Fund for Teachers Sends 82 Traveling

Eighty-two Tulsa area teachers, representing 36 schools, received Fund for Teachers grants this year for the opportunity to travel, attend seminars and workshops, and acquire hands-on materials and information to enrich their students in the classroom.

Participants in the program gathered at the Bok Tower downtown recently to share stories, artifacts, slide shows, photos, memorabilia and teaching tools from their summer sabbaticals.

FFT grants are awarded to teachers who work with students in grades prekindergarten through grade 12 who spend at least 50 prcent of their time in the classroom and have a minimum of three years teaching experience. Participants are selected based on how their summer fellowship will make the applicant a better teacher, how improved skills or capacity will benefit students, curricula and the school.

The teachers from the Tulsa area this year traveled as far north as Alaska and as far south as Australia.

Individual teachers can apply for as much as $5,000 through the program; teams of teachers can apply for a maximum of $7,500. As part of the application process, teachers must submit a written proposal and an itemized budget.

Applicants are selected to receive grants based on how their proposed summer activity will enhance their teaching skills and better the education of their students.

Fund for Teachers was founded by Ray Plank, founder and chairman of the board for Apache Corporation in 1998. Its mission is to enrich the lives of schoolteachers and students by providing recognition and opportunities for renewal to outstanding teachers. Fund for Teachers awards grants directly to teachers for supporting professional development opportunities of their own design.

Applications for next summer are due Jan. 20. For more information, call the Tulsa Community Foundation at 494-8823 or go online to the Fund for Teachers Web site at www.fundforteachers.org.