Igniting Your Personal and Professional Growth

Describe one or two, specific learning experiences from your fellowship. In words, show us this experience and explain why it was powerful.

On the docks in Liverpool I imagined crates of manufactured goods being loaded by dockworkers to be shipped around the world in the 18th century. Cloth made by people in factories outside Liverpool was spun from cotton harvested by slaves in the British colonies in America. This experience provided me a deeper understanding of the period and of the people, both free and enslaved, that were connected in ways that would shape lives and empires for centuries to come.

What did you learn about yourself? What did you learn professionally?

This was my first time leaving the Western Hemisphere, and this trip awoke in me a sense of adventure. I have always enjoyed travelling (and learning along the way), but this trip took everything to a whole new level. It allowed me to better view history outside of my natural American lens, so that I can now teach perspectives more effectively in my classroom. I have already begun to plan new locations to visit and how I can inject my experiences into my curriculum.

What were some unplanned or unexpected experiences or outcomes of your fellowship? Or, how did the fellowship you crafted differ from the actual learning experience?

I did not anticipate some of the issues that revolved around the filming of our educational videos. We anticipated the usual issues, such as bad weather (we had our share), but we had a couple of locations where we were not allowed to film. Overall, most people were accommodating after we explained we were high school teachers from America attempting to create videos for classroom use. But a couple of times we had to change locations/plans because we were not allowed to film.

Impacting Your Classroom, School and Community

Outline specific plans you have to implement your fellowship and reach your student goals.

I plan to use the videos/experiences created on this trip to supplement my classroom lessons to deepen student understanding of the content. I also plan to upload these videos to YouTube so they can be utilized by educators around the world.

What is one way you can leverage your fellowship to create one authentic learning experience for students? (e.g. hands-on learning, projects, community engagement)

These videos allow students to have a virtual experience with the material that we discuss in history class, which allows for a type of first-hand student experience that deepens understanding and engagement. With the popularity of virtual schools and on-line learning growing worldwide, our videos provide students the opportunity to have a real-world moment of engagement with a place and person, while providing a level of authenticity that may be otherwise absent.

How, specifically, will your fellowship extend beyond your classroom? (e.g. families, school-at-large, afterschool groups, surrounding community, colleagues, etc.)

Outside of sharing these videos with my classroom and fellow teachers in my school, we will upload each video to YouTube as a series covering the Atlantic Slave Trade. Uploading these videos will allow students, teachers, and families around the world to engage with the material and deepen their understanding of the subject and time period.