GOSHEN – Bethany Christian Schools teacher Josh Weaver was one of more than 100 teachers across the state to receive a Teacher Creativity Fellowship Program Grant from the Lilly Endowment Association.
Their brotherhood, the British Bicycle Pilgrimage, starts in early June.
“Every project that Lilly funds is designed by the teacher themselves for something they want to do,” explained Weaver. “It is a unique project. No other teacher has done this project before. The Teacher Creativity Fellowship is intended to be a bit like a sabbatical. It restores the energy for teaching and something that is rejuvenating or relaxing and something that you want do, but it is also meant to be related to what you have to do.
“They don’t want it to be professional development… They like it when teachers are in a position to learn something new because they like it to reflect on our methodology and what it means to be a student.”
Weaver, a high school social student and Bible teacher, will use his funds and learn to build a bicycle and then travel across England on that bicycle.
“The heart of the idea is that you learn something that you know, but it also connects to your professional life, but it’s also relaxing,” said Weaver. “I ride a bike a lot, for exercise, and also for fun. I’m not particularly athletic, but I like it and I’ve been doing it all my life.”
He will travel to England and visit the UNESCO World Heritage Site, Ironbridge Gorge, which is internationally recognized as a major contributor to the start of the Industrial Revolution in the 18th century. Nearby, in Coalport, he will visit Bicycles By Design, where he will spend a week learning the craft of building a custom bicycle.
“I really love history and the idea of manufacturing or building something in a place that was so instrumental in the history of manufacturing and building was attractive to me,” explained Weaver. “In contrast also, as we have, in our planet, industrialized, there is a lot of population that is involved in industrialization.
“Building a bicycle in a place that has a manufacturing history is interesting, but also how to build a bicycle is a greener way to think about transportation. I tried to intentionally engage that history.”
After finishing, he will take his new bike through the Cornwall Celtic Way. Since the spiritual path is a path of walking and walking, he will have to remap for his bike from, while he is in the same places on the road.
“Celtic spirituality often thinks about the connection between spirituality and environment,” Weaver explained. “Celtic cultural heritage goes back much further than Christianity, but the sites on this pilgrimage route are mainly early Christian sites… Some of these places probably have a longer history before Christianization.”
Building the bike and exploring the trails takes about three weeks.
From there, travel to the Isle of Man, known for its cycling competitions, where a physical challenge awaits.
“I’m going to compete in a race,” Weaver said. “I’m also going to do other races around the island. I’m curious about the history of cycling and that’s why I connected in a place that is a bit iconic in cycling.
Weaver said the idea had been on his mind since Bethany Christian School science teacher Calvin Swartzendruber was selected as the recipient of a $10,000 Lilly Teacher Creativity Grant in 2014. tracing the steps of the first chemical and physical and video journaling the whole experience.
“It takes time, it takes a lot of teaching and a lot of planning and hard work to put together a proposal that’s what Lilly is looking for, but that you’re interested in doing on your own,” Weaver said. “I never had the feeling that I had the right combination of ideas, but I felt like something clicked this year and I could see the vision of things. I could see adding components that made it more robust and I felt good how I spend my time learning and teaching.”
After finally developing a solid plan, Weaver said creating the proposal became really fun.
“Although, when you put in the work, there’s no guarantee you’re going to get it so it’s a little discouraging, but I feel grateful that I got it,” Weaver said. “I’m honored to have been chosen and I’m very grateful for that, but there are a lot of talented teachers here – well over 100.”
The Weaver scholarship is worth $15,000.
“It’s a really amazing program that’s unique to Indiana teachers and I think teachers should be grateful that we have this opportunity while also thinking of ways to plug into it,” Weaver added.
