Miami teacher to work with C-SPAN on developing student lessons

A Miami high school teacher has won a C-SPAN fellowship for the summer.

Judy Gelber, a teacher at I-Preparatory Academy in Miami-Dade, was named one of three recipients of C-SPAN’s 2016 Teacher Fellowship Program. Gelber teaches AP and honors U.S. History and U.S. government and politics, as well as honors economics to high school students.

I-Prep is a magnet school with 700 students that focuses on international education and career leadership and technology.

Gelber will receive an award valued at $7,000 that includes housing and travel expenses.

Teachers nationwide apply for the opportunity to collaborate with C-SPAN at the cable network’s Washington, D.C., headquarters. Fellows will spend four weeks during the summer developing new educational resources with C-SPAN's education team.

Participants are selected by a panel of C-SPAN representatives and evaluated based on their innovative use of C-SPAN programming in their curriculum, dedication to learning new technologies, and commitment to professional development.

Gelber said she will help develop C-SPAN lesson plans. One of her ideas is to develop lessons about financial literacy so students understand the dangers of payday loans, for example.

“Judy demonstrated the innovative ways in which she uses our programs to engage and challenge her students as they learn about how our government works,” Craig McAndrew, C-SPAN Manager of Education Relations said in a statement. “We look forward to working closely with Judy this summer to produce new resources to better serve teachers and students."

Gelber is a former Securities and Exchange Commission prosecutor who later became a teacher and has taught in Miami-Dade schools for 12 years. She comes from a well-known South Florida family: Her father Seymour was a Miami Beach mayor and her brother Dan is a former state legislator.

This story was originally published April 28, 2016 at 7:03 PM with the headline "Miami teacher to work with C-SPAN on developing student lessons."