) used photo journalism and oral interviews to examine the immediate effects of climate change on coastal Alaskan natives to convey to students the interaction between individuals, communities, government policy and the climate.

“This grant allowed my colleague and me the opportunity to enter into a community and explore the multiple sides of a current event. The content can be examined through both a scientific and political lens, allowing us to create an interdisciplinary case study that can be grounded in both of our classes. Through this process, my horizons have been broadened regarding interdisciplinary content creation through teacher collaboration.”

Beverly Brotton (Soddy Daisy Middle School – Soddy Daisy, TN) explored Alaska’s landscapes, examining how humans adapt to challenges caused by humanity and nature, to provide students a first-hand account of climate change.

“There is no way to compare reading about a place and visiting that area. These amazing experiences are a part of me. I can now say I have walked on a glacier, watched a sow play with her cubs in Denali, and ran down a highway to catch a glimpse of a moose drinking from a stream. When you experience it, your arsenal of teachable moments grow.”

Rebecca Cutkomp (East Hartford High School – East Hartford, CT) explored Washington’s Spokane Indian Reservation and Alaska’s Denali National Park to enrich student learning in thematic units on identity and aid in students’ deeper insight into rhetorical analysis.

“My time camping in Alaska looms large in my reflections on my trip. I spent 3 days orienteering through a trail-less section of Denali National Park to mirror the some of the events in John Krakauer’s Into the Wild. I faced some of the obstacles detailed in the book, and while these experiences gave me valuable background knowledge on the text, it also strengthened my understanding of how identity is shaped by our experiences and encounters, a major focus of my fellowship.”

Brandon Hubbard-Heitz and Frank Mangam (The Howard School – Chattanooga, TN) assessed the past and present effects of people’s interaction with the Alaskan wilderness to empower students to embark upon future conservation work in their contexts. (Read more about their learning here.)

“I have a much more nuanced view of the ways in which humans interact with and treat the land on which they live. I believe I am less self-righteous and more able to ask students probing questions, rather than simply argue a point. I believe I am more capable of leading students into the difficult, muddy waters of the debate about climate change and how humans ought to respond to imminent changes to the environment.”

Tips from the Pros (aka Fellows)

Two weeks ago, Fund for Teachers opened the 2019 grant application. Have you been thinking about where you want to go and what you want to learn? For a little inspiration, today we share excerpts from a piece produced by the Stamford (CT) Education Association highlighting the learning of FFT Fellows from the area. Maybe you’ll see yourself in them and be inspired to start your online application, due January 31, 2019.

Kristin Baldovin above the Theatre of Dionysis at the Acropolis.

[minti_dropcap style=”normal”]”I[/minti_dropcap] wanted to travel to a place I had not been before to expand on my world view, and I wanted the location to be relevant to curriculum for my fourth graders. Our first literacy unit of study centers around Greek mythology, so going to Greece seemed like a natural fit. I also noticed that my students often struggled with some of the historical context that I knew I could gain going to Greece myself.

Do it! Apply! I would highly suggest submitting a proposal if you are interested in furthering your knowledge and learning as an educator or person in general. Choose a place and/or topic you’re passionate about. When you have passion, it makes the writing/work easy.

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Diane with founder of Rainbows Within Reach.

[minti_dropcap style=”normal”]”M[/minti_dropcap]y main goal in applying for an FFT grant was to improve how I teach writing to English Language Learners. Thanks to Fund for Teachers, I was able to attend the I Teach K! conference in Las Vegas. I attended a variety of sessions on writing, guided reading, and helping ELL students, as well as those with behavior issues. Now, more than a year later, I still refer to the strategies and techniques I learned.

I would urge anyone who has a desire to learn and explore to take a chance and submit a proposal. You just might get some exciting news in April!

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Sarah spent the day interacting with 35 orphans living at a children’s shelter in Atenas.

[minti_dropcap style=”normal”]”I[/minti_dropcap] chose this experience because, very simply, I realized that I could be far more effective in my work with families if I could speak basic conversational Spanish. I spent two weeks in Grecia, Costa Rica, attending Academia Centroamericana de Espanol’s program specifically designed for social workers. Through classes and living with a host family, I developed a small sense of how some of our families must feel when they can’t advocate for their children due to a language barrier. I am much more mindful of this now and also have found that if I make an effort to speak Spanish, parents are often willing to try a bit of English. Just making an effort opens a lot of doors.

