Shows
Fund for Teachers - The PodcastPerforming with PlayAs the fall semester speeds into winter break, Amanda Hinrichs’ fifth graders at Hebron Avenue School in Glastonbury, CT, are pretty worked up. They’re stamping their feet and making bold hand gestures with eyes bulging and tongues out. And Amanda is loving every second. Her music students are writing and performing their own “haka,” a Maori tradition that Amanda observed all across New Zealand on her Fund for Teachers grant this summer.Amanda is a 25-year veteran teacher of music but recently faced an instrumental issue. The state of Conne...
2025-12-0935 minFund for Teachers - The PodcastTilling the Soil - A Thanksgiving EpisodeIn the midst of the Dust Bowl—an agricultural catastrophe that decimated crops and devastated the livelihoods of thousands of Oklahomans—President Franklin D. Roosevelt warned, “The nation that destroys its soil destroys itself.”Fueled by a lack of understanding about sustainable land management and the heightened demand for food during World War I, once-fertile plains were transformed into barren deserts—a tragedy immortalized in Dorothea Lange’s iconic “Migrant Mother” photograph and John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath.Nearly a century later, educators Darci and Seth Reeves are working to ensure history...
2025-11-1028 minFund for Teachers - The PodcastReturning to Retrieve What Was ForgottenRudyard Kipling penned the words, “East is east and west is west and never the twain shall meet.” Except in the case of Fund for Teachers Fellows Natasha Alston and Denise Carter-Mataboge. Natasha teaches at Mountain Pointe High School in Phoenix, AZ, and Denise teaches at the Neighborhood Charter School: Harlem, NY. They didn’t even know each other a year ago. But they DID know they wanted to teach African American History in a way neither of them experienced as students.Today, we are learning from “Team Sankofa,” the name Denise and...
2025-10-0333 minFund for Teachers - The PodcastReturning to Retrieve What Was ForgottenRudyard Kipling penned the famous words “East is East and West is West, and never the twain shall meet.” Except in the case of this Fund for Teachers fellowship. Natasha Alston teaches at Mountain Pointe High School in Phoenix, AZ, and Denise Carter- Mataboge teaches at the Neighborhood Charter School: Harlem, NY. They didn’t even know each other a year ago! But they DID know they wanted to teach what was beyond a textbook – particularly African American history. Another Kipling quote epitomizes the spirit behind their experience this summer: "If history were taught in the form of s...
2025-10-0333 min
Musing on the Bard: a podcast for the Shakespeare curiousMusing on the Bard: Episode 5: Christopher Kirby (A Shakespeare & Acting Podcast)Welcome to Musing on the Bard: a podcast for the Shakespeare curious, hosted by Australian actor, Sally McLean, and featuring today's guest, the wonderful American actor: Christopher Kirby. Known to Shakespeare Republic audiences for playing the award-winning roles of "Thomas More" in Shakespeare Republic Season Two, "Richard II" in Shakespeare Republic: #AllTheWebsAStage (The Lockdown Chronicles) and "Benedick" in Speaking Daggers, Chris began his career in his native USA before moving to Australia and has a long list of varied Film and TV roles to his name, both here and in America. Television roles include Quantum...
2025-09-2353 minFund for Teachers - The PodcastMaking the Path by WalkingThe Way of St. James, perhaps more commonly known as the Camino de Santiago, has been since the 9th century an ambulatory avenue for reflection. The ancient path that stretches from the French Pyrenees to Spain’s Santiago de Compestela, was first traversed by Roman tradesmen, then Christians seeking “indulgences” from the Medieval Church. Today, various paths associated with the Camino are walked by more than 200,000 people a year as a form of spiritual, emotional and/or physical exercise.The Camino de Santiago has been a topic in Ernest Hemingway’s “The Sun Also Rises,” James Michen...
2025-07-2829 minFund for Teachers - The PodcastThe Magna Carta and Fund for TeachersWinston Churchill said, “We must never cease to proclaim in fearless tones the great principles of freedom and the rights of man which through the Magna Carta, the Bill of Rights, the Habeus Corpus, Trial by Jury and the English Common Law find their most famous expression in the American Declaration of Independence.”Agreed to by King John on June 15, 1215, the Magna Carta attests that the king is subject to the rule of law and documents the liberties held by “free men.” Eight hundred and ten years later – to the day – Fund for Teachers Fellow John Fehr was in the U...
2025-06-2023 minFund for Teachers - The PodcastTackling Hard History with Eighth GradersWe’re publishing this podcast on the final day of Black History Month. The 2025 theme was "African Americans and Labor," focusing on the significant role Black people have played in the workforce – of their own accord or at the mercy and for the benefit of others. The economic aspect of Black history also inspired a Fund for Teachers experience of today’s guest and now informs the perspectives and research projects of Chicago seventh graders. Today we’re learning from Fund for Teachers Fellow Sandra Burgess. After conducting training sessions in Corporate America, then teaching at the collegia...
