Four Fellows were featured in the Cit Pat’s January 28 article on the W.K. Kellogg Foundation’s Woodrow Wilson Michigan Teaching Fellows who are now doing their clinical preparation at Jackson High Schoolin Jackson, MI.

Matt Oney with a JHS student. Photo: Shelby Mack, Jackson Citizen Patriot.

Dr. Oney, a plant biologist, is now in the middle of a year of field work at Jackson High School that’s intertwined with his master’s-level teaching preparation. He and three colleagues–chemist Ben Weaver, molecular biologist Clinton Bartholomew, and physicist Damian Kahn–are all doing their WKKF-WW Fellowships at Michigan State University.

In speaking with reporter Leanne Smith, the Fellows all emphasized how important it was to them to work with students who might not otherwise get a strong science background. “I want to help teach kids so they’ll be better prepared when they get to college,” Mr. Khan told the reporter. Dr. Bartholomew echoed the sentiment: “I can make a larger difference and a much greater impact at the high school level.”

Dr. Gail Richmond, who directs the Fellowship program at MSU, notes that “the entire staff [at Jackson HS] have been so happy

with these four Fellows and the MSU Fellowship’s support that the principal asked the newspaper to come and do a story.” The principal, Barbara Baird-Pauli, told the Cit Pat that having the four Fellows on board was a “golden opportunity” for her school.

Schools like Jackson HS need committed STEM professionals to teach their kids. What do you think it takes to get first-rate scientists and mathematicians like these four Fellows into the schools that need them most–and why don’t more make that choice?

The Skomps married before graduating—she in December 2011, he in May 2012—and were both named Woodrow Wilson Teaching Fellows in June 2012. Since then they’ve been pursuing their teacher preparation together. Both John and Jordan are currently doing their clinical placements, essentially a year-long pre-teaching experience, at Indianapolis’ well-known Harshman Magnet Middle School for Science, Technology, Engineering, Math and World Languages.

So far, according to the IUPUI story, the Skomps give their clinical work as Fellows high marks:

“This has been an awesome experience,” Jordan said of student teaching. “I’m really beginning to learn what it means to be a good teacher and to better understand classroom dynamics.”

“It’s all about confidence,” John added. “You also need to set good boundaries in your class, because students are less likely to test those boundaries if you make it clear what is acceptable.”

Read the full IUPUI post here.

Have a look at Sheila’s 90-second commentary below:

Teachers–have you mentored folks who are new to the classroom? Did you have a mentor whose advice you still rely on, and if so, what was that advice?

At the Woodrow Wilson Foundation, those of us working with the Woodrow Wilson Teaching Fellowship are in awe of some of the Fellows who have joined the program. Not only are they willing to give teaching a shot in spite of the challenges, they actually want the challenges. They don’t want to do the easy stuff. They want to do the hard stuff, for the kids who need it most, and they want to do it right.

These Fellows have a lot to say about the art and science of teaching, about what it means to transition into the classroom, and about the difference that their experience as Fellows makes. They also speak with laughter and clarity and sometimes a little melancholy about how tough the challenges really are. And, being expert problem-solvers, they come up with solutions that we think others can learn from.

So here at Woodrow Wilson we decided to start this blog. It’s meant to be a forum for the perspectives that our Fellows can offer, and a clearinghouse for some of their suggestions and resources. It’s also aiming to pull in some of the best advice and tools that mentors, peer teachers, and education leaders offer. Beyond that, from time to time it will also feature major policy issues related to the teaching profession and run announcements about the Fellowship. Contributors will include not only Fellows, but also an array of guest bloggers… and sometimes just us, the Woodrow Wilson staff.

Comments are welcome—in fact, comments and maybe even guest posts on substantive issues are very important to us, and to the Fellows. We really want to engage the education community. And since everybody in this country, one way or another, is a constituent of education, that means we want to engage you.

So stay tuned.