A Crusade of a Different ColorOn this day in in 1095, Pope Urban II called all Christians in Europe to war against Muslims and regain the Holy Land, beginning the first of nine crusades. Two Chicago Public School teachers/Fund for Teachers Fellows have set out on a related, conciliatory quest rooted in culture. We share their student impact below…Sounds of clay drums filled the air as visitors strolled among stalls of Islamic art, stopping to have their names written in Arabic. A storyteller shared tales of adventure in one corner as craftsmen carved woodblock animals in another. The music ..read more

U.S. Army Air Corps pilot & FFT Founder Raymond Plank Dan Lundak at his grandfather's barracks on Bury St. Edmond's RAF base Scott Glew in reconstructed trenches near Ypres, Belgium Tracy Boland at the Pacific Aviation Museum at Pearl Harbor Jack Chevigny receiving his Marine Corp commission Happy Veteran’s Day!In honor of our favorite veteran (and FFT founder, Raymond Plank) and all those who served, we proudly share several FFT Fellows’ pursuit of learning that  introduces the next generations to those who helped secured their freedom:Chicago teacher Dan Lundak, who retrac ..read more

Lighting Up STEM LearningPam Ulicny’s students are capturing lightening in a bottle. Using solar energy kits and curriculum she created, students in the heart of coal country are bringing photovoltaic energy to peers around the world through online tutorials.In 2013, Pam developed a STEM curriculum for her students to make solar powered lanterns using an upcycled glass or plastic jar. She then manufactured the lanterns as kits accompanied by lab manuals and supplemental activities, which she also wrote. Two years later on a Fund for Teachers fellowship, Pam introduced the project to impove ..read more

Linday (far left) with her FFT team and a guide at 16,000 ft FFT Fellow Receives EL Education’s Highest HonorCongratulations to Lindsay Slabich, founding teacher at the Springfield Renaissance School in Springfield, MA, who just received EL Education’s 2017 Klingenstein Teacher Award and its $5,000 cash prize.Voted on by peers within EL Education’s national network of schools, the Klingenstein Award is given to the teacher who most successfully transmitted to students the essence of EL Education culture, building exemplary character, driving outstanding academic achievement, and instillin ..read more

Monumental LearningAs a second grade teacher at Southlake Elementary in Oklahoma City, Shannon Cross is charged with teaching events, symbols, landmarks, holidays and historical figures associated with American History. She scoured the web, library books and You Tube for interesting resources, but found little age-appropriate information that would also interest a fidgety seven year old. After completing her fellowship/road trip this summer investigating major landmarks across the northeastern United States, Shannon decided to let her students become the primary sources.She started the ..read more

Stopping alongside a Canadian road to represent At the visitor center for the Columbian Icefields At the end of the road in Jasper, Alberta, Canada Miles and Miles of Math by Alyson Parenteau Science Technology Magnet High School | New London, CTAs a math teacher, the most common question my students ask is, “When am I ever going to use this?” In response, I’ve organized Making Math Career Connections days, when community members come into the classroom and tell us how they use math in their lives.  Engineers, computer scientists, members of the military, medical professionals and bus ..read more

Jeannie visits Diego Rivera's home in Guanajuato, Mexico Students' fellowship-inspired art sold at school auction Introducing Mexican Arts into a Cultural No Man’s LandAs Hispanic Heritage Month draws to a close, we share the fellowship of Jeannie O’Meara, teacher at Saint Adalbert Elementary School in South Bend, IN. With her Fund for Teachers grant, Jeannie completed a Spanish Language Immersion Program at Academia Hispano Americano in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, to inspire, resonate with and teach the arts with an emphasis on Mexican culture in an urban PreK-8th school comprised of ..read more

Mike inserting a dart tag into a lemon shark on his FFT Fellowship in the Florida Keys A photograph Mike received from contacts in the Keys made on his fellowship In 2014, Mike Monteleone (Delsea High School - Franklinville, NJ) used his Fund for Teachers grant to conduct marine biology, ecology and marine research in the Florida Keys. He took the time to share his thoughts on that experience, its impact on students and Hurricane Irma’s role in demonstrating how science is a verb. My wife and I were students at the University of Miami in 1992 when Hurricane Andrew hit south Florida. We w ..read more

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