What is Fund for Teachers?

Fund for Teachers is an organization that awards teachers grants to pursue self-designed professional development and enrichment anywhere in the world. And I mean ANYWHERE. Washington D.C., Washington state, Alaska, Hawaii, Spain, Finland, Iceland, Vietnam, Germany, Italy . . . and these are only some of the places listed on the first page of the 2012 Houston Fellows list! 

Never in my wildest dreams did I ever imagine being one of the 67 Houston area teachers given funds and told to pursue my dream! But I'll have to share more about that in a forthcoming post . . . In the meantime, here's a video that will share more about Fund for Teachers and their mission to cultivate a generation of teachers who are passionate learners and desire nothing less than to pass that passion on to the next generation.

Why "My Unexpected Journey?"

I borrowed the title for this blog from Bilbo Baggins. Or I suppose J.R.R. Tolkien, if we're going to be technical.

In the last pages of The Return of the King, Frodo finishes adding his adventures to the book his uncle Bilbo began years before. One of the many titles Bilbo gave his book was "My Unexpected Journey," and that title seemed to perfectly fit this new blog! Traveling from Texas to the UK this summer will be quite a journey, and studying at Oxford is quite unexpected! It's honestly a dream come true!

Greetings from Texas!

Welcome to My Unexpected Journey! 

I'm delighted to have you follow along as I spend the summer in the United Kingdom, thanks to Fund for Teachers and their generous donors!

The main purpose of my journey is to attend The English Language Teacher's Summer Seminar at Oxford University. As the ESL Coordinator for my school, Aristoi Classical Academy, I am largely responsible for creating and building an ESL program from scratch, and I am excited about learning and implementing new strategies from the international experts at Oxford.

Please stay tuned for more about Fund for Teachers, Aristoi and my UK adventures!