On Pearl Harbor Day, we remember the 2,403 people killed in the surprise attack by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service. The “date which will live in infamy” launched America’s entry into World War II; the bombings also resulted in the internment of 7,000 Japanese American citizens in relocation centers by order of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Teaching the complexities of this time is complex in and of itself for Tim Barry. His students at Nathan Hale Middle School in Coventry, CT, fall within a wide range of ability levels.

“This drastic range creates difficulty when choosing and providing engaging and appropriate text for students of all abilities,” explained Tim. “Fortunately, with the broad scope of our World War II unit, we are able to provide high interest and appropriately leveled options so that all students may contribute and draw connections to classroom discussion and produce work that they can be proud of.”

But that unit lacked dialogue about the domestic impact of the war. Tim designed a Fund for Teachers fellowship fill that gap and, last summer, examined life in and around Japanese Relocation Camps in Utah and Colorado to help students:

• Connect to the past and apply that knowledge to the current climate in the United States?
• Draw parallels between the treatment of Japanese Americans in the United States and Jewish (and other minority) people in Europe during WWII?
• Understand the Pyramid of Hate and how the act of dehumanization impacts individuals and large groups through self reflection and journaling, and
• Support other disciplines across the curriculum such as math (budgeting), social studies (constitutional questions), and science (geographic significance of camps and land features that made them ideal).

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Last summer, I was fortunate to travel to Colorado and Utah to study Japanese Internment Camps as part of my Fund For Teachers fellowship.  My intention was to supplement our current World War II unit with experiences from the home front to allow students to draw parallels in today’s climate of cultural bias.  I want my students to draw inspiration my own curiosity and go out and explore the world.  I want them to challenge what they know or think they know and I want them to be acutely aware of how history has a tendency to repeat itself.

Granada Relocation Center memorial

Trip Details: I spent nine days traveling from the Topaz Camp in Delta, Utah to the Moab Isolation Center in Moab, Utah and finally to Granada Relocation Center (Amache) in Granada, Colorado.  In Delta, I was struck by the beautifully curated Topaz Museum which highlighted the blending of traditional Japanese culture with the easily recognizable American identity of the time.  High school yearbooks, recounts of baseball games, and a letterman’s jackets sat side-by-side with instruments of the Japanese tea ceremony and watercolor paintings.  Despite the dramatic civil rights violations perpetrated by the United States government, these proud people still created a sense of normalcy and everyday life.  The message of their resilience is one that I hope will resonate with my students.

Pictured with Mr. Kitajima and Dr. Clark

The highlight of my trip was being able to connect with Denver University at their biennial open house at the Amache site in Colorado.  There, I was introduced to Dr. Bonnie Clark who is the Project Director of the DU Amache Research Project.  I was able to meet several former internees of the camp, including 87 year old, Mr. Ken Kitajima who was a resident of the camp from ages 12-15.  My hope is that I can provide my students with a first hand account of what it was like to be of middle school age in a Relocation Camp.  I plan to connect with Mr. Kitajima virtually to conduct interviews and provide insight into his experience.  Perspective is one of the most important things I can offer to my students.

Middle school is a trying time and although the experiences of my students will be different than those of the past, the challenges will not be unique.  My hope is that my journey will foster a sense of intellectual curiosity as my students create their own world view and tackle the test of growing up in an increasingly demanding world.

The digital world in which we live allows people to instantly access information and make snap decisions based on their own experiences and biases, yet we don’t often slow down to assess all sides of a story. Ultimately, I want my students to be willing to challenge what is accepted by society and greet people from all walks of life with an open mind.

On this day in 1911, Suffragettes stormed Parliament in London. All were arrested and chose prison terms. Their leader was Emmeline Pankhurst – the focus of Eric Reid-St. John‘s fellowship.

Eric, a theatre teacher at Spain Park High School in Hoover, AL, researched Pankhurst and the suffrage movement they incited. While in London, he found in Trafalgar Square the location of the 1908 rally for which Mrs. Pankhurst was also arrested (pictured). He then studied with three avant-garde theatres, laying the groundwork for his students’ creation of a play about Lady Constance Lytton, an English aristocrat who disguised herself as a working woman to support suffragettes.

“Through research, I found that I could relate a lot to Constance,” said Rachel Ponder, who played the lead. “However, most of all, I was so in awe of her dedication towards the suffrage movement. Being a part of this creative process has inspired me both as a woman and as a human being.”

 

Ponder and 23 students representing each grade spent three months researching the suffrage movement in the United States and Britain before collaborating on a script and set. Each performer created a character journal comprised of photos, newspaper articles and other primary resources they uncovered. An Oxford professor who authored a book on Lytton Skyped into class to inform students’ research, as well.

“Current events were on my mind when I began this process and they continue to bring about a sense of urgency surrounding women’s rights,” said Eric. “My students took the history of this topic and explored its correlation with today’s headlines. They created a story that allowed people to see that the expansion of equal rights is the natural progression of a free society.”

Reviews are in, and at a state theatre competition, Ponder won Best Actress, her cast mates won Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress and Best Ensemble and Deeds Not Words was named Best in Show.

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Update from Eric:

“Several of our seniors from that year’s show have gone on to study theatre at various universities, including Viterbo in Wisconsin (our lead actress from Deeds Not Words studies musical theatre there), University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa; Samford University and Birmingham-Southern in Birmingham; and Emory in Atlanta.

That ended up being my last year teaching in Alabama, as I took a position at a school in Middlebury, VT, the following year. This marks my second year directing the Addison Repertory Theatre at the Hannaford Career Center teaching ART – a class that allows students from area schools to focus on either technical theatre or performance during the school day.

The techniques of devised theatre that I studied along with the suffragettes while in England that summer still impact the way I teach. The students and I have created two plays using devised methods over the past year; one took fables and folk tales and turned them into a children’s show that we toured to five local elementary schools, while the other challenged students to develop a series of short plays that were presented to sold-out crowds over two nights.

The theatre creation techniques I learned will continue to affect the way I teach for years to come. The research into the suffragettes will always continue to influence the way I view the struggle for equal rights. (I have also since been able to take my mother and daughter to the Women’s Rights National Park in Seneca Falls, NY, and have now attended two Convention Days there, annual celebrations that commemorate the first conference on women’s rights in the US).

Thank again for thinking of Deeds Not Words. I believe that was one of the most immediate and important works I’ve been a part of.”

Program officers are Fund for Teachers’ primary point of contact for grant recipients. These individuals field applicants’ questions; support new Fellows throughout the summer; and continue to encourage them once back in the classroom. Other than living vicariously through the Fellows with whom they work, program officers’ favorite part of the job is meeting those teachers in person — which Alycia Johnston did this month at Reflection events in Oklahoma, Tennessee and Chicago.

Reflections are just that, evenings in which Fellows convene to reflect on all they accomplished over the summer. We asked Alycia to share a little about these inspiring nights when she witnesses the impact of Fund for Teachers grants…

[minti_dropcap style=”circle”]Q[/minti_dropcap] You see Fellows twice a year: at Orientations in the spring and Reflections in the fall, after they’ve had a few months to process their fellowships. What’s the “before and after” you observe?

