SEMO education majors can teach for a year in KC

Elementary education majors at Southeast Missouri State University will have a chance to student teach for a school year in Kansas City beginning next fall.

The Kansas City, Mo., Urban Residential Internship program offers student teaching opportunities for students at several Missouri colleges.

Participants will student teach in a Kansas City public school or charter school. "Each student teacher also will serve as the primary classroom instructor, with a full-time experienced teacher serving as his mentor," said Dr. Paul Watkins, director of field experiences in Southeast's College of Education.

A program supervisor from Northwest Missouri State University will observe each student weekly and lead weekly seminar discussions to provide the student teachers with feedback and suggestions.

As part of the program, participants and their program supervisor live in the same Kansas City apartment complex. "The arrangement builds closeness and camaraderie among students and allows them to share ideas and teaching methods with each other," Watkins said.

The program covers the cost of tuition and living expenses for the year, and provides each student teacher with a stipend of $11,930.

The students will receive one year of teaching credit in the Kansas City School District and have guaranteed employment after graduation.

As part of the program, students agree to teach in the district for one year after completing their student teaching.

Even with such incentives, Watkins said he expects few Southeast students to participate, primarily because the program is new and in an urban setting that wouldn't appeal to many of the university's rural-raised students.

"There is enough anxiety just to go out and student teach," he said. "An urban setting for some of these folks would really take them out of their comfort zone."

Still, he said, the internship could appeal to students who are nearing graduation.