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Old Saybrook Teacher Awarded Grant to Search for Artifacts

Eric Yale, 5th grade teacher at Old Saybrook Middle School, has been awarded a $5,000 grant by Fund for Teachers. This grant was used during the first two weeks of August for Yale to travel to several national parks throughout the Midwest to learn about the geology, plant, and animal life, and the geography of the region. His trip is being documented through the Old Saybrook Public Schools’ Twitter Page, OS_RAM_PRIDE, beginning on Aug. 1, and through videos released on the district website www.oldsaybrookschools.org, beginning on Monday, Aug. 26.

During the 2018-’19 academic year, Fund for Teachers visited Old Saybrook Public Schools and offered its faculty an opportunity to obtain grant money that would be used to pay for any expenses towards designing a summer learning experience that would transform their classroom. The organization encourages applicants to “craft an odyssey that brings out the scholar, explorer, scientist, or artist in you—and then, your students.” Yale plans to bring back artifacts and primary learning resources to his students for his yearly unit on the Midwest. He will also be sharing his knowledge and artifacts with his fellow teachers to improve district curriculum so that all students may benefit from his trip.

Yale outlined his overall goal for the project, “Currently, my students learn about the Midwest through reading a National Geographic text book. Like many National Geographic materials, it provides excellent photographs, maps, and text. I would be able to enrich the unit significantly by bringing back artifacts much more tailored to their learning objectives.”

The Old Saybrook Public School District is supporting Yale’s endeavor through access to the district’s Twitter page so that he can post photos and videos of his journey and share the experience with students and the community in real time. The district is also partnering with Yale to create informative videos of each national park that is visited so that teachers in the district can share those videos with students. The videos will also be shared throughout the community on the district’s YouTube page.

Superintendent of Schools Jan Perruccio said of Yale’s trip, “Fund for Teachers has provided Mr. Yale with such a wonderful opportunity that we are thrilled to support him and feel fortunate to be able to share in his experiences in this way.”