I am so excited to share that I was accepted into the Fulbright Teachers for Global Classrooms program – I found out in August of 2024 (while I was out in Boston accepting an award). Last winter/spring, I applied for NOAA Teacher at Sea, the National Geographic/Lindblad Expeditions Grosvenor Teacher Fellowship, and the Fulbright Teachers for Global Classrooms (TGC) program. I thought if I was lucky, I would get one of them. Imagine my surprise when I got all 3! I am so grateful that I have an incredibly supportive principal, who instead of grimacing about the idea of her music teacher being gone during the school year for THREE programs, she was excited and congratulatory.
The Fulbright program is the final of those programs that I am so grateful to get to participate in this year. I found out in December that I will be traveling to Senegal in April! I was very excited, as I have never been to the African continent, and I know very little about Senegal. I also know that this will be incredible for the students I teach, as there are so many misconceptions about life in Africa – it has been a source of great frustration on the middle school social studies teacher (my friend and colleague) as she has noticed most of the students in our school think of Africa as a country, and make assumptions about the entire continent that just are not accurate.
The first part of this program involved a 10-week online course. Luckily, it started the week I got back from NOAA Teacher at Sea, and ended the week I came back from Antarctica (with a week off for Thanksgiving, which helped me stay on track while I was not able to do work while in the middle of the Drake Passage!). The course was very eye-opening, as I thought I was pretty good at global education. After taking this course, I learned so much more and feel set up to really take my teaching to an entirely new level. I am so excited to continue the work I did in that course as I plan more experiences for the students at my school.
The next phase of the Fulbright TGC program is a Global Education Symposium in Washington, DC. I got to go in February, and my principal got to travel with me as part of this program. What a great treat to be able to travel with the woman who has been writing me these incredible letters of recommendation to get to participate in these amazing programs that have brought such wonderful learning lessons to the students of our school!
My principal and I wanted to travel together (apparently not all of the administrator/teacher duos did, and some administrators didn’t even come!). We arrived late morning on the first day, and navigated our way to the hotel using the metro. Then we walked to the National Museum of African American History & Culture, which is one of the newer Smithsonian museums in Washington, DC. We met a wonderful man who was working at the front desk, and he guided us in how to start our adventure in this incredible museum. I was excited to go to this museum, as I thought it would be the perfect way to ready for Senegal. Senegal actually was one of the deportation sites of slaves bound for America. I learned so much in this museum – a docent in the museum taught us that EVERY country/culture in the world has had slaves at some point. Even neighboring tribes would collect slaves from the tribes that they feuded with. I also learned that countries such as France and the UK sent slaves to America. It was an incredible museum that moved me just as much as the Holocaust Museum did a few years back.
We also booked it on over to the National Gallery of Art. Unfortunately, we spent so many hours in the African American museum that we didn’t have much time to visit the National Gallery. However, we managed to find the Impressionists, which I was excited about. I had also never been to the National Gallery, so that was great.
By that time, it was time to come back to the hotel to start our symposium with the welcome session.
The symposium was great – we got to learn so much more about what our field experience would be like. The best part about it was that they divided us into our travel cohorts by country that we will be going to for our field work. It allowed us to get to know the people we would be traveling with from the very first moment of the symposium. We all clicked right away – meeting up and sitting together for all of our meetings, planning our dinners together, and making plans for our travels. We have been collaborating ever since, and sharing every little bit of information we hear. It is so nice to have such a wonderful group of teachers to share this experience with.
We learned about the country we would be traveling to, and about the expectations for our culminating project. We got to meet members of the US State Department, the International Research & Exchanges Board (IREX), and the Fulbright program organizers. We shared our global education lessons with each other in a gallery walk, which gave me so many ideas for my classroom, and let me get to know the people in my cohort even better! We also got to go to a Global Education Resource Fair, where we met with vendors of curriculum, research organizations, and companies that have resources, materials, opportunities, and experiences to help teachers with global education in their classrooms. It was really fun to find new organizations willing to help build music into global curricula! My fellow Senegal travelers, my principal, and I all went to a West African restaurant to get a taste of what we were going to experience when we go on our field experience.
To say that I left inspired feels like it is an understatement. I learned so much in the 10-week course, but I was most excited after leaving this symposium. So many great people have now joined my teaching and collaborating network. I’m traveling with a bunch of teachers who all have been musicians or are incredibly supportive of music education. I made fast friends with STEM teachers in my cohort, obviously. I now also have English and ESL teacher friends from around the country. It feels so good to continue to grow my network of teachers across the world!
Next up…..planning for a trip to Senegal in person! Time to get the students excited and curious!
Car Full of Harmony 
Published by