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.

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:

• 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.”

If one ever needs an excuse to have pie for breakfast, lunch, and/or dinner, it’s today — March 14, 3.14, National Pi Day. (Also, Albert Einstein’s birthday and the day of Stephen Hawking’s death. Coincidence?)

The mathematical constant that’s been around since the Babylonians figures prominently in math and physics calculations like the ones taught by Jennifer Lehner and Pam Guest at Platt High School in Meriden, CT. To make math more compelling to high needs students and extra-engaging to the school’s Mathletes Team, the teachers designed an FFT fellowship to explore historic sites pertinent to mathematics in Greece and Italy.

“Rather than just talk about Pythagoras’ theorem, we wanted to personally describe what Pythagoras’ cave looks and feels like,” said Jennifer. “Instead of just presenting the Fibonacci series, we wanted to share how we visited his birthplace and what significance he has to the local people. Our vision was to embed key elements of our two weeks into a virtual Greece and Italy math challenge students can navigate prior to graduation.”

Beginning at the cave where Pythagoras taught the likes of Aristotle and Plato, Pam and Jennifer photographed and filmed ancient architecture in Athens and Delphi, creating media assets to support the math questions for students’ virtual challenge project. In the homeland of Galileo and Fibonacci, the teachers sought out memorials to math, including the Garden of Archimedes Mathematics Museum in Florence and the Museum of Mathematics in Rome.

“Our goal was to acquire as much knowledge as we could about the history of key math figures and concepts from the regions, as well as evidence of applications of math in historic and current times across a range of disciplinary areas,” said Pam.

Members of the afterschool “Mathletes” club are in the process of creating a rigorous SAT-level math questions associated with each site their teachers researched. In May, teammates will test and refine one another’s questions and decide what platform to use to share out their virtual math tour with a wider audience. Today, Jen has students on a field trip to Southern Connecticut State University’s Mathematical Puzzle Programs High School Challenge which, according to her, is another experience perfectly aligned with student goals established as a result of their fellowship last summer. The teaching team is also in planning discussions with an English teacher who covers Greek Mythology about a cross-disciplinary field trip with students back to Greece, hopefully next year, if approved.

“It was so impactful  to step foot on the same grounds of many famous mathematicians and to learn first hand from being there rather than out of a textbook,” said Jen. “I not only feel that this fellowship has improved my teaching, but it has also shaped me into a well-rounded person who can set a positive example for my students as to what it means to be a lifelong learner.”

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Pam Guest is a high school mathematics teacher and school and district Restorative Practices teacher leader who also serves as an adviser for the Interact Club, co-adviser for the Mathletes team, and throws coach for the cross-town high school’s indoor and outdoor track teams. Previously a Senior Executive HR Director with Accenture, teaching fulfills her lifelong dream to help children learn to succeed. Now a seven-year teacher, she has been recognized as her school’s 2019 “Teacher of the Year.”

Jen Lehner is a high school math teacher, advisor for the Mathletes team, and coach of the girls tennis team. In addition to her B.S. in Mathematics, she earned her M.S. in Educational Technology from Central Connecticut State University.

Jen and Pam did an excellent job documenting their learning on their blog and Facebook.  And for some fun facts about Pi Day, check out this Forbes article.

[minti_dropcap style=”circle”]T[/minti_dropcap]ara Holmin is a Learning Disabilities Special Education Teacher in Saint Paul, MN. In order to help her high school students mainstream into “regular” classes, she also co-teaches English 11 in the general education setting. The majority of her special needs students read and write between two-to four-years below grade level and one of her goals is to show them that writing can be a therapeutic and positive outlet for anxiety and frustration.

Just as it was for Anne Frank.

To introduce her students to Anne’s life and legacy, Tara designed a fellowship to research the young woman, as well as author and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel, in The Netherlands, Germany and Poland. The itinerary included the Anne Frank House (where Tara took the above photo) and National Holocaust Museum in Amsterdam; The Holocaust Memorial, Reichstag and Topography of Terror Museum in Berlin; and Auschwitz in Krakow, Poland. The driving motivation throughout her learning was to increase personal knowledge on the Holocaust and lead students in the recording of their own stories on the school district’s podcast.

