WASHINGTON, D.C. – The NEA Foundation, a public charity founded by educators for educators, names Springfield NEA member, Cicely Woodard, a mathematics teacher at Kickapoo High School in Springfield, MO, as one of the NEA Foundation's 2022 Global Learning Fellows. Through the Fellowship, Woodard and 48 educators from across the country will enhance their knowledge and skills to integrate global competency into their daily classroom instruction, advocate for global competency in their schools and districts, and help students thrive in an increasingly interconnected world.
The 2022 fellows represent the richness of the teaching profession. They teach students at the elementary, middle, and high school levels. They teach across a wide array of subjects including visual and performing arts, agricultural science, library and media studies, government, and economics. The fellows represent rural, suburban, and urban schools. A third of the fellows are teachers of color and over half teach at schools with a high proportion of students from low-income families. Overall, this cohort reflects the diverse workforce of public education, which provides a tremendous opportunity for the group to learn from each other.
“Educators who are helping students develop the knowledge and dispositions to understand the world and their capacity to influence it are truly preparing students for the future,” said Sara A. Sneed, President, and CEO of the NEA Foundation. “For more than a decade, the Foundation’s fellowship has enabled hundreds of public school educators to deepen their understanding of global citizenship, facilitate deeper learning in their classrooms, create deep and long-lasting connections with their peers and initiate incredible collaboration between classrooms in the United States and abroad. This rich learning experience also equips them to play an even greater leadership role in their schools, communities, and states."
Over the course of a year, the NEA Foundation staff, partners, and program alumni will support the fellows as they immerse themselves in online coursework, webinars, reading, and reflection as well as a two-day professional development workshop this fall and a nine-day international field study to South Africa next summer. The field study brings the cohort together as they investigate the historical and cultural context of the country they visit and learn about its education system through meetings with policymakers, business, and nonprofit leaders as well as visits to schools to meet teachers, students, and administrators.
The fellows will conclude their fellowship with a project that enables their learning to be shared more broadly with educators beyond the program.
Get to know all of the 2022 NEA Foundation Global Learning Fellows by visiting neafoundation.org.
The NEA Foundation will begin accepting applications for the 2023 Global Learning Fellowship this fall.
###
About the NEA Foundation
The NEA Foundation is a national philanthropic organization that invests in educators’ leadership, shared learning and collaboration; supports partnerships and initiatives that strengthen public education; and promotes improvements in public education policy and practice. Find us at neafoundation.org, Facebook, and Twitter.