Overview

Humanities instruction explores the complexity of the human experience, and helps students to be more perceptive, empathic, and empowered as they chart their path to a more fulfilling life. The Hollyhock Humanities Fellowship helps experienced high school humanities teachers reignite a love for their craft, by connecting them to their content and helping them thrive in their teaching with a community of similarly motivated colleagues.

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The Hollyhock Humanities Fellowship welcomes high school social studies teachers from across the New York metro area who are interested in nourishing their intellectual souls by developing their history content and pedagogy knowledge through equity-focused learning communities, exploring New York cultural institutions, and partnering with historians in the field.

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“I could not have asked for more: I am reinvigorated as a teacher, I have a ton of new tools in my tool belt, and I have new colleagues and friends to bounce ideas off.”

Program Experience

The Hollyhock Humanities Fellowship is a one year program, consisting of the following benefits:

The summer seminar: The two week seminar includes humanities content instruction from experts in the field, workshops grounded in rigorous content pedagogy and visits to renowned cultural institutions. It is held at Relay Graduate School of Education in New York City.
Intersessions: Fellows come together for Saturday workshops in October, December, February and May.
Coaching: Video-based coaching sessions throughout the school year with expert practitioners and peers
Stipend: A $2,000 stipend
Continuing education credits: 60-75 NY CTLE continuing education hours

“This is definitely worth two weeks of my summer. It's one of the best workshops that I've attended and I'm very lucky to be part of this group. I'm excited to bring what I learn here to my students.”

Learning Experience

The Hollyhock Fellowship is a one-year experience consisting of three components:

Summer Seminar at Relay GSE
Four Saturday intersessions
Virtual coaching during the school year.

Summer Seminar 2023

July 17 - 21 & July 24-28, 2023

At the Hollyhock Summer Seminar, fellows participate in two weeks of exciting, practice-based professional development. The seminar engages the fellows in rich history content and pedagogy. Our content focus for Summer 2023 will be examining the African-American Experience in the Long Reconstruction: 1865-1965. Our Summer Seminar faculty will teach about this important aspect of United States History, and in pedagogy sessions, participants will examine related documents and resources.

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The pedagogy courses will focus on building rigor to build equity:

Facilitating close reading and discourse
Developing historical thinking using the Four Question Method
Integrating equity-focused approaches in our pedagogy

Sample Summer Seminar Faculty

PROFESSOR ERIC FONER

Prof. Eric Foner is the DeWitt Clinton Professor Emeritus of History at Columbia University. His work concentrates on the intersections of intellectual, political, and social history, and the history of American race relations. As a national expert, Dr. Foner will be focusing on the history of Reconstruction.

Professor Terry Anne Scott

Professor Terry Anne Scott is the Director of the Institute of Common Power and is an award-winning historian, author, and speaker. Dr. Scott’s research interests focus largely on African American social and cultural history, and political and social movements. She will be focusing on the history of lynching and the Great Migration.

Dr. Yohuru Williams standing in front of arches.

PROFESSOR YOHURU WILLIAMS

Professor Yohuru Williams is Distinguished University Chair and Professor of History and Founding Director of the Racial Justice Initiative at the University of St. Thomas. His research interests include African American history, civil rights, Black Power movements, African-American constitutional and legal history, and social studies pedagogy. Dr. Williams will focus Long Reconstruction and the Civil Rights Movement.

DR. JON BASSETT AND DR. GARY SHIFFMAN

Jon and Gary are the authors of From Story to Judgement: The Four Question Method for Teaching and Learning Social Studies, a text we read for the seminar. Jon and Gary are long-time public school history teachers and they engaged us in learning how to apply this 4QM method to our own instruction.

"The guest speakers were absolutely phenomenal. I am a huge fan of the diversity of professors.”

Summer Seminar Activities

Cultural Institution Visits: Fellows will visit renowned museums and community cultural institutions to learn from their exhibits, get tours from curators and experts to deepen their content knowledge, analyze and interpret the arguments of the exhibits and explore ways to connect the cultural institution to their classrooms.

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For example:

The Museum of the City of NY
The New York Historical Society
The Gilder-Lehrman Archives
The National Museum of the American Indian
The Museum of the Chinese in America

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Workshops: Fellows engage in rigorous, practice-based, content pedagogy workshops. Fellows will develop their own lessons and practice executing them and receive feedback from faculty and colleagues.

Community Building, Mindfulness and Wellness: Fellows will engage in daily community building, mindfulness and wellness activities for their own participation and to learn ones that they can bring back to their students.

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“This has been one of the best professional development experiences that I've attended!”

During the School Year

Intersessions: Fellows will participate in four Saturday intersessions in October, December, February and May. These intersessions will continue the development work begun in the summer with practice labs, video feedback and workshops around building leadership skills. in coaching teachers and leading professional development sessions. Fellows will also continue to work with New York cultural institutions.

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Year-Long Coaching: Instructional coaching supports fellows throughout the school year. As part of a networked professional community, fellows meet virtually each month with their expert instructional coaches and other fellows. Fellows will upload videos of their classroom teaching in order to get feedback and to improve instructional practice. They will share lesson materials, and delve into issues of equity in their classroom, while building a community with each other that enriches their experience in the education profession.

