OFE News Release
Norman Educators Receive National Raymond Plank Award
March 15, 2007
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| Norman teachers (from left) Cindy Scarberry, Lani Garner and Stefani Stuemky spend time with children in the rural village of Mhondoro during their summer trip to Zimbabwe. They received a national award in recognition of their outstanding summer project, which was sponsored by the national Fund for Teachers, the Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence and the Tulsa Community Foundation. |
OKLAHOMA CITY -- Three Norman teachers who received an Oklahoma Fund for Teachers grant to travel to Zimbabwe last summer have been awarded the Raymond Plank Award for Teaching Excellence from the national Fund for Teachers in recognition of their summer project.
Music teachers Lani Garner and Cindy Scarberry and physical education teacher Stefani Stuemky of Monroe Elementary School in Norman were selected for the national honor, also known as the Plank Fellowship. The award is presented annually to a teacher or team of teachers whose summer project best exemplifies the Fund for Teachers’ mission. They were selected from 599 teachers nationwide who received Fund for Teachers grants last year.
Founded in 1998 by Houston businessman Raymond Plank, the Fund for Teachers enriches the professional growth of teachers as they identify and pursue opportunities around the globe that will have the greatest impact on their practice, the academic lives of their students and on their school communities. Last year, Oklahoma became the first state in the nation to offer Fund for Teachers grants to educators statewide through the combined efforts of the national Fund for Teachers, the Tulsa Community Foundation and the Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence.
Scarberry and Garner have been teaching African drumming for eight years as part of their music curriculum, particularly with Manyawi, their 4th and 5th-grade world-music ensemble. Two years ago, they and colleague Stefani Stuemky began a partnership with Ancient Ways, a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving the traditions of the indigenous people of Zimbabwe. The teachers were thrilled to bring Ancient Ways’ director Jaiaen Beck to Monroe to share African music and culture with their students.
Last summer, the three Monroe teachers took the partnership to a new level when they received an Oklahoma Fund for Teachers grant to travel to Ancient Ways’ community center in the rural village of Mhondoro, Zimbabwe. There, they spent hours each day learning traditional songs, games and dances. “Not only did we learn the tune and exact pronunciation for each song, but we also learned the meaning and significance,” Garner said.
One of the most memorable moments of the trip was their arrival in Mhondoro, where they were greeted by men, women and children singing Ngatisangane Nevaenzi (Let us greet the visitors as one). The entire village encircled the teachers and treated them to a welcoming ceremony of traditional food and hours of music and dancing.
During their stay, the teachers also visited schools in neighboring villages, where they taught music and shared gifts from their students back home. In preparation for the trip, Monroe students and families donated funds to sponsor scholarships for village children, who do not receive public support for education in Zimbabwe. Members of Manyawi have also started a pen-pal exchange with many village students.
“Our trip to Zimbabwe was a life-changing event that will impact the lives of many students here and abroad,” Scarberry said. “The value of the trip is immeasurable as we continue to learn from the experience and strengthen relationships made during our visit.”
Selection is currently under way for the 2007 Oklahoma Fund for Teachers recipients. Applications for 2008 scholarships will be available in October on the Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence web site at www.ofe.org. For more information, contact Dayna Rowe at (405) 236-0006.