Renaissance Teachers Travel to India

It is hard to believe that our departure to India is here. Way back in October Sarah Akhtar, Lindsay Slabich and Aurora Kushner started thinking about applying for a Fund for Teachers grant. So many places we wanted to go, so many ideas to meld into one. Finally, our idea began to take shape: research how globalization impacts the environment, the culture and the economy. But where? We decided that we wanted to travel to a place that would challenge us just like we hope our teaching challenges our kids. We wanted to travel to a place that would not come alive to our students without first hand knowledge. India, and more specifically Ladakh, seemed to be the perfect place to ask our research question.

Our journey is more than that, however. This trip to India will be our expedition. Using the model of expeditions as a teaching tool, we are planning our journey as an learning expedition. Just as we ask the seemingly unattainable for our kids during an expedition, we are pushing ourselves to the same place. Just as we ask our kids to learn about a world outside of their own, we too will be learning about a culture and an environment so different from our own. We expect to be nervous and overwhelmed, proud and excited -- just like we see our students during their expeditions. We will spend time gaining background knowledge, interviewing people about their lives, asking difficult questions of others and of ourselves, doing service, hopefully climbing a mountain, and bringing back some sort of product to share with our school community.

We hope this website serves as both a way for us to keep in touch with our friends and school community and as a way for you to follow our expedition. We are so thankful to Fund for Teachers, our Renaissance school community and our family and friends to help make this possible. Do good, have good.