Fund for Teachers - The Podcast

Hosted by Carrie Caton

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Aug 2026

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Fund for Teachers is a national nonprofit that awards grants for self-designed fellowships to America's most innovative preK-12 teachers. This is a podcast to elevate these public/private/charter school educators as inspiring architects of their careers, classrooms and school communities.

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August 12, 2026Episode 633 min

Reinterpreting the Indigenous Story

When considering what education looked like for members of Native Tribes of North America, the conversation falls along the timeline of pre- and post-colonization. Prior to Westward Expansion, young children primarily learned by observing elders, through rituals and oral histories and always in community. As we know, however, those communities were decimated or displaced. In the case of the Cherokee Nation, the forcible removal from their homelands in the form of a forced march of more than 1,200 miles, concluded in an unfamiliar landscape, with thousands dead, and survivors facing deep political and social divisions. One shared conviction remained: that education would be essential to building a stable and successful future. The Cherokee Public Schools Act of 1841 established a public school system serving students of all ages. Today many tribes, as sovereign nations, have education departments, laws, codes, standards, language reclamation projects and, in the case of the Navajo, independent curriculum that includes a dual-language program. The Wampanoag Tribe , from which Tisquantum (better known as Squanto) emerged to help settlers from The Mayflower , has occupied the land around Drewicz Elementary School in Lynn, MA, for 12,000 years. Honoring this heritage, and also the heritage of her first-generation third graders, has become a passion of Kaylin Gangi and, consequently, was the focus of her Fund for Teachers fellowship this summer. Today we learn from Kay Gangi, a relatively-new teacher and first time Fund for Teacher grant applicant, fresh from a tour of Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park in Kayenta, AZ. Kay was in the middle of her cross country road trip -- convening with major Indigenous Nations and experiencing museums and cultural centers. But she was 100 percent energized from her learning to date and excited to share about it why she believes it is her responsibility to curriculum to more authentically teach students about the Indigenous Peoples whose histories have shaped the land and communities in which we live today. Learn more about Darius Coombes, Kay's friend and colleague from the Wapanaog Tribe, here . Fund for Teachers is grateful for the Maxwell/Hanrahan Foundation which funded this particular fellowship. 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

July 28, 2026Episode 540 min

Breaking the Mold (and the Polar Ice)

Today's episode is a break from our normally scheduled podcast. Because today's guest is breaking the mold of how Fund for Teachers Fellows' engage their students from a fellowship. Today, we are learning from Sabina Sully , middle school teacher at Patterson Park Public Charter School in Baltimore, MD. Sabina used her $5,000 Fund for Teachers grant to collect data, photographs, and interviews across Iceland’s volcanic landscapes, renewable energy sites, and Arctic ecosystems to create a hands-on climate change and interconnections unit that engages middle school students as scientists and stewards. After watching her initial Instagram posts @pppcs_studyabroad, and being somewhat mystified (in the best way) at her energy and engagement with all she’s experiencing and learning, we knew she had to be our next guest. Listen in and you’ll see why… Fund for Teachers is grateful for the Maxwell/Hanrahan Foundation which funded this particular fellowship. 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

July 20, 2026Episode 434 min

Talking About a Revolution

Champion of the French Revolution's Reign of Terror, Maximilien Robespierre famously declared, “The secret of freedom lies in educating people, whereas the secret of tyranny is keeping them ignorant.” Although Robespierre ultimately met the guillotine, his belief in the transformative power of education resonates with Jeff Glikman. Jeff knows that access to education alone doesn't guarantee success, but it does create opportunity—the same kind of opportunity Fund for Teachers gave him this summer to explore the history and legacy of the French Revolution firsthand. Today we're joined by FFT Fellow Jeff Glikman , a teacher at Traverse City High School in Traverse City, MI. We caught up with Jeff shortly after he returned from his fellowship, which took him to France, Belgium, and Spain to experience the art, landmarks, and historical sites connected to the French Revolution. Now, he's beginning to develop an inquiry-based curriculum designed to strengthen high school students' critical thinking, evidence-based reasoning, and understanding of the Revolution's enduring legacy—particularly for learners with diverse needs. But before we talk about what's next, Jeff shared stories from his travels that bring to life the historical and cultural forces behind the French Revolution's rallying cry of Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité —and how those ideals continue to shape the questions his students explore today. 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

