Dalio Education Launches Platform To Support Teachers

GREENWICH, CT — Barbara Dalio, founder and director of Dalio Education, announced earlier this week in a news release that her organization is sponsoring "Teachers of Connecticut," an online platform dedicated to amplifying the voices of teachers across the state.

The idea for the platform came from teachers themselves, emerging during a series of conversations convened by Dalio this past spring. Dalio is a Greenwich resident and the wife of billionaire investor and hedge fund manager, Ray Dalio.

"One of the things we kept hearing was that teachers sometimes feel as if their voices aren’t being heard. With so much noise out there on so many different channels, they sometimes feel as if their voices are getting lost in the mix," Barbara said in a news release. "So that’s what this is: simply a platform for them to tell their stories, unfiltered, in their own words."

New teacher stories will be published each week on the Teachers of Connecticut website, and shared through social media on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

The teachers featured as part of the platform’s launch were recommended by an advisory group of teachers and civic leaders, which was convened to help lead the initiative and ensure it achieves its mission of supporting public school teachers.

The advisory group includes the following members:

• Rich Baez, Harbor Elementary School, New London Public Schools
• Dale Bernardoni, CT Managing Director, Fund for Teachers
• Dave Bosso, Berlin High School, Berlin Public Schools
• Roxanne J. Coady, Founder and CEO, R.J. Julia Booksellers
• Barbara Dalio, Founder and Director, Dalio Education
• Andrew Ferguson, Chief Education Officer, Dalio Education
• Sheena Graham, Warren Harding High School, Bridgeport Public Schools
• Joshua Hall, Weaver High School, Hartford Public Schools
• Chris Poulos, Joel Barlow High School, Region 9 Public Schools
• Dwight Sharpe, Consultant, State Education Resource Center

"The stories I’ve heard over the years from teachers are amazing: why they became teachers, what motivates them, the joy they feel when they break through and really connect with a student, and maybe most of all, the pride they feel when their students go on to do interesting things in life, and then come back to thank them for having been their teacher," Barbara Dalio added in a news release.

Sheena Graham, a teacher at Warren Harding High School in Bridgeport, said storytelling helps people to connect with each other and to understand different perspectives and experiences.

"Stories can build empathy. They can empower others. The stories that are already published on the Teachers of Connecticut platform are so powerful and inspiring, and truly humanizing, which means so much in our profession where teachers are not always appreciated as people with deep passion for the work we do," Graham said in a news release. "I find myself continually returning to read the stories again and again."

Another teacher, Chris Poulos, who works at Joel Barlow High School in Redding, said the pandemic has caused teachers to "stretch even further than ever before."

"Without warning or training, teachers were thrown into an entirely new world of remote learning and had to figure out how to engage students virtually," added Dale Bernadoni, CT Managing Director, Fund for Teachers. "There were many heroes who stepped forward to meet the challenges presented by the pandemic, and teachers were certainly among those at the forefront. Spotlighting some of the many classroom innovations that emerged, both small and large, will help recognize their efforts and help those innovations to outlast the pandemic."

Graham noted that the stories on the Teachers of Connecticut platform "will cover a wide range of topics" such as innovations during the pandemic, a teacher's personal journey into the profession, the why behind a specific practice and how it impacts students, and more.

"Common to all stories will be their genesis, from the heart and soul of Connecticut’s teachers, and their purpose, to uplift, to celebrate, and to inspire," she said.