[minti_dropcap style=”circle”]A[/minti_dropcap] At Orientations, I hand teachers checks for up to $10,000 and say, “We believe in you and your ideas.” Because they rarely hear this sentiment, the teachers look shocked — even though they worked diligently on their proposals for months and received their award notifications via email weeks earlier. During these “pre-fellowship” events, the teachers are reserved, cautious and sit far apart from each other. During the Reflections, however, the same teachers are chatty, warm, laughing and sharing their learning. Getting their attention can be a challenge because they are eager to network and leverage each other’s fellowships to benefit more students.

[minti_dropcap style=”circle”]Q[/minti_dropcap]What are the most common things Fellows say during Reflection events?

[minti_dropcap style=”circle”]A[/minti_dropcap] Hands down, that they’ve never been trusted with so much autonomy as educators. Teachers live in a one-size-fits-all/cookie cutter/prescribed environment when it comes to professional development, so the freedom represented by a Fund for Teachers grant is unprecedented for most. Fellows talk about walking back into their classrooms after their fellowships with a confidence they didn’t previously have. They feel like experts on topics they pursued during the summer and that impacts how they teach the rest of the year. I also hear:

• “I’ve never seen an organization that meets me where I am.”
• “At every turn, Fund for Teachers says, ‘Yes! Do that!'”
• “Throughout the process of designing a blueprint for learning, executing my plans and bringing it back to students, I felt honored, trusted and respected as a professional.”

Read more about the Tennessee Reflection here.

[minti_dropcap style=”circle”]Q[/minti_dropcap]You’ve been a program officer for eight years. What advice do you have for teachers preparing their application for a 2020 grant?

[minti_dropcap style=”circle”]A[/minti_dropcap] In my opinion, the most important part of crafting a solid proposal is identifying one’s passion. It’s so clear when someone wants to travel to Italy and writes a proposal for that purpose versus when someone finds a need in their practice or gap in their knowledge and then creates a road map for how they are going to address those learning goals. Also, no matter what teachers want to learn or where they want to learn it, their proposals should be personal and capture their passion for the topic. If a teacher can make a case for why it’s vital for them to make this fellowship happen and their passion shines through, that’s a great start.

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Click here to meet three of our program officers and hear their tips for crafting a strong grant proposal.

(Pictured L-R: Salma Zaky, Alycia Johnston and Stephanie Ascherl while filming a Facebook Live tutorial. Watch for upcoming Wednesday Webinars led by these experts on November 13, December 11 and January 8. Register here.)

Middle school language arts teacher Amy Taylor designed her Fund for Teachers fellowship to accompany Holocaust survivor Eva Kor back to Auschwitz to learn about her subjection to Mengele’s twin experiments, her liberation from the camp in 1945, and her ability to forgive. It would be the last such tour Ms. Kor hosted. She died in her hotel room in Krakow, Poland, the day after taking Amy and others on a tour of the death camp she survived with her twin sister, Miriam.

Amy is now back home in New London, CT, processing all she learned, including being told by Ms. Kor’s son that his mother had passed away during the night. Amy generously shares details of Ms. Kor’s final days spent fulfilling her calling: telling her story “to create an empowered community of critical thinkers who will illuminate the world with hope, healing, respect, and responsibility.”

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I would be honored to talk about Eva. When I discovered this trip through her museum, CANDLES, [Children of Auschwitz – Nazi Deadly Lab Experiments] I knew that I had to go. I felt it in my heart. This experience was the driving force for me to apply for this fellowship and to go through the rigorous application process. I am so glad that I followed my gut instinct and went on this trip. I used her book, Surviving the Angel of Death and her newest documentary Eva A-7063 in my classroom this past spring. I knew from my research about her that she was a remarkable human being. Meeting her in person confirmed that.

From the moment I met her that first night at dinner, (Monday, July 1) I adored her. She was real with us. She was willing to be an open book. She wanted us to ask her anything, to take as many pictures and videos as we wanted, so that when we go home we would share with others our experiences with her and our experiences at the camps. We were there to bear witness to what the Nazis did to Eva and the millions of others.

On Tuesday, July 2nd, we were with Eva again at dinner and after dinner we had a viewing of her documentary. She was there throughout the whole viewing. Some of us were surprised that she was there to watch with us because she has seen it numerous times, but she wanted to be there.  It was rather late (10:30-10:45) when the documentary was over, but Eva was still willing to take a few questions from us. The documentary does a really great job of documenting Eva’s story. You can see how angry and misunderstood she was when she came to America. But once she discovered the idea of forgiveness, you can see the change and the impact that one act had on her entire life. A weight was lifted off of her and she wasn’t angry anymore. Many other survivors do not understand how she could forgive the Nazis for what they had done to her. They think she’s crazy for doing that. But Eva has found a peace within herself and that is all that matters.

Wednesday, July 3rd was a big day. Nothing really prepares you for seeing the tracks leading up to the guardhouse of Birkenau. It was a powerful moment for me. Knowing that millions of people went down those tracks in cattle cars packed beyond capacity never to come out again, hit me like a ton of bricks. I had tears in my eyes before I even got off the bus. Walking up to the gate from the parking lot was surreal. We toured Birkenau with our guides in the morning and after lunch, Eva would be joining us to talk about her experiences there in Birkenau.

When we were coming back to the camp from lunch, Eva was surrounded by a group of young men from the Los Angeles Children’s Chorus Young Men’s Ensemble. They had sung three songs for Eva. I missed the performance, as I was busy buying just about every book in the book store! When she heard there was a group of young men that wanted to sing for her, she immediately asked for Sherman (which is what her purse is called: Sherman tank, because it is so big!) so that she could get her lipstick and put some on! That little side note really cracked me up. She loved talking with those boys and that fact that she needed to get “dolled up” to do it was pretty funny.

People were drawn to Eva. When other visitors to the camp heard that she was a survivor, they stopped and joined our group to listen to her talk. Eva talked about her experiences at three different locations around the camp. It was an incredibly moving experience that I will never forget. I recorded everything she said to us that day and I am forever grateful that I did that. Little did I know what the next day would bring.

Eva’s first stop was at the selection platform in front of the cattle car. Here she described the conditions she experienced in the cattle car as well as the last time that she saw her parents and her older sisters on that same selection platform. She described being on the cattle car for four days. They had asked for water and were told by the train’s guard to hand over five gold watches. They passed the watches through the barbed wire of the window and in return the guard threw a bucket of water into the car. Eva recalls putting her cup on her head to try and catch water, but never caught enough water to drink, just enough to wet her lips. She also described her arrival into the camp as the craziest place she had ever been in her life, everything happened very quickly and without explanation. She also went on to explain the moment that her mother was taken to the right, away from Miriam (her twin sister) and herself, which meant she was going to the gas chamber. She described the pain in her mother’s eyes as well as her outstretched arms.

