Fund for Teachers is an organization that provides teachers with funding for summer fellowships. FFT asks teachers to design their own professional development and then backs them in making it happen. I don't remember exactly how we found out about this exciting organization, but as soon as we did Aaron and I began planning our dream summers.
In 2008 Aaron won a fellowship and we spent a month last summer kayaking over 1000 miles of the lower Mississippi River while Aaron conducted water quality research. It was great experience and Aaron has created a fantastic unit for his students in which they analyze his data and gather their own during trips to the Chicago River.
This year it was my turn to create a proposal that would support my teaching. I have always been interested in the creation and evolution of culture and national identity and proposed that I go to France to conduct qualitative research on the way the country's growing Islamic minority is changing French culture. Fund for Teachers gave grants to 29 individuals/groups of teachers in Chicago and I am fortunate to be one of them.
I will be leaving June 23 for France where I will spend two weeks in Paris and two weeks in Lille conducting interviews and recording oral narratives on French culture. I am very excited about all I am going to see and learn.
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