Philadelphia Teacher

Trey teaches K-8 students in a multidisciplinary makerspace at the Marian Anderson School in the School District of Philadelphia. He joined the faculty as a digital literacy teacher in 2021 and designs thematic units for each grade level. Based on his work at Marian Anderson, he has been invited to speak on panels at the US Department of Education and the Smithsonian National Education Summit. 

Trey leads a number of after school programs, including robotics clubs, a science research club, a junior chapter of the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE), and a media club. In 2023, his school was one of only two in Philadelphia to have winning student projects in the FIRST LEGO League Challenge, the Carver Science Fair, and the Philly Media and Design Competition. That same year he received the CS4Philly Computer Science Teacher Early Career Impact Award.

Trey began teaching middle school students in science and social studies classes at Morrison Elementary in North Philadelphia in 2007.

In 2010, Trey joined the faculty at Boys' Latin of Philadelphia Charter School in West Philadelphia were he taught students in biology, chemistry, and physical science classes. During four years as science department chair at Boys' Latin, he established a NSBE jr. chapter, two robotics teams, a science research and internship program, a monthly science speaker series, and a monthly field trip series. Trey also co-founded the Philadelphia Engineering and Math Challenge in partnership with educators from the Math Forum to provide a yearlong series of competitions for middle and high school math teams from Philadelphia public schools. As a teacher at Boys' Latin, he received the 2012 Outstanding Science Teacher Award from the Philadelphia Chapter of the Pennsylvania Society of Professional Engineers and a 2014 Teacher as Hero Award from the National Liberty Museum.

After moving to Washington, DC, and Evanston, IL, for fellowship opportunities and graduate studies, Trey returned to Boys' Latin in 2019 to teach chemistry, environmental science, and computer science. In 2021, he received the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching from President Biden.

Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellow

During the 2014-15 school year, Trey served as an Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellow on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. As a legislative fellow in the Senate, he helped secure bipartisan amendments to the Every Student Succeeds Act of 2016 related to engineering and computer science education, career and technical education, and teacher professional development. 

Trey maintains an interest in teachers' engagement in education policy. As an advisor to the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT), he has helped design and study programs that support science teacher leadership and policy advocacy.

Science Teacher in Residence at the Library of Congress

For the 2015-16 school year, the Library of Congress selected Trey to be its first-ever Science Teacher-in-Residence. In his role at the Library he explored teaching and learning with historical primary sources in science and engineering classrooms. 

Based on his experience teaching with primary sources across disciplines, Trey has facilitated workshops sponsored by the National Council for History Education and hosted by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Astronauts Memorial Foundation at the Kennedy Space Center, and The Henry Ford.

Philadelphia Writing Project Teacher Consultant

Since 2009, Trey has served as a teacher consultant with the Philadelphia Writing Project (PhilWP). He has co-facilitated PhilWP's signature Invitational Summer Institute on Writing and Literacy for six summers and co-chaired PhilWP's advisory board from 2020-2024. 

In 2014, he co-led a $60,000 grant from the National Writing Project (NWP) and the Association of Science-Technology Centers (ASTC) to create the after school program "GAME ON! Philadelphia: Science, Literacy, and the Pursuit of Happiness" in partnership with the Academy of Natural Sciences at Drexel University. 

In 2018 and 2020, Trey co-led two grants from the Library of Congress's Teaching with Primary Sources (TPS) Eastern Region totaling $40,000 to build capacity within the Philadelphia Writing Project to support teacher writing, inquiry, and leadership across disciplines through teaching with primary sources. The 2020 project involved partnering with teachers in two learning networks in the School District of Philadelphia and forming a cadre of teachers engaged in yearlong practitioner inquiries and leadership activities.

In 2021, Trey began co-leading a four-year $225,000 grant from the Library of Congress to create curriculum materials for using primary sources to support civically engaged argument writing in K-12 classrooms. As part of this grant project, he has co-designed summer institutes and professional development for teachers hosted by Independence National Historical Park, the African American Museum in Philadelphia, and the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History.