July 10, 202635 min

Braving the Badlands

President Theodore Roosevelt said, "…a special and peculiar debt of gratitude is owing to the men and women who are engaged in teaching, who are engaged in educating the body, mind and soul of the younger generation…” His Presidential Library is opened this month in western North Dakota (fittingly on July the Fourth) and just days after Eric Sullenberger drove though the Badlands, a rugged landscape Roosevelt famously credited with shaping his life, once saying he never would have become president had it not been for his experiences there. Eric’s experiences were equally formative, although his constituents are every science student in every science subject in a rural Ohio high school. He crafted his fellowship/road trip to study interconnected geological formations and analyze volcanic, tectonic, and erosional processes. And along the way, he encountered the enduring legacy of TR himself. 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

July 3, 2026Episode 229 min

Defining Democracy

July has been defined by two stories: the World Cup and America’s 250th anniversary. One has reminded us of what unites people across cultures—the thrill of victory, the agony of defeat, and, apparently, a shared appreciation for ranch dressing. The other has prompted us to look back in order to move forward. At the intersection of those two moments is the Fund for Teachers fellowship of Chandler Brooks-Davis and Cherie Neal , teachers at The Howard School in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Their fellowship took them to Greece and Italy to explore the cultures that shaped democracy, with the goal of helping students understand not only what democracy was intended to be, but how they can strengthen it where that ideal falls short of lived experience. (Apologies for the slight warbling of sound at times. Athenian WiFI tried its best!) You can follow Chan and Cherie's odyssey on Instagram @postcardsfromagora 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

June 25, 2026Episode 226 min

Leveraging the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals

In 2015, United Nations member states adopted 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) designed to end poverty, protect the planet, and create a more prosperous future for all by 2030. Together, these goals address some of humanity’s most urgent challenges, including hunger, poverty, gender equality, health and well-being, and climate change. As then-UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon famously stated, “There is no ‘Plan B’ because we do not have a ‘Planet B.’ We have to work and galvanize our action.” Fund for Teachers Fellow Bryan Peters couldn’t agree more. At Mathers High School —the most diverse campus in Chicago Public Schools , where students represent more than 140 nations and speak over 60 languages—Bryan uses the UN Sustainable Development Goals as a framework for teaching recent immigrants and refugees. To deepen this work and empower students to see themselves as changemakers, he designed a Fund for Teachers fellowship exploring social and environmental sustainability initiatives across urban and rural Brazil. Along the way, he sought insights and inspiration to bring back to his classroom—and we caught up with him in the heart of the Amazon Rainforest. 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

June 12, 2026Episode 126 min

Removing Barriers to Learning Through Language

Reidsville, Georgia, is a small town covering just 7.7 square miles, about an hour west of Savannah. According to Local Observer Daily , it is best known as a quintessential Southern farming community and as home to the Georgia State Prison. Agriculture—especially the cultivation of Vidalia onions—drives the local economy, and many of Sarah Jacques’ students and their families are part of that workforce. But not many of those students speak English. Which makes Sarah’s task of teaching them sixth grade science a challenge – to say the least. But Sarah’s main priority is to make these young people, and their families, feel seen and safe. And to do that, she needed to learn Spanish so they could be heard. Today, we kick off our seventh season with one of the first 2026 grant recipients to begin their fellowships. Just one week after school ended, Sarah embarked on a 7-week Spanish immersion program and homestay in San Pedro, Guatemala to strengthen linguistic skills, better support ELL students and foster a greater sense of interconnectedness throughout the school community. Early posts on her Instagram, suggested that Sarah’s one-on-one language lessons were every bit as demanding as the classroom overlooking Lake Atitlán was breathtaking. We invited her to tell us about the experience so far; she agreed; and, thankfully, her Wi-Fi cooperated… for the most part. Follow Sarah's fellowship on Instagram @science.sin.barreras . 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

