Standard clinicals give you an hour a week in a real school setting – not nearly enough experience. Yet that first year of teaching, with the huge responsibility of a classroom for nine whole months are enough to make a brand-new teacher run screaming from the building. The Center for Urban Teaching provides ample experience in the classroom – your classroom – and prepares you for it.

The Summer School teaching experience gives undergrads two full weeks of practical training for their four-week, hands-on Summer School experience, and eliminates the learn-on-the-job, “baptism-by-fire” experience that often defines that first year of teaching. However, this isn’t your run of the mill sit-and-get lecture style of training. This is training the CfUT way with high energy, lots of joy – even some loud chanting and spontaneous dancing – and endless opportunities to practice the learned skill in small groups so that when the first day of summer school arrives you have practiced and rehearsed everything and can stand confident in front of your scholars.

Combine this style of training with two days and one night of close quarters at a Northwoods Wisconsin camp, physical challenges, lots of team-building exercises, including some you’re certain you won’t live through. Add a little – make that a lot – of reflection and talking about what really matters in life and maybe a few tears – OK lots of tears and boxes of Kleenex and – well . . . are you getting this? You’re frankly amazed to be in the same remote forest with so many unbelievably awesome people who share your passion and purpose.

Then, you get your own classroom. Maybe a little scary. Definitely exciting. The most transformational experience of your life. Not only are you learning on the job – a job we make sure you can handle – you’re doing highly impactful work.

Put all of the above together and you get one unforgettable, crazy challenging, unbelievably rewarding, undeniably unifying experience that creates an incredibly tight-knit summer school team and family – all united to do immensely meaningful work.