Crain's Detroit Business, 9/10
Wayne State puts future teachers where they're most needed: in Detroit classrooms
By Leslie Green
When aspiring teachers enter university this fall, they will read textbooks and write papers about teaching and take exams on the subject. Later, after six to 12 weeks of student teaching, they will attempt to apply what they learned in classrooms with real children - many of whom often come from different backgrounds than them. However, theory alone is not enough to help new teachers get through a lesson plan, diagnose a child's reading problems or understand how to group children in their classrooms, says Jennifer Lewis, associate professor of mathematics education at Wayne State University. So, in 2015, Lewis started WSU's TeachDETROIT, a 15-month residency program facilitating teacher development in Detroit using hands-on classroom experience. The university holds classes at six partner Detroit elementary schools, where future teachers serve alongside a cohort of residents and work directly with students' families. "Enacting all of that theory is challenging, especially when you are all by yourself," Lewis says. "Our classes are completely clinical. From the first day, you are teaching in a Detroit school. High-quality teachers - more than curriculum, more than a stellar leader - are the most important component to creating great schools."