Tag Archives: Best Practices

Educators participate in cultural exchange through Fulbright scholarships

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The Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board, which offers cultural-exchange programs for educators, is one of the most widely recognized and prestigious scholarships in the world. Photo credit: Fulbright Scholar Program

One of the most important missions of an educator today is to develop global citizens. What better way to do this than through a teacher-exchange program such as the prestigious Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board?

The Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board is a US cultural-exchange program sponsored by the US Government’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. The program was founded by US Senior William Fulbright in 1946 and is considered one of the most widely recognized and prestigious scholarships in the world. Since its founding, the Fulbright Program has provided more than 400,000 participants from over 160 countries with opportunities to exchange ideas and contribute to finding solutions to the complex challenges facing our communities and our world. These participants were chosen for their academic merit and leadership potential. More than 400 US educators teach overseas through the Fulbright Program annually.

Upon returning to their home countries, institutions, labs, and classrooms, Fulbright teachers share stories about their experiences and often become active supporters of continued international exchange, inviting foreign students to their campus and encouraging colleagues and students to go abroad.

Fulbright alumni careers are enriched by joining a network of thousands of highly-regarded scholars, many of whom have become leaders in their fields. Notable Fulbright alumni include 62 Nobel Prize laureates, 89 Pulitzer Prize recipients, 78 MacArthur Fellows, and 41 who have served as a head of state or government.

To learn more about the program, click on this link to the organization’s webpage: Fulbright Scholars.

 

How America’s educators contribute to our democracy

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As we celebrate the birth of our country today, I am reminded of the role our nation’s many Chalkboard Champions have played throughout history to preserve and perpetuate the freedoms we all enjoy.

Classroom educators teach our children about our nation’s rich heritage, our culture, our history, and our system of government. They lead children in the creation of hand-traced turkeys at Thanksgiving, teach them the words and music to our patriotic songs, design lessons about the accomplishments of our presidents and social reformers such as political activist Martin Luther King and labor leader Cesar Chavez, remind students of the contributions of our veterans, and organize patriotic festivities throughout the year. Our teachers even educate our kids about our failures so that we can become a better democracy.

And let’s not forget that many of our nation’s courageous teachers have become, themselves, a part of our country’s historical record. There are many fine examples. Think of Olive Mann Isbell, the Ohio teacher who was one of many pioneers who established a school in the Wild West frontier, or Christa McAuliffe, the New Hampshire history teacher who became the first educator in space. Think of Henry Alvin Cameron, the Tennessee science teacher who sacrificed his life for freedom in the WWI Battle of the Argonne Forest; or Robert Parris Moses, the New York City math teacher who played a pivotal role in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960’s. Think of Carrie Chapman Catt, the Iowa teacher who dedicated her life to earning the right to vote for women, and Zitkala-Sa, the South Dakota teacher who worked to secure the vote for Native Americans.

From sea to shining sea, there are thousands of teachers in our nation’s history who have made contributions to our society in large ways or quiet ways as veterans, activists, and supporters of our democracy. We thank them all for the freedoms we celebrate today.

You can read about some of these heroic teachers in my first book, Chalkboard Champions, or in my second book, Chalkboard Heroes, both available on amazon.

Teachers can examine the Boston Tea Party, either in person or by virtual tour

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Author Terry Lee Marzell stands in front of the museum and gift shop erected near the site of the 1773 Boston Tea Party. Photo credit: Hal Marzell

Summer vacation has arrived! What are your plans for your time off? Many teachers would agree that one of the best ways to spend summer vacation is travel. It’s a great way to expand personal horizons, improve teaching practices, and engage in experiential learning. And one of the most rewarding destinations to achieve these goals is Boston, Massachusetts. There are many worthwhile museums and historical sites related to our Colonial past available for touring in the city, and one of the most interesting of them is the site of the 1773 Boston Tea Party.