2025-02-2827 minFund for Teachers - The PodcastMaking a Difference For & With TeachersInternationally renowned environmentalist Jane Goodall said, "What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make."In 2015, Barbara Dalio decided she wanted to make a difference for teachers. Connecticut teachers, specifically. Based on the formative role teachers played in the lives of her three sons, Barbara chose to invest in her home state’s educators as a means of also impacting its students. The vehicle she chose to make this happen was Fund for Teachers.Six years later, more than 1,125 preK-12 teachers have leveraged $4.7 mil...
2024-10-3136 minFund for Teachers - The PodcastLive from Two Fellowships: It's Season 5Welcome to our fifth season of Fund for Teachers: The Podcast. We launched this platform (after buying and annotating the book “Podcasts for Dummies”) when Covid shut down schools (and everything else) because we wanted to stay in touch with our grant recipients and support the stalwart work they were undertaking as our students first responders. Forty-seven episodes later, we continue to welcome Fellows as our special guests to learn about their fellowships and how they are leveraging these grants into growth for themselves, their students and school communities.Today’s episode kicks of our...
2024-10-1634 minFund for Teachers - The PodcastFollowing a Daughter's Example/FellowshipTeaching is a family business for this mother and daughter. When Daneé Pinckney was a student, her mom, Gail Bowers-Craig, enrolled in night school to earn a degree in education. In fact, Daneé says much of what she learned about teaching was from watching and listening to her mother in those years of study. It was Daneé, however, who blazed the Fund for Teachers trail. Last summer, Daneé used her $5,000 grant to research the ancestry of Black America through Benin, Ghana, and the Togolese Republic to produce an expansion of the depth of knowledge of Western Africa that...
2024-05-0825 min
Fund for Teachers - The PodcastSpies Like UsVirigina Hall studied at Radcliffe College and Barnard College (the women’s colleges of Harvard and Columbia) and spoke three languages. She served as a consular clerk in Poland and Turkey, where a hunting accident required an amputation below the knee.Noor Inayat Kahn studied child psychology at the Sorbonne and music at the Paris Conservatory. The daughter of Sufi Muslims, she was described as quiet, shy, sensitive, and dreamy.Josephine Baker was an American-born French dancer, singer and actress and the first Black woman to star in a ma...
2024-03-0731 minFund for Teachers - The PodcastExperiencing WWII Death Camps to Empower StudentsA 2022 piece by National Public Radio cited Anne Frank as “the most famous young author of all time,” as her diary, translated into more than 65 languages, is one of the most widely read books in the world. One such reader was Nikia Garland. Now a 24-year veteran teacher at Arsenal Technical High School in Indianapolis, she was once a sixth grader at nearby Farrington Elementary Shool where she picked up the autobiography – never thinking that Anne wouldn’t survive. That surprising conclusion would inform Nikia’s future – rooted in education and social justice.Today we’re learning from Nikia Gar...
2024-01-2625 minFund for Teachers - The PodcastCompleting Your 2024 Grant Application with Clarity and ConfidenceSpotify annually sends out its wrap up of your listening habits for the year and Fund for Teachers received a similar one for our podcast. The most downloaded podcast of our year was with today's guest. Stephanie Ascherl is our chief of staff and has been a program officer, as well. Because that episode was SO popular, we're bringing Stephanie back for another edition of "Tips you need to know when completing your grant application." We wanted to produce this podcast at this time as teachers are winding up their chaotic end-of-semester programs and concerts...
2023-12-2029 min
Fund for Teachers - The PodcastLessons from Frogger & a Fellowship in VietnamLhisa Almashy has amassed many accomplishments in her 28-year career teaching English as a Second Language (or ESOL): a master’s degree in education from the University of San Francisco; a doctorate in Leadership and Learning In Organizations from Vanderbilt; award member from and board member of Learning for Justice, the Governor’s Award for Excellence in Education for the State of Florida and Hispanic Teacher of the Year Award for Palm Beach County among them. But an accomplishment one won’t find on Lhisa’s LinkedIn is the fact that she’s the reason...
2023-11-3032 min
Enjoy Offering of Full Audiobooks in Funny, Performing ArtsThe News Quiz 2010 - BBC Radio ComedyListen to full audiobooks for free :https://hotaudiobook.com/freeTITLE The News Quiz 2010SUBTITLE Series 70, 71 and 72 of the Topical BBC Radio 4 Comedy Panel ShowSERIES #9 in The News QuizAUTHOR BBC Radio ComedyNARRATOR Micky Flanagan, Milton Jones, Bridget Christie, Armando Iannucci, Fred MacAulay, Gyles BrandrethLANGUAGE EnglishRELEASE DATE 08-10-2023PUBLISHER BBC AudioCATEGORIES Funny, Performing ArtsSUMMARYSandi Toksvig hosts these three sensational series of 'the finest topical panel game known to radio'.
For over 40 years, The News Quiz has been scrutinising...
2023-08-1000 min
Power-Up With The Life-Enhancing Full Audiobook Experience!The News Quiz 2009: Series 67, 68 and 69 of the topical BBC Radio 4 comedy panel show by TbdPlease visithttps://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/650771to listen full audiobooks.
