BLTN’s 40 fellows (3 online, 2 in California, 8 in Oxford, and 27 in Vermont) have much to be proud of in their Summer 2025 scholarship and collaboration. End of summer reports sparkle with testimonials of learning with Bread Loaf’s extraordinary professors. Professor Angela Brazil, this summer’s BLTN Faculty Fellow, brought Vermont BLTNers to our feet and our senses, with embodiment activities that grounded us in the contributions of teaching mentors, in our core values as teachers, and in our best human selves. Summer BLTN meetings included topics such as learning with students, and rationales and techniques for collaborating across distance and difference. The summer included invitations to collaborate with What’s the Story? The Young Filmmakers’ Social Action Team, and Beyond the Page. Vermonters were joined by guests Dr. Eric Darnell Pritchard (“Heart Work:  How Community-Accountable, Black Feminist Love Ethics Guide the Community Literacies Collaboratory"), Kurt Ostrow (Teacher Publishing) and Dr. Cynthia Ballenger (Teacher Inquiry).  

“Summer 2025 has probably been my best year during my journey at Bread Loaf. A part of the reason is that all of my courses have made me a better educator and overall person. [It] was a heavy load, but I feel it was worth it in the end, partly because all of my courses spoke to my interests.” - Bobby Harley

BLTN congratulates five veteran and dedicated fellows who each earned their Master of Arts in English from BLSE this summer. We look forward to many years of collaboration to come. 

Here's a reminder that the Bread Loaf Teacher Network/Change Initiative Action Grant applications are currently open and due by the end of the day TODAY, September 15, 2025. 

Application details are in the grant announcement. 

As part of the Kathryn Wasserman Davis Collaborative in Conflict Transformation, the Bread Loaf Teacher Network (BLTN) and the Change Initiative are pleased to announce the availability of Change Action Grants to active BLTN educators (current and alumni fellows, including Change fellows) and students who completed 2025 Change courses.  The grants are intended to support school or community projects focused on “conflict transformation”: the development of creative solutions to conflict-based systems and situations. Priority will be given to current BLTN (including Change Initiative) fellows.

2025-26 WTS Sites

Again this July, young filmmakers gathered at Bread Loaf Vermont to present their films created through a year's work with What's the Story? The Young Filmmakers' Social Action Team (WTS). WTS is a year-long program that provides middle and high school youth and educators with the tools, resources, and expertise they need to pursue their questions, collaborate with peers across the country, and create a documentary film produced to make a difference in their communities around a topic of their choosing. Filmmakers presented to an audience of peers, Bread Loaf students, faculty, and community members. 

Tim O'Leary (MA '07), WTS Director, chronicled the event in "Not Just a Film Showcase—A Moment of Becoming" (WTS July, 2025 Newsletter). O'Leary writes, "Our 2025 What’s the Story? Film Showcase wasn’t just about watching films. It was about witnessing young people step into the role of public thinkers and creators—seeing youth from across Vermont and around the country share not only what they had made, but who they were becoming through the act of making."

2025-26 WTS Preview:  Year 11 programming has begun, with a total of 14 participating sites spread across the US and including Manizales, Colombia and an indigenous community in Ontario, Canada.

Questions? Email whatsthestoryvt@gmail.com

This summer, through the support of a generous donor, BLTN was pleased to award ten applicants Dixie Goswami Action grants. Named after BLTN co-founder Dixie Goswami, the grants assist teachers in conducting BLTN-related classroom programs, projects, events, and travel.

Summer 2025 Goswami Action Grant Awards

Kurt Ostrow (MA’22), Assistant Editor of BLTN Journal and teacher at the Julia R. Masterman Laboratory and Demonstration School in Philadelphia, invites BLTN educators to participate in an informal “Writing for  Publication” group this Fall, from late September through mid-December. Those of you interested in publishing with youth co-authors in the 2026 BLTN Journal are welcome, as are those seeking to publish in other venues. There is no charge for participation, and the schedule will be set to meet your needs. Contact Kurt Ostrow at Ostrowk@gmail.com by September 23 if you’re interested in participating. 

Editor's note: In each month's newsletter, Kurt Ostrow will share teaching ides gleaned from BLTN fellows. We hope you'll find these useful. Reach out to Kurt at ostrowk@gmail.com if you have a teaching resource to share with BLTN colleagues.  a new paragraph block.

Early into our work with the rhetorical situation in my AP Language and Composition class, I ask students to give a “show and tell” about their water bottle (most students bring some sort of vessel to class each day) and explain to the class what they’re trying to tell the world with that water bottle. Do they have a Nalgene covered with ‘earthy-crunchy’ stickers (my students would call this “GORP Core”)? Are they carrying around one of those protein shake bottles with the little metal ball inside it? Do they have the latest Stanley mug? A plastic Poland Springs bottle? This exercise turns into an examination of advertisements from various brands. What are brands trying to tell consumers about their products? What are they trying to say about the people who buy those products? The unit ends with students making their own ads, pieces that need to have a clear appeal and audience in mind! - Nik Bergill, Gould Academy, Bethel, ME

Dr. Cynthia Ballenger joined a BLTN meeting this summer and shared both an excerpt from her new book, Teaching Is Inquiry, and a sample of her inquiry practice. Ballenger then invited BLTNers to participate in an inquiry group this summer. Here's her report of the group's first meeting, September 10, with an invitation to join the conversations. (If you're interested, email Cindy at cindyballenger@gmail.com.)

"The teacher researcher group met and we got very involved in a discussion of vocabulary and memory. So one thing we will investigate is probably different ways that memory operates, how to support it and what forms it can take among a range of students. And also poetry and vocabulary. And your emotional relationship to different ways of speaking, dialect, certain words. But that's only the topics that came up this week. Anyone interested in puzzles or curious about anything in their practice, join us for our next meeting. The date will soon be set, approximately two weeks from now." 

Dr. Shawna Shapiro, Professor of Writing and Linguistics at Middlebury College, has previously shared her scholarship with BLTN. Shawna has been working in recent years to build an online community of literacy/language teachers and teacher educators, called the Critical Language Awareness Collective. According to Shapiro, "We’re committed to inclusive pedagogies for students from all linguistic backgrounds, including multilingual and multidialectal students. I’m writing to invite you to join some of our upcoming Salon events and/or to join our email list to be kept in the loop about future events. Visit https://cla.middcreate.net/ for more info and the form to join. Recordings from past Salons are there as well, plus lots of teaching materials and other resources—all open access!" Note that there is a Salon tonight, September 15!

BLTN educators and / or organization leads may be interested in applying to become a "Smithsonian Virtual Exchange Facilitator... [to] learn how to collaboratively design and lead place-based investigations with your students to better understand the stories emanating from your hometown." Individuals or "cultural organizations" may apply. Stipends provided. Deadline to apply for the Spring '26 cohort is Oct. 5. Read more. 

Please notify us of accomplishments you’d like to share in the monthly newsletter. Contact Tom McKenna if you’re interested in publishing in the annual BLTN Journal.

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