100Kin10 began the Teacher Forum in 2017 to help keep a pulse on what was happening in schools around the country, and to determine priorities by centering the perspectives and ideas of STEM teachers. Members lead listening sessions in their local STEM communities to gather information about what STEM teachers are hearing, seeing, and experiencing. These insights are then shared with 100Kin10 to inform our work, including how we address the Grand Challenges. As the hub of a network, 100Kin10 is uniquely positioned to listen to teachers, process that information, and then share a summary back out with the network and the field to inform their priorities and strategies.

For example, 100Kin10 releases a Trends Report each year, where we distill rising trends, innovative ideas, and insights based on what we were hearing from network partners and observing from our perch as the network hub. The topics and issues raised by the Teacher Forum are a major input into the trends. For example, one topic in our 2019 Trends Report focused on the shift of technology proficiency from a tool to a core life skill. Technology used to mean getting hardware into schools, but as digital tools have proliferated in classrooms, there is increased understanding that students (and teachers!) need to move beyond being consumers of technology. As daily activities at work and in personal life are increasingly driven by tech, students need not only hard and soft skills in technology, but also digital literacy and technological competency. Doug Hodum, a Science teacher at Mt. Blue High School in Maine and Teacher Forum member, noted: “Technology is here to stay, and we need to provide our students with learning opportunities to use technology appropriately and responsibly.”

The Teacher Forum went beyond benefiting 100Kin10 partners. Teacher Members regularly told us how meaningful being a part of the Forum was -- and how much it impacted their beliefs about teaching.