She went on to read two letters to us. One she wrote to her father and another she wrote to her mother. These letters were brutally honest and heartfelt. She forgave her father for his harshness toward her because she was a girl. She forgave him for not taking the family to Romania to try to escape. She said that his disappointment in her made her strong, strong enough to survive Auschwitz. Her letter to her mother was so sad. She loved her mother so much and never had the opportunity to say goodbye. She took the opportunity to tell her mother that she was strong for Miriam and herself and that she was proud of the mother that she was for the ten years that she had her. This letter hit me hard. I had done a pretty good job of keeping it together for the majority of the day, but listening to her read that letter on the same selection platform in which she was ripped away from her mother added another layer to the meaning. It gave me a perspective that I would never have had if I were not sitting in the exact place that it had occurred. I really don’t think there was a dry eye in the group at that point and after she read the letters she noticed people crying.

She asked, “Why are you crying? It’s a happy story. I survived.” (We all then laughed.) She said, “Look at it this way, I sometimes joke about it, but it’s true. I beat Hitler, I beat Mengele, I beat the Nazis, I beat the Communists, and I am here to tell my story.”

She doesn’t like when people cry. She doesn’t think we should cry, but her staff tried to get her to understand that she has had many years to come to terms with what she has experienced in her life. We need to be allowed to process what she shares with us and sometimes that involves tears. She somewhat understands that.

The second stop of the day with Eva was in front of the remains of Crematorium II and III. Here she talked about wanting to find the other twins that had also survived. She guessed that there would be about 180-200 of them out in the world somewhere. She tried for six years to get the news organizations to help her and no one responded. She decided that if she created her own organization and made herself president then maybe someone would pay attention to her. Thus her organization CANDLES was born. (Children of Auschwitz Nazi Deadly Lab Experiments Survivors) After locating about 80 twins, the media then wanted to talk with Eva and she started getting the attention she was looking for. She went back to Auschwitz with six twins for the 40th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz in January of 1985. She also talked about her interactions with Mengele. She talked about how they were like little soldiers and that he would raise hell if a child had died. She also talked about how she didn’t like him. She said his eyes were very evil and they were penetrating and so she tried not to look at him.

The final place Eva spoke at was in front of where her barrack was located. Her barrack is no longer standing. All that remains is the foundation where it once stood. Here she talked about what life was like in the barrack. Her treatment was a little better because she was one of Mengele’s twins. She and Miriam had a bunk to themselves. They were in the bottom bunk on the right hand side of the barrack. They didn’t have to share it with four or five other people like most prisoners did. They were able to go to the bathroom whenever they wanted, while other prisoners were generally relegated to one bathroom break in the morning and one in the evening. Eva talked about one of the supervisors of her barrack, she called her Snake. She hated this particular supervisor because she was mean. She would make the kids play games that she liked and the kids hated just for her entertainment. She also talked about how she learned to knit from an older twin using pieces of barbed wire. She knitted hats for Miriam and herself to help keep warm. She also talked about the routine of daily life, like roll call. She remembers waiting for hours outside if someone was missing. She also recalled seeing planes flying overhead and the air raids. She really liked the air raids because the Nazis would go crazy when they happened and it meant that the Nazis were getting closer to being defeated.

Thursday, July 4th: We knew something was not right this morning. Normally, the CANDLES staff and her son, Alex, join us on the bus. This morning, only two of the five staff members were with us. They told us that Eva had a difficult night and that she wouldn’t be joining us today. They said that we would get an update at dinner. We continued on with our day touring Auschwitz. I was sitting with Michelle on the bus and I remember sharing a look of concern with her. We had hoped that she would be okay. We knew that she had some medical issues over the last six months or so and was currently battling an upper respiratory infection. We figured that maybe she did a little too much yesterday. Eva was very headstrong and did not want to cut back her time and interactions with us. She was going to do what she wanted to do.

When we were on the bus heading back to the hotel, CANDLES director, Leah, broke the news to us that Eva had passed away that morning. I was shocked. I was hoping against all hope that I misheard what she said, but I didn’t. I buried my head in my hands and cried. I could believe that the person I had just spent the day with yesterday was now gone. Never in a million years did I think that would ever happen. The staff and our guides knew that Eva was gone, but they wanted us to be able to experience Auschwitz without the cloud of her death over us. I am thankful for that. I was able to focus on the exhibits and my guide’s wisdom, rather than feeling her loss. I spent most of the rest of the day in tears. Every time I thought about her and the happiness I felt being around her, I would cry. We have truly lost an incredible soul. We were told that her son and staff were with her when she passed. Every effort was made to try and save her, but her passing was fairly quick and peaceful. I firmly believe she has been reunited with her family.

We came together as a group and comforted each other. We were the only ones who could understand what we were going through and we needed to come together as a family to support each other. Even today, I still can’t believe she is gone.

I am forever grateful for the three days that I had with her. In that short time, I was able to see her passion for educating others, her fiesty and funny side, and her strength and willingness to be so open about everything she has experienced in her life.

We had two opportunities to honor and remember Eva. When we returned to Birkenau on Saturday, we had a candle lighting ceremony where we lit candles at the memorial in honor of Eva and anyone else we whose memory we wanted to honor. We also placed a beautiful wreath at the memorial in honor of Eva. Alex and the staff spoke at the ceremony. It broke my heart to listen to Alex break down as he talked about his mother. He shared that one of his mother’s favorite songs was, “The Impossible Dream,” from the Man of La Mancha. He read the lyrics out loud and then played the song. While he played it, the group spontaneously started to sing along. It was a beautiful moment.

We ended the ceremony by reciting Kaddish, the Jewish prayer for the dead.  It was somewhat awkward to be back at Birkenau. This was one of the last places we spent time with Eva. Walking by the selection platform where we sat and listened to her just three days earlier, felt really weird. On Sunday morning, there was a memorial service at the hotel. A rabbi was there to lead us in the memorial. It was another opportunity for us to honor Eva and remember all of the lessons she has taught us. It is our charge to carry on her legacy and message. I will forever remember my time with her and will help to teach her message and her life lessons the best that I can to my students:

1. Never give up. Eva always believed that she would make it out of the camp and because of that positivity she survived.
2. Be kind to and respect each other. The Holocaust was born out of hatred toward others.
3. Forgiveness. Be able to forgive your enemy and yourself. It will free your soul.
4. Wake up every day with the intention to do good things. Make a difference in your world for the better.

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Amy teaches 7th grade language arts at the Interdistrict School for Arts and Communications in New London, CT, where she also serves as team leader. She is eager to incorporate her time with Ms. Kor, as well as her tours of additional museums and death camps in Germany and the Czech Republic, to strengthen a Holocaust unit about hope, survival, empathy and voice. You can see more images and descriptions Amy’s fellowship on her Instagram.