Whatever program you design for yourself, you need to make a strong case for how your fellowship will benefit students, their families, and/or your school community. If you want to know more about my fellowship, visit my blog at https://costaricasarahblog.wordpress.com.”

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Jenna Cinelli developed a global network of peers during her fellowship.

[minti_dropcap style=”normal”]”I[/minti_dropcap] had the amazing opportunity to attend the Hawaii National Great Teachers Seminar in Hilo. This was unlike any other conference I’ve attended: Gone were the rows of desks, teachers on laptops and lectures. It was just 60 teachers from around the world meeting together in small groups to talk about education, the issues we face as educators and how to become that “great teacher” our students need. By deciding what learning would be best for your teaching, you are in control of your own growth. No one dictates what you are learning or how you should take it back to your classroom. I was able to decide what I was going to learn and what I was going to take away from it.”

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Connie in the Boyne Valley with a Neolithic monument built in 3,200 B.C.

[minti_dropcap style=”normal”]”I[/minti_dropcap] kept it simple and didn’t try to see 10 cities in 10 days, but was still able to explore 9,000 years of Irish landscape, mythology and culture through the country’s national treasure of storytelling. I experienced UNESCO World Heritage Sites and the largest Anglo Norman castle, attended evenings of music and storytelling and learned that storytelling is not only just active for the teller, but also the listener. If you are going to apply, first read about other people’s fellowships. There are some amazing ideas! Then start your dream. You do not have to leave the USA. The trip is about YOUR personal growth as an educator!”

Columbus Day or Indigenous Peoples Day?

Columbus may have sailed the ocean blue in fourteen hundred ninety two, but South Dakota instituted October 8 as Indigenous Peoples’ Day in nineteen hundred eighty nine as a counter-celebration. This is the holiday Rebecca Zisook’s students will be commemorating today due, in large part, to her FFT fellowship this summer.

“Previously, our third grade curriculum included an ‘Explorers’ unit that glorified post-Columbus imperialism and oppression of those colonized under a mask of purported bravery and achievement,” said Rebecca. “I wanted my Latinx students to be aware of the bravery and achievements of their ancestors, and I wanted to communicate with them more fluently beyond conversational Spanish.”

At the Library of Congress, reading, with a magnifying glass, an 1860’s issue of the Frederick Douglass Papers.

With her $5,000 Fund for Teachers grant, Rebecca investigated the richness of Mesoamerica’s indigenous peoples, first using primary sources from the Library of Congress and the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City, and then through language and cultural immersion in Oaxaca, Mexico. Her goal was to gain a nuanced perspective of Mesoamerican peoples and bring this knowledge to students in a way that applies to a broader American and global perspective.

Through guided tours of sites like the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City, Rebecca learned the dominant narratives about customs and peoples from the region. She sought out primary source materials as taught at the Library of Congress Summer Teacher Institute she attended prior to departing for Mexico, and enrolled in a four-week language school while living with a host family in Oaxaca. Her experience there included touring the Ethnobotanical Gardens and partaking in cultural events, such as a Guelaguetza, the annual celebration uniting representatives from 16 different ethnolinguistic groups.

Rebecca’s view of the Guelaguetza, watching performances from people from across the Mexican state of Oaxaca.

Rebecca plans to host her own Guelaguetza at Chicago’s Helen C. Peirce School of International Studies this year. She’s also collaborating with colleagues on an enhanced International Night in keeping with the school’s International Baccalaureate tradition and is in the process of replacing the “Explorers” unit with a “Culture” one.

“We can change the mindset of those who believe that speaking Spanish is somehow a hindrance to learning or identity,” said Rebecca. “We can break the pattern of Spanish-speaking immigrants feeling shame instead of pride for their home language. We can reclaim our histories, our languages, and our identities. We can build a more empathic world.”

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2019 Grant Application Available Today

Talk Shakespeare To Me

To be (relevant) or not to be (relevant), that is the question high school students ask when it comes to reading Shakespeare. In response, Fund for Teachers Fellows annually set out for Stratford Upon Avon and related sites to prove how a 400-year-old bard has still got game.

Gretchen Philbrick, teacher at Norwich Free Academy in Norwich, CT, crammed as much Shakespeare into three weeks as possible, seeking him out in three countries. She participate in the European Shakespeare Research Association convention in London; attended the Gdansk Shakespeare Festival in Poland; and explored Romeo and Juliet’s Verona.