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Summer Seminar

July 17-21, 2023 and

July 24-28, 2023
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Intersessions

Saturday, Oct. 14, 2023

Saturday, Dec. 9, 2023

Saturday, Feb. 10, 2024

Saturday, May 18, 2024

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Application Opens for 2023-24

November 1st, 2022

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Eligibility Requirements

Apply as a high school history or social studies teacher with at least three years of teaching experience.
Teach at a New York City metro area high school where more than 50% of the students qualify for free and reduced price lunch
Maintain at least a part-time classroom teaching position at your current school site for the duration of the fellowship
Attend the Summer Seminar
Participate in and prepare fully for all of the school-year, video-conference coaching sessions, and Saturday workshops
Have access to a computer or tablet that can support the technology interface

“Powerful and passionate presentations and facilitations. I was completely engaged, challenged, and inspired.”

Criteria for Selection

A belief in personal responsibility to work for equitable outcomes for all students
Demonstrated growth mindset to continuously improve with openness to feedback and a willingness to practice and to be videoed while teaching.
Investment in collaborating with a community of colleagues
A belief in equitable outcomes for all students
Commitment to professional growth as a classroom teacher and as a leading teacher beyond the classroom
Support from school administration to participate fully during the summer seminar and school year and bring what you learned back to your school

Application Timeline

Applications open each year in November and close in early March.‍

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2023 Application

Click here to view or start your 2023 application to the Hollyhock Humanities Fellowship

How do I contact Relay about the Hollyhock Humanities Fellowship?

To request more information, please email us at jverrilli@relay.edu and put “Hollyhock Humanities Fellowship” in the subject line.

When are the Hollyhock Humanities Fellowship applications available?

Applications open for the 2023-24 cohort on November 1, 2022.

Should I apply if I am not sure I can make a commitment to participate in all activities in summer and across the year?

We prefer that teachers only apply if they can fully commit to attending the entire two-week summer seminar, the Year-long coaching and Saturday workshops.

What is the difference between the Stanford Hollyhock Fellowship and the Relay Hollyhock Humanities Fellowship?

The Hollyhock Humanities Fellowship is a special program hosted by the Relay Graduate School of Education for experienced humanities teachers in the New York Metro area. It is designed to focus on developing just high school history/social studies teachers. The Hollyhock Fellowship is a one-year program. The Stanford Hollyhock program is a national two-year program hosted by Stanford University’s Center to Support Excellence in Teaching for school-based teams of teachers in English, History, Math and Science. Both programs are possible because of the generous support of the Hollyhock Foundation.

Why is the eligibility only for teachers who have at least 3 years of teaching experience?

Experienced teachers need support and opportunities for growth to help them thrive in the classroom. We want to work with teachers who are still seeking to grow and improve for their students and to help them become much-needed teacher leaders in their schools.

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For the 2023-24 school year, we only offer fellowships to high school teachers who teach in history/social studies.

What is a typical day like at the Hollyhock Summer Seminar?

The Institute typically runs from 9:00 am until 4:30 pm Monday through Friday with additional opportunities for socializing and community-building activities on the weekday evenings. Fellows will attend classes at the Relay Graduate School of Education Campus on 25 Broadway in lower Manhattan. We will have professional development sessions where we deep-dive into content, participate in daily intellectual discourse on relevant topics and work on practice-based pedagogy. Daily coffee, beverages, snacks and lunch will be provided each day. There will also be afternoon trips to NY’s renowned cultural institutions on certain days of the week.

Our hope is that all these experiences will build a community of teaching professionals that lasts long after the two-week summer institute ends.

What are the dates for the Summer Seminar and the Saturday Intersessions?

In 2023, the Hollyhock Summer Seminar will be held on July 17th - July 21st, 2023 and July 24th - July 28th, 2023. Classes will run from 9:00 AM to 4:30 PM. There are no classes on the weekends. The Saturday Intersessions will take place on Oct. 14, 2023, Dec. 9, 2023, Feb. 10, 2024, and May 18, 2024. They will run from 9:30 AM to 4:30 PM. Our current plan is for all classes to be in-person at Relay Graduate School of Education’s campus, 25 Broadway, NY, NY 10011.

What kinds of things do I need to do to prepare for the summer institute if I am accepted?

Fellows are invited to write a short biography about themselves and their school for our website. Additionally, we ask that fellows bring teaching materials that they will work with next year as we will be doing lesson planning and curriculum design work. We will also ask all fellows to submit a video of themselves classroom teaching from the current school year. There will also be shared books and readings to complete and links to tasks prior to arrival in July for the Summer Seminar. Each year the preparation varies.

How do the continuing education units (CTE’s) I earn at Relay Hollyhock get documented?

Relay will email each Hollyhock Fellow a transcript with a record of the CTE’s earned after each summer and each school year. Fellows can use this transcript as verification of their professional learning hours from Hollyhock. Please note that these are not graduate credits as fellows are not enrolled at Relay as graduate students. Hollyhock fellows will also need to keep track of their own CTE documentation throughout the fellowship.

May I apply if I am a SPED or ESL teacher?

If you are a SPED or ESL educator who teaches history/social studies then you may apply. At this time, we do not offer separate sessions for SPED or ESL teachers.

2023-24 Hollyhock Cohort

Hollyhock Humanities Fellowship is excited to welcome these 27 educators from NY and NJ to learn and grow together as a community. Click on each photo to see their Teaching Superpower!

Brooklyn Preparatory High School, Brooklyn, NY

Nominate a Teacher

Do you know a teacher or teachers who would be interested in this program? Nominate them, and we will reach out personally to invite them to apply!

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