Monday begins World Refugee Awareness Week, an extension of the United Nation’s annual World Refugee Day on Wednesday, June 20th. In solidarity with those forced to flee as a result of resettlement, poverty, unemployment, stigmatization, and bias, we share one day in the fellowship of two teachers from Naperville, IL. Christine Halblander and Jenn Nekolny are currently exploring physical and societal divisions in historical and contemporary Poland, Czechia, Austria and Germany.

They designed this experience to supplement Social Studies and Language Arts curricula that enhances junior high students’ interest in human rights, migration and refugees. In order to strengthen their teaching practices, their fellowship goals are to:

1. Explore causes and effects of forced migration;
2. Investigate the treatment of human rights in varying government systems, countries, and time periods; and
3. Gather evidence of “what next” in the life of refugees who have arrived in a new country in order to show students how struggles can be overcome.

Below is a day in the life of their fellowship, after visiting Auschwitz-Birkenau but before helping teach refugees English in a Berlin cafe…

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“Do you remember the floor of your childhood home? Can you recall playing outside with your siblings? Rushing up the stairs with good news? Your grandmother’s “good plates” pattern?

As we were checking in to our Air BnB flat in Krakow, our host asked if we wanted a little history of the place. Of course. . .we’re teachers and learners and, to be honest, the outside of the building left a bit to be desired with all its graffiti and crumbling exterior walls. It would be nice to hear some history of this building that had clearly seen better days.

He told us that just as they were finishing the interior renovations of the flat last year, he came to check on the progress. As he was walking in, he noticed “an old grandma” at the entrance with someone who appeared to be her daughter. He asked if they needed to be let in, but the woman’s Polish was weak and she responded in English that this used to be her building. Switching to English, he asked her which flat was theirs, as there had been many changes and divisions over the years. As they turned onto the first landing, tears began to well in her eyes as she recognized the tile floors in the hallway.

It turned out that the apartment he hosts was her family’s home for years before the Nazis took power and forced them out. The walls are re-plastered, the interior courtyard is filled in with the back sides of restaurants, the stairs have lost their shine (and have a pleasant rounded edge where thousands and thousands of footfalls have happened), but the heart of the place is the same. He unlocked the door to her old apartment and she began to cry when she saw the preserved floor. This beautiful wood herringbone-patterned floor where she played as a seven year old girl. This floor where she would help her mother clean up crumbs that fell from the table. This floor where she would place her shoes after coming up the flight of stairs at the end of the school day. This floor where her suitcase lay waiting next to the door in case they had to flee. This floor opened the gates of memory. This woman was 94 years old and wanted to first see her family’s home and then find the families that gave her refuge when she was forced to flee to thank them. For 87 years, she’d imagined these floors, these stairs, this place. She’s imagined the faces and clothing and sweet smells of dinner in this kitchen where I’m sitting typing this now.

Interactive map at the Woody Guthrie Museum

The primary distinction of Fund for Teachers grants is the freedom we give teachers to design fellowships THEY consider most vital to students’ learning. That can be across the world or across the state, which is the case for Nathalie Lee and Janet DeMarco, teachers at Cedar Ridge Elementary School in Tulsa, OK. They are currently embarking on day trips (collecting video, pictures, and artifacts at historic and cultural sites) to re-prioritize the intellectual art of social studies and help students understand and analyze the state’s history and government. We checked in with them on the road…

On Why They Designed This Fellowship

Social Studies provides a context in which to fit all other learning, but we believe the intellectual art of social studies has been de-prioritized in the wake of No Child Left Behind and its great emphasis on reading and math. Because Social Studies isn’t an academic priority, teachers don’t receive
as much professional development on the subject — so we used a Fund for Teachers grant to create our own.

Together, we represent generations of native Oklahomans, and one of us is a member of two Native American tribes. We are proud of the people and the history of Oklahoma and want our students to be as well. For two weeks, we’re acquiring resources and insight that will give students a chance to identify with their history as Oklahomans and also provide opportunities to analyze what good citizenship looks like.

What’s On the Itinerary?

The Oklahoma Standards direct us to “Describe the connection between the historic significance of past events and people and the symbols of Oklahoma’s history” and “Describe relationships between people and events of the past.”  To do that, we’re experiencing:

• The Great Salt Plains
  The Great Salt Plains is one of Oklahoma’s major land forms that students need to be able to identify on a physical map. We will teach that, in the early 1800s, whichever tribe controlled the Great Salt Plains knew that it would have to fight to protect this valuable resource (salt).
• Pioneer Woman Museum & Conoco Museum
  The former will help demonstrate to how pioneers  adapted to and modified their environment including sod houses, windmills, and crops.  The latter displays the growth of a company from the “early days of a kerosene distributor and the wildcat days of the Cherokee Outlet, to an international energy empire.”
• Nellie Johnstone No. 1 and The Woolaroc Museum
  Nellie Johnstone No. 1 was the first commercially productive oil well in Oklahoma, opening oil exploration and development in Oklahoma.  The Woolaroc Museum relates the story of Oklahoman’s cultural development in the New World.
• Tahlequah’s Cherokee Heritage Centerand Muskogee’s Five Tribes Museum
  The Cherokee Heritage Center is a historical society and museum that has preserved the historical and cultural artifacts, language, and traditional crafts of the Cherokee.  The Five Civilized Tribes Museum  houses the art, history and culture of the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Muscogee, and Seminole tribes.
• Oklahoma City’s History Center, Oklahoma City Memorial, National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum & State Capitol
• The Woody Guthrie Museum – for learning about the Dust Bowl, Woody Guthrie, and the meaning of song lyrics such as “This Land is My Land.”
• The Creek Council Oak Tree – the landmark that showed the Creek Indians where to stop after a journey to their new home along the Arkansas River). We will also visit the Muscogee (Creek Nation) Cultural Center in Okmulgee where we will learn from a Creek tribe member to hear tales of the tree’s significance and stories from Creek heritage.
• Tulsa’s Gilcrease Museum (which houses authentic Oklahoman art, artifacts from the American West, and collections of Native American art and materials); Philbrook Museum and, finally,
• The Will Rogers Museum to learn about Oklahoma’s favorite son.

What Hasn’t Been on the Itinerary?

Nathalie and Janet at the Philbrook Museum

While the Great Salt Plains used to be an ocean millions of years ago, it’s now a five-mile, sandy ocean bed in the middle of Oklahoma. Except when it rains! The area received 10 inches of rain in the past 30 days, making one of the state’s most valuable natural resources unreachable by car. After learning to maneuver a drone, we captured footage of the area that historically was an important asset — not only for salt’s preservation purposes, but also as a hunting ground for animals. We also learned that the salt bed is the only place in the world where selenite crystals with an embedded hourglass formation are found.”

“I know we’re not pursuing fellowships in Italy or France, but we love Oklahoma and our educational standards are based here,” Janet and Nathalie said during their phone call. “We really get excited about teaching our students who our people are! We are all Oklahomans — with wonders of nature, the beauty of architecture, and profound culture history and heritage all around us. We want students to realize they don’t have to travel across an ocean or even across the country to learn rich history about the people and places that came before us. It’s right under our feet in what we Okies like to call ‘our stomping grounds.'”