“I am passionate about having my students connect to others in history who have gone through hard times and used writing to help them cope,” said Tara. “Previously, my students considered writing a chore, but now it’s not just a task assigned in school, but a tool that can be used to express themselves and to get their story out of personal struggles and triumphs.”

Tara’s students accomplished this by first writing, then voicing, their stories using iPads and Anne’s example.

“While reading The Diary of Anne Frank in class, my students journaled every other day – improving their writing and self-expression skills,” said Tara. “By the end of the unit, they created podcasts on a snippet of their lives based on the journals they wrote. After interviewing people for their particular stories, they then created, edited, narrated and produced their stories, even adding music and side effects using their iPads.”

Anne Frank died of typhoid seventy-four years ago today in the Bergen-Belsen death camp, but her legacy continues in the lives and learning of students around the world, including Tara’s. They are the embodiment of Anne’s quote:

“The good news is that you don’t know how great you can be! How much you can love! What you can accomplish! And what your potential is!”

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Tara (pictured at right on the Amsterdam leg of her fellowship) teaches Fusion Reading to students who have a learning disorder in the area of reading and writing. She has taught this course for five years and helped create the curriculum for the 3rd year of the program that did not exist previously.

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.

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.”

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.

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.

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

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.”

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.

[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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[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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[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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[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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[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!”

FFT Fellows take planes, trains and automobiles in pursuit of knowledge that will engage students. Kristie Blanchard and Christine Troup’s transportation of choice? Camels.

UNESCO World Heritage Sites can be hard to get to.

According to the United Nations Education, Scientific & Cultural Organization (UNESCO), World Heritage Sites are cultural and/or natural sites considered to be of ‘Outstanding Universal Value’ with special importance for everyone. Everyone, that is, except Kristie and Christine’s students at Bacon Academy in Colchester, CT.

“Our rural public high school lacks diversity and global acuity,” said the teaching team. “Freshmen also take a year-long geography course that lacks geospacial technologies used by professionals in the field. We designed our fellowship to explore iconic sites of Catalan, Andalusia and Morocco. Documenting the destinations with Geographic Information Systems (GIS) linked world cultures with geography to emphasize WHY these places have value.”

Taking their lead from the UNESCO theme “Protecting our Heritage and Fostering Creativity,” Christine and Kristie started their fellowship at the Creativity Workshop in Barcelona. There, they deepened proficiencies in the “Four C’s of Deeper Learning” outlined by the Partnership for 21st Century Skills: work collaboratively, improve communication, critical thinking and creativity.

Then, they set off for the Iberian Peninsula to interview citizens and learn from local guides and docents how UNESCO sites represent the cultural landscape of each unique region. Their odyssey took them to:

• Antoni Gaudi sites, including Sagrada Familia
• the Alhambra
• Alcazar of Seville
• El Torcal de Antequera, and
• the “Blue City” of Chefchaouen

The question that guided all of their research was “What makes a place worth preserving?”

Kristi and Christine began the school by addressing the lack of Middle Eastern and European elements in their curriculum. An ESRI Story Map documenting the fellowship models for students how technology can bridge information with authentic learning in multiple aspects of their lives and their community.

“In keeping with our fellowship’s guiding question, students will be challenged to find sites that they believe are worth preserving in our town,” said Kristie. “Through research, inquiry and writing, students may influence the Historic Preservation Office of Connecticut to add additional sites to their register.”

“We’re now able to make text-to-world applications through our experiences and gathered artifacts,” added Christine. “By using new techniques, all students, including those who read and write below proficiency level, will be encouraged to participate in more personalized ways to tell their authentic stories, as well as those of our community.”

