#teacherlearning

Well done, 2017 Fund for Teachers grant applicants. After dedicating countless hours of dreaming, planning and writing visions for self-designed learning, you pushed “Submit” yesterday. We honor your commitment to personal and student advancement.

Now what?

The selection process began this morning. Committees comprised of FFT Fellows, along with other educational, corporate and civic volunteers will now determine which proposals have what it takes to impact the profession, students and school communities. Using a rubric supplied to each applicant, committee members grade every proposal and submit scores online before convening several weeks later to discuss/defend their decisions with others who also reviewed the same proposals. Our 2017 Fellows will be notified by email on Tuesday, April 5, at which time we’ll also post the list on our website.

For many teachers, thinking through the “Student Growth & Learning” and “Implementation Plan” sections of the proposal are the most difficult because these are the most theoretical at this stage of the game. 2015 Fellow Louis Shede shares how he approached sections four and six of the FFT application:

When I was writing my proposal, it was difficult to think outside the box and imagine how my fellowship would impact my students in a profound way.  I found it easy to think in terms of phases: year one, year two, etc... I also found it important to think big and not be discouraged by what my school could not do to support me. I thought, what do I want my vision to be, not what will my school allow me to do? This really helped to think big and then plan the different phases that would let me create sustainable and manageable mini-goals for making this happen.

For me, the first phase was to start the Wilderness Club which I did last year.  Right now the club is currently building it's first service-learning project.  We were able to get funded on DonorsChoose.org for tools and painting supplies and we are creating a plastic tree that we hope will bring awareness to all the plastics we use everyday in our community.  Check out our project here: A Plastic Tree Grows in Norwalk.

For the second phase, I wanted to impact more students by creating a curriculum that would get more students outside and interacting with the environment.  By collaborating with the Carver Foundation in Norwalk, I have been able to take a diverse group of students that come from a low-income household outside once a week.  I have named the program "Leave No Child Inside" after the article published by Richard Louv.  Each Thursday the students and I go outside and make observations about our environment, develop and refine are five senses, work on leadership and communication skills, and have lots of fun!

For my third phase (3 years after my fellowship) I wanted to create a course that would be part of the educational experience at Norwalk High. To make this happen for next year I had to start planning now and submit a course proposal to the district for approval.  For next year all incoming freshman will have the opportunity to take Wilderness: Environmental Justice in the 21st Century. I am so excited to see my fellowship dreams form into reality. The journey has had its obstacles and set-backs but I learned from my NOLS fellowship experience that if it was easy, everyone would be doing it!

“My fellowship gave me confidence in what I do and why, and how I can  push myself further than I thought.”  -Lisanne Kaplan, Mohegan School, Montville, CT

Thinking about Student Learning

Once you have completed a draft of your FFT proposal, reread every section and see if you have explicitly tied the learning, your students, and the  place you’ve chosen together. How do they combine to create a meaningful fellowship?

We asked 2016 Fellow Lisanne Kaplan, an elementary school teacher at Mohegan School in Montville, CT, to reflect on her own fellowship planning process. Her FFT fellowship took her to Malmö, Sweden, to investigate the continuum of services offered at refugee reception centers to support the arrival of new students and their families, particularly unaccompanied minors. “I wanted to see how a country with different immigration policies  treated their newcomers. Many of the students in my classroom are recent  immigrants. They often come from a place of trauma and the culture shock is  extreme.”

Lisanne chose her fellowship activities to address her guiding question:  How can we offer comprehensive services to our families so that our students  come to school ready to learn?

When thinking about student learning, Lisanne recommends:

Let your students “drive the bus” – clearly define who they are and what they need: Lisanne designed her fellowship to mimic the experience of her students and their families. “I didn’t want to be a tourist, full of knowledge gleaned from travel guides. I wanted to land in a new place, just like my students do, where I had to navigate without knowing the language, the culture, the safety issues, or even how to get around.”

  Assume the role of a learner – what knowledge, experience, and understandings do you want to acquire, and how will they improve your practice and your students’ learning? Lisanne sought out directors of refugee centers, visited an adult learning center, and talked with newcomers to understand which services are most critical and how to deliver them with sensitivity.

Connecting your learning to the needs of your students is the crux of a strong FFT fellowship. Why specifically will the place you’ve chosen provide  the learning you need?

Get Inspired!

Weaving Together A Balanced Life Donna Matovich, Winston Middle School - Winston, OR

It’s the 21st Century! We communicate with immediacy across the entire world, cure diseases and send humans into space. Who would have thought that educational reforms would call for us to teach skills such as artistry, imagination and personal expression? And how would I do that with seventh graders? I decided to go back to basics, and what is more basic than the study of a culture whose creativity and artistry has thrived throughout the centuries?

Thus, this summer on my Fund for Teachers fellowship I found myself in New Mexico learning to weave Navajo rugs. We began every day at the Taos Art School with a song of greeting and thanksgiving to the world around us, but the first day we tackled the most important step in weaving a rug, which is warping the loom. According to our teacher, Pearl Sunrise, “If the warp [lengthwise yarns that hold the tension on a loom] is too loose or too tight, uneven or unbalanced, it will show in the final project; just as if people are uneven or unbalanced it will show in our attitudes, health and relationships.”

My first lesson to apply with students: Thinking with a creative mind is difficult if it is strung too tightly. I now take five minutes at the beginning of class to check our balance – to see if we are “uneven.” A few minutes of quiet reflection on the topic of the day helps calm and unwind the restless seventh grade mind.

As we wove, Pearl shared that the Navajo way of learning is through observation. Children learn by watching family members perform creative tasks. When the child starts showing curiosity in an art, they are provided tools and the means to learn. Pearl was taught as a child, “Just make it beautiful. When you get tired, go outside and look around.” The foundation of the Navajo culture is that they are connected and grounded to the earth.

Lesson Two: Take the time to observe my students, listening for sparks of interest to help bring them to life.

Lastly, the Navajo culture is an oral one. After completing my work in Taos, I traveled to the Indian Pueblo Culture Center in Albuquerque where I found this quote: “When we share our stories, the teller and the hearer are connected to one another and our culture is preserved.”

Lesson Three: Communicate. We are losing the ability to have normal conversations without the interference of an electronic device.

Teaching kids to listen, then respond to one another has been a challenge. Through holding discussions and encouraging them to share opinions, I am encouraging kids to look outside of themselves and into the lives of others.

On my fellowship, I learned to stop - taking the time to unwind the creativity;look - making an effort to unleash curiosity and imagination; and listen – hearing students’ thoughts, ideas and opinions. Only then can we, together, keep life balanced and “just make it beautiful.”