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You can follow the remainder of Nathalie and Janet’s fellowship on Instagram @okiesteachfft.

Today marks the 76th anniversary of D-Day, when 156,000 American, British and Canadian forces landed on five beaches along a 50-mile stretch of the heavily fortified coast of France’s Normandy region. We share below the remarkable experience of FFT Fellow Dan Lundak. He designed an experience to retrace the steps of the US soldiers (specifically his grandfather’s) from England to the shores of France during the invasion to lead students’ debate of the essential question, “At what point does the United States become involved in another country’s affairs?” The American History teacher planned to use his research to help eighth graders at Chicago’s Sauganash Elementary School personally connect with World War II. The pilgrimage grew more personal than expected, however, upon discovering his grandfather’s photograph hanging in a wartime museum.

“When applying for the Fund for Teachers grant, I researched my grandfather’s military service and his path from Nebraska to Normandy,” said Dan. “On D-Day, he flew the Boeing B-17 with the USAF 94th squadron from the RAF base in Bury St. Edmonds, England — so that was my first stop. Townspeople converted his squadron’s control tower into a museum, which was dark and locked when I arrived.

A museum volunteer repairing the roof saw me walking away and offered to let me in. As I made my way around the artifacts, I suddenly came face-to-face with a framed, yellowed photograph of Lt. Col. E.E. Lundak – my grandfather.”

The volunteer explained that displays included “random photos of pilots” found when creating the museum. He could offer no definitive explanation why the photo of Dan’s grandfather, never seen by his family, hung there to greet Dan 70 years after the war.

Lt. Col. Lundak flew 47 missions while stationed at Bury St. Edmonds. He crash landed twice (once, the only surviving crew member) and again escaped death after trading places with a co-pilot subsequently shot by enemy fire. The night before D-Day, Lundak bombed the beaches of Normandy; the day after the invasion, he delivered gasoline to Allied forces and returned US casualties to England. Lundak remained in the Air Force for years before becoming a US diplomat in China and the US liaison with President Chiang Kai-shek. Upon retirement, he returned to Nebraska to teach school, serve as a superintendent and, eventually, Dean of Admissions for the University of Nebraska.

Inspired by the discovery, Dan continued his WWII odyssey at London’s St. Paul’s Cathedral and American Memorial Chapel, seeing the honor roll of more than 28,000 Americans who died in WWII while stationed in England. He also followed the London Blitz Bomb Site Interactive Map to visit areas affected by bombings and, afterwards, the Imperial War Museum. Before taking a ferry across the English Channel, Dan stopped at General Eisenhower’s headquarters in Porstmouth to research the planning and preparation of Operation Overlord, the final meeting that resulted in the D-Day command, “Let’s go!”

Bayeux served as home base for Lundak in France, where Dan toured Omaha and Utah beaches, visited the D-Day Museum and experienced the flag lowering ceremony at the American Cemetery. His ten-day fellowship concluded in Paris, where he followed the movement of General Patton’s Third Army and its role in the Liberation of Paris.

Armed with fellowship experiences and research, Dan now encourages his students to “dive deeper” in their study of World War II – a requirement of the new Common Core State Standards. Lt. Col. Lundak serves as a case study for students’ exploration of the questions, “At what point do people get involved with the affairs of others?” and “What makes someone brave?” Dan believes these questions are particularly relevant as students prepare to face diverse socio-economics, cultures and traditions represented in a large public high school. Students also write letters of appreciation to veterans, which Dan delivers to the local American Legion post.

“Retracing my grandfather’s service during the D-Day invasion gave me personal insight into what each person has to ask themselves in a time a crisis; the experience also gives my students a personal story they can relate to when facing similar decisions about personal sacrifice,” said Dan. “Understanding history through the close examination of my grandfather’s service – rather than a textbook – interjects real-life perspective into the curriculum and helps students arrive at their own conclusions.”

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Two 2020 Fellows will pursue experiential learning around the European theatre of World War II:

Patrick McCarney (Stonington High School – Stonington, CT) will experience World War II landmarks, museums, and monuments, gathering the stories of those on the battlefront and home front–young soldiers, women and minorities–to make the diversity of the American war experience more visible for students; and,

Bret Godfrey (American Indian Magnet – Saint Paul, MN) will research and document in France, Belgium and Luxembourg contributions made by American Indians during World War II to create engaging lessons that incorporate these contributions for preK-8 students sharing this heritage.

Each Friday, we highlight one of our 2019 Fellows — their inspiration, itinerary, and plan for transforming student learning going forward. Today, however, we celebrate the completion of our first fellowship of the year!

Kristin Gladish (Newcomer Program – Indianapolis) obtained permission from her administration to embark on her fellowship during the first week of May — the only time UCLArts & Healing offers facilitator training for Beat the Odds, a trauma-informed program that integrates activities from group drumming and counseling to build core strengths such as team building, leadership, stress management, empathy and gratitude.

“In short, my fellowship was amazing!” said Kristin. “As a student, then practicing as the facilitator, I learned how to mix in drum circle facilitation with affirmations, rhythm games, and activities to increase students’ focus, listening, self-awareness, and self-expression. The goal behind all of this is to incorporate counseling techniques into drum circles and help students who have experienced trauma.”

For Kristin, that includes all of her students — refugees or newly arrived immigrants hailing from 15 countries and speaking 21 languages. Of her 257 music students in grades 2-10, 100 percent are minorities and qualify for free and reduced lunch.

An extension of her fellowship includes working with a local “Beat the Odds” trainer, which will help Kristin build local partnerships and community collaborations. In addition to the musical implications of her fellowship, she is also learning how to measure the results of the program through documented observations, pre- and post- student surveys, video evidence of musical/rhythm/social improvements, and attendance and grade data.

Kristin, who holds a bachelor and Master’s degree in Vocal Music, wasted no time implementing her fellowship. For the final three weeks of school, she is introducing the new drumming curriculum on instruments she also purchased with FFT grant money.

“Every country has some sort of drumming, and each student, no matter what language they speak, can learn to play a rhythmic pattern together and to keep a beat together,” said Kristin. “Beyond that, students will learn methods to relieve stress and to express their
feelings through drumming and words — valuable coping methods for students who experienced trauma and violence in their home countries and come to school struggling with inattention, depression, PTSD and anxiety.”

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Kristin has taught music for 11 years in Lousiana, Texas, and now Indiana. She was the 2019 Teacher of the Year, and was a Top 10 Finalist for the Indianapolis Public Schools District Teacher of the Year. Kristin has completed her Level 1 Orff Training, and enjoys sewing and hiking in her free time.

Back in the ’80s, when Saturday Night Live was funny, Jon Lovitz did a skit called “Get to Know Me!” espousing how people (i.e. Steve Martin) benefited from knowing him. We believe the same is true of our 2019 Fellows and are, therefore, continuing a blog series throughout the summer to introduce you to many of our grant recipients.