“Shakespeare lessons ‘test my mettle’ as a teacher,” she said. “I must come up with relevant, properly scaffolded, high interest lessons in which students can discover just how capable they are and walk away as confident Shakespearean scholars.” She uses the Instagram feed named for a Shakespeare quote (@experiencebeajewel) to share videos, incorporates puppetry into readings and analyzes with her students global adaptations of Romeo and Juliet from locations as varied as Bollywood and Iran.

“Shakespeare marks a significant stage in a student’s development. Once students “get” a Shakespeare text, they beam & their sense of accomplishment is evident!” said Gretchen.

Danielle getting in character at The Globe Theatre.

Danielle Peck (Grosse Point South High School – Grosse Pointe Farms, MI) participated in the “Teaching Shakespeare Through Performance” program in London to learn new methods of teaching that inspired creativity through performance. Classes at the Globe Theatre informed her own, as she shares strategies for mastering texts through analytical reading and writing.

“Shakespeare now resides on our campus in multiple ways” said Danielle. “My students started a Shakespeare Club and I serve as advisor. This year, we held an in-school monologue contest and also traveled to Cincinnati to participate in the National Shakespeare Monologue Competition.”

Additional student activities include:

a “Shakespeare’s Greatest Hits” staged reading by students and teachers of the most iconic scenes;
a new semester-long course on the bard; and,
an annual performance of Romeo & Juliet on campus in collaboration with a professional theatre company.

“My summer at the Globe was truly life-changing,” said Danielle. “It transformed me as an educator and as a human being and inspired me to keep learning and growing. Thank you for trusting teachers to develop their own extraordinarily meaningful professional development programs. In a time when it seems like teachers are given less trust and fewer resources than ever, your philosophy is a hopeful breath of fresh air.”

Engaging middle school students in classic literature and theatrical performance was the motivation behind Lyndsey Jones-McAdams‘ fellowship. In addition to participating in a Greek performance workshop in an authentic amphitheater, she conducted research at the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford Upon Avon. This week, her fourth and fifth graders at P.S. 264 in Brooklyn completed a “Classical Remix Theatre Collection” which she created. In collaboration with a professional theatre, students read original texts in an abridged manner and adapt them for the school community (comprised primarily of Middle Eastern immigrants).

“My students adapted A Midsummer Night’s Dream into an immersive theatre piece, where we transformed our school into Ancient Athens and students and families traveled our building to visit and become a part of the world of the fairies, mechanicals, and young lovers!” said Lyndsey. “At the end, they all (audience included) participated in a traditional Greek wedding dance to celebrate the weddings of the young lovers and the Duke and Duchess.

This summer, the following FFT Fellows will seek out Shakespeare on both sides of the pond:

Joan Williams (Knoxville, TN) will investigate political and folkloric history of Macbeth in England and Scotland, particularly differing performance strategies and historical interpretations, to establish thematic context for existing interdisciplinary courses (AP World History/Literature) and incorporate site-based research into a new Shakespearean Performance curriculum.

David Williams (Colchester, CT) will attend the Teaching Shakespeare Through Performance course at the Globe Theatre in London to learn practical approaches for engaging students from a variety of backgrounds and academic levels.

Julie Davidson and Ann Hasenohrl (Westlake, TX) will participate in Kristin Linklater’s Advanced Course on Shakespeare’s Monologues and Scenes in the Orkney Islands of Scotland to apply innovative and differentiated strategies that bring Shakespeare to life for diverse high school students.

Jacqueline Catcher (Exeter, NY) will tour literary sites associated with famous British authors, including William Shakespeare, the Bronte sisters, and Horace Walpole; examine the impact of Gothic architecture in the development of characterization and theme in Jane Eyre; and study canonical literature at the Oxbridge Teacher Seminar at the University of Cambridge to create differentiated and engaging learning for academic and AP English students.

Ryan Campbell (East Hartford, CT) will walk in the footsteps of Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” in England and Scotland to strengthen personal knowledge of British history and topography that, in turn, enhances literary competency and global awareness of International Baccalaureate students.

Diana D’Emeraude (Austin, TX) participate in a Shakespeare training program for middle and high school language arts/theatre teachers at the Globe Theatre in London to to create curricular units with authentic lessons for my students to help students develop critical thinking skills to be applied in the classroom and beyond.

Alicia Sirios & Cynthia Russell-Williams (East Hartford, CT) will explore social justice as presented through the Scottish Fringe Festival in Edinburgh and the Globe Theatre and Hip Hop Shakespeare Company in London to help students identify parallels between literature and their own lives and develop courage to face challenges presented by societal expectations. And,

John Matthiessen (Branford, CT) will participate in Globe Theatre’s “Teaching Shakespeare Through Performance” course in London to learn practical and play-filled approaches to teaching Shakespeare in the classroom and increase student engagement in the reading and performing Shakespeare.