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Christine Troup has taught grades 6 – 12 in three states over the past 23 years. In her free time, she enjoys reading, writing, and traveling, or any combination of the three. Kristie Blanchard has specialized in teaching 9th grade Geography and 10th grade AP Human Geography for nearly 20 years. Her career accomplishments include: the National Council for Geographic Education Distinguished Teaching Award, New England St. Lawrence Valley Geographical Society’s Friend of Geography Award, and the American Geographical Society Teacher Fellow.

[minti_dropcap style=”normal”]A[/minti_dropcap]s part of the “follow up” portion of an FFT fellowship, grant recipients complete a Passport that documents their learning and where they plan to go from here. Teachers answer brief questions in three categories:

1. Personal and Professional Growth
2. Impact on Your Classroom, School & Community, and,
3. Imagining the Future.

During the month of August, we’ll share some of our Fellows’ Passports to get us all in the “Back to School” mode. Today, we’re proud to share the reflections of Nolan Hanson, teacher at Oscar F. Mayer Elementary in Chicago, IL. He described the threefold nature of this fellowship in his grant proposal:

Impact on Your Students, School & Community

 

 

[minti_dropcap style=”normal”]A[/minti_dropcap]s part of the “follow up” portion of an FFT fellowship, grant recipients complete a Passport that documents their learning and where they plan to go from here. Teachers answer brief questions in three categories:

1. Personal and Professional Growth
2. Impact on Your Classroom, School & Community, and,
3. Imagining the Future

During the month of August, we’ll share some of our Fellows’ Passports to get us all in the “Back to School” mode. Today, we’re proud to share the reflections of Carly Connor and Jill Padfield, teachers at Franklin School of Innovation in Ashveille, CT. They described the purpose of the fellowship in their grant proposal:

Students view our school as a place they have to be, and despite our “leave no trace” school norm, they don’t take ownership or pride over the spaces in which they learn. Part of this is most certainly due to the fact that our school is currently a collection of trailers–a temporary campus while we work toward funding for our permanent building. We have tried small improvements to make the campus more visually appealing, but these have not changed the students’ habits of kicking holes in the thin walls of the classrooms, writing on bathroom stalls, and leaving trash all over campus. We desperately need a culture change, especially as it comes to students owning school as their own space.

This fellowship will lead to a project that will allow students to have a voice in biophilic and sustainable features that could be added to our new school building. Research shows that buildings incorporating biophilia, a person’s innate biological connection with nature, can not only reduce stress, but also improve cognitive function and creativity. We will task the students with incorporating both biophilic and sustainable ideas into a real, physical structure in our new school building for the benefit of everyone in our school community.

Impact on Your Students, School & Community

More than 100 families entered the Meriden Public School District in Connecticut last year from Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria. Consequently, Mariah Abatan and Marjorie Eager quickly became more than teachers at Hanover Elementary — they became a lifeline for displaced, confused and scared English Language Learners (fifty percent of whom also presented with speech and language impairments and learning disabilities). Scrambling for strategies to best help these children, they discovered a U.S. News and World Report ranking of “The Best Countries to Be an Immigrant” with Sweden at the top of the list. That’s where they find themselves today, World Refugee Day 2018, on their FFT fellowship.

“We are committed and passionate to empower and inspire our students to dream and achieve their dreams by becoming resilient, lifelong learners despite the challenges they are facing,” wrote the teachers in their grant proposal. “This is a difficult task due to our limited understanding and knowledge of educating immigrant students, lack of resources and minimal training from the district.”

 

They crafted a fellowship to bridge that gap and are debriefing with educators at two Swedish schools where refugee students first register, as well as participating in a conference at Stockholm University titled “Exploring Language Education: Global and Local Perspectives.”

“We are inspired by the resilience, kindness and courage of the immigrant and refugee families we have met – both here in Sweden and our classroom in the US,” said Mariah. “It is encouraging to witness united voices of a community committed to helping and empowering each other in the midst of traumatic, life-altering events. We urge you to take advantage of the opportunity to make a positive impact in your community by supporting immigrant and refuge families.”