April 21, 2026Episode 527 min

Tackling Textile Waste with Creativity

The theme of Earth Day 2026 is “Our Power. Our Planet.” According to earthday.org , this theme is “not a political statement, but a commitment to stewardship, resilience, and shared accountability — a call for every individual, community, and sector to use their power in service of the planet we all depend on.” For Krissy Ponden , a teacher at The Unquowa School in Fairfield, Connecticut, that sector is middle school students — and that power is art. Last summer, with a $5,000 Fund for Teachers grant, Krissy, participated in the Kokrobitey Institute ’s Textile Waste Driven Design Workshop in Accra, Ghana. There, she explored how fast fashion waste impacts the environment — and how art and design can transform discarded textiles into meaningful, sustainable creations. She’s since brought those insights back to her classroom, crafting lessons that inspire students to see both art and environmental responsibility in new ways. And, as with all of our fellows, that journey was just the beginning. Following are links mentioned in the podcast: Krissy's post-fellowship reporting Artist Bubu Ogisi Ogisi's global brand IAMISIGO Connecticut artist Carlos Bautista Biernnay Krissy's class Instagram - @theartpond 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

January 25, 2026Episode 434 min

Remembering the Holocaust through Power of Place

Eighty-one years ago, on January 27, 1945, the Soviet Red Army liberated the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp in occupied Poland—a place where more than one million people were murdered as part of the Nazis’ so-called “Final Solution.” In November 2005, the United Nations designated January 27 as International Holocaust Remembrance Day, a time to honor the six million Jewish victims of the Holocaust and the millions of others targeted by Nazi persecution. According to the United Nations, the word remembrance was chosen deliberately—to dignify victims and survivors and to keep alive the memory of the communities, traditions, loved ones, and lives the Nazis sought to erase. But remembrance is impossible without knowledge. We cannot remember what happened if we are never taught about it or taught factually. Last summer, two Fund for Teachers Fellows—educators from different states—found themselves standing side by side at Auschwitz and at multiple sites across the European theater of World War II. Their purpose was not only to deepen their own understanding of history, but to lead inquiry that fosters critical thinking, awareness, and action—both now and in the future. Today, we’re learning from Jody Rohweller-Kocur , a teacher at Highland Park High School in Saint Paul, Minnesota, and Jenai Sheffels , a teacher at Tesla STEM High School in Redmond, Washington. Independently, both were awarded Fund for Teachers grants to participate in a program co-sponsored by the Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota and the Dakotas ’ and the Humanus Network titled The Power of Place: 2025 European Summer Institute for Holocaust Educators , which took them to Austria, Poland, and Italy. As Jody and I waited for Jenai to join our Zoom call, I asked how she was doing in Saint Paul—where earlier that day, in neighboring Minneapolis, ICE detained a five-year-old boy and his father while they were walking home from preschool. Hearing about the lengths to which Jody and her colleagues go to teach, protect, and care for their students opened the door to a larger conversation about perpetrators, bystanders, and upstanders—a conversation that feels, tragically, more urgent than ever. 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

December 9, 2025Episode 335 min

Performing with Play

As 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 Connecticut started mandating play at the kindergarten level and permitting teachers to utilize play-based learning in grades 1-5. This change coincided with a personal shift – the decision to intentionally interject more world cultures into her curriculum. After reprising her initial Fund for Teachers proposal that was not awarded, this past summer she used a $5,000 grant to research New Zealand's Maori culture through museums, cultural performances, and living villages, while also consulting experts in play-based learning. 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