Fourteen Teacher Fellows have joined the Pulitzer Center's education team for the Fall 2024 Teacher Fellowship program, “Making Connections to Global Health Stories." These educators were selected from applicants across the U.S. to explore how news stories engage students in critical analysis of global health topics, guide students in making local connections, and explore paths for students to apply their learning to address health issues in their own communities.
This year’s Fellows represent 13 public and public charter high schools and one university education certification program. The cohort teaches in eight states and their courses include Marine Science, Spanish, Social Studies, Civics, World History, Geography, Journalism, Peer Counseling, and a middle school social studies certification program for educators.
Learn more about these amazing Fellows in our slideshow below (click on the image to advance slides).
Their lessons will be available in our lesson library starting in the Spring of 2025.
Through the Fellowship, teachers will practice applying a media literacy lens to global health news stories on a range of topics, including the health impacts of pollution and extreme weather events, vaccine access, maternal health, disparities in health care access, gender equality, and health research and innovation.
Then, Fellows will design a short learning experience (one-three class periods) that centers at least one global health topic, culminates in an activity exemplifying empowered action, and leverages the following questions:
- How do individual health outcomes reflect the impact of larger systemic issues (i.e. , climate change, migration, human rights) in communities?
- How do systemic health issues connect to challenges faced by students and their communities?
- Why is it important to bring discussions about health to our classrooms? How can critical analysis of news stories support those discussions and equip students to take action?
Fellows met for the first time on Saturday, October 5, 202, to begin engaging with these questions while exploring a variety of reporting resources. At the end of their first session, fellows reflected on how they felt the fellowship program could support their goals as educators.
“My goal as a Pulitzer Center fellow is to introduce my students to underreported global health stories, to help them connect global stories to local issues, and to provide them with valuable resources and opportunities that allow them to explore and learn about stories they may have never encountered. In the end, my goal is to provide my students an opportunity to learn, ask questions and use their own voices to take action and raise awareness about issues that are important to them.” Amy Frontier, Ann Arbor, MI
“My goal is to create a learning experience that connects my students with real-world challenges and encourages them to take meaningful action. As a part of an underrepresented community, empowering them to take initiative and share their own stories is crucial,” Beatriz Ramos Jimenez, Big Island, Hawaii
“My goal is to curate a real-world learning experience in which students build community with one another, take intellectual risks, and act bravely in our complex world community. It is my highest hope that students will find relevance, connection and meaning in dialogue with Pulitzer Center resources and with one another. In turn, this will give students hope about our world and their place in it.” Patrick Sprinkle, New York City, NY
For more information on our fellowship program, and to explore units by the 106 amazing educators who have participated in our teacher fellowships over the past four years, click here.