Adjunct Science Education Methods Instructor

From 2010 to 2016, Trey taught new teachers in secondary science education methods and foundations in education courses at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education (PennGSE) in the Urban Teacher Master's & Certification Program. 

Since 2019, he has taught secondary science education methods in the Independent School Teaching Residency Program at PennGSE.

Selected Presentations at K-12 Educator Conferences

Smith, J. F., & Teisan, J. (2025, March). From Diego Rivera’s murals to Ford’s first factory: Integrating STEAM with PBL³ (project-, problem-, and place-based learning) in Detroit. National Science Teaching Association (NSTA) National Conference, Philadelphia, PA.

Teisan, J., & Smith, J. F. (2024, November). Integrating primary sources into STEAM + problem-, project-, and place-based learning professional development in Detroit. National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) Annual Conference, Boston, MA. (Poster)

Lapina, L., Ross, J., & Smith, J. F. (2024, March). Using historical primary sources to strengthen civic argument writing. National Council for History Education (NCHE) Conference, Cleveland, OH. (Resources)

Lapina, L., Ross, J., & Smith, J. F. (2023, December). Integrating historical primary sources into text sets to support civic argument writing. National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) Annual Conference, Nashville, TN. (Resources)

Hodgdon, A., & Smith, J. F. (2023, October). Creating shadow puppet stories with digital tools. Pennsylvania Council of Teachers of English and Language Arts Annual Conference, Harrisburg, PA. (Resources)

Smith, J. F. (2022, July). Supporting civically engaged argument writing in science and technology classrooms. National Science Teaching Association (NSTA) Conference, Chicago, IL.

Freed, J., Patten, B., Ross, J., Savage, P., Smith, J. F., & Yau, L. (2022, March). Supporting civically engaged argument writing with primary sources. National Council for History Education (NCHE) Conference. (Poster)

Smith, J. F. (2021, November). Supporting student agency using multidisciplinary projects in the elementary classroom. National Science Teaching Association (NSTA) Area Conference, National Harbor, MD.

Smith, J. F. (2021, November). Sustaining an inquiry community with a Teaching with Primary Sources grant. In L. Roop (Chair), Forming “beloved community” in the face of insurrection. National Council for Teachers of English (NCTE) Annual Convention.

Smith, J. F., & Yau, L. (2021, June). Supporting teachers teaching with primary sources beyond the grant. Library of Congress TPS Eastern Region Conference.

Darken, E., Smith, J. F., & Yau, L. (2021, April). Using digital mapping tools to connect primary sources with communities and opportunities for writing. National Council for History Education (NCHE) Conference. (Poster)

Darken, E., Freifelder, J., Goldstein, A., Molinaro, G., Ross, J., Smith, J. F., & Yau, L. (2020, December). Classroom inquiries with markers, monuments, murals, and other public texts. National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) Annual Conference. (Resources)

Smith, J. F., & Ryan, D. (2020, June). Co-authoring Teaching with Primary Sources (TPS) professional development with partners. Library of Congress TPS Eastern Region Conference. (Recording)

Freed, J., Freifelder, J., Patten, B., Primo, S Rosales, A., Smith, J. F., & Whitfield, L. (2019, November). Inquiries into teaching with historical primary sources: Resistance, resilience, and healing. National Council for Teachers of English (NCTE) Annual Convention, Baltimore, MD. (Resources)

Teisan, J. L., & Smith, J. F. (2019, April). Making the most of project-, problem-, place-, passion-, and partnership-based learning. National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) National Conference, St. Louis, MO.

Smith, J. F. (2019, March). Interdisciplinary teaching and learning in science classrooms with historical primary sources [Poster]. ASCD Empower19 Conference, Chicago, IL. (Poster)

Teisan, J. L., & Smith, J. F (2018, November). Strengthening STEM learning with community partnerships that integrate arts and social studies. National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) Area Conference, National Harbor, MD.

