Candidates must be K-12 Indiana school teachers with at least five years of experience. In an effort to select educators from a mix of grade levels, subjects, and geographical locations, we will select no more than one teacher from any district.
The 2024 application deadline is 11:59 pm on Friday, February 16.
We especially encourage nominations of persons of color, applicants with disabilities, and members of other under-represented groups.
Teachers can be nominated by their district superintendent in consultation with their building principal. Superintendents write a brief nomination statement for that teacher to include in their application materials. Alternatively, teachers can apply directly, and include the nomination letter from their Superintendent as part of their application materials.
All interested teachers must complete the Armstrong Teacher Educator Award Application and attach to it the following:
*A significant portion of your role as an Armstrong Teacher Educator will be presenting to IU students, so we ask that you provide a video recording of yourself presenting your personal statement. Please note: The technical quality of the video does not matter (e.g., a hand-held phone video with multiple choppy segments is acceptable).
Approximately ten teachers will be selected. Efforts are made to honor educators from a mix of grade levels and subjects as well as geographical locations. The primary criteria for selection are excellence as a classroom teacher and potential for sharing professional experience with IU teacher education students. We will make every effort to notify all applicants of our selections by early March.
Award recipients are expected to attend the Celebration of Teaching ceremony in Bloomington in April, and then return to campus during the following academic year to participate in Armstrong Teacher Educator discussion panels attended by IU students. The program pays for all travel and lodging expenses for all events, as well as costs to hire substitutes for teachers’ classrooms while they are in Bloomington. Following participation in discussion panels and associated events, participants will also receive a $750 honorarium.
Armstrong Teacher-in-Residence: Option to Express Interest and Availability
A small subset of Armstrong recipients will also be selected to serve as Teachers-in-Residence, who will make monthly trips to Bloomington to work with IU classes and students in ongoing collaboration with specific IU faculty. Teachers-in-Residence will also participate in an onboarding session to orient them to the teacher education program and to begin collaboration with IU faculty in preparation for their role during the school year.
In recognition of this more intensive commitment, Teachers-in-Residence will receive a $3000 honorarium (inclusive of the $750 award for all Armstrong Teacher Educators), a $1000 professional development stipend, and up to six credit hours of free tuition for graduate study at IUB during their award year. All travel, lodging, and substitute teacher costs will be covered during their monthly visits to campus.
There is a special section on the application form for nominees to indicate their interest in this expanded role.
PLEASE NOTE: In order to be considered for the role of Teacher-in-Residence, the building principal’s recommendation letter must include the following statement:
“I would also support this teacher being named an Armstrong Teacher-in-Residence and will authorize our nominee to be absent from school for three days each month, September through April, to travel to Bloomington and work with IU students and classes.”
Every teacher deserves praise, but recommendations from principals and colleagues should be specific and list concrete examples demonstrating exemplary work. If you have acronyms that are unique to your background or school, please spell them out and explain them.
When appropriate, applicants are welcome to send copies of additional documents or links to work of which they are particularly proud.
Questions regarding the nomination process or the Armstrong Teacher Educator Award should be directed to the Armstrong Program Chair, Adam Maltese, at amaltese@indiana.edu or (812) 856-8059.
