An Urban Teacher World participant enjoys an excursion aboard the Denis Sullivan schooner.

A group of Milwaukee Public Schools sophomores recently got a chance to look at teaching as a career, explore the UWM campus, take a few field trips and enhance their academic skills.  

This year’s Urban Teacher World, held on the UWM campus the last two weeks of June, had a number of new features, according to Felipe Rodriguez, program coordinator and outreach program manager in the School of Education’s Office of Academic Services.

For the first time in its seven-year history, the program’s students stayed on campus for the full two weeks, staying overnight in a dormitory and enjoying the use of campus recreational facilities like the Klotsche Center.

Program makes its theatrical debut
In the past, students had built Web sites or completed other multimedia projects. This year, the 17 students wrote, performed and videotaped a play based on “The First Part Last,” Angela Johnson’s award-winning young adult book about a teenage father. (View the movie.) 

“We wanted to enhance their reading and writing in a creative way,” says Barbara Logan, a coordinator of the program who also is a program specialist in the Office of Academic Services. “It’s also a chance for them to work with technology and video production,” adds Rodriguez.

The group’s first field trip was to Harry W. Schwartz Bookshop on Downer Avenue to select books from among those recommended by Donna Pasternak, an assistant professor of English Education. As a bonus, the students got to keep all the books, not just the one they chose for the screenplay. “They now have a collection of books to read on their own over the summer,” says Logan.

This year’s Urban Teacher World involved faculty from the School of Education, the Peck School of the Arts and the School of Information Studies. Laretta Henderson, an assistant professor in the School of Information Studies specializing in children’s literature, worked with Pasternak in facilitating the students’ reading circle discussions.
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The reading circle discussions helped the students understand the book’s themes and find meaningful lines in the text to serve as the basis for the script. Michelle Lopez-Rios, assistant professor of Theatre, then worked with the students to take these themes and quotes from the text and develop a script. She then directed and staged the students'
performances.


Students could choose from a variety of experiences. In addition to writing, performing directing and videotaping the play, the students helped develop a sound track, wrote and designed the playbill and created a media montage for the opening,

Extracurricular exploration
In addition to creating the play for video, the Urban Teacher World students also took a variety of field trips around the Milwaukee area. Among the outings – Comedy Sportz, the Milwaukee Art Museum, the Milwaukee Repertory, Miller Park and an evening sail on the Denis Sullivan, a Lake Michigan schooner.

Not all students who take part in Urban Teacher World will end up becoming teachers, says Rodriguez, but the program gives them ample opportunity to consider the profession. For example, a panel discussion featuring a teacher, administrator, counselor and education student provided students a glimpse of various aspects of the education profession. Students took part in an American Sign Language workshop – UWM’s School of Education has a strong Interpreter Training program.

Students explored other careers in education through a series of workshops. “We wanted them to be aware there are a variety of careers in education – teacher, administrator, museum educator, counselor, college faculty member,” says Logan.

The students got plenty of free time to just relax and have fun on campus, enjoying swimming, dance classes and basketball at the Klotsche Center. Students interviewed noted the Klotsche Center was one of their favorite places on campus. “It’s a great experience to stay on the campus, meet the faculty, talk to the deans and expand their horizons,” says Rodriguez.

“We wanted to give them a lot of different opportunities that will encourage them to stay in school and continue their education as young adults,” he adds.