Happy 2018!
We're starting 2018 off right - by bringing you news about educators who are innovating and invigorating their classrooms! We also have some great opportunities for educators to take advantage of, exciting details about our upcoming gala, and highlights from 2017.
We're so grateful for the support that you showed educators this past year, and we look forward to providing more resources and spurring more innovation in 2018. If you haven't yet shown your support, it's not too late to do so.
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One Month Left!
The 2019 NEA Foundation Global Learning Fellowship application is open for just one more month - until February 5, 2018. The Fellowship is a career and life changing learning journey, one that includes students and colleagues. Don't just take our word for it - listen to what 2018 Fellow Erin Austin's students had to say about the importance of learning about different cultures.
The year-long, fully-funded fellowship includes:
- An online course on teaching global competence
- A two-day professional development workshop in Washington, D.C. (Fall 2018)
- Webinars discussing global issues
- A nine-day international field study (Summer 2019)
Curious about what you’ll learn? Read about our October Global Learning professional development workshop or watch the video.
The Fellowship is open to all NEA classroom teachers who want to gain the skills to prepare their students to thrive in our increasingly interconnected world. Early applications are encouraged and the deadline is February 5th, so please apply and/or share this news soon!
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Are you the next Darren Hornbeck?
We love funding educators who dream up new ways to bring learning to life. Educators like Darren Hornbeck, a social studies teacher at Linganore High School in Frederick, MD. He created a pilot course to take his students, many of whom were not born in 2001, through the global effects of September 11th. Every year, the Foundation awards $2,000-$5,000 grants to educators like Mr. Hornbeck to enhance their teaching practice via project-based classroom projects and self-directed professional development - and you could be next! The next deadline is February 1st.
Because September 11th is still relatively recent history and so much of the material regarding it is online, Mr. Hornbeck used our grant to provide his students with tablets, giving them access to digitized content and other web-based resources that they used to examine the social, cultural, and economic impacts of the attacks and their aftermath.
Watch how students are responding to this subject:
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Give 'Em the Old Razzle Dazzle
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What can you expect to witness on stage at our Salute to Excellence Gala on February 9, 2018? Innovation. Interpretation. Expertise. Our professional talent lineup includes our host, the dazzling Debbie Allen, whose many roles include executive producer, director, actor, choreographer, dancer, and Founder and Artistic Director of Debbie Allen Dance Academy; the creator of Memphis jookin' Charles ("Lil' Buck") Riley, whose fancy footwork is engrossing and enchanting; and “the virtuosic Baltimore-born star Cyrus Chestnut” who will “demonstrate the rare ability to generate soul from the percussive piano.”
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Feeding Bodies and Minds
We know that educators across the country are working hard to bring fresh, engaging ideas to the classroom. But those ideas can’t take hold if students aren’t nourished and ready to learn.
As part of Partners for Breakfast in the Classroom, we are funding 80 schools in 13 districts, ensuring that more than 15,000 students start the day with a healthy school breakfast. In addition to providing the training and equipment schools need to provide this service, our funding also supports communications to promote the program publicly, and to get buy-in from key stakeholders in the school districts.
Looking ahead to 2018, we are on track to meet our goal of feeding 30,000 additional students in our 10 targeted states (Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas and Utah), bringing our number of total students served to more than 100,000 students, since the program’s launch. Hungry for more? Click here.
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Electric Vehicles Abound in Hamilton Co., TN
Educators in Hamilton County, TN - one of the NEA Foundation’s STEM partner sites - are using innovation and a focus on sustainability to get their students interested in STEM. How are they doing that? By letting them design! Hamilton County teachers are challenging students to build electric vehicles that will be entered into a regional competition.
The project, which encourages students to flex their skills in the realms of mechanical and electrical engineering, asks them to research, design, build, and operate their very own eco-friendly rides. In addition to acting as a gateway to STEM careers for girls and students of color, the work is allowing students to assume leadership roles that previously may not have come naturally to them.
Find more information on the program, and follow them on Twitter for updates on the exciting work taking place in Hamilton County.
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The Best of 2017
2017 was a momentous year! With your leadership and support, the Foundation raised over $2.8 million during the 2016-2017 school year, beating our goal by more than $400,000! More money coming in means more money going out to fund the amazing ideas of the educators we support.
Here are a few of the things we were able to accomplish with your support in 2017:
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A Final Thank You
Good work like ours cannot take place in a vacuum. We are thankful for our donors who make our work possible.
Today, we tip our hats to Southwest Airlines, the official airline of the NEA Foundation! We’re thrilled to have a partner that believes so deeply in educators and public education.
If you're interested in helping support the work of educators like the ones highlighted in this message, consider donating today:
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