“I dreamed of sharpening my teaching skills so all of my students can come to see Shakespeare,” said John, “not only as a manageable reading experience, but as a doorway into a world where some of our lives’ most fundamental dilemmas take physical form and stride believably toward their inevitable resolution, whether comedic or tragic.” Although Hamlet says, “A dream itself is but a shadow,” John’s dream will be realized this summer on his fellowship. Follow him and all of our Fellows here on our blog.

Water They Doing to Support UN Goal #6?

As part of Sara Damon’s AP Geography curriculum, students at Stillwater Junior High School in Stillwater, MN, read They Poured Fire on Us from the Sky: The True Story of Three Lost Boys from Sudan. Sara arranged for one of the authors to visit her class, which led to a fundraising project that raised $5,000 for an initiative of “Lost Boy” Salva Dut called Water for South Sudan. Students’ thirst for more service inspired Sara to then design a Fund for Teachers fellowship that took her to Kenya with the nonprofit H2O for Life, where she analyzed the impact of water wells.

“I met with administrators, teachers and students personally impacted by the fact that they now have clean water and toilets at school. “I saw and heard about the health, economic and educational effects of access or lack of access to improved water and sanitation in the school setting as well as in urban and rural home settings,” said Sara. “I shared stories and pictures with my students, staff and school community as testament to how water changes everything.”

Sara started the following school year with a new curriculum she created called “Ripple Effects: The Impact of Water and Sanitation on Standard of Living.” She also created a Story Map that summarized her experiences and demonstrated the WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene) needs of Kenyan students. Then her students took over.

They hosted a school-wide Walk for Water and raised money through sponsorships and pledges for each lap around the track carrying two gallons of water, simulating the journey many in the world make on a daily basis. A student leadership team established awareness and fundraising goals and brainstormed activities, which included presentations to the Lion’s and Kiwanis clubs, Penny Wars, Chipotle fundraisers and film screenings.

Students’ determination to help meet the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goal #6 (ensuring water and sanitation for all by 2030) resulted $80,000 raised to drill nine safe water wells in partnership with H2O for Life and Water for South Sudan.

“What I was able to see, hear and reflect upon as a result of the Fund for Teachers fellowship in Kenya allowed me to create new teaching content and to share in a compelling way the real life impact of WASH projects,” said Sara. “I reinvigorated my desire to continue the hard work of motivating my geography students and the school community to translate geographic awareness into geographic action.”

Kinder-Yogis

Preschool teachers have to be flexible, but Dianna Langdon (Park Early Childhood Center – Ossining, NY) is taking that necessity to a whole new level. She used her FFT grant to obtain certification as a registered children’s yoga teacher and now incorporates the practice daily to unite four-year-olds’ minds, bodies, thoughts and actions while also fulfilling state standards requiring preschoolers’ physical, social and emotional development.

Dianna partners with a student for a bridge pose.

Two weeks of instruction at the Bhodi Tree Yoga Resort in Nosara, Costa Rica, equipped Dianna to weave yoga and mindfulness into classroom instruction in English and Spanish to include the large percentage of students from Latin American countries. She also leads staff development sessions that empower all of the preK teachers and assistants to incorporate breathing and movement exercises that reduce student stress and increase healthy practices.

“My prekindergarten students now enjoy much needed opportunities throughout their learning day for movement, which helps increase their attention and stimulate their cognitive ability,” said Dianna. “Students are also developing mindful habits through the use of new meditative strategies I’ve learned such as mindful minute, guided visualizations, and affirmations.”

Despite their high energy level, the young yogis look forward to the chance to relax together, according to Dianna. She leads some exercises, then students use their creativity to dream up and share their own poses (pictured). They also share thoughts about feelings, hopes and worries. “We even use yoga breathing strategies to support ourselves at other times during the school day and to modulate our energy during learning,” Dianna said.

Ultimately, she envisions daily yoga sessions developing in her students the principle of ahimsa, or non-harming.

“By teaching my students this principle and encouraging them to think about it in other areas of their lives, we will all go into the world outside our classroom with a focus on kindness toward the other.”

Namaste.

For more stories about teachers pursuing mindfulness strategies with their grants, read about the work of these Houston teachers, as well as the impact of these Fellows who learned under experts at Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health in Massachusetts and a Buddhist monastery in France.