Title: The News Quiz 2009: Series 67, 68 and 69 of the topical BBC Radio 4 comedy panel show
Series: Part of The News Quiz
Author: Tbd
Narrator: Rory Bremner, Carrie Quinlan, Sue Perkins, Sandi Toksvig, Mark Steel, David Mitchell, Andy Hamilton, Jeremy Hardy, Various
Format: Unabridged Audiobook
Length: 11 hours 37 minutes
Release date: August 10, 2023
Genres: Comedy, Satire & Parody
Publisher's Summary:
Three series of the satirical radio panel show chaired by Sandi Toksvig Ever since 1977, The News Quiz has been finding the hilarity in the headlines and providing witty commentary on stories big and small. In t...
2023-08-1011h 37
Savor An Vivid Full Audiobook And Elevate Your Mindset.The News Quiz 2010: Series 70, 71 and 72 of the topical BBC Radio 4 comedy panel show by TbdPlease visithttps://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/650772to listen full audiobooks.
Title: The News Quiz 2010: Series 70, 71 and 72 of the topical BBC Radio 4 comedy panel show
Series: Part of The News Quiz
Author: Tbd
Narrator: Fred Macaulay, Bridget Christie, Sandi Toksvig, Gyles Brandreth, Micky Flanagan, Milton Jones, Armando Iannucci, Various
Format: Unabridged Audiobook
Length: 11 hours 38 minutes
Release date: August 10, 2023
Genres: Comedy, Satire & Parody
Publisher's Summary:
Sandi Toksvig hosts these three sensational series of 'the finest topical panel game known to radio' For over 40 years, The News Quiz has been scrutinising the headlines to give us its unique, sardonic take on the stories t...
2023-08-1011h 38
Enjoy Offering of Full Audiobooks in Funny, Performing ArtsThe News Quiz 2009 - BBC Radio ComedyListen to full audiobooks for free :https://hotaudiobook.com/freeTITLE The News Quiz 2009SUBTITLE Series 67, 68 and 69 of the Topical BBC Radio 4 Comedy Panel ShowSERIES #8 in The News QuizAUTHOR BBC Radio ComedyNARRATOR Andy Hamilton, Mark Steel, Rory Bremner, Jeremy Hardy, David Mitchell, Sue Perkins, Carrie QuinlanLANGUAGE EnglishRELEASE DATE 08-10-2023PUBLISHER BBC AudioCATEGORIES Funny, Performing ArtsSUMMARYThree series of the satirical radio panel show chaired by Sandi Toksvig
Ever since 1977, The News Quiz has been finding the hilarity in...
2023-08-1000 minAccess Top-Rated Full Audiobooks in Literature, Comedy, Satire & ParodyThe News Quiz 2009: Series 67, 68 and 69 of the topical BBC Radio 4 comedy panel show by TbdPlease visithttps://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/650771to listen full audiobooks.
Title: The News Quiz 2009: Series 67, 68 and 69 of the topical BBC Radio 4 comedy panel show
Series: Part of The News Quiz
Author: Tbd
Narrator: Rory Bremner, Carrie Quinlan, Sue Perkins, Sandi Toksvig, Mark Steel, David Mitchell, Andy Hamilton, Jeremy Hardy, Various
Format: Unabridged Audiobook
Length: 11 hours 37 minutes
Release date: August 10, 2023
Genres: Comedy, Satire & Parody
Publisher's Summary:
Three series of the satirical radio panel show chaired by Sandi Toksvig Ever since 1977, The News Quiz has been finding the hilarity in the headlines and providing witty commentary on stories big and small. In t...
2023-08-1011h 37Access Top-Rated Full Audiobooks in Literature, Comedy, Satire & ParodyThe News Quiz 2010: Series 70, 71 and 72 of the topical BBC Radio 4 comedy panel show by TbdPlease visithttps://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/650772to listen full audiobooks.
Title: The News Quiz 2010: Series 70, 71 and 72 of the topical BBC Radio 4 comedy panel show
Series: Part of The News Quiz
Author: Tbd
Narrator: Fred Macaulay, Bridget Christie, Sandi Toksvig, Gyles Brandreth, Micky Flanagan, Milton Jones, Armando Iannucci, Various
Format: Unabridged Audiobook
Length: 11 hours 38 minutes
Release date: August 10, 2023
Genres: Comedy, Satire & Parody
Publisher's Summary:
Sandi Toksvig hosts these three sensational series of 'the finest topical panel game known to radio' For over 40 years, The News Quiz has been scrutinising the headlines to give us its unique, sardonic take on the stories t...
2023-08-1011h 38
Fund for Teachers - The PodcastExploring EthiopiaWhen preparing to interview Fellows for this podcast, I’ll do a little research to provide listeners with some context. Usually, that Google search yields LinkedIn accounts, local media coverage, and sometimes statistics from high school glory days. With today’s guest, I ended up on IMDB -- an online database of information related to films, television series, and streaming content online.My curiosity was piqued.Today we’re learning from Gabe Staino – who has taught for 12 years, both internationally and in the States. But before that, he was childhood friends with Chris Raab, a...
