For Immediate Release

Tuesday, April 16, 2019

Contact: John Guilfoil
Phone: 617-993-0003
Email: [email protected]

Kearsarge Teacher Receives Christa McAuliffe Sabbatical Award

NEW LONDON – Superintendent Winfried Feneberg is pleased to share that Kearsarge Regional Elementary School teacher Kristin Lizotte has been awarded the 2019 Christa McAuliffe Sabbatical Award.

The Christa McAuliffe Sabbatical Award is given annually by the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation to a public school educator who wishes to pursue a project to enhance classroom learning. The award supplies educators with a year off from daily work and pays them their full year’s salary and expenses of up to $12,000 to complete their project.

Lizotte, a first grade teacher, will work during her sabbatical over the course of the 2019-2020 school year to develop project-based learning opportunities for students and connect with other educators throughout the state looking to introduce more experiential learning into their classrooms.

Project-based learning encourages students to investigate “real world” challenges, problems, and tasks in order to learn, grow, and strengthen their skills.

Lizotte will be recognized at the New Hampshire Excellence in Education Awards, also known as the EDies, on June 8. 

“This type of teaching and learning is engaging for students, and involves them in activities where they can make choices about their learning and promote skills like collaboration, problem-solving, and critical thinking,” Lizotte said. “It also connects what they are learning to the world outside of the classroom and helps them to see the connections between academic subjects and how they are related to real world problems.”

Lizotte will begin her sabbatical by researching schools in New Hampshire that are already using project based learning techniques, and will attend a conference at Northeastern University this summer on experiential learning. She will then offer professional development opportunities, materials, and activities to schools throughout the state, and will also help schools plan, assess, and implement experiential learning opportunities.

Lizotte will also launch a statewide website to connect New Hampshire educators interested in project-based and experiential learning. The website will include a discussion forum, professional learning materials, links, videos and unit and lesson plans.

“It’s wonderful that Kristin has been given this opportunity to explore the ways in which she, and educators throughout the state, can implement project based learning in the classroom to enhance student learning,” Superintendent Feneberg said. “To receive this award is a great honor, and we’re looking forward to watching Kristin explore this topic and bring these techniques into the classroom.”

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