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss! | Happy Read Across America Day!

Based on our Fellows’ experiences, the phrase “there’s more than one way to skin a cat” applies to student literacy. We’ll refrain from using that idiom today, however, out of respect for The Cat in the Hat – feline foil of Dr. Seuss, whose March 2 birthday coincides with Read Across America Day. Rachel Rodriguez (Waterbury, CT) and Marnie Jones (Washington DC) have much more to celebrate — reaching a wide range of students with new approaches to reading instruction.

Rachel the International Literacy Association Convention in Orlando, FL.

Rachel’s elementary school has the highest transiency rate in the district. Teaching literacy to students who attend every day is hard enough. Rachel’s students (reading two to three years below grade level and often speaking English as a second language) come in and out of school due to issues worsened by poverty, making fluency that much harder. To capitalize on the time she has, Rachel sought out non-traditional reading strategies at a local and international conference and returned from her fellowship trained in kinesthetic approaches that benefit students suffering from reading disorders and also increase their self-esteem and motivation.

“A large issue in our school is extreme behavior challenges and I believe the root of a large proportion of these problems comes from students’ lack of academic confidence,” said Rachel. “Through my new training, students students are making large strides academically, increasing that confidence and improving behavior. With time, school morale will also improve, as students and teachers find the environment a more positive place.”

Marnie teaches special education students within a traditional classroom setting, which brings its own set of challenges. She works to determine how each student learns best, then makes information or skills accessible. Along the way, she discovered the Lindamood-Bell approach to literacy that incorporates sound, sight and movement to further reading and comprehension. Marnie used her grant to attend two Lindamood-Bell workshops and now applies research-validated strategies tailored to each child.

“Learning how to read does not come easily for many of my students,” said Marnie. “I now realize there is more than one way to become a successful reader and my students are achieving fluency through movement and visualization of letters.”

Marnie’s students collaborate to make the letter “J.”

Research shows that 20% of America’s students struggle with reading. In the past five years alone, 228 teachers have devoted fellowships to lowering that statistic. Literacy remains one of the most common subjects our Fellows pursue so today, especially, we offer them and their students this slight adaptation from Dr. Suess’ Happy Birthday to You:

Today you are you! That is truer than true!
There is no one alive who is you-er than you!
Shout loud, “I am lucky to be what I am!
Thank goodness I’m not just a clam or a ham
Or a dusty old jar of sour gooseberry jam!”
You are what you are! That’s a great thing to be!
So keep on reading! Love, your friends at FFT.

Seeing Ourselves in Others | Black History Month

This February, Fund for Teachers is celebrating Black History Month by highlighting some of our Fellows’ journeys to bring a better understanding of the African American experience to all students. In this four-part blog series, we’ll be diving into everything from the Transatlantic Trade to student advocacy. Our Fellows explored how Black history is taught in our last blog. This week, we are taking a deeper look at how Fellows Merle Rumble, Melissa Petropoulos and James Petropoulos are reframing black history to help students identify with their heritage and with others. Read on to learn more about their experiences in the classroom and how they are honoring Black History Month in their schools.

At the International Civil Rights Center & Museum with the Greensboro Four who staged a sit-in at Woolworth in 1960.

Although African American herself, Dr. Merle Rumble realized her knowledge of civil rights pioneers lacked a breadth and depth she wanted to share with third graders at Fox Run Elementary in Norwalk, CT. The ephemeral Martin Luther King Day left untapped the vast legacies of those who came before and after the progressive leader. She decided to embark on an independent tour of civil rights sites across nine southern cities with her Fund for Teachers grant to increase her understanding and inspire students to see themselves in the achievements of African Americans.

“I wanted to help my students not only to dismantle the false assumptions of African Americans being relegated to slaves and protestors, but also develop their appreciation for the positive impact and contributions of those whose struggled and persevered,” said Merle.

Merle’s students deliver presentations on their African American heroes.

Through guided tours and impromptu interviews, she gathered materials to inform four new units: Africa to slavery, Rosa to Martin, The Civil Rights Movement and African American Heroes. Students are now researching African American heroes and learning songs and poems from the Civil Rights era, inspiring them to identify with those leaders’ achievements.

Looking more deeply into the lives of enslaved Africans during the Colonial Period led Melissa and James Petropoulos‘ students to reconsider how unique they all are. After learning about the unique contributions made by African Americans whom Melissa and James researched on their fellowship, their fourth graders organized a school-wide Unity Day assembly.

