Following a Daughter's Example/Fellowship

Teaching is a family business for this mother and daughter. When Daneé Pinckney was a student, her mom, Gail Bowers-Craig, enrolled in night school to earn a degree in education. In fact, Daneé says much of what she learned about teaching was from watching and listening to her mother in those years of study. It was Daneé, however, who blazed the Fund for Teachers trail. Last summer, Daneé used her $5,000 grant to research the ancestry of Black America through Benin, Ghana, and the Togolese Republic to produce an expansion of the depth of knowledge of Western Africa that also strives to dismantle discriminatory perspectives that will deepen student connections to literature, art, culture, and self-identity. Along for the ride, and on her dime, was Gail – who used the time to do a little of her own research for her middle school science students. Upon returning to Ohio, where they live and teach 30 minutes apart from each other, Gail decided to follow the example set by Daneé and apply for her own Fund for Teachers grant. And this summer, with Daneé as her “plus one,” Gail and two teammates from Euclid Middle School in Euclid, OH, will explore the Galapagos Islands in the tradition of Charles Darwin to tangibly demonstrate for students how science is valuable in shaping community and deepening the understanding of ourselves and the people around us.

Today, we’re learning from this mother/daughter team about who inspires whom, how, and lessons they’ve learned from years together at home and at school.

Learn more about Fund for Teachers on our Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn pages and apply for YOUR self-designed fellowship at fundforteachers.org.Music on podcast: Scott Harris: Clear Progress