Traditionally, teachers have spent most of their time at the front of the classrooms. Harvard's Conant Fellowships give them a welcome opportunity to return to the learning side of the lecture hall.

Announced at Harvard's 350th birthday celebration, the Conant Fellowships give six teachers $7000 each to pay part of a year's tuition at the Graduate School of Education. The first Conant Scholars entered the Ed School last fall.

The Conants represent a gift from the Harvard Corporation to Boston and Cambridge. They are also the product of collaboration among University administrators, the Ed School and the Boston and Cambridge School systems. The gift establishes a $750,000 endowment fund that will be used to pay part of the $11,000 tuition for a year at the Ed School for each of the fellows.

Named after James B. Conant '14, the president of the University from 1933 to 1953 who was known for his interest in public education, the Conant fellowships mark the first time that Harvard has funded continuing education for area public school teachers.

Unique Opportunity

Conant fellows say the fellowships are a particularly important program because they provide teachers with a very hard-to-come-by opportunity to return to school, and they increase Harvard's involvement in urban school systems.

Many fellows say they could not have returned to school without the program. "I never would have been able to afford it," says fellow Mildred C. Blackman, who is principal of the Haggerty School in Cambridge.

The Conant Fellowships provide teachers with both an opportunity and a challenge. Most of the fellows attend the Ed School as full-time students, and several say that making the transition from teacher to student can be difficult.

"I think most aren't as fortunate as I am. Most can't do it full-time. After people have been out of school and have families, it's a big interruption not just in career but in lifestyle," says Noreen Lovett, a full time student who is on sabbatical this year from her job at South Boston High School.

"I hadn't been back to school for 13 years," Kathleen P. Conway says. "You fall back into it, but to be away for that long is very scary."

Taking time off gives teachers a much-needed chance to think about their work and evaluate their careers from a more academic point of view, Conant fellows say.

"What's really nice is that it's given me a chance to reflect on my own teaching," says Conway, who taught at the Tobin Middle School in Cambridge and in various alternative education programs in the city before going on sabbatical this year.

"I'd like to see more people take this opportunity, especially elementary school [teachers]," she adds. "I think people in the secondary level tend to be more aggressive and get out and learn. Especially at the lower levels, you just don't have the opportunity to step back."

"When you're a teacher, the job is all-consuming," says Elizabeth Grady, who is on leave from her job at the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School. "It takes an immense amount of time."

And having more time to think can provide valuable time for improving and augmenting teaching techniques or philosophies.