Founders Fellowship 2015
Check out our recap video of the 2015 Founders Fellowship! We brought nearly 50 teachers from across the country to explore the principles that created our country and to learn how better to engage students with civics and government using the Institute's resources.
0:00 [Music] we’re really excited to be in Washington DC this week for the Bill of Rights institute’s Founders Fellowship the program which brings 50 teachers from across the country to the Washington DC to discuss the root of our freedoms and constitutional structure that’s behind uh I’m here in an effort to better my
0:22 understanding of all of the great things that founded this country these teachers are innovators and leaders in their school the teachers will engage in complex topics and discuss current events so they can return to the classroom with new ideas and resources on how to convey these ideas to their students I’m here because it’s a great opportunity to um get excited about my content again sometimes I think um I’ve
0:43 been teaching for so long I kind of get stuck where I am and this has been a fabulous opportunity to be engaged with um colleagues from around the United States with content that is uh highly engaging controversial and really stimulating I am constantly taking events that have happen in the past and saying what does that remind you of
1:03 today and we go back and forth with that and I will use the documents to show them and I’ll take something that’s of today put the two of them side by side together and say see so here’s something from 150 years ago as opposed to something that’s going on right now what similarities do you see with students more interested than ever in debating current events these teachers are now equipped to bring a principled understanding of the news so if the
1:24 events of Baltimore or Ferguson come up in the future or even declaring war in the War Powers Act with Congress then the students are ready and primed to understand how the Constitution affects their daily lives I believe that students are missing their opportunities to change their world because they don’t understand the rights and
1:45 responsibilities they have if we have a generation of young people who grow up unaware of the blessings of liberty then that Liberty may not get passed to the Next Generation when we look at the opportunities brought here through the Bill of Rights Institute kids are going to have a better grasp on how the
2:06 Constitution works for them even today even though there might be ambiguous language and there might be conflicts but that we are a nation hopefully of people that try to solve crisis and have strong discussions and that we the people really are the owners of our constitution the teachers here already the Bedrock of these students continued learning and we’re really excited for
2:27 them to be leaders and innovators in their schools going for my name is Misty Steven I’m Dan Korn I’m Jill Cullis I’m Stephanie Walsh I’m Jason Bor found