Watch this video of 2017 FFT Fellows’ journey documenting the refugee crisis in Western Europe and the student impact that followed.

“We want our students to feel and know that they are important and helpful to others, as well
as they can add value to their lives by learning from others,” added Marjorie. “In order to have a better community, we have to build tolerance, trust, empathy, and mutual understanding. It is essential/critical to us, that students value their background history and understand the richest of their contributions and contributions of their peers in Sweden.”

Educating refugee and immigrant students is a growing trend in Fund for Teachers fellowships. This summer, five teachers are pursuing this topic in various and unique ways, including:

• Alissa Davis (Hopkins School – New Haven, CT) who is retrace the steps of Longfellow’s heroine, Evangeline, from Nova Scotia to New Orleans to Philadelphia and producing maps and a lesson plan that revives a forgotten tale of refugees and provides students with an intimate exposure to this deeply relevant issue;
• Amber Neal (Almeda Elementary – Houston, TX) who is experiencing Tanzania’s history, language, culture and educational climate to deepen understanding of African refugee students and develop learning experiences that enhance global awareness, celebrate cultural differences and enrich classroom discourse;
• Anne Tomalin (Chapel Hill High School – Chapel Hill, NC) who is joining the University of North Carolina’s World View China Study Visit Program for educators, to observe China’s educational practices and spark ideas for more effectively supporting the school’s Asian refugee students;
• A team from Julia de Burgos Elementary in Phildelphia that will explore the homelands of students, 86% of whom identify as first or second generation immigrants from Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, to implement a rigorous, culturally relevant program for the student
  body;
• Anya Wislocki (International High School for Health Sciences – Elhurst, NY) who will research work of environmental activists in Bolivia and Peru while strengthening Spanish language skills to prepare newly arrived immigrant students for college study in the sciences; and,
• Maribeth Dann and Phil Landolt (Hermann Middle School – Hermann, MO) who are blogging as they explore Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand, to create learning focusing on modern immigration to America and inform seventh graders’ projects on why people leave their homelands.

“We know that we would have been able to teach our immigration unit without this opportunity, but we know we will do a much better job after this experience,” said Maribeth. “Through many of the poignant experiences we had in Vietnam and Cambodia we can empathize with why a family would feel the need to uproot their entire life in search of a life that does not include war and oppression. It is a decision that we in the States are very lucky that we do not need to make.”

The majority of Lori Lyn’s students at Hicks Elementary in Houston are new to America and, thus, new to Texas. Therefore, in addition to providing the fundamentals of an education, she’s also tasked with teaching state history in accordance with state standards. This responsibility inspired her to assume the role of tour guide AND teacher this summer as an FFT Fellow. In a Toyota Sienna minivan, Lori is logging 3,000+ miles driving across the Lone Star State to help her second graders students not only “Remember the Alamo,” but also master complex academic content and become active participants in their own learning.

The four-week itinerary includes:

• Fort Worth Stock Yards National Historic District
• Sixth Floor Museum in Dallas, detailing information about John F. Kennedy’s life and assassination
• Texas State Capitol, Bullock Museum and Governor’s Mansion in Austin
• Alamo and Institute of Texas Cultures in San Antonio
• Brazoria County (“Where Texas Began”), NASA and the Texas Seaport Museum on the Gulf Coast
• Battleship Texas moored in the Houston Ship Channel, and
• Big Bend National Park.

“My students are curious about their community’s history, eager to explore their world, and enjoy learning about every place that is new to them,” said Lori. “This fellowship is helping me help students understand how landmarks, monuments, and historical buildings represent and influence current events, as well as the people, places, and ideas that are important to the society in which they now live.”

This fall, her new curriculum will address state symbols, mapping skills, and state celebrations, landmarks, monuments, museums and government buildings. Geography units will also help students to begin developing an understanding of where they are located in the state and nation.

You can follow Lori’s progress on Twitter at @_MrsLyn and enjoy Lyle Lovett’s snappy anthem to Texas and its newest residents!

 

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 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.