Safi Selfie!
Updated: Aug 18
Part of the Fulbright Teachers for Global Classrooms (TGC) program involves separating from the whole country cohort and traveling with only 2-3 other fellows while in the host community. My host community group consisted of Josipa Casey, Tori Lands, and myself. I am not being hyperbolic when I say this, but my host community group was the best group in Fulbright history! We all came from different locations and different content areas, but immediately hit it off and became best friends.
Josipa lives and teaches in the Los Angeles, California area at an International Baccalaureate (IB) school. IB schools focus on developing the whole child and emphasize critical thinking, global awareness, and academic high standards to prepare students for university success. Josipa teaches IB Literature, IB Philosophy, and Theory of Knowledge, which are all courses where Josipa empowers students to take ownership of their learning. She even created a unit about a recent Kendrick Lamar album which allowed students the opportunity to learn critical thinking skills using something of interest to them.
Tori is an ESOL teacher in rural western Maine. She has dedicated her career to helping students build language skills and global connections. She is one of the only ESOL educators in her district, so she works with kids of all ages. Throughout her career, Tori has perfected the best approaches to offering cultural and linguistic support to multilingual students.
Although Josipa, Tori, and I all came from different backgrounds, we felt like we had known each other for years. The connection was immediate and not forced. As soon as we arrived in Morocco, we knew we had the best group of all time. I even think some of the other host community groups wished they were in our group lol. Honestly, we are more like family now than friends, and I know Tori, Josipa, and I will forever be a part of each other's lives.
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