Your Teaching Position
Milwaukee Teaching Fellows teach students in the subject areas and the schools where their expertise is needed the most. Candidates accepted into Milwaukee Teaching Fellows will be assigned to teach in a specific subject area based on teaching eligibility, district need, and—whenever possible—the candidate’s stated preferences. We are currently recruiting for math, science, special education, and elementary bilingual education classrooms. Eligibility is determined according to strict district, state, and licensure partner requirements which stipulate that in order to teach a subject, candidates must demonstrate competence in that subject. Fellows must pass specific examinations in order to begin the pre-service training in summer 2012 and to start teaching full time in the fall.
In order to secure a teaching assignment in a specific school, Fellows engage in the same district hiring process as other teachers. While Milwaukee Teaching Fellows cannot guarantee a position in the district for Fellows, the program office will help to coordinate placements by working with Milwaukee Public Schools to direct Fellows to schools with vacancies in their subject area and providing job search support to Fellows throughout the summer.
The district hiring process can be challenging. Due to mobility within the school system, it is often difficult to predict exact vacancies until very close to, and in some cases just after, the beginning of the school year. It is also the mission of the Milwaukee Teaching Fellows program to work in schools with the highest need for teachers. As a result, all candidates must be extremelyflexible about their teaching assignment and should be prepared to teach wherever they are most needed.
Teaching Fellows will embark on their new careers addressing inequities in education, by setting high expectations for the students in their classrooms and dedicating themselves to impacting these students’ achievement. We call on you to accept the urgent challenge to make a difference in schools in most need of high-quality educators.
A Typical Teaching Day
A typical teaching day in Milwaukee lasts about 8 hours, with students in class from approximately 7:30 to 3:30, though these hours may vary by school. In addition to instructional hours, all teachers spend time preparing lessons, reviewing student work, attending faculty meetings, or supervising extracurricular activities. During your first two years, you will also attend evening and weekend courses to earn your Master’s degree at Cardinal Stritch University. Balancing these priorities will be challenging, but your coursework will be immediately relevant to your work in the classroom, so you can apply what you learn in the evening with your students the next day. Still, you should anticipate that Pre-service Training and your first two years in the classroom will be very demanding as you strive to meet your own professional development goals and the achievement goals you set for your students.