Greendale Teacher Looks Forward To Research Abroad In Greece

GREENDALE, WI — The journey continues abroad for this Greendale educator who was recently declared Wisconsin's Middle School Teacher of the Year.

Erin McCarthy, a middle school social studies teacher with the Greendale School District for almost 10 years, has been selected as a winner of a Fulbright Award. McCarthy was also the winner of the 2020 Wisconsin Teacher of the Year Award.

With the Fulbright award, McCarthy will go on a sponsored trip to Greece next year to conduct educational research. There she will interview teachers and learn about the schools and how they work with immigrants.

McCarthy will bring her findings back to Wisconsin to incorporate into teaching here.

McCarthy told Patch about what she's expecting from the upcoming trip, how the experience will tie into her classroom here in Greendale, and how families can stay tuned as she heads on her trip to Greece.

What The Trip Is About

McCarthy is traveling to Greece with a few other Fulbright recipients to conduct educational research about classroom diversity and the immigrant experience. McCarthy will get to know the teachers and schools over there, and how they have each dealt with immigration and increasingly diverse classrooms, she said.

"I'm thinking about the school year as sort of a global citizen training camp, is what I want to get," McCarthy said. "So how do we look at a global perspective on things, because I'm going to Greece so I can report back."

The trip will scour the similarities and differences between the American and Greek models of learning and hopes to bring back new information and ways to solve problems, namely when it comes to creating a safe place for immigrants, according to McCarthy.

"Do I want to be a voice for my students or do I want to be a voice for all students? I've always had the perspective that all children deserve to have the same opportunities we have in public education in America," McCarthy said.

"And so, that's why I started looking for opportunities like the Fulbright."

Incorporating The Classroom

When asked about how McCarthy plans on incorporating her Fulbright trip into her current classroom, she pointed to an experience she had when she won teacher of the year.

"When Tony Evers called me when I won, I missed the call because I was teaching," McCarthy said. "So I think alright, I'm going to write back to our governor."

McCarthy asked her students what they were wondering as well, "They thought he should get to work on a lot of things," she said. So along with her classroom, McCarthy wrote a letter to the governor.

The idea for the Fulbright trip is similar. McCarthy said she plans on asking her classroom about what they think and want to learn, and incorporating those questions into her journey.

"I think I'm going to ask my students and my kids," McCarthy said. "We might do a little bit of thinking about what would be the places that I should go to see, so I can share that with them so they can like find out about that and I can report back to them."

One of the first things McCarthy plans on asking her students is what she should bring as a gift abroad for people she meets. McCarthy plans on discussing some gift ideas representative of Greendale and Wisconsin, she said.

Students, parents, and friends can all tune into McCarthy's Greece trip at her blog. The trip is planned for Feb.-June 2022.

Longterm Learning

When McCarthy gets back she will work to incorporate her findings into teaching and curriculum from across the state.

"I honestly think that some of the answers to the division that we're facing as a country have to do with looking at other cultures and how we come together and like the commonalities that we have and how we can, you know, look towards the future more," McCarthy said.

"So starting in Greendale, definitely working with teachers and our curriculum development and then hopefully throughout the state working to get those ideas out there," she said about her plans upon returning.

"I really look forward to helping the district with some of the frameworks for how we integrate that kind of thinking, what are the elements of it that we want to introduce to students. I think having this opportunity that's been given to me. It's really going to. I think it can touch a lot of students in Greendale."