2023-08-0826 minFund for Teachers - The PodcastTwo FFT Fellows Walk Into Iceland...Iceland is known as the Land of Fire and Ice, the most peaceful country in the world 15 years running, and – unfortunately for Big Mac fans – has zero McDonald’s. And, this year, it’s the fellowship destination for seven Fund for Teachers Fellows. Ranging in topic from sustainability and geothermal energy to yoga and elves, grant recipients from Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, and Virginia will learn within the Arctic Circle this summer. Before Fellows begin embarking on their experiential learning, we connect them with other grant recipients who plan to be in the same region or conferenc...
2023-07-0738 min
Fund for Teachers - The PodcastPreparing Special Education Students for the WorkforceAccording to a report published by Special Olympics and titled “National Snapshot of Adults with Intellectual Disabilities in the Labor Force,” only 44% of adults with ID aged 21-64 are in the labor force. This is compared to 83% of working-age adults without disabilities who are in the labor force. Furthermore, only 34% of adults with intellectual disabilities aged 21-64 are employed, and an approximately equal number work in a sheltered setting. Those are the statistics for the United States, anyway. The Japan Times reported that Japanese companies are required by law to hire people with disabilities. Fines are imposed if compa...
2023-06-0225 min
Fund for Teachers - The PodcastLearning Independently & Collaboratively with an Innovation Circle GrantWhile Fund for Teachers has invested $30 million in teacher grants for summer fellowships since 2001, this marks only the second year that we’ve awarded Innovation Circle Grants. To extend the value of our traditional summer fellowships, we created this space for FFT Fellows to connect and collaborate around key priorities in education. Fellows propose innovative inquiries into a predetermined set of topics and, through a selective process, receive up to $1,500 to individually pursue summer learning experiences and then convene virtually with other Fellows to reflect and implement their learning in the classroom. Today’s podcast is specifically about...
2023-03-1624 min
Fund for Teachers - The PodcastTeaching Black HistoryWe’re winding down the month of February -- designated as Black History Month, first celebrated as Negro History Week in 1926 and expanded to a month in 1986 by the United States Congress. According to the Association for the Study of African American Life & History, the designation began in 1915 when University of Chicago alumnae Carter G. Woodson traveled from Washington, D.C. to Chicago to participate in a national celebration of the 50th anniversary of emancipation. And according to FFT Fellow Pratia Jordan, students need to remember that Black history didn’t start or end...
2023-02-2428 minFund for Teachers - The PodcastReframing the Long Civil Rights MovementSince 1983, the third Monday of January is recognized as a federal holiday to commemorate Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday. In the state of Alabama, that same day is also recognized as Robert E. Lee Day. Grappling with this simultaneous celebration, and the state’s complex civil rights history, is Blake Busbin – director of social studies education for the Alabama State Department of Education. Blake grew up in Atlanta and, as a child, would visit the plantation owned and operated by his ancestors during the Civil War. He earned his undergraduate, master’s, Ph.D. AND a ce...
2023-02-1629 min
Experience: This Game-Changing Full Audiobook For Book-Lovers.The Now Show: Series 44 – 46: The BBC Radio 4 topical comedy by Hugh Dennis, Steve PuntPlease visithttps://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/622276to listen full audiobooks.
Title: The Now Show: Series 44 – 46: The BBC Radio 4 topical comedy
Series: Part of The Now Show
Author: Hugh Dennis, Steve Punt
Narrator: Hugh Dennis, Steve Punt
Format: Unabridged Audiobook
Length: 8 hours 19 minutes
Release date: January 26, 2023
Genres: Comedy, Satire & Parody
Publisher's Summary:
Three series of the Sony Award-winning BBC Radio comedy show A fast-paced mix of stand-up, songs and sketches, The Now Show takes an off-the-wall look at world events, blending satire and silliness to poke fun at politics and lampoon the news. In these 18 episodes from 2014 and 2015, Steve Punt co-presents wit...
2023-01-268h 19Explore New Full Audiobooks in Literature, Comedy, Satire & ParodyThe Now Show: Series 44 – 46: The BBC Radio 4 topical comedy by Hugh Dennis, Steve PuntPlease visithttps://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/622276to listen full audiobooks.
Title: The Now Show: Series 44 – 46: The BBC Radio 4 topical comedy
Series: Part of The Now Show
Author: Hugh Dennis, Steve Punt
Narrator: Hugh Dennis, Steve Punt
Format: Unabridged Audiobook
Length: 8 hours 19 minutes
Release date: January 26, 2023
Genres: Comedy, Satire & Parody
Publisher's Summary:
Three series of the Sony Award-winning BBC Radio comedy show A fast-paced mix of stand-up, songs and sketches, The Now Show takes an off-the-wall look at world events, blending satire and silliness to poke fun at politics and lampoon the news. In these 18 episodes from 2014 and 2015, Steve Punt co-presents wit...