Smith, J. F. (2018, October). Human impacts on environment and teaching with historical primary sources. Illinois Science Teachers Association (ISTA) Conference, Tinley Park, IL.

Smith, J. F. (2018, July). Framework for teaching with historical primary sources in science classrooms [Poster]. American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT) Summer Meeting, Washington, DC. (Poster)

Smith, J. F. (2017, November). Teaching science and engineering with historical primary sources: Opportunities for cross-disciplinary learning. National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) Area Conference, Milwaukee, WI.

Reimers, A., & Smith, J. F. (2016, October). Sound thinking! Engineering invention and innovation with middle school youth. Frontiers in Education (FIE) Conference, Erie, PA.

Apfeldorf, M., & Smith, J. F. (2016, April). Science as human endeavor: Analyzing historical primary sources from the Library of Congress. National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) National Conference, Nashville, TN.

Paper Presentations

Smith, J. F., & Reiser, B. J. (2019, April). “So, I’ve done a lot of talking with them...”: Supporting student talk and agency in science classrooms. Paper presented at the American Education Research Association (AERA) Annual Meeting. Toronto, ON.

Davis, N. R., & Smith, J. F. (2019, April). Children’s self-determination as intellectually and socially transformative in a making/tinkering program. Paper presented at the American Education Research Association (AERA) Annual Meeting. Toronto, ON.

Smith, J. F., & Reiser, B. J. (2019, April). Teachers’ reports on successes and challenges in co- constructing direction of learning using storylines curriculum materials. Paper presented at the National Association for search in Science Teaching (NARST) 2019 Annual International Conference. Baltimore, MD.

Smith, J. F., & Reiser, B. J. (2018, October). “Figuring it out” together: Problematizing as a core component of model-based learning. Paper presented at the European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction (EARLI) Joint SIG 20 and SIG 26 Meeting. Jerusalem.

Panels

Avery, C., Cole-Malott, D., Mayorga, E., Smith, J. F., Thomas, D. E., Wiltshire, N., & Jimenez, F. Opening general session: Philadelphia leaders in education. (2025, April). National Partnership for Educational Access (NPEA) Annual Conference, Philadelphia, PA.

Valdes, J., Lopez, L., Rosatone, L., Curtis, P., Day, K. J., & Smith, J. F. (2022, November). Convergence education and its intersection with invention education. InventEd Convening, Alexandria, VA.

O’Donnell, C., Valdes, J., Curtis, P., Akesson, L., Day, K. J., & Smith, J. F. (2022, September). Reimagining STEM education: The pathway to convergence education. US Department of Education, Washington, DC.

O’Donnell, C., Brown, Q., Kuehn, E., Lopez, L., Valdes, J., Curtis, P., Day, K. J., & Smith, J. F. (2022, July). Convergence education: A framework for transdisciplinary learning to help educators teach about the world's most pressing challenges. Smithsonian National Education Summit, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC. (Recording)

Smith, J. F. (2020, February). Supporting teachers’ inquiries into teaching with primary sources: Hope, healing, and the historical record. In D. Waff (Chair), Sharing practitioner inquiry in community: The promise and possibility. 41st Annual Ethnography in Education Research Forum, Philadelphia, PA.

Multi-Day Workshops for K-12 Educators

Project-, place-, and problem-based learning (PBL3) institute. (2024, August). Co-facilitator with J. Teisan. InnovatED(313) and Detroit Public Schools Community District. Detroit, MI. (Resources)

Educators on Beaver Island. (2024, July-August). Co-facilitator with S. Cavanaugh, A. O'Neil, & W. Pangle. Biological Station and Center for Excellence of STEM Education at Central Michigan University, Beaver Island, MI.

Supporting civically engaged argument writing workshop series. (2024, April-May). Co-facilitator with J. Ross. School District of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA. (Resources)

PBL2: Project- and place-based learning summer institute. (2023, July). Co-facilitator with J. Teisan. Belle Isle Aquarium and Central Michigan University, Detroit, MI.

