Teach Like a Champion Fellows

Recognize, support, and develop outstanding classroom teachers.

Members of the TLAC team with our fantastic TLAC Cohort 3 Fellows from left to right: Erica Woolway, Sadie McCleary, Beth Verrilli, Beth Greenwood, Rene Claxton, Bob Arnold, Rockyatu Otoo, Jen Rugani, Doug Doblar, Casey Clementson (on Zoom), Christina Mercado, Steve Kuninsky, Ben Katcher, Kathleen Lavelle, Jamarr McCain, and Diana Bentley

 

We’re thrilled to announce the launch of our fourth cohort of TLAC Fellows and invite you to apply or pass along this opportunity to other fantastic educators you know and love!

The Application Submission Window is open from Tuesday, February 18 – Friday, May 30, 2025. TLAC Fellows will be announced in November 2025.

Application

 

Purpose of the Teach Like a Champion Fellowship

The Teach Like a Champion Fellowship is designed to recognize, support, and develop outstanding classroom teachers. By providing an opportunity for champion teachers to grow professionally while remaining in the classroom, we will increase our collective understanding of great teaching while celebrating the craft of these exemplary teachers.

Since 2020, teachers have been required to continuously adapt to an ever-changing educational landscape, and students have returned to school with increasingly urgent learning needs. Across the country and around the world, schools are struggling to attract and keep top teachers in classrooms. The TLAC Fellowship presents a unique and timely opportunity to provide development and recognition to incentivize great teachers to continue their work in the classroom and share their expertise within and beyond their schools.

 

I truly enjoyed the opportunity to learn from and learn with a group of teachers who were so focused on growing in their practice. I learned from the work of others in the group, I valued and implemented feedback others provided on my work, and the mentoring provided by TLAC was absolutely amazing in terms of honest feedback, specific guidance for growth, and the encouragement around what was done well.

Steve Kuninsky, Cohort 3 Fellow
9th grade Chemistry teacher and Instructional Coach in Gwinnett County, GA

 

Program Goals

  • To honor and invest in top teachers and offer them a career development option that recognizes the importance of remaining in the classroom
  • To strengthen the quality of teaching in participating schools, districts, and/or networks by supporting and developing champion teachers who can model excellence in day-to-day teaching and share their learning within their organization
  • To learn more about TLAC techniques and the craft of teaching via the experiences of top teachers across subjects and grade levels
  • To develop video clips of champion teachers using TLAC techniques which can be used to improve teacher training around the world

Benefits to Fellows and Schools

  • Two years of in-depth, targeted professional development and coaching for a top teacher
  • An opportunity to develop a portfolio of bright spot instructional videos
  • Access to best-in-class professional development materials to turnkey and/or adapt
  • A $10,000 stipend (paid over the course of two years, provided that Fellows remain in the classroom and complete the independent project)

Cohort 4 Details

  • The program will run from January 2026-January 2028, for which Fellows must remain in the classroom.
  • The first 18 months will involve active programming (bi-monthly remote and some in-person meetings with the team, classroom filming, video analysis, etc.) and the final 6 months will be an independent project.

 

Before I was a Fellow, I thought I would not have a community of people excited to learn about this work now that I was done with college. Now I have a community of like-minded professionals who want to talk deeply about and “get nerdy” about teaching.

Christina Mercado, Cohort 3 Fellow
7th grade ELA teacher and Instructional Coach, Brooklyn, NY

 

If you have any additional questions, please contact fellows@teachlikeachampion.org.

Previous Cohorts

Cohort 2

Cohort 2 Fellows from left to right: Alonte Johnson-James, Sadie McCleary, Carla Seeger, John Burmeister, Jennifer Crucetti, Samara Levy, Denarius Frazier, Tamesha McGuire

Cohort 1

Cohort 1 Fellows with Doug Lemov, from left to right: Jen Rugani, Gabby Woolf, Sarah Fischler, MK Pope, Brittany Rumph, Kirby Jarrell, Eric Snider 

 

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