Boettcher Teachers Program
The Boettcher Teachers Program is an innovative field-based approach to preparing new teachers to thrive in urban schools.
Through the Boettcher Teachers Program, new teachers acquire skills that enable them to be successful with students who have been historically underserved: linguistically diverse students and students living in poverty. Boettcher Fellows are committed to making a difference in the world and thrive in the face of challenge. These new teachers have a passion for curiosity, self-reflection, and personal growth.
Thanks to a generous grant from the Boettcher Foundation, 16 fellowships have been awarded this year to support outstanding teacher candidates. Each fellowship provides full tuition and a living stipend to qualified applicants.
"The Boettcher Teachers Program offers world-class teacher preparation based on the question: What does an urban teacher need to know and be able to do to be the most effective educator possible?" says Paul Michalec, program chair of curriculum and instruction for the Morgridge College of Education.
Boettcher Fellows spend their first year in urban classrooms learning alongside master teachers in the Mapleton and Adams 12 school districts. The fellows earn a teaching certification and a master's degree, and learn teaching strategies that support high student achievement.
Teachers who have completed the Boettcher Teachers Program have learned the strategies that make them effective teachers.
"The Boettcher Teachers Program is really producing leaders in the district," reports Josh Franklin, a Boettcher Fellow and first-year math teacher in the Mapleton Public Schools.
Two unique aspects of the program are the supportive full-year residency and an intimate learning community that supports Fellows' growth over the five year commitment. Working alongside a mentor teacher in an urban classroom, Boettcher fellows are able to instantly apply new learning to real world experiences.
The Boettcher Teachers Program is known nationally for its powerful mentoring program.
"We believe that our mentors offer the very best support for novice teachers," says Karen Lowenstein, Co-Director of the Boettcher Teachers Program. Daily conversations with their mentors offer fellows the opportunity to put what they learn in their coursework into practice immediately. In addition, Boettcher Fellows create meaningful connections between hands-on classroom experience and university course work through weekly seminars.
In a cohort program such as this, the supportive relationships that Fellows develop are one of the most important components to their future success. The support to build strong professional relationships creates an important foundation for new teachers as they begin their careers.
"Not only does the cohort model of teacher residency create meaningful and authentic educational experiences, it also provides a laboratory in which to explore our own beliefs about teaching and learning. Boettcher Teachers are helping to redefine professional relationships within their schools," according to Boettcher Teachers Program co-director, Andra Brill.
"One of the main differences when teaching in an urban environment," adds Maria Salazar, clinical assistant professor at the Morgridge College and lead faculty for the Boettcher program, "is for students to be aware of their own cultureĀand their own world view."
Questions of perspective, privilege and power are at the core of the Boettcher Teachers Program and are explored within every learning opportunity. In addition to becoming more aware of their own culture and biases, Boettcher Teachers spend time getting to know students both inside and outside of the classroom, developing relationships with their students' families and understanding the impact communities have in schools.
Long after graduation, Boettcher Fellows continue to impact the schools they work in and they students they teach. Boettcher alumni Katie Gaddis and Kate Mulcahy have created multi-cultural literature classes that attract hundreds of students. Josh Franklin, Sonja Ludwig, and Anna Persson serve on the district Math Standards Committee. Thornton High School principal Janette Walters has described one new science teacher as having the ability to reflect like a ten-year veteran. Finally, a Boettcher teacher in her third year in the classroom, Anna Orton, says, "The program nurtured my creative, curious self by challenging me to think deeper, critically, differently, and most importantly reflectively...to 'think like a teacher'."
If you believe that education can change lives and are ready to commit to have an impact on our next generation, the Boettcher Teachers Program is the most well-supported way to become an urban teacher. For more information about the Boettcher Teachers Program, visit the website at www.boettcherteachers.org.