The Boston Tea Party, which took place on Dec. 16, 1773, in Boston, was an act of protest organized by the patriotic group known as the Sons of Liberty. The action physicalized an objection to the Tea Tax imposed on the Colonials by the English Parliament. During the protest, the Americans, some dressed as Indigenous Americans, destroyed an entire shipment of tea waiting to be unloaded off ships anchored in the bay at Griffin’s Wharf. Chests of tea, which belonged to the East India Company, was thrown overboard into the brackish water, ruining the entire shipment. The action, which resulted in a loss that would equate to $4 million today, was declared treason by the British government, and their response was swift and harsh. The episode escalated hostilities that resulted in the American Revolution, which eventually resulted in the birth of our nation.

If visited in person, the Tea Party site offers a museum, a brief documentary about the Boston Tea Party, a gift shop, a tea house offering brews just like those that were thrown overboard, and a recreation of a period sailing vessel complete with a re-enactment of the original Boston Tea Party, conducted in an environmentally safe way, of course. The facility is open every day from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm. There is a fee to experience the re-enactment, and I would recommend reservations.

Recreation of a Colonial-era ship involved in the Boston Tea Party is available for examination by teachers, in person or by virtual tour, who wish to improve their instructional practices. Photo credit: Terry Lee Marzell

To explore the official Boston Tea Party website, click here. To share with your students an eyewitness account of the Boston Tea Party by participant George Hewes, click here. For access to virtual field trips related to the Boston Tea Party, as well as other related Revolutionary War events, click on this link for virtual field trips.

Whether you visit Boston’s Colonial sites in person on online, I bid you happy learning!

Teachers: Visit Boston’s Paul Revere house museum to learn more about Colonial history

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Hal Marzell stands in front of the colonial home once owned by Revolutionary War patriot Paul Revere. He is famous for his legendary midnight ride to warn the colonial troops about the arrival of British troops in 1775. The structure is located in North Square in downtown Boston. Photo credit: Terry Lee Marzell

During their summer vacations, many teachers enjoy expanding their horizons and improving their teaching practices through traveling. One of the most interesting places to do this is the city of Boston, where many historical places of interested related to US History, particularly the Colonial Period and the Revolutionary War, are located.

While on a recent vacation there, my husband Hal and I visited the house museum belonging to the Colonial patriot Paul Revere. Revere was an American silversmith, engraver, and bell manufacturer who was also a member of the group known as the Sons of Liberty. He is best remembered for the legendary midnight ride he made to alert Colonial troops about the arrival of British soldiers on April 18, 1775. What school child hasn’t heard poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s famous lines, “Listen, my children and you shall hear/Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere”?

Author Terry Lee Marzell stands in the interior courtyard of the Paul Revere house museum on her recent vacation to Boston, Massachusetts. Photo credit: Hal Marzell

Paul Revere owned the home at 19 North Square on the North End of Boston from 1770 to 1800. He lived in the home, which was built in 1680, with his wife and the younger children of his brood of 16. The house is downtown Boston’s oldest building and one of the few remaining 17th-century dwellings still extant in the city.

When touring the two-story home, visitors can view the colonial kitchen and family room with its warming hearth downstairs, and upstairs a master bedroom with an additional fireplace and a second bedroom. Much of the furnishings are period pieces, but there are five pieces that were once owned by the Revere family. Docents explain details about the history of the house and are available to answer questions. In the courtyard outside, one of the bronze bells cast by Paul Revere stands in an enclosed case for easy viewing.

Today, the Revere house is recognized as a National Historic Landmark. Teachers who wish to visit the site during their summer vacation will find it open every day from 10:00 am to 5:15 pm. There is a small fee to enter. For those who unable to travel to Boston soon, more can be learned about Paul Revere, his midnight ride, and the house museum, by clicking on this link to The Paul Revere House. To read the entire poem about Paul Revere’s ride written by Longfellow, click on this link to poets.org.

Wherever you go and whatever you do, I wish you a joyful, fun-filled, restorative summer vacation!