Published: March 1, 2007

Get Away, Get Paid

Science educator Miriam Sutton spent last summer researching the sea floor off Canada’s Labrador coast, attending a workshop at a marine field station in New Jersey, and studying oceanography at the U.S. Naval Academy. The best part: The 8th grade teacher from North Carolina received stipends for her journeys, and almost all of her expenses were covered.

Sound too good to be true? Opportunities for teachers to spend summers pursuing their passions are not as rare as one might think, according to Jill Frankfort, a former teacher who cataloged such programs in her new book, 100 Paid Adventures for Teachers . “If teachers are looking for a really extraordinary paid adventure, there’s a spot for them,” Frankfort says.

The fellowships, workshops, travel tours, and other opportunities she outlines are designed to give teachers exciting experiences so they can bring new knowledge and enthusiasm back to their schools. Sutton, for example, applies what she learned to her class activities and inservice workshops, and she encourages her students...