Studies of the United States Institutes, Greek Educators Professional Development Program-GMU, Fulbright Distinguished Awards in Teaching
The Fulbright Education Network (FEN) – Greece is a Fulbright alumni/a initiative that emerged from the Train the Trainers Meeting that took place in Thessaloniki in 2014. The objective behind it is the organization of workshops or annual events for the exchange of teaching practice methodologies, project outcomes, counseling case studies and pedagogical insights with the broader educational community in addition to the dissemination and implementation of research results from the Fulbright SUSI, GMU and DAI programs for Greek primary and secondary educators. It particularly aims at forging connections and collaborations between educators as well as promoting cross-cultural understanding and interdisciplinary education.
Check out more Fulbright professional development programs for educators here, Train the Trainers Meetings and Workshops 2022, 2019, 2018, 2016, 2015
Annual Events:
Online Event, April 20, 2024: Diverse Approaches to Learning and Teaching
2023-2023 U.S. Fulbright Fellows Julia Puckett (Distinguished Teacher) and Meagan Driver (Global Scholar) will speak about social and emotional learning opportunities and skills for students at Greek public schools, and the concept of linguistic landscape and its use in addressing critical and community-oriented themes in the world language classroom respectively.
Online Event, November 11, 2023: Renegotiating Historical Memory in Education Part II: Katina Bitsicas
Katina Bitsicas is a Greek-American new media artist who utilizes video, installation, AR and performance in her artworks to explore grief, loss, trauma and memory. In addition, she is an Assistant Professor and Coordinator of Digital Storytelling at the University of Missouri, where she also conducts research with the MU School of Medicine on utilizing digital storytelling as a meaning-making intervention for bereaved family members.
For the session Digital Storytelling: telling your personal story, Ms. Bitsicas will introduce the tools and techniques on how to use digital storytelling and apply this to the classroom as well as helpful resources to begin creating your own digital story.
If you wish to participate then please register here. A few days before the event, a zoom link will be sent to those who have registered.
Online Event, March 12, 2023: Renegotiating Historical Memory in Education Part I: Professor David Crespy
2022-23 Fulbright Scholar to Spain and Greece Professor David Crespy presents Mi Corazón Español Vive Ahora En Grecia: Resurrecting Sephardic Jewry in Thessaloniki for Young Audiences through Dramatic Writing and discusses how he has created his plays using dreamwork for dramatic writing to transform oral narrative, traditional scholarly research, and the geography, music, and literature of the Sephardic Jewish communities into engaging dramatic scripts for the stage, resurrecting and recreating these important Greek communities for young audiences.
For the series Renegotiating Historical Memory in Education, guest speakers and facilitators will share their expertise and explore diverse educational tools with which the past can inform the present and future of our classrooms. The ultimate goal of this series of events is to combine a fresh perspective and state-of-the-art methodologies regarding the way historical memory can upgrade education practice into becoming more inclusive and inspiring.
Online Event, May 6, 2022: Technology in the Classroom & Mental Wellbeing
The online FEN event, which was presented as part of the Train the Trainers workshop/seminar series, included two presentations delivered by the following special guests:
Dr. Thomas Mantzaris
(Adjunct Lecturer at the Department of Foreign Languages, Translation & Interpreting at Ionian University, Greece)
Title of presentation: Innovative Surfaces: Empowering Students through Multimodal Literature
Dr. Despoina Feleki
(Post-Doctoral Researcher and Adjunct Lecturer at the School of English, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, AUTh, Greece)
Title of Presentation: Building Bridges: Practicing Advocacy and Civic Engagement in the Classroom
Both speakers are also members of the Multimodal Research and Reading Group, School of English AUTh. For information click here: https://www.new.enl.auth.gr/multimodal/
Online Event, March 7, 2021: Connecting and Planning
The intent of this online event was to bring the FEN members from various parts of Greece together for an exchange of ideas as regards the future plans of the network in conjunction with their current educational and pedagogical needs. Fulbright Greek Program Coordinator Els Hanappe participated in the event offering further food for thought as far as future initiatives are concerned in collaboration with the Fulbright Foundation Greece.
Train the Trainers Meeting, Athens, March 27, 2018: Instilling Values / Ethics in Education
The panel, divided into three twenty-minute rounds, aimed at touching upon ethical thinking with regard to the Humanities education. Emphasis was placed on the following areas: Fair Use Ethics (Tatiani Rapatzikou), Diversity Ethics (Evangelia Liliou), and Environmental Ethics (Kristin Jacobson). The particular panel was part of the Train the Trainers event which was organized at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center in Athens. The three panel participants had participated in the following Fulbright programs: Dr. Tatiani Rapatzikou, 2009-2010 Fulbright Greece Visiting Scholar; Evangelia Liliou, 2004 SUSI Teachers Institute; Dr. Kristin Jacobson, 2017-2018 U.S. Fulbright Greece Visiting Scholar.
Youth Lab, Xanthi, May 20, 2017: Integrating Narrative in the Classroom
Special Guests, Steven Tagle: recipient of a 2016-2017 Creative Writing Fulbright grant to Greece, he recently graduated from the UMass Amherst MFA Program; Dr. Patria Julnes: 2016-2017 Fulbright Specialist, Director of the School of Public Affairs, Penn State Harrisburg, Middletown, PA.
Other Speakers: Alexia Giannakopoulou, Delta Athens School District; Evangelia Liliou, First School of Second Chance of Thessaloniki; Konstantinos Delistavrou, Vocational Upper High School of Axioupoli; Despina-Alexandra Konstantinides, 2nd Experimental Junior High School, Thessaloniki.
Kavala, May 28, 2016: Cross-cultural Education – Challenges and Opportunities
Special Guest, Elizabeth Duclos-Orsello, Assoc. Professor, Salem State University (Fulbright Scholar, Spring 2016, School of English, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki)
Other Speakers: Paraskevi Feta, Senior High School, Podochori, Kavala; Despina-Alexandra Konstantinides, 2nd Experimental Junior High School, Thessaloniki; Thanassis Bazoukis, Counseling Service for Youth of the Secondary Education Administration, Nea Pella.
FEN Steering Committee:
Tatiani Rapatzikou (coordinator, Associate Professor, School of English, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki); Thanassis Bazoukis (Counseling Service for Youth of the Secondary Education Administration, Nea Pella); Despina-Alexandra Constantinides (2nd Experimental Junior High School, Thessaloniki);