ST. GEORGE — Desert Hills High School teacher Brielle Brosier was selected as one of five educators nationwide for C-Span’s 2024 Teacher Fellowship program. In this role, Brosier helped create multimedia educational content for C-Span Classroom.
Brielle Brosier teaching a class of students, date and location not specified | Photo courtesy of Brielle Brosier, St. George News
C-Span Networks provides free online resources for teachers, students and the public. With Brosier’s help in the fellowship, middle and high school teachers will be provided with video-based content, including lesson plans, bell ringers, current events videos, inquiry-based deliberations and more.
Brosier told St. George News when she received an email from them to interview for the position, she was excited because she is an active user of the resources.
A panel of C-Span representatives selected the fellows based on their innovative use of C-Span programming in their curricula, commitment to professional development and creative use of technology and social platforms.
Brosier teaches U.S. history, as well as AP classes in U.S. Government and politics and world history. She also serves as the school’s data coach and assistant executive (student) council adviser. Brosier holds a master’s degree in learning and technology and has been a reader for the AP U.S. Government & Politics exam for two years. Additionally, she has contributed articles to the “We Are Teachers” blog and social media platform.
Pam McGorry, the education program senior specialist at C-Span, said Brosier showed her commitment to professional development by taking this opportunity during the summertime when teachers are usually off.
Brosier said she felt good about the interview process but also recognized it was a competitive position and held her expectations in check.
“I didn’t feel like a shoo-in, I knew it went really well,” Brosier said. “There are applicants from all over the United States.”
As a project-based learning expert at her school, Brosier used her expertise to develop new ideas for C-Span’s AP U.S. Government and Politics and AP U.S. History resource sites.
The team met virtually with each fellow several times throughout July to develop relationships, offer support and review the progress of each project.
“I was able to take some stuff that I do in my classroom and adapt it for C-Span classrooms so that it can be shared with teachers all over the country to use,” Brosier said.
Brielle’s assigned focus was on developing content for the bell ringers and lesson plans featured on the C-Span Classroom website, McGorry said.
“They have all of their stuff archived from clear back to the 1970s,” she said. “It’s their videos and their clips into lessons that teachers can easily use.”
Brielle Brosier said she was happy to be a part of the program, date and location not specified | Photo courtesy Brielle Brosier, St. George News
Brosier said she wants to improve how she integrates current events into her classroom. Although she has done this before, she said she believes there is room for enhancement. Working with the C-Span team, who attend significant events like the Republican and Democratic national conventions, further drove that point home.
Teaching has always been a part of Brosier’s life.
“It’s probably something I’ve always had kind of ingrained in the back of my mind,” she said. “My Mom was a teacher, so it was definitely one of the more obvious options for me.”
Also, as a mother of two, she said she wanted to make sure she had a job that would “allow her to be a mom.”
As a high school teacher, she’s aware of the potential hazards the internet can present in the classroom.
“My focus has been to shift from just teaching things that you could Google to more teaching them skills they can use in their everyday lives, and using history to do that,” she said. “We do a lot of podcasts. We create our own videos. We do quite a few of the C-span classroom things.”
She said balancing technology in the classroom is crucial. In the years immediately following the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a noticeable shift to a more digital learning environment. She has made a point of dialing that down these days, but that isn’t always a popular decision.
“When you’re kind of a young teacher, you want to be the cool teacher,” she said. “You want to be the teacher that all the kids like and who has the most fun lessons. But just as I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized I’m not always going to be their best friend. I don’t even know if I want to be the cool teacher because it’s a lot of work and a lot of pressure”
Brosier said that she had one last call scheduled with C-Span and planned to express interest in continuing her involvement with the fellowship.
“I’m definitely going to tell them that I want to be involved in the future,” she said, adding that some of her fellowship colleagues were repeat members.
Educators can learn more about C-Span’s teacher opportunities, including the Fellowship program, workshops, and free online training at the C-Span Classroom opportunities website.
The educators each received $1,000 for participating in the program.
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