Milwaukee Public Schools need teachers in the areas of math, science, and special education. To help find qualified people, the district enlisted the help of The New Teachers Project. It establishes crash-courses for potential teachers, so they don’t first need to earn education degrees. The training program here kicked off a few weeks ago and is called Milwaukee Teaching Fellows.
Stephen Lange is only 24-years-old, but he’s already decided it’s time for a career change. He graduated from UW Whitewater with a degree in geology and environmental science and then got a job as a data analyst. On the side, he taught music. He says that combination was an eye-opening experience.
“For one summer they overlapped. And it was during that summer I kind of realized yeah, my best day at the office was still not as fun as my worst day teaching,” Lange says.
Besides, Lange says teaching is in his blood. His mom is college professor and his sister is a teacher in New Jersey. In order to learn what they do, he enrolled in the Milwaukee Teaching Fellows program. Over the course of one summer, it shows people who’ve had other careers how to teach. The only caveats are that they earn a teaching license within three years and have a degree in a related field. Lange has one in science, so he’s learning how to teach it. I caught up with him on his first day leading 10th graders at Hamilton High. He’s asking them questions about elements on the periodic table.
“The interaction, just the lifestyle, the job seems like it’s so much more important than sitting day after day at a computer. I feel so much better about doing this than doing any other kind of job,” Lange says.
In addition to actually teaching and observing every weekday morning, Lange must spend his summer afternoons taking a class on methods and theory. In the fall, he’ll teach in MPS. He has a vision for how he hopes it goes.
“There’s the really important task of providing the information to the students so that they can succeed in the classroom. And I also have high expectations of myself just to be, I don’t want to say a teacher that everyone likes because that obviously is beyond your control. But you know I want to be personable, and make sure that I’m connecting to the students in more ways than just academic. You know, be able to have a joke with them in the hallway or something like that to where they feel comfortable being around me,” Lange says.
Lange says he realizes he needs to become acquainted with the student body, he growing up in a small town teaching teens from the city.
“I’m expecting absolutely nothing. And by that, I mean I have expectations obviously but coming out of Cedarburg, like you said, not urban, I kind of realized to myself when I first left nothing was going to be the same. It was going to be totally different environment, totally different lifestyle and I just needed to keep an open mind and take it as it comes. And I kind of am approaching this whole thing with the same attitude,” Lange says.
Lange says he plans to stick around for a while. That’s not what happens with a lot of new teachers in MPS. According to a report from National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future, nearly 12 percent of MPS teachers left the system between 2002 and 2004. That’s above the national average. And the turnover was highest among those with less than five years experience.
“You know, there’s always that little niche in the back of your mind that says wow, I really am not sure if I’ll be able to do this. But I think the fellowship here is really preparing us well and hopefully we’ll squelch out that little bit of doubt before the school year starts,” Lange says.
Lange says he’s ready for the challenge because he believes everyone can learn.
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