Invitational summer institute on writing and literacy: Supporting civically engaged argument writing with primary sources. (2023, June). Co-facilitator with J. Ross, B. Rosser, and partners from Independence National Historical Park, the African American Museum in Philadelphia, and the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History. Philadelphia Writing Project, Graduate School of Education, University of Pennsylvania. Philadelphia, PA. (Resources)

Invitational summer institute on writing and literacy. (2022, June). Co-facilitator with J. Ross and partners from Independence National Historical Park and the African American Museum in Philadelphia. Philadelphia Writing Project, Graduate School of Education, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA. (Resources)

Technology's impact on American history: Technology and innovation in America's auto industry. (2022, April). Co-facilitator with M. Daley, L. Doornbos, P. Grumm, & O. Marsh. National Council for History Education (NCHE)-Teaching with Primary Sources (TPS) program. Hosted by The Henry Ford Museum, Dearborn, MI. (Resources)

Crafting argument claims [online]. (2022, March). Co-facilitator with D. Williams. Teaching Argument Writing, National Writing Project.

Creating an argument text set [online]. (2021, August). Co-facilitator with D. Hawkins. Teaching Argument Writing, National Writing Project.

Invitational summer institute on writing and literacy [online]. (2020, July). Co-facilitator with R. Rivera-Amezola and B. Rosser. Philadelphia Writing Project, Graduate School of Education, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA. (Website)

Advanced summer institute on writing, learning, and leading [online]. (2020, July). Co-facilitator with D. Portnoy and S. Reed. Philadelphia Writing Project, Graduate School of Education, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA. (Website)

AAPT/AIP master teacher policy fellowship. (2019, July). Co-facilitator with members of AAPT Master Teacher Leader Task Force. American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT) and American Institute of Physics (AIP), College Park, MD, and Washington, DC. (Overview)

Invitational summer institute on writing and literacy: Exploring primary sources through the lenses of history, civics, & community. (2019, July). Co-facilitator with L. Whitfield, B. Patten, and partners from Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting, Poetry Inside Out, and Philly School Media Network. Philadelphia Writing Project, Graduate School of Education, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA. (Website)

Technology's impact on American history: NASA and Flight Technology. (2019, January). Co-facilitator with W. B. Carlson. National Council for History Education (NCHE)-Teaching with Primary Sources (TPS) program. Hosted by Astronauts Memorial Kennedy Space Center, FL. (Resources)

AAPT/AIP master teacher policy fellowship. (2018, July). Co-facilitator with members of AAPT Master Teacher Leader Task Force. American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT) and American Institute of Physics (AIP), College Park, MD, and Washington, DC. (Overview)

Invitational summer institute on writing and literacy: Exploring primary sources through the lenses of history, civics, & community. (2018, July). Co-facilitator with D. Waff, M. Mannix, L. Whitfield, and partners from Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting, Poetry Inside Out, Philly School Media Network, and West Philadelphia Collaborative History Center. Philadelphia Writing Project, Graduate School of Education, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA. (Website)

Technology's impact on American history: Technological innovations and patents. (2018, March). Co- facilitator with W. B. Carlson & C. Szwajkowski. National Council for History Education (NCHE)-Teaching with Primary Sources (TPS) program. Hosted by US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), Alexandria, VA.

Summer teacher institute: Teaching science, technology, and engineering with primary sources. (2017, July). Co-facilitator with M. Apfeldorf & C. Lederle. Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

Technology's impact on American history: Technological innovations and patents. (2017, March). Co- facilitator with W. B. Carlson & C. Szwajkowski. National Council for History Education (NCHE)-Teaching with Primary Sources (TPS) program. Hosted by US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), Alexandria, VA.

Invitational summer institute on writing and literacy. (2016, July-August). Co-facilitator with L. Brown & M. Mannix. Philadelphia Writing Project, Graduate School of Education, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA.

