“The Fellows Program is a place of support, abundant resources and collaboration to move you, your classes, school and profession forward.”
Susan Kridler
ILab Instructor, Rufus King Middle School, WI
What could your students accomplish if you had the support of peers, community partners, and Learn Deep to develop and implement a collaborative, real-world learning experience?
Program Summary
Learn Deep’s Fellows Program is a community based approach to equip and prepare Milwaukee area teachers to provide K-12 students with real world Learning Experiences that develop the talents students need to go out into the world. This includes the abilities to work effectively as a team, take on open ended challenges, and present and share their work to an authentic audience.
The Fellows Program takes cohorts of educators through a three year journey to develop, pilot and refine real-world challenges for students. Fellows work in collaboration with community partners from industry, higher-ed, and nonprofits to create interdisciplinary Learning Experiences that allow students to think deeply about the problems they take on. These experiences expose students to tools and modes of thinking that allow them to address real-world challenges. As important, students have the chance to work with industry professionals in a variety of roles that intersect with the challenges students take on.
Focus Areas
Focus areas for the second year of the fellows program include the next evolution of water projects conceived by the current cohort of Fellows, as well as two new strands — Social Impact, and Engineering.
Support
To pull together partners and implement a meaningful, real world project for students is a difficult challenge for teachers to take on alone. The Fellows Program is designed to overcome that barrier through the support that community partners and colleagues stand ready to provide.
- On-going Coaching
- Program/project coordination
- Access to domain expertise
- Stipend
- Funding for outside programming/resources
- Near peer mentors
Eligibility
The Fellows Program is open to 5th through 12th grade classroom teachers in Milwaukee, Ozaukee, and Waukesha County schools (public, private, charter). Teachers/staff who serve in a support role for classroom teachers may apply to the program as a partner of a classroom teacher who has applied. The program will accept up to 12 teachers in each cohort.
Preference will be given to:
- Educators who serve a diverse/disadvantaged student population
- Educators who apply with a colleague who will partner with them in the work
- Paired applicants that represent different disciplines.
Applications for each new cohort of Fellows are due in early April of the application year, and new Fellows are welcomed in May. Fellows work over the summer to envision and design projects which will run over the course of the coming school year. They will work with and have the support of 2nd and 3rd year Fellows from prior cohorts.
“… I found the two-week [STEM Studio] planning session to be most rewarding, intense, and practical for how educators should plan.”
Michelle Young
Teacher, Glen Hills Middle School, WI
Learn Deep Fellows
2021-22 Program Partners