2023-01-268h 19Fund for Teachers - The PodcastSuccessfully Submitting a Promising 2023 Grant ProposalHey, you over there…yeah you…the teacher sitting in front of the computer staring at your 2023 Fund for Teachers grant application – the one you’ve labored over for months – the one containing the aspirations you have for yourself, your students, your school and your community. I’ve got some valuable insider information that can help you more confidently push “SUBMIT” by January 19th. You’re going to want to hear this.Fund for Teachers’ Chief of Staff Stephanie Ascherl wants to share some insight gleaned from her 18 years with the organization – observations, suggestions, and advice that can strengt...
2023-01-1127 minFund for Teachers - The PodcastWeaving Together a Community & an FFT FellowshipHere at Fund for Teachers, we’ve spent the summer following our 2022 Fellows, as well as those from 2020 and 2021 whose fellowships were deferred, as they pursued learning around the country and five continents. It’s now September and most of our grant recipients are back in the classroom, so we’re bringing back Fund for Teachers – The Podcast for our fourth season. We are already in contact with Fellows who experienced lifechanging fellowships this summer – they are eager to share their learning on future episodes. However, since they are in the midst of processing their learning and welcoming...
2022-09-0127 min
Fund for Teachers - The PodcastPartnering with Teachers to LearnAccording to a recent Wall Street Journal article, more than 900,000 people quit jobs in state and local education last year, while private schools lost an additional 600,000 people. So what would make an overworked, underpaid teacher want to increase their workload and add to their schedules a monthly, two-hour meeting after school?The answer? An Innovation Circles Grant from Fund for Teachers.Last year, Fund for Teachers offered a new opportunity specifically for teachers who already received a Fellowship grant. With up to $1,000 (as opposed to $5 -$10,000 for their original grant), Fellows w...
2022-02-0725 min
Fund for Teachers - The PodcastTaking a MasterClass in Writing an FFT ProposalForbes, CNN, Fast Company, The New York Post and even Town & Country claim that MasterClass is one of this year’s top holiday gifts. The streaming platform offers lessons from the best in their fields, delivering – according to its website -- a world class online learning experience. We decided to follow suit and offer a Fund for Teachers MasterClass on crafting a successful grant proposal. Our expert: Four-time Fellow Chris Dolgos. Today, we’re learning from Chris Dolgos, a sixth grade at Genesee Community Charter School in Rochester, NY. In addition to rec...
2021-12-1324 min
Fund for Teachers - The PodcastLearning Gratitude from Refugee Students & TeachersToday’s podcast airs on Black Friday, when millions of shoppers flock to malls to begin and finish holiday shopping. This scene stands in stark contrast to those witnessed by fifth-grade teacher Janelle Rei this summer. Between meeting with Sudanese refugee students and teachers and observing families living and working in cities built of garbage, Janelle witnessed joy and gratitude for the little things, including school supplies she delivered from her own students at Great Neck Elementary School in Waterford, CT.Janelle is a Fund for Teachers Fellow who used her gr...
2021-11-2228 min
Fund for Teachers - The PodcastApplying SEL Strategies For Teachers“The teachers are not alright.” News accounts and social media pages attest to the fatigue – both mental and physical – America’s teachers are experiencing this fall as they continue to adjust to the new normal after the past year of pandemic classrooms. It seems our teachers could use some of the social emotional learning strategies they are sharing with students trying to cope. Hyam Elsaharty knows a lot about that. She used her FFT grant to research in Malaysia how collectivist communities apply SEL skills in homes and schools, then applied her findings at Chicago’s Mather High...
2021-11-0423 min
Fund for Teachers - The PodcastListening to the Needs of Students who are Deaf & Hard of HearingMarlee Matlin, the only Deaf performer to have won an Academy Award, said “Every one of us is different in some way, but for those of us who are more different, we have to put more effort into convincing the less different that we can do the same thing they can, just differently.” Theatre teacher Amy Patel is committed to figuring out how to teach differently so her deaf and hard of hearing students make their marks at James Clemens High School in Madison, AL. Amy initially rece...
2021-09-2426 min
Fund for Teachers - The PodcastCelebrating Hispanic Heritage Month Through ArtSeptember the 15th begins Hispanic Heritage Month, celebrating the histories, cultures and contributions of American citizens whose ancestors came from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean and Central and South America. The Fund for Teachers fellowship of Chicago art teachers Carolina Ibarra and Claire Reynes celebrated the same thing last summer. In an effort to integrate their elementary students’ culture as a source of inspiration in the art room, these teachers used a Fund for Teachers’ team grant to research the history of traditional Mexican crafts that utilize sustainable art making practices with eco-f...
2021-09-1631 min
Fund for Teachers - The PodcastReaching Students Where They AreIn the Fund for Teachers universe, September is very significant. Our grant recipients are back from their fellowships, back in their classrooms and reporting back to us about what they learned and how their students will now learn differently as a result.September is also the month before we open our grant application for the upcoming year. We begin marketing the opportunity to teachers and districts, collaborating with our local partners to cast a wider net for applicants, and, hopefully, let more teachers know about the opportunity to design their best version of experiential learning with $5,000 as...
