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Fellows get advice, encouragement
Aug 13, 2009 2:09 PM
Welcoming ceremonies for the 2009 Teaching Fellows opened on a high note with flags, twirlers and the stirring sounds of a marching band.
Despite tough times and a Department of Education hiring freeze in all but new schools and certain shortage areas, the 750 New York City 2009 Teaching Fellows are looking forward to finding a place in the classrooms of city public schools this September.
At welcoming ceremonies on June 15 at the historic Apollo Theater in Harlem, UFT Vice President for Education Issues Aminda Gentile told the aspiring educators that they are about to become members of a super-sized professional support team, the United Federation of Teachers.
Citing the union’s ongoing efforts to protect classrooms from threatened budget cuts, reduce class sizes and ensure resources, she also spoke of the union’s success in improving working conditions with a 43 percent pay increase for city educators between 2002 and 2008.
Gentile, also the director of the UFT Teacher Center, encouraged the Fellows to take advantage of the many ways that the union and the nationally recognized Teacher Center supports and strengthens professional development.
Acknowledging in his welcoming remarks that good teachers are the core of student achievement, Schools Chancellor Joel Klein said he wished times were not so tough so that he could hire all the “extraordinary group of people” in this year’s Fellows program.
UFT Vice President Aminda Gentile welcomes the aspiring educators with a promise of UFT support and encouragement.
Chosen from among 14,665 applications from new graduates and others seeking career changes, the 750 will undergo an intensive seven-week, pre-service training session to teach in the highest-need subject areas of math, special education, science and bilingual education at schools in need. Most will fill classrooms in the Bronx and Brooklyn.
The freeze on hiring outside the system, which was imposed in May, partially exempts new schools and those that opened in the last two years and are still building up staff. All new schools must select at least 60 percent of their staff from present DOE employees, with the remainder coming from outside the system. The only other exception will be for teachers in designated shortage areas such as bilingual special education and speech teachers.
The afternoon program at the Apollo included lots of encouragement and advice from earlier Fellows who have established successful teaching careers since the founding of the program in 2000.
The Jordan L. Mott Mighty Marching Tigers Band, students of JHS 22 in the Bronx where 2002 Fellow Linda Rosenbury is now principal, provided a dazzling opening to the event. Resplendent in snappy uniforms, their brass and percussion sounds filled the Apollo as drum majorettes strutted and baton twirlers filled the aisles.
In a quieter performance, the 2009 Fellows heard 2000 Fellow Zelman Bokser’s PS 75 violin ensemble, featuring Brooklyn students from 1st to 6th grade, and gave them a standing ovation.
Two 11th-graders, students of 2008 science Fellow Anna Bennett of the Urban Assembly School of Music and Art in Brooklyn, and two students of Malik Ketcham, 2008 math Fellow of JHS 118 in the Bronx and recipient of the 2009 award for Classroom Excellence in the First Year, reflected on what makes an ideal teacher.
Yen Pham, 2004 special education Fellow and finalist for the 2008 Award for Classroom Excellence, also shared some inside teacher tips.
Former Fellow Zelman Bokser’s violin ensemble from PS 75, Brooklyn, plays its way to a standing ovation.
Approximately 8,700 Fellows are currently teaching in city schools. They make up 26 percent of math teachers, 18 percent of science teachers and 22 percent of special education teachers.
This was the most selective year ever for admissions to the Teaching Fellows program; only 9 percent of applicants were offered admission compared to 15 percent last year. The average undergraduate GPA of the group is 3.31 with 21 percent having completed graduate-level degrees.
All of the official welcomers, including Deputy Mayor Dennis Walcott and Deputy Chancellor Santiago Taveras, made it very clear to the would-be teachers, “You will make a difference.”
