More Than a Trip - A Year of Professional Rigor
The Fulbright Teachers for Global Classrooms (TGC) program is a year-long professional development opportunity and fellowship funded by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and administered by IREX.
This is not tourism; it is educational diplomacy. For 2025-2026, one hundred twenty educators from around the country are engaging in a rigorous curriculum designed to bring the world to our students.
The Fellowship Includes:
The Global Education Course: A graduate-level intensive semester on cross-cultural pedagogy.
The Symposium: A gathering in Washington D.C. to collaborate on policy and best practices.
The International Field Experience: A 2-3 week immersion in a host country to co-teach, observe, and engage with local communities.
The Capstone: The creation of a Global Education Guide to serve as a resource for our district and educators worldwide.
Why I am Exploring Global Education
As a Social Studies teacher, my classroom has always been a place where we study the world. But there's a big difference between reading stories and understanding perspectives. I believe that to truly prepare students for the 21st-century economy, we need to move beyond memorizing maps to appreciating the realities facing the people who live on them.
I applied for the Fulbright TGC program because I want to close the gap between "learning about" a culture and "learning from" a culture. My goal is to transform my classroom into a global hub where students don't just study history; they engage with the living world.
My Global Education Philosophy:
Primary Sources over Textbooks: Why read about a country when we can directly connect with an experience?
Empathy over Statistics: Understanding the human stories behind the global data.
Action over Observation: Empowering students to see themselves as global citizens who can solve local problems with global thinking.
The Fulbright Teachers for Global Classrooms program is not just a fellowship for teachers; it is an investment in the quality of education delivered in the classroom. When educators step out of their comfort zones to engage with the world, they bring back a renewed energy and a deeper perspective that directly benefits every student they teach.
By participating in programs like Fulbright TGC and expanding our understanding of the world, we can better prepare our students to thrive in it.