Today, in celebration of Ramadan, we highlight a teacher pursuing learning about the Arabic language and Muslim culture. Karina Escajeda (Cony Middle and High School – Augusta, ME) will complete Arabic language & cultural immersion at The Arabic Language School in Dahab, Egypt, to improve family partnerships and refugee student engagement; create community workshops; and increase student understanding of the value peers emigrating from Iraq and Syria add to the school culture.

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On Why Karina Designed This Fellowship

Two years ago, in the midst of a national debate regarding refugees, I resigned from my teaching position at a nearby private boarding school in order to take a position in my hometown, at my former high school. I was deeply aware that my English teaching skills and interest in community development were needed here. In the past seven years, Arabic speakers have become our community’s second-largest demographic, numbering over 1000 residents and making up 5% of the population. With this shift, there has been some divisive rhetoric in our community about refugees.

Our students need to develop an understanding of how to best honor differences. It is imperative that we connect with our new residents and educate our long-term residents about Arabic culture and language to grow stronger as a blended community. I am dedicated to showing our students from Iraq and Syria that we in our small town value who they are and where they come from.

On Her Itinerary

St. Catherine’s Monastery on Mt. Sinai

At The Arabic Language School in Dahab, Egypt, I will be placed in a class that is appropriate to my level of Arabic. There are no in-person Arabic classes within 72 miles of my community, so I have begun formal Arabic study online; however, this particular school focuses on one-on-one attention. The  include ten hours a week of individualized; one-on-one lessons in the afternoons; and cultural outings in the town so that students are exposed to spoken Arabic.  On one weekend, I will go to Mt. Sinai and St. Catherine’s Monastery (included by the Islamic Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization in its world heritage and culture list). I’ll also embark on a desert hike and overnight at a Bedouin camp to understand the rural, conservative experience of many of our district’s language learners. When the course ends, I will fly from Sharm to Cairo to join a four-day cultural and historical tour of Cairo, Luxor, and Giza.

On How Her Students and Their Families Feel About Her Fellowship

My students and their parents are so excited about my immersion experience. They know that I will have a Weebly site for them to follow, and they are excited for my videos, interviews, and pictures that I will post. All of my Arabic-speaking students are from Syria and Iraq. Their spoken Arabic dialects are mutually understandable, but very different from each other. Syrians speak the Shaami dialect and some Iraqis, my students included, speak the Gulf dialect. I will be learning the Egyptian dialect, which they think is wonderfully hilarious.  It’s a bit like American, Australian, and British English. They can’t wait until I come back and start talking.

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Karina is a K-12 English Language Learner Specialist and the only teacher in the district who has begun to dedicate time to the study of Arabic language and culture. For more than 20 years, she has lived, taught, and administrated programs at public and private schools in California, Maine, Honduras, Mexico, and Japan. She believes in collaboration, authentic tasks, and honoring the achievements of each individual language learner. She has been awarded a 2020 Fulbright DA Teacher Fellowship in Greece, studying refugee integration and teacher training.

[minti_dropcap style=”circle”]B[/minti_dropcap]ack in the ’80s, when Saturday Night Live was funny, Jon Lovitz did a skit called “Get to Know Me!” espousing how people (i.e. Steve Martin) benefited from knowing him. We believe the same is true of our 2019 Fellows and are, therefore, continuing a blog series throughout the summer to introduce you to many of our grant recipients.

Today, we meet the teaching team of Kaellagh Cassidy and Katie Hollerbach, teachers at Chicago’s Robert Lindblom Math and Science Academy High School. FFT fellowships designed around language/cultural immersion are a favorite among our grant recipients; this particular one, however, has an interesting component: collaborating with indigenous communities in Mexico to inspire our own civic action projects.

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On why they designed this fellowship…

Our student population is predominantly African American (70%), but the Latnix population is rapidly growing. Our school actively works to foster an inclusive environment that celebrates all cultures and backgrounds: we provide mirrors for students to see themselves in historic and academic texts; we do case students on racial inequality in Brazil; and address trauma in Haiti and youth homelessness in Morocco. However, we wanted to expand and diversity the examples we include from Latin America.

Thus, we designed this fellowship to study Mexico’s indigenous cultures and establish a partnership with a community school in Chiapas to design a unit on the fight for land and education rights.

We believe that a unit on indigenous activism and historical memory of indigenous contributions will affirm to our Latinx students that their history matters.

On their itinerary…

We plan to travel through central and southern Mexico, exploring museums and cultural sites that highlight indigenous culture and speaking to local experts to better understand the relationship between national identity, indigenous history and culture. Our itinerary includes:

• touring the National Museum of Anthropology and interviewing its director of education outreach
• experiencing Chichen Itza, one of the most significant and well preserved sites of Maya and Toltec acculturation,
• exploring Teotihuacan, one of the largest pre-Hispanic cities in the Americas, the Frida Kahlo Museum, Museum of the Palace of Fine Arts and the Cathedral of Our Lady of Guadalupe,
• working alongside and learning from teachers and community members involved with the NGO Escalera to learn more about access to education in indigenous communities,
• visiting important sites associated with the Zapatista movement, including San Cristobal de las Casas, and
• interviewing local experts, community members, and journalists who are involved with indigenous activism and education, including indigenous experiences with employment and integration into Mexico City and other urban environments.

On plans for students…

The Zapatista mentality (emphasis on direct democracy, valuing all voices, and inclusivity) will be an engaging topic to begin the school year with, and will also create an opportunity for students to structure our own classroom community and goals. Throughout the fall, we will more effectively validate our Latinx students through new learning, as well as connections with other courses and organizations at school, including the Latino Culture Club, Black Student Union and the Step Team. Additionally:

• A unit in our Gender & Ethnic Studies course current connects the work of the Madres de la Plaza de Mayo to the actions of female activists against gun violence in Chicago. We plan to add connections to the female Zapatistas and activists we meet to enrich this unit.
• The AP World curriculum will incorporate Mexican revolutions more thoroughly by emphasizing how the Zapatistas continue to advocate for autonomy and freedom.
• Our Human Geography course, which examines urbanization and the migration of people to cities, will include knowledge about indigenous groups moving to Mexico City because of a lack of employment opportunities in more rural areas. And,
• In the culminating project, students will plan and execute civic action projects of their own in response to issues facing our Chicago community.

As white teachers instructing on indigenous cultures, we want to ensure we’re not simply relaying the simplistic narrative often found in textbooks, but allowing the experts in the field to inform our instruction. Rather than be instructors with a monopoly on knowledge and information, we want to build a unit that authentically connects students with the course content in a way that puts students in the position of power.

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Kaellagh Cassidy has taught history and civics in Chicago for eight years. She aims to put her students in the shoes of historians and activists by re-examining historical truths through documents and simulations and student-driven civic action projects. Kaellagh is also a coach of Cross Country and Track and believes that high school should be a community that fosters student curiosity and empowerment.

