Sam Futrell

William & Mary

Sam Futrell is a full-time member of the lilyPD team, Master Teacher for the Strategic Cultural Partnerships (SCP) office at William & Mary (W&M), and the new host and producer of the SCP podcast, One Question With . Before coming to W&M, she taught middle school social studies for a decade and was named the 2024 National Council for the Social Studies Secondary Teacher of the Year. She has served the social studies community as the President of the Virginia Council for the Social Studies since 2022, and is currently running for election to the American Historical Association’s Council in the Teaching and Learning Division.

She believes education is a cornerstone of democracy with the power to break down systemic barriers—but only when the education system itself is democratized. This belief inspired her book Mini Moves for Every Writer (2025), which empowers every teacher to see themselves as a writing teacher and every student to grow into a confident writer. She hopes that lilyPD will be a place teachers can come to learn more about their practice, be treated with respect and admiration for their work, find connection through community, and get practical strategies to use with their students next period.