2021-09-0728 min
Fund for Teachers - The PodcastDiving & Learning With a PurposeA smart, but angry young student who dreamed of becoming a pediatrician; a chemistry major; a Target hourly employee; and a substitute teacher. This was Veronica Wylie’s circuitous path to her high school classroom in Hazelhurst, MS. Along the way, she’s earned three master’s degrees, founded a nonprofit, interned with NASA and is currently collaborating with Harvard to create antiracist science curricula. The motivation behind all of this activity is providing her students opportunities – even if they are 60 feet underwater.Today we visit with Veronica Wylie, high school science...
2021-08-0425 min
Fund for Teachers - The PodcastAdvising Athletes for Success Beyond the CourtThe Supreme Court recently ruled that college athletes may benefit from perks beyond tuition, room and board and five state legislatures determined that college athletes may begin profiting from their personal brands.This ruling can be life-changing for student athletes, like those with whom Wendy Hutchinson works. As the academic advisor for the men’s basketball team at Edmondson-Westside High School in Baltimore, Wendy is part of the basketball team coaching staff – she even travels with the team and sits on the bench. While two of the school's graduates went on to p...
2021-07-2227 min
Fund for Teachers - The PodcastSeeking Understanding for Students who Self-HarmPrior to the pandemic, experts widely acknowledged that America’s students were experiencing a mental health crisis. A 2017 CDC report showed that suicide was the second-leading cause of death for 15-24 year olds. Add incidents of self-harm into the equation and the outlook is even more bleak. The average age a student begins self-harming habits is 13 and 45% of people use cutting as their method of self-injury. And who has the most exposure to students during these years? Ostensibly, its teachers.Earlier this year, the Brookings Institution published an article titled “Educators are key in protecting stud...
2021-06-2236 min
Fund for Teachers - The PodcastBuilding Better Books with BrailleTwo hours south of Helen Keller’s home is the town of Trussville. Every elementary, middle and high school has the same mascot and the district prides itself on “One Trussville.” So it stands to reason that when 15 visually impaired students lacked resources to help them stay on pace, their peers stepped up. Led by two Fund for Teachers Fellows, elementary students learned how to braille through a year-long elective called “Build A Better Book,” an effort that drew the heartfelt thanks of parents and the interest of twelfth grade engineering students.Today we visit with Ap...
2021-04-2724 min
Fund for Teachers - The PodcastPivoting from Environmental Innovator to Educational IncubatorFor the first time in our 20-year history, Fund for Teachers will host a national convening of educators called Plan It for the Planet – An Environmental Summit on Saturday, April 10th. This free virtual event, cohosted by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, will bring together leading innovators from America’s preeminent environmental organizations to help teachers and their students develop action plans to implement in their school communities. (For more information and to register, click here.)The summit brought to mind a 2017 Fund for Teachers Fellow who is also...
2021-03-1727 min
Fund for Teachers - The PodcastLearning the Language of Math While Learning English - A Pi Day PodcastWhen Enkeleda Gjoni’s students enter her math class, learning geometry is the least of their problems. One hundred percent of her students are English Language Learners, as was Enkeleda when she immigrated from Albania with “only her education.” Two decades later, she holds two master’s degrees and models for her students what is possible – especially for someone who is competent in mathematics.Today we’re learning from Enkeleda Gjoni, 2019 Fund for Teachers Fellow and math teacher at Boston International High School, where 100% of her students are English Language Learners. The daughter of a teacher...
2021-03-1222 min
Fund for Teachers - The PodcastStaying Gold with The OutsidersEach generation has a novel. For teenagers today, it might be The Hunger Games, for the generation before, Harry Potter. It’s the book that ushered students into reading when nothing else would. For those of us who grew up in the 70s or 80s, that book was The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton. Made into an iconic movie by Francis Ford Copolla who directed the VERY young Tom Cruise, Matt Dillon, Patrick Swayze, Emilio Estevez, Rob Lowe, Ralph Macchio, and C. Thomas Howell as Ponyboy, The Outsiders holds a consistent place on st...
2021-01-1626 min
Fund for Teachers - The PodcastGetting Advice on Crafting an FFT Proposal from Maine's Teacher of the YearAre you considering applying for a Fund for Teachers grant, but don’t know where to start? What better place than to take advice from Maine’s 2021 Teacher of the Year and Fund for Teachers Fellow Cindy Soule. Cindy is a 4th grade teacher at Gerald E. Talbot Community School and holds a Master of Science in Special Education from the University of Southern Maine and a Bachelor of Arts in Social Work from the University of Maine at Orono. In addition to recently being named Teacher of the Year...
2020-12-0521 min
Fund for Teachers - The PodcastFinding Peace Via the Maori and LakotaA CNN report cites that after America’s 2016 presidential election, our collective stress “metastasized into a full on cultural disorder” called American Thanksgiving Anxiety. So what are we approaching in the wake of the 2020 election AND a pandemic? Many of us are anticipating a Thanksgiving meal at a dinner table surrounded by masked and politically-polarized relatives – so there’s no better time to learn from a Fund for Teachers Fellow who pursued learning around creating communities of peace.Today we visit with Treena Thibodeau, middle school teacher at New York City’s Chinese/English dual...
