Jefferson Teacher Receives C-SPAN Fellowship

​Jefferson High School staff member Nicole Frazer was recently awarded a C-SPAN Teaching Fellowship. Frazer is a Government and Economics Curriculum Implementation Leader at Jefferson. 

The fellowship is competitive, and Frazer is one of only five middle and high school teachers across the country selected to spend four weeks working with C-SPAN's Education Relations team. Typically, the Fellows meet to collaborate in-person to develop project ideas to feature on the C-SPAN website, a free online teaching resource for educators. This year, participants will collaborate digitally because of restrictions from COVID-19. 

Fellows are selected by C-SPAN representatives and are evaluated based on their innovative use of C-SPAN programming in their instruction, commitment to professional learning, and creative use of technology and social platforms. "Throughout the process, Nicole demonstrated her passion for teaching and reaching and engaging her students, particularly during these challenging times," said C-SPAN Education Program Senior Specialist Pam McGorry. One project that Frazer expressed interest in to McGorry was to develop inquiry-based resources that allow students to explore different sides of issues to make their own informed decisions. 

Frazer and the four other fellows will also participate in C-SPAN's Virtual Summer Educators' Conferences for middle and high school teachers. Fellows will discuss the content they created and best practices with educators from across the country who participate in the conferences. 

McGorry also said, "We're excited to have Nicole join us this summer! It was a competitive process and we are delighted to have the opportunity to collaborate with her."

Nicole is an awesome teacher who continually strives to not just meet standards, but also bring student relevance to her teaching. I have no doubt she and her students will benefit greatly from this experience. 

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Cory Nilsen

Cory Nilsen is the Dean of K-12 Social Science curriculum for Rockford Public Schools.