“Focusing on humanizing the slave as a person instead of the person as a slave helped students respect what slaves endured,” said Melissa. “Their response was increased empathy for each other.”

In this celebration of kindness, acceptance and inclusion, student pieced together their individual identities to form this Unity Wall. Each description, together, represents the diverse community that Roywaton Elementary strives to be.

While the name of our organization is Fund for Teachers, students are equal beneficiaries of the $27 million in grants awarded since 2001. These teachers crafted fellowships around what they felt would most impact their students. Consequently, students – for years to come – will see themselves and their ancestors in a whole new light.

We thank Merle, Melissa and James for sharing their experiences and their students’ learning. Make sure to check our Black History Month feed on our blog here. Next week, we’ll be exploring how FFT Fellows are assessing the past and present in terms of black history. Stay connected and find out when it’s live by following us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Read our first installment in this series here.

2018 FFT Grant Deadline

Our team is ready to answer any last minute questions you might have before submitting your application for a 2018 Fund for Teachers grant. Just email info@fundforteachers.org or call 800.681.2667.

Don’t forget to proofread and compare your proposal against the scoring rubric by which it will be evaluated. Our Application Tooklit is also an excellent resource.

Deadline: Today at 5pm CDT. Good luck!

Incorporating Advocacy

https://youtu.be/YBqWNcvOd08?t=1s

Margret Atkinson’s language arts students in Zachary, LA, lead a double life. When not studying literature on historic and contemporary Upstanders, they operate an Educational Corporation aimed at engaging communities on the importance of choices that honor others. Initial investments by Donors Choose and Think It Up seeded the creation of their The Upstander Brand, a six-department, student-run business that produces bookmarks, stickers and wristbands advocating for empathy in action. To date, students have raised $1,000, splitting revenue between capital costs and donations to St. Jude’s Children Research Medical Hospital and the American Cancer Society.

“Students are learning skills essential for success in the 2020 workplace, as articulated by the World Economic Forum,” said Margret, who researched World War II Upstanders across Europe on two Fund for Teachers fellowships. “They’re learning cognitive flexibility, critical thinking and emotional intelligence while cultivating their own autonomy and moral paradigms.”

See students interviewed about their Upstander Brand by the CBS affiliate in Baton Rouge, LA.

Seventh and eighth graders founded the nonprofit in 2016 after deeply resonating with Margret’s fellowship research rooted in the Holocaust. Students now self-select one of six departments at the beginning of the school year to create products, forge collaborative community relationships, and produce podcasts, newsletters and blog posts about their mission to create global good.

Meet The Upstander Brand’s leadership team on the video above, produced by the PR/Marketing team and visit Margret’s website to learn more about her fellowships and their role in catalyzing student impact.

Re-Routing Education

First responders in Hurricanes Harvey and Irma had no idea they were following the direction of high school students. Working feverishly behind their computers, Leah Keith Houle’s students in Red Bank, TN, created Humanitarian Outreach Team (or “HOT”) maps used by relief organizations attempting to identify safe routes to deliver supplies or evacuate people.

“When all the hurricanes started hitting this year, people came together across the globe to map our devastated cities and islands,” said student Aviana Harris. “By creating HOT maps, we knew we were saving lives. And I was a part of that!”

These high school students learned how to apply open data sharing for humanitarian efforts based on Leah’s fellowship spent mapping three Caribbean Islands for hurricane preparedness. Her geology students now consider surface shape and topography of areas; ecology and biology students look at water and land interfaces; and scientific research students apply the data to modify maps for first responders. Their 1,000+ hours of mapping directly impact relief efforts ranging from earthquakes in Nepal to hurricanes in the Caribbean to escape routes for Syrian refugees. They’ve even supplied NASA’s Planetary Society with mapping of the Archimedes Crater. The global impact of these students caught the attention of Tennessee education administrators, who asked Leah to create a GIS and mapping technology curriculum that was adopted statewide.

Click here to read how students supported Hurricane Harvey relief efforts and here for the school principal’s review of their work.

Hero, Victim or Traitor? Students Decide

The facts represent La Malinche (or Doña Marina) as a slave, advisor, mistress and emissary. Whether those roles positioned her as a hero, victim or traitor is up for debate — which is what the students of Glen Meinschein and Alejandro Avalos did this semester. Following a fellowship investigating one of the most controversial figures in Mexican history, Glen and Alejandro led their middle schoolers through an exploration of colonialism, feminism and indigenous history to reach a broad range of learners at the Brooklyn School for Collaborative Studies. They share the verdict below…

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