Summer teacher institute: Teaching with primary sources. (2016, June-July). Co-facilitator with M. Apfeldorf & A. Savage. Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

Selected Presentations at Schools, Districts, Libraries, Museums, and Universities

Animation across the curriculum: Using low-cost, high impact animation processes to enhance STEAM learning. (2025, June). Intermediate Unit 24 and School District of Philadelphia STEAM Conference, Philadelphia, PA.

Embracing joy, justice, and argument writing in our classrooms by drawing upon models from historical Black literary societies. (2025, April). School District of Philadelphia Educator Symposium, Philadelphia, PA.

From shadow puppet stories to food commercials: Creating videos in a makerspace. (2024, June). Intermediate Unit 24 and School District of Philadelphia STEAM Conference, Philadelphia, PA.

Eliciting student thinking and supporting student choice, agency, and self-determination in multidisciplinary classrooms. (2023, July). Center for Excellence in STEM Education, Central Michigan University, Mt. Pleasant, MI.

Drone archaeology project: Multidisciplinary middle school learning in a makerspace. (2023, May). Second Annual Philadelphia CS Principles Showcase, Jumpstart Philly CS4All, Philadelphia, PA.

Four Freedoms revisited: Supporting civically engaged argument writing. (2023, March). Co-facilitator with J. Ross and R. Krasner. Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History, Philadelphia, PA. (Resources)

Designing and facilitating an afterschool STEM program. (2022, November). Philadelphia Education Fund, Philadelphia, PA.

Sparking and supporting project-based learning inquiries across disciplines. (2022, July). Belle Isle Aquarium and Central Michigan University PBL STEAM Institute, Detroit, MI.

Exploring patterns and encoding information through hands on making activities. (2021, December). Computer Science Education Week Teacher Forum, Jumpstart Philly CS4All and Computer Science Teachers Association Philly, Philadelphia, PA.

Creating a literacy curriculum to support civically engaged argument writing. (2021, October). Co-facilitator with J. Ross. Mid-Career Doctoral Program in Educational Leadership, Graduate School of Education, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA.

Kickstarting PBL units with thinking routines and driving question boards. (2021, July). Belle Isle Aquarium and Central Michigan University PBL STEAM Institute, Detroit, MI.

Environmental justice: Imagining possibilities with students, finding hope. (2020, August). Noyce Virtual Summit. American Association for the Advancement of Science and National Science Foundation, Washington, DC.

Introduction to Philadelphia Writing Project's Invitational Summer Institute for principals and teachers in School District of Philadelphia Learning Networks 2 and 11. (2020, February). Middle Years Alternative School, Philadelphia, PA.

College, Career, and Community Writers Program: Multiple perspectives and writing claims. (2019, November). Co-facilitator with N. Hiller, M. Mannix, & D. Waff. Kutztown Area School District, Kutztown, PA. (Website)

Science, technology, history, and the environment: Using digitized historical primary sources to support project- and problem-based learning in Chicago. (2018, August). Earth Force Teacher Workshop, The Field Museum, Chicago, IL.

Supporting cross-disciplinary learning with historical primary sources. (2018, January). Elementary and Middle School Field Studies Seminar, Teacher Education Program, Graduate School of Education, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA.

Catalyzing STEAM learning with historical primary sources and student questions. (2017, November). Chicago STEM Summit, Office of Community Education Partnerships, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL.

Teatro: Artistic imagination and action as a mode of social dreaming. (2017, November). Member of Northwestern Teatro Collective led by S. Vossoughi. Annual Teen Services Workshop: Exploring Cultural Competency through the Arts, Chicago Public Library, Chicago, IL.

Unpacking power, culturally sustaining pedagogies, and primary sources. (2017, July). Mid-Career Doctoral Program in Educational Leadership, Graduate School of Education, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA.

Exploring nature of science, science practices, and links among science and society: Teaching with primary sources in science classrooms [online]. (2016, July). Ohio Writing Project, Miami University, Oxford, OH.

