Table of Contents
Fundraising
Teachers
Starters
Schools
Europe
Fundraising
The big news of the quarter, of course, is our successful crowd sourcing campaign on Start Some Good. We reached our Tipping Point of $10,000 on May 19, a full five days before the close of the campaign. After that, we received more than $5,000 more bringing the total contributed to $15,385. A very successful campaign, and a world of thanks to those who supported us. That money will go to teachers this summer to develop teaching materials that we can put in the hands of teachers in the Fall.
Teachers
Speaking of teachers, we have 25 teachers who have indicated an interest in developing materials this summer. Katie King, a middle school English teacher, and Alexandra Whittington, an undergraduate instructor at the University of Houston, are coordinating the development of secondary and college material respectively. They each have a small team of teachers who will be coaching those who signed up.
The work is starting slowly. Nothing turned in yet, but looking forward to more this month. Whatever is developed will be professionally formatted and ready for downloads in the Fall. Since we won’t spend all the money raised this summer, we will keep the development program going through the Fall at least. If you are a teacher or know of a teacher who would like to join our team, please go here to sign up. We pay for draft and finished products so sign up now!
Starters
Teachers have also downloaded 115 starter kits (secondary and college). We are beginning to work with a UH grad who is now an assistant professor of education. He will be working with us to develop assessment instruments on teachers’ experience in using the materials we create. The first group contacted will be those who downloaded the Starter Kits.
Schools
We are also working at the school level. This Spring, Peter Bishop addressed the faculty of a highly rated high school in the Houston area. The administration and faculty are enthusiastic about embedding the future into their regular classes. Dr. Bishop will be providing some instruction on foresight at their in-service in August and then work with individual departments to create activities and lessons that teach the future within their respective disciplines.
He also had an engagement at the University of North Carolina in June where he signed up a middle school in Durham to teach the future this year. The school is a magnet school for creative studies which conducts a 40-min enrichment program each day. The plan is for one language and one social studies teacher to use that period to teach the future over a nine-week period. Dr. Bishop and Katie King will work with teachers from July through September to develop the lessons, and they will teach those lessons from October to December. They will teach it again in the Winter session and debrief their experience in the Spring.
Europe
Teach the Future is going international! We already have a Board of Directors from five countries on three continents. Now Erica Bol, a Director from Holland, has established a branch of Teach the Future there.
So stay in touch, and join the conversation on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and other social media platforms. And contact us through the website or directly to peter@teachthefuture.org.