 Katie Hollerbach has taught high school social science at Lindblom Math and Science Academy in Chicago for the past eight years. She is passionate about including a global mindset into each of her classes, which currently include Global Civics and Gender & Ethnic Studies. In 2017, she traveled to Morocco as part of the Koldyke Global Teacher Program. She also is a teaching assistant in the MSEd Program at Northwestern University.

[minti_dropcap style=”circle”]B[/minti_dropcap]ack in the ’80s, when Saturday Night Live was funny, Jon Lovitz did a skit called “Get to Know Me!” espousing how the lives of people (i.e. Steve Martin) benefited from knowing him. We believe the same is true of our 2019 Fellows and are, therefore, beginning a blog series to introduce many of our grant recipients throughout the summer.

For our first installment, we introduce you to a Fellow whose fellowship ranks among the most unique we’ve funded in almost twenty years. Get to know Mick Posner of Conrad High School in West Hartford, CT.

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On why he designed this fellowship…

I am now in my 10th year of teaching American Sign Language (ASL), which was actually the first language I learned as a child because I was born deaf. As a faculty member of my high school’s World Languages department, I work with students in 9th through 12th grade. Students take my class to fulfill their World Language credit and to learn about the deaf community. More than 90% of my students have not been exposed to a sign language system until they take my class. I believe that students enjoy my class because they are being introduced to an entirely different culture that, in a sense, intertwined globally and for many of them, the challenge of communicating in different environments and situations is mutual.

Many people do not know that there are 200+ sign language systems around the world, each with their own grammar, vocabulary, influences and origins. Twice a year, my students complete a survey in order to share their feedback about my ASL classes. Consistently I receive the same inquiries — students have a strong interest in learning about unique deaf communities in other countries, particularly those shaped by linguistic and geographical barriers (such as the fact that deaf people in Cuba who are not allowed to drive and work full-time, among other government imposed restrictions.

(photo courtesy of Nunatsiaq News)

After conducting extensive research, I found very little exists regarding the Greenland Deaf Community (and deaf Inuits), thus leading me to the following learning experience that I wish to pursue: understanding how such an unique population survive in such a remote part of the world, despite their deafness, by becoming a student of Inuit Sign Language (ISL), which is the official sign language system of the Greenland Deaf Community. This fellowshipwill deepen students’ understanding of the human spirit’s resiliency and the importance of continuing learning and pursuing knowledge in sign language systems.

ISL is a dialect that is centralized around vocations (a large percentage of their vocabulary is focused on being able to communicate related to hunting and fishing) and survival skills.  It is a language based purely on livelihood and survival in a very remote section of the world and would be a strong evidence of sign language’s relevance to a community that depends so much on a particular dialect to survive. There’s not many other languages like this, particularly in the form of a sign language system.

Celebrating the news with Principal Julio Duarte (left) and Superintendent of Schools Tom Moore

From this FFT experience I will have my students actively involved in the creation of online resources regarding different deaf communities around the world. In this project, students will include locations of community, what makes them unique, how they interact with the rest of their community at large, and the identification of unique signs necessary for survival.

On learning he is a 2019 Fellow…

When I first found out I was an FFT Fellow, I was overcome with an extraordinary sense of relief. The grant was something I had worked diligently on for four months, stemming from an idea I had from over a year ago based on articles I read the previous summer — quickly, that feeling turned into so much joy. My students were really excited for me — after it was announced, I asked if I could have a few minutes to call my wife. My 5th period class (that was when it was announced) voiced their support and understanding.

The impact on students already exists — I received several congratulatory and well-wishes emails from parents who shared that their students came home and told them about the FFT award. Along with a few additional parents who contacted me via social media, some of my seniors shared that they wish they could stay in high school for another year so they could hear about the experience (of course, I will see if I can extend an invitation to them when the time comes.)

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Mick is the only member of his family who was deaf, yet his parents believed in having ASL as his first language, which he learned before English. You can learn more about his life experiences and his own family from the A&E documentary “Born this Way Presents: Deaf Out Loud.” He and his wife also own Posner Inclusion, a consulting firm that creates bridges between businesses and unique markets, such as the deaf population.

On Tuesday, we shared on article on our Facebook related to resources for helping students celebrate Chinese New Year. FFT Fellow Liz Kleinrock (also the 2018 Teaching Tolerance Award Winner) brought to our attention that many Asian countries celebrate Lunar New Year during this time period, not just China.

Indeed, from January to the middle of February, China, Korea, Vietnam, Laos, Singapore and many Asian countries celebrate the Lunar New Year as national holidays. According to Voice of America, all celebrations have one common feature: family reunions. Many go back home to spend time with family, even if they live far away, and have New Year’s Eve dinner – the most important holiday dinner in China and many other Asian countries.

To clarify the broad scope of the holiday, Liz suggested using the picture book New Clothes for New Year’s Day  by Hyun-Joo Bae with younger students. “I think it could also be beneficial to use Lunar New Year as a lens to explore how different Asian countries celebrate (China, South Korea, Vietnam, etc.) including food, clothing, and traditions,” she said.

We chose to highlight some different countries that celebrate Lunar New Year by sharing images of our Fellows who designed fellowships to learn directly from those who live there. Enjoy the video above and this Year of the Pig!

A common misconception about Fund for Teachers fellowships has to do with their destinations. While many of Fellows choose to pursue learning abroad, the majority stay stateside. Furthermore, a fellowship’s “wow factor” has nothing to do with its funding potential or potential impact (i.e. repopulating coral in the Caribbean vs. taking a seminar in Seattle). Case in point: the fellowship of Cynde Ciesla, Erika Gilbert and Monica Fitzgerald who last summer attended the Model Schools Conference in Orlando, FL.

“The whole process of applying for our grant changed my professional and personal perspectives,” wrote Cynde. “Writing the grant brought my team members and me closer as we worked to write and revise the grant; the conference changed the way we look at our school and the relationships we have as teachers to our students and to each other.”

Last week, the team checked in to update us on their impact so far…

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As you may recall, our fellowship was to attend the Model Schools Conference in Orlando, Florida.  After four days at the most amazing educational conference, our heads were filled with so many things we wanted to implement!  We wrote an action plan and narrowed our focus to one specific area, Social-Emotional Learning. We wanted to purposely build relationships with our most vulnerable students.

 

After much conversation, we started a mentoring program for our kids.  Our program is very organic and our purpose is to foster positive relationships to increase attendance, decrease disciplinary issues, and boost performance.  We have a lot of evaluating and reflecting to do. Currently there are 12 staff members that are mentoring 27 students.

 

The most exciting take away from the Model Schools Conference has been the connections we made while there.  Those connections have helped us to continue our learning, which will continue to impact our students.

Many of the leaders at the International Center of Leadership in Education (ICLE) were quite impressed with our story – our desire and perseverance to get to their conference, and they truly treated us like “rockstars” while we were there.  Our connections with them have also grown! Since returning from the conference, we have been asked to write blogs as part of the Into the Classroom Series, including this piece titled Interactive Read-Alouds: Build Strong Student-Teacher Relationships.

