Fellowship for Teachers
Cohort program builds religious literacy for educators
ICJS offers a one-year cohort for Baltimore-area teachers to gain knowledge and confidence in religious literacy, to develop and share lesson plans for their own classroom, and to think deeply about pedagogy with a network of experienced educators and scholars.
Religion is always present in the classroom, even when no one names it.
Students bring religious identities, assumptions, histories, holidays, and inherited narratives with them every day. Teachers do too. So do curricula, calendars, and school cultures. The question is not whether religion is present, but whether we are prepared to engage it thoughtfully.
The eight-month Fellowship provides professional development opportunities for Baltimore-area educators to explore how to provide students with an informed appreciation of the religious diversity that contributes to civic life. This cohort-based program helps educators apply an interreligious framework to their classroom. As a result, educators gain skills and confidence to foster interreligious literacy in their classrooms and to become interreligious leaders in their schools.
The next Fellowship cohort will begin meeting in October 2026. If you’d like to be considered, please complete the interest form below.
Apply to the Fellowship for Teachers if you are…
- a secondary school educator at any type school (e.g., public, religious, or independent) —all subject teachers and administrators welcome
- in the Baltimore area
- interested in applying an interreligious framework with students
Fellowship Benefits
- Bring Meaningful Dialogue to Your Classroom | Learn how to guide students through conversations across difference with intellectual rigor, empathy, and curiosity—skills that cultivate both civic responsibility and personal growth.
- Gain Tools for a Multireligious Democracy Explore a rich, interreligious framework that equips you to address religion in your classroom in ways that are nuanced, accurate, and inclusive—no matter what you teach.
- Collaborate Across Schools and Religious Traditions Join a vibrant cohort of educators from diverse religious and cultural backgrounds, building professional relationships and community that stretch beyond your own school.
- Engage Deeply with Religious Literacy and Identity Reflect on your own commitments and expand your understanding of how religion shapes identity, culture, and society—so you can help your students do the same.
Fellowship Commitments
- Attend 11 meetings, approximately every three weeks from October through May
- Experience religion in the public square by attending 5 outside learning experiences
- Create a lesson plan or project to bring your learning back to your school
- Write a reflection on your learning
- Engage in thoughtful dialogue with a cohort of diverse educators
FELLOWSHIP FLYER
ICJS Fellowship for Teachers Rosters
Most Meaningful Professional Development
“I have a deeper understanding of the ways we as educators can address cultural and religious sensitivity and help us grow into a religiously pluralistic democracy. Working together with a group of committed educators towards a goal of building an interreligious society has been the most meaningful professional development of my career.”
—Patrick Daniels | Baltimore City College
Fellowship for Teachers Impact
What We Miss When We Don’t Talk About Religion
As a religious studies teacher at an independent school in Baltimore County, for the last 13 years it has been my professional joy to discuss religion and faith with high school students. Through world religions and a series of religious studies electives, I have explored religious practices, ethics, faith, and purpose with my students. As…
There Are No Stupid Questions Across Difference
Some people balk at the idea of “no stupid questions.” I have had students cringe or call out their friends when a classmate brashly asks a question that seems insensitive or reveals cultural ignorance. Like when a student asked me this year around the winter holidays how it was possible that I had Christian and…
Four Lessons from the ICJS Fellowship for Teachers
For years, ICJS has worked with middle and high school teachers from public, independent, and religious schools navigating one of the most complicated realities of American education: Religion is present in the classroom, even when no one names it. Students bring religious identities, assumptions, histories, holidays, and inherited narratives with them every day. Teachers do…
Against the Algorithm: Teaching teens to think beyond social media
High school teacher Lee Krempel knows that mindfulness is critical when topics that graze religion come up in his classroom. That’s what he found himself navigating in October 2023 after the Hamas attack on Israel launched the still ongoing Gaza War. It was also only a few weeks into his participation in the ICJS Fellowship…