Fund for Teachers, a national nonprofit that invests in teacher-learning to advance student achievement, has awarded NCSD teachers Jackie O'Briant and Sandra Shafer individual grants of nearly $5,000 each.

O'Briant and Shafer will use these fellowships to create their own professional development to enhance their teaching and student learning. It is also expected that Fellows will share their learning with the broader school community.

Karen Webb, Fund for Teachers’ executive director said,

“Fund for Teachers bridges the gap between what teachers have and what students need to advance academically, Fellows turn our initial investment into broadened perspectives and engaged learning – for themselves and their students. The result is a transformed career and classroom.”

O'Briant, who teaches English at Casper Classical Academy, will attend the 7th annual Boothbay Literacy Retreat in Boothbay, ME, to learn strategies from renowned experts for improving struggling readers’ and writers’ voices in expository writing.

Shafer's award will fund her visit to the NY Stock Exchange for a seminar to learn the history and complexities of the stock market. From this experience, she will enhance the consumer math/personal financial literacy course she teaches at Transitions Learning Center.

Since 2001 over 5500 teachers nationwide have received awards totaling $20 million from Fund for Teachers. In Wyoming, the program is administered by the John P. Ellbogen Foundation. In 2014, the second year of the program in Wyoming, there were 20 applications received. Six teachers (including O'Briant and Shafer) received funding. In 2013 5 of 16 applicants received funding.

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