 

We are going to Model Schools again in June and are currently working with the host, International Center for Leadership Education, to do a presentation that shares our experience and how we started our school’s mentoring program.

 

Being awarded our fellowship last year provided learning experiences beyond what we imagined. Most importantly, it transformed into student learning and building relationships with all students. We will be forever grateful for your support in our learning.

 

Warm Regards,
Cynde Ciesla, Erika Gilbert, and Monica Fitzgerald

This self-titled “Sparks of Change” team teaches at Gillette Road Middle School in Cicero, NY. Read more about their fellowship on their Facebook page Our Model Schools Conference Experience.

Tarah and Dan meet the individuals responsible for creating Chattanooga’s VW Akadmie

In addition to building Passats in its Chattanooga plant, Volkswagen builds a workforce through its onsite academy. That’s because job applicants arrive unprepared for technical careers, deficient in STEM skills and critical thinking capabilities. Daniel DeScalzo and Tarah Kemp also prepare a pipeline of qualified employees, they just happen to be doing it at nearby Dupont Elementary School.

“As we reflected on the impact of Volkswagen in our county, we grew curious about the influence of European branches of the company in educational communities abroad,” said Daniel. “We designed a Fund for Teachers fellowship to explore how assembly plants in Barcelona, Brussels, Ingolstadt and Wolfsburg, Germany, partner with schools to create an interdependency that produces gainfully-employed high school graduates.”

Volkswagen’s Chattanooga plant

With help from Volkswagen’s senior vice president of human resources, the teachers researched real-world skills modeled in European plants and discovered that most of the employees on assembly lines were 17- or 18-year-olds who left work in nice cars and drove to comfortable homes. Technical and vocational training during primary school years positioned these students for careers and often fully-paid graduate degrees with the company.

Exposure to the inner-workings of the automobile plants helped Daniel and Tarah realize that the missing link between their students’ knowledge and future STEM professions was a deficiency in engineering design. In response, Tarah established a network among local business executives to increase students’ exposure to job opportunities close to home. She also pitched an idea to Public Education Foundation’s Teacherpreneur program to obtain funding for a 3-5 year initiative that promotes hands-on, project-based learning through a culinary unit. Daniel applied funds saved from the FFT grant toward the purchase of robotic kits and invited mechanical engineers from a local pump manufacturer to partner with students on prototypes.

“If you ask our students about career goals, they would list being a YouTube personality, sports star, video gamer or fashion designer,” said Daniel. “Through exposure to industry opportunities and engineers, we want students to say, ‘I want to make things, design things, do this for a living.’ We want them to know there’s so much opportunity out there and empower them to make a life for themselves and the world awaiting them.”

(pictured above touring Volkswagen’s Wolfsburg plant, the largest automotive factory in Europe.)

This annual look back represents what can happen when teachers chart their course to keep content relevant and students engaged. We hope they inspire you to dream big about what 2019 could bring for you and your students!

For extra inspiration, enjoy these videos of our 2017 and 2016 FFT Fellows. To be part of next year’s recap, start your 2019 grant application today at fft.fundforteachers.org.

On Pearl Harbor Day, we remember the 2,403 people killed in the surprise attack by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service. The “date which will live in infamy” launched America’s entry into World War II; the bombings also resulted in the internment of 7,000 Japanese American citizens in relocation centers by order of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Teaching the complexities of this time is complex in and of itself for Tim Barry. His students at Nathan Hale Middle School in Coventry, CT, fall within a wide range of ability levels.

“This drastic range creates difficulty when choosing and providing engaging and appropriate text for students of all abilities,” explained Tim. “Fortunately, with the broad scope of our World War II unit, we are able to provide high interest and appropriately leveled options so that all students may contribute and draw connections to classroom discussion and produce work that they can be proud of.”

But that unit lacked dialogue about the domestic impact of the war. Tim designed a Fund for Teachers fellowship fill that gap and, last summer, examined life in and around Japanese Relocation Camps in Utah and Colorado to help students:

• Connect to the past and apply that knowledge to the current climate in the United States?
• Draw parallels between the treatment of Japanese Americans in the United States and Jewish (and other minority) people in Europe during WWII?
• Understand the Pyramid of Hate and how the act of dehumanization impacts individuals and large groups through self reflection and journaling, and
• Support other disciplines across the curriculum such as math (budgeting), social studies (constitutional questions), and science (geographic significance of camps and land features that made them ideal).

We are grateful that Tim shared his experiences and insights from his fellowship below.

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Last summer, I was fortunate to travel to Colorado and Utah to study Japanese Internment Camps as part of my Fund For Teachers fellowship.  My intention was to supplement our current World War II unit with experiences from the home front to allow students to draw parallels in today’s climate of cultural bias.  I want my students to draw inspiration my own curiosity and go out and explore the world.  I want them to challenge what they know or think they know and I want them to be acutely aware of how history has a tendency to repeat itself.

Granada Relocation Center memorial

Trip Details: I spent nine days traveling from the Topaz Camp in Delta, Utah to the Moab Isolation Center in Moab, Utah and finally to Granada Relocation Center (Amache) in Granada, Colorado.  In Delta, I was struck by the beautifully curated Topaz Museum which highlighted the blending of traditional Japanese culture with the easily recognizable American identity of the time.  High school yearbooks, recounts of baseball games, and a letterman’s jackets sat side-by-side with instruments of the Japanese tea ceremony and watercolor paintings.  Despite the dramatic civil rights violations perpetrated by the United States government, these proud people still created a sense of normalcy and everyday life.  The message of their resilience is one that I hope will resonate with my students.

Pictured with Mr. Kitajima and Dr. Clark

The highlight of my trip was being able to connect with Denver University at their biennial open house at the Amache site in Colorado.  There, I was introduced to Dr. Bonnie Clark who is the Project Director of the DU Amache Research Project.  I was able to meet several former internees of the camp, including 87 year old, Mr. Ken Kitajima who was a resident of the camp from ages 12-15.  My hope is that I can provide my students with a first hand account of what it was like to be of middle school age in a Relocation Camp.  I plan to connect with Mr. Kitajima virtually to conduct interviews and provide insight into his experience.  Perspective is one of the most important things I can offer to my students.

Middle school is a trying time and although the experiences of my students will be different than those of the past, the challenges will not be unique.  My hope is that my journey will foster a sense of intellectual curiosity as my students create their own world view and tackle the test of growing up in an increasingly demanding world.  The digital world in which we live in allows people to instantly access information and make snap decisions based on their own experiences and biases, yet we don’t often slow down to assess all sides of a story. Ultimately, I want my students to be willing to challenge what is accepted by society and greet people from all walks of life with an open mind.

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For more than a decade, Tim has empowered his students to take ownership over their education and to become independent learners while focusing on character and integrity. Throughout his teaching career, he has coached athletics at both the middle and high school levels and views the competition field as an extension of the classroom where students can push themselves.

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.)

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.