new teacher articles
Weingarten to fellows: The union is on your side
Aug 7, 2008 11:58 AM
New fellows by the numbers
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At the June 16 New York City Teaching Fellows 2008 Welcoming Event, UFT President Randi Weingarten’s promise to the more than 1,500 aspiring educators packing Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center elicited a roar of cheers and applause.
“The union will be fighting to ensure that the city, state and the nation give you what you need as a teacher — smaller classes, more funding for the arts, and a voice, so you have the ability to make noise when you need to without anyone getting down on you for it,” Weingarten said.
After congratulating the fellows for taking on one of the most important jobs in a democratic society and talking about the joys and fulfillment guaranteed in store for them, Weingarten delved into the obstacles that they would face.
Her vow to fight for whatever teachers needed came on the heels of some plain talk about city budget cuts and the effect that could have on the classroom. She discussed how the UFT and the 40 other organizations in the Keep the Promises Coalition were working hard and fast to turn that around and invited the fellows to join the coalition’s afternoon rally at City Hall later that day. [The DOE later rescinded all classroom cuts planned for September.]
Weingarten also gave a nutshell description of the UFT, unionism and the crucial role the union will play in the teachers’ — hopefully long — careers in the city’s public school system.
“I am not talking from the perspective of being your boss,” she said. “You are my boss.”
Department of Education staff members were also on hand to welcome the fellows into the school system. After his welcoming remarks, Schools Chancellor Joel Klein commended the winners of the Inaugural Teaching Fellow Awards for Classroom Excellence.
Taking their turn at the podium to talk about their projects and endeavors, many with students in tow, were Eric Ashton of Manhattan’s IS/HS 509, Megan Cahill of Bushwick Leaders’ HS in Brooklyn, and Bronx teachers Ashley Hodge of PS 186, Evan Weinberg of Lehman HS, Heather Lawrence of Urban Assembly School for Wildlife Conservation and Sine Bayar of the Bronx HS for the Visual Arts.
Approximately 650 of the 2008 fellows, or about 40 percent, will teach in the Bronx and around 500 fellows, or 33 percent, will teach in Brooklyn. The rest of the fellows recruited through this largest local alternative certification program in the country will work at schools in need and/or teach in the highest-need subject areas of math, special education, science and bilingual education in schools throughout Queens, Manhattan and Staten Island.
More than 8,000 people were interviewed this year for the fellows program and offers were made to about 2,878 — fewer than one for every six applicants.