2020-11-1924 min
Fund for Teachers - The PodcastPlaying With Fire (and Hammers and Saws) on Adventure PlaygroundsThe 1968 musical film “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang,” gave us a charming performance by Dick Van Dyke, a nightmarish scene involving a Child Catcher, and an Academy-award nominated song that shares the film’s title. The film’s lesser known tune “From the ashes of disaster grow the roses of success” could characterize the work of Swedish landscape architect Charles Theodore Sorenson. From the ashes of HIS disaster, however, grew the concept of Adventure Playgrounds. Sorenson built elaborate playgrounds, but no children played. In 1931, he imagined instead a "junk playground" in which children could create and s...
2020-10-2225 min
Fund for Teachers - The PodcastDeveloping SEL Skills in a Prison, Orphanage and Stanford UniversityAt first glance, commonalities between an Iowa women’s prison, a teen sex education office, an alternative school in neutral gang territory, an orphanage in Rwanda, and Stanford University is difficult to identify. But there are actually two things all of these locations have in common – social emotional learning and today’s guest, Lara Schmidt.Lara is a teacher on special assignment with the San Francisco Unified School District. She is currently a co-director of its Advancement Via Individual Determination program serving first generation college students and also an Induction Coach workin...
2020-09-2323 min
Fund for Teachers - The PodcastWelcoming NewcomersTina Vasquez is a first generation American, and so are the students she teaches at Charlottesville High School. But their experiences as immigrants are very different. Tina came to America with her parents from Germany; one of her students arrived from Central America via a truck concealing layers of humans stacked on each other and a subsequent walk across a desert. Other students have never been to school before, never sat at a desk – spending their lives working in agricultural fields to help support their families. Her students most often arrive alone, hoping to connect with family members resettled th...
2020-07-2324 min
Fund for Teachers - The PodcastInterpreting Immigration at the US/Mexico BorderWere you one of the millions of viewers who didn't give away their shot at watching the Hamilton premiere on Disney+ last weekend? Billed as "the ultimate immigrant success story," the blockbuster musical was penned by and starred a man who grew up in an immigrant community playing the only Founding Father not from America. Lin Manuel-Miranda told Oprah that, "As an immigrant, you work three times as hard and are promised maybe a fraction as much." This fact, not the choreographed chronicle of Alexander, more closely reflects the lived experience of Tim Leon-Getten and his "Spanish for Spanish...
2020-07-0925 min
Fund for Teachers - The PodcastBuilding and Designing Futures With At-Risk StudentsAccording to a brief published by the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA, white college freshmen entering civil, mechanical and electrical engineering programs outnumber Black and Indigenous People of Color 7:1. A panel of experts at the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine cited factors such as lack of funding and resources available for minorities who want to focus on STEM, the lack of accessibility to technology by low-income students, and sub-par teaching at lower tier schools. These experts never toured The Howard School’s Future Ready Institute of Architecture, Engineering and Construction in Chattanooga, or met its director, Ja...
2020-06-2522 min
Fund for Teachers - The PodcastAmplifying Accomplishments of American Indians in World War IIA report prepared by the US Navy for the Department of Defense documents that "more than 40,000 American Indians left their reservations during World War II to serve in ordnance depots, factories, and battle fields. American Indians also invested more than $50 million in war bonds, and contributed generously to the Red Cross and the Army and Navy Relief societies." The Institute for American Studies reports that Native Americans had the highest ratio of service men of any ethnic minority or the white majority -- with 42% of the eligible adult Indian males serving in the war. Furthermore, 40 percent more Native Americans...
2020-06-1820 min
Fund for Teachers - The PodcastTeaching Anti-Racist, Anti-Bias Themes in a Racial PandemicIn her essay “Don't Say Nothing," Jamilah Pitts exhorts educators that teaching as an act of resistance and teaching as an act of healing are not mutually exclusive. That when teachers choose to remain silent about moments of racial tension or violence—violence that may well touch students’ own communities or families—these children are overtly reminded of their inferior place in society. That engaging in dialogue about mass incarceration rates; the militarism of police and the killing of innocent black men and women is but one antidote to systemic racism. That essay was written FOUR YEARS AGO, in the fall...
2020-06-0332 min
Fund for Teachers - The PodcastBiking to Build a Special CommunityIn the United States, 6.4 million children between the ages of 4-17 have been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and about 1 in 54 children are identified with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Those statistics are heightened at Ledyard Middle School in Gales Ferry, CT, where one-third of the student population receives either special education services or 504 accommodations for ADHD, autism, learning disabilities, or emotional needs. Kristen is a veteran special education teacher and recreational cyclist. When the Connecticut Cycling Advancement Program came to her school five years ago suggesting that cycling could help children focus and also improve academic performance, Kristen took...
2020-05-2823 min
Fund for Teachers - The PodcastLearning History, Teaching Respect - A Memorial Day EpisodeAccording to The New York Times article, “How Do We Tell A New Generation of Teenagers About the Vietnam War?” the majority of ground troops in Vietnam were teenagers and those who had recently been teenagers. This is exactly the age group that Rachel Eastman teaches United States History at Clear Creek High School in League City, Texas, 30 minutes southeast of Houston. A home-schooled student from kindergarten through high school, Rachel decided to become a teacher after her professors at College of the Ozarks made history come to life for her. She believes that students who value history will, in t...
