Teacher Donna Keller said she will be using the money to travel across the country studying biodiversity with the intent of bringing back loads of information to better engage her students in the learning process.
“I’ll be studying biodiversity across the Americas, and collecting some data on biodiversity in different areas, beginning of course in Indiana. I will be traveling to the Sonoran Desert in Arizona, and also to several of the islands in Hawaii and studying the biodiversity there as well,” she said.
The Teacher Creativity Fellowship Program is one of the longest-standing programs of Lilly Endowment, and has evolved over the last 25 years to expand eligibility to teachers in Indiana, providing up to 100 teachers with $10,000 each for projects of their choice. The program is committed to helping the state become an even more rewarding arena for seasoned teachers and other education professionals.
Keller isn’t alone in her project, however, as another teacher was awarded the grant in conjunction with her as well. She said they’ll combine their efforts to bring the experience back to the classroom.
“My grant I actually got in conjunction with another teacher that used to work at North Judson and now works at North Montgomery, and she’s going to go to Costa Rica for 19 days, then we are going to share our information and create some video podcasts for our classrooms. It’s going to be quite the project, our goal is to do 90 video clips for our classrooms,” she said. (03-02-13 – Keller – There As Well)
Personal renewal is the main goal of the program, but applicants are encouraged to demonstrate how their proposed projects will benefit their students. Lilly Endowment believes that thousands of Hoosier students have benefited from their teachers’ participation in the program.
