Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/706050
SUMMER 2016 | ADVOCATE 25 NEA: What is the most creative way you have found to engage people on your issue? HUGO: Involving educators in outreach was creative and critical to success. Many educators were unaware what Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals or what the 2012 Executive Order meant for students. I began teaching educators about the opportunity and encouraging the creation of "safe place" areas in their schools. Allowing the growth of a supportive environment where students can go for resources and assistance. NEA: What is the biggest issue facing public education today? HUGO: The biggest issue facing public education today is funding. Without proper funding, we cannot provide the resources or tools students will need to succeed. Arizona has spent 47% less per student than it did in 2008. Making us the number one state in education cuts. In addition, educators suffer from the pressure of state testing which determine our job status. This is especially complicated if you have to test students every quarter on a strict curriculum that does not apply the low-income area where students come in and out of the classroom and lack wrap-around services. NEA: What song gets you fired up to do this work? HUGO: Rage Against the Machine's "Renegades of Funk". The song is about revolutionary people in our society and self-empowerment. It highlights activist such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Malcolm X, Mahatma Gandhi, and Chief Sitting Bull. The overall message from the song is summed up in this lyric," Now renegades are the people with their own philosophies. They change the course of history, Everyday people like you and me." NEA: What message would you most want to tell educator activists just starting out? HUGO: The desire to change the system and the drive to do it is activism. To create change, there must be understanding. If you want to affect your students in any form, start by listening. Learn about your students and their stories will open your eyes to a completely new perception of the system. Above all, be empathetic and be strong, stick to your beliefs and be a wolf-like renegade. The NEA Foundation named Janice Autenreith, a third-grade educator at Homer Davis Elementary School in Tucson, Arizona, as one the 31 award-winning, public school educators to become this year's class of Global Learning Fellows. Autenreith will spend a year building global competency skills (or her capacity to understand and act on issues of global significance.) Autenreith and the other Global Learning Fellows, who teach in 30 states across the country and England through the Department of Defense, will also travel together to Lima and Cuzco, Peru, this summer, for a 10-day international field study. Before departing, Autenreith will go through robust, year-long professional development and complete Year One of VIF International Education's Global Gateway, an online course designed to be a foundation for understanding global competence. The fellowship equips educators to bring an international perspective to their students, school districts, and state and local NEA affiliates. Autenreith is a member of the Flowing Wells Education Association, the local affiliate of the Arizona Education Association. Autenreith was awarded the AEA Christa McAuliffe Teacher Award in 2015 and was one of 42 teachers the California Casualty Award for Teaching Excellence in 2016. "We believe that, in order to thrive as global citizens, today's students need to learn how to investigate the world, recognize perspectives, communicate ideas, and take action," said Harriet Sanford, President and CEO of the NEA Foundation. "That's why the NEA Foundation created the Global Learning Fellowship: to provide educators with comprehensive professional learning focused on authentically integrating these global skills into classroom instruction." Over the course of a year, the NEA Foundation staff, partners, and field experts will support Autenreith as she immerses herself in online coursework, webinars, and introductory Spanish language learning. Autenreith will have access to a wide array of web tools to help contextualize their experiences in Peru, as she examines the impact of Peru's historical, economic, and cultural legacies on its current educational system. Throughout the fellowship, Autenreith will develop at least four lesson or unit plans integrated with global competency skills that challenge students to investigate the world beyond their immediate environment. These lesson plans will be shared with educators around the world via VIF International Education, an open-source platform, helping increase field knowledge on the topic. In February, Fellows met for the first time in Washington, D.C., to participate in a two- day workshop led by leaders in the field of global education. On June 18-27, 2016, they convened again in Peru to observe classroom instruction at local schools and exchange ideas and best practices with Peruvian teachers and administrators. Fellows will also meet with representatives from a multinational business to learn about Peru's global economy. As part of a service learning project to engage with the local community, Fellows recently launched a crowdfunding campaign called, "Books for the Students of Cuzco" on Indiegogo. Funds raised through the campaign will go toward purchasing books that Fellows will deliver to school libraries in the surrounding villages of Cuzco. Get to know all of the 2016 NEA Foundation Learning Fellows by visiting www.neafoundation.org. The international field study is sponsored by the NEA Foundation and designed by Education First. Tucson Educator to Tour Peruvian Schools Janice Autenreith Named 2016 NEA Foundation Global Learning Fellow