2020-05-2223 min
Fund for Teachers - The PodcastHelping Students Adjust to "The New Normal"In the video Sarah Kirk submitted for the Oklahoma School Counselor of the Year last year – an honor she subsequently won -- she quoted a report stating that if students have just one person who loves and believes in them, their outcomes are far greater. “Well,” Sarah said, “I want to go beyond that. I want to be the one person who is absolutely crazy about them. I want them to know that this is more than a job for me, that they truly have my heart.” But how does Sarah do that when students can no longer come to Kendall...
2020-04-2721 min
Fund for Teachers - The PodcastFinding Hope in ArtOn the morning of March 11, as the coronavirus began closing schools and teachers began considering what remote learning might look like, Trina Harlow (a veteran art teacher) pondered what she could do to support her peers attempting to teach a tactile subject over Zoom. She created the Online Art Teachers (K-12) Facebook group, primarily as a service project of sorts – for art teachers/by art teachers. Now one month later, that group has almost 10,000 members from 110 countries and 130,000 posts providing art projects and resources for students learning from home.Learn more about Fund for Teachers on our Fa...
2020-04-1719 min
Fund for Teachers - The PodcastLooking to FabLabs to Fight COVID-19Wartime efforts during World War 1 were quite peculiar. President Woodrow Wilson fed a flock of sheep on the White House lawn to cut down on landscaping costs. Germans experienced a ban on bratwurst so the intestines of cows could be redirected toward making Zeppelins. And in Russia, Czar Nicholas II banned vodka to keep everyone’s head in the game. More than a century later, one wartime effort for fighting COVID-19 might be considered equally as unique – running 3D printers.On this episode of Fund for Teachers – The Podcast, meet the teachers/FFT Fellows on the front lines...
2020-04-0623 min
Fund for Teachers - The PodcastFund for Teachers - An IntroductionAmerican historian Jacques Barzun said, “Teaching is not a lost art, but the regard for it is a lost tradition.” The national nonprofit Fund for Teachers is out that change that. Frustrated with society’s lack of appreciation and respect for educators, Fund for Teachers strives to honor teachers as the professionals charged with preparing our students for productive futures. Since 2001, Fund for Teachers has awarded approximately $30 million in grants to almost 9,000 of the nation’s most innovative and dedicated preK-12 teachers in public, private and charter schools. No other organization in the country trusts teachers to determine what’s missing...
2020-03-2414 min
Fund for Teachers - The PodcastUsing Algebra to Assess the CoronavirusWhen Rodney Ward's eighth grade math students came to him asking questions about the coronavirus, he answered them with algebra. He now teaches 129 students in an elective, online course called "Coronavirus Math & Modeling." We visit with this UC Berkeley grad, veteran teacher and FFT Fellow about this and additional classes that are silencing students' moan: "When will I ever use this in the real world?"Learn more about Fund for Teachers on our Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn pages and apply for YOUR self-designed fellowship at fundforteachers.org.Music on podcast: Scott Harris: Clear Progress
2020-03-2222 min
Fund for Teachers - The PodcastPositive Psychology in Pandemic TimesIn 2019, Zach Rondot used his Fund for Teachers grant to attend the 6th World Summit on Positive Psychology in Melbourne, Australia, where he learned the principles of Positive Education. He now applies insights he gained in his fourth grade classroom at Costello Elementary in Troy, MI. In this episode, taped during the first week of distance learning due to COVID-19, Zach shares his experiences and resources for helping students stay positive in the midst of a pandemic.Learn more about Fund for Teachers on our Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn pages and apply for YOUR self-designed fellowship at...
2020-03-2019 min
Fund for Teachers - The PodcastMindfulness & Social Emotional Learning - Youth Yoga ProjectIn 2017, Lauren Greenspan and Julia Handelman were teaching in Columbus, Ohio, where they experienced students’ social emotional distress on a daily, hourly basis. In response, they founded the Youth Yoga Project to be a part of the solution that meets the emotional needs of all K-12 students. Their solution remains rooted in teaching, but now Julia and Lauren teach teachers how to implement their research-based mindfulness curriculum. Started by teachers for teachers, the Youth Yoga Project has trained 1700 educators and empowered 40,000 students with skills to calm their nervous systems and brains, allowing them to make responsible decisions.Le...
2020-03-1723 min
Fund for Teachers - The PodcastPublic Health, Epidemiology & COVID-19In the summer of 2018, while Eric Levine’s students might have been reading dystopian novels about a worldwide pandemic, he was working alongside epidemiologists at the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta. Today, Eric is teaching teachers with the information he acquired and engaging students in real-life learning about the medical and social justice components of a public health crises – such as the coronavirus.Learn more about Fund for Teachers on our Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn pages and apply for YOUR self-designed fellowship at fundforteachers.org.Music on podcast: Scott Harris: Clear Progress
2020-03-1719 min