Exploring nature of science, science practices, and links among science and society: Teaching with primary sources in elementary classrooms. (2016, April). EDCI 619 course, MEd in Teacher Leadership: Special Studies in STEM Education Program, The Universities at Shady Grove, MD.

Exploring nature of science, science practices, and links among science and society: Teaching with primary sources in science classrooms [online]. (2016, April). UCLA Lab School, Los Angeles, CA.

Context, connections, and critical thinking: Primary sources in science classrooms. (2016, March). Advanced Academic Programs Secondary Science Institute. Fairfax County Public Schools, Fairfax, VA.

Workshop on college and career ready standards for Philadelphia pre-service teachers, mentors, and site directors. (2016, January). Philadelphia Teacher Residency, Drexel University, and Philadelphia Education Fund, Philadelphia, PA.  

Paper in Peer-Reviewed Journal

Davis, N., Vossoughi, S., & Smith, J. F. (2020). Learning from below: A micro-ethnographic account of children’s self-determination as sociopolitical and intellectual action. Learning, Culture, and Social Interaction, 24. (View)

Papers in Published Conference Proceedings

Dyer, E. B., Smith, J. F., & Hodge, L. (2025). Design considerations for supporting youth in developing critical community-centered artistic data visualizations. Proceedings of the 19th International Conference of the Learning Sciences - ICLS 2025. Helsinki, FI: International Society of the Learning Sciences. (View)

Dyer, E. B., Smith, J. F., & Schafer, G. (2024). The role of framing in educators’ conversations around youth’s engagement in community-centered artistic data visualization. In R. Lindgren, T. I. Asino, E. A. Kyza, C. K. Looi, D. T. Keifert, & E. Suárez (Eds.), Proceedings of the 18th International Conference of the Learning Sciences - ICLS 2024 (pp. 2435-2436). Buffalo, NY: International Society of the Learning Sciences. (View)

Zivic, A., Smith, J. F., Reiser, B. J., Edwards, K. D., Novack, M., & McGill, T. A. W. (2018). Negotiating epistemic agency and target learning goals: Supporting coherence from the students’ perspective. In J. Kay & R. Lucin (Eds.), Proceedings of the 13th International Conference of the Learning Sciences - ICLS 2018 (Vol. 1, pp. 25-32). London, UK: International Society of the Learning Sciences. (View)

Book Chapters

Hite, R., Vieyra, R., Milbourne, J., Dou, R., Spuck, T., & Smith, J. F. (2020). STEM teacher leadership in policy. In C. C. Johnson, M. J. Mohr-Schroeder, T. J. Moore, & L. D. English (Eds.), Handbook of research on STEM education (pp. 470-480). Routledge.

Smith, J. F., & Teisan, J. (2018). Building community partnerships and integrating arts and social studies to strengthen STEM learning. In T. Spuck, L. Jenkins, T. Rust, & R. Dou (Ed), Best practices in STEM education: Innovative approaches from Einstein Fellow alumni (2nd Ed., pp. 421-444). Peter Lang.

Articles in Journals for K-12 Educators

Smith, J. F., & Teisan, J. L. (2025). From Diego Rivera's murals to Ford's first factory: Integrating STEAM with PBL (project-, problem-, and place-based learning). LINKS. Michigan Science Teachers Association. (View)

Vieyra, R., Smith, J. F., & Hite, R. (2021, August). Science teachers learn to be policy advocates. The Learning Professional, 42(4), 60-64. (View)

Bundy, B., Dahl, J., Guiñals-Kupperman, S., Hengesbach, J., Martino, K., Metzler, J., Smith, J. F., Spencer, N., Vargas, M., Vieyra, R., Whitehurst, A. (2019, March). Aspiring to lead: Physics teacher leaders influencing science education policy. The Physics Teacher, 57(3), 210-213. (View)

Smith, J. F. (2016, February). Right to the Source: Exploring science and history with the Library of Congress: “Texting” in the 19th century. The Science Teacher, 83(2), 60. (View)