Teacher Education Pipeline Model
Professional Development School Program
Urban Needs in Teacher Education is a newly designed student organization at Illinois State University founded by Dakota Pawlicki, Patricia Koulogeorge, and Tara Jeffrey. UNITE is a long term plan to change the way urban education is introduced and taught to students of ISU studying to become future teachers. Many students, often in their last years of teaching, are given only a handful of information about urban-needs schools; usually given in passing and usually not encouraging. Many of the education majors we spoke with before constructing UNITE stated they were afraid to go into schools of high-need based on assumptions they got from their learning environment, i.e. their instructors and textbooks. Through UNITE, students will be able to expand their knowledge base and understand that although different, high-needs schools in urban environments have the same basic need as any other school, to provide a safe place for children to learn and prepare themselves for their futures.
As a brief summary of our plans for the upcoming year, UNITE can be broken down into three sections: Service, Bus Trips, and "In-House Education."
As part of our service component, UNITE will be "adopting" a school in Chicago for the entire academic year. Our members will take a trip to the chosen school and spend the day/weekend providing a service for the schools such as painting, repairing equipment, landscaping—anything we could do to help with improving the school.
Our second component of UNITE will be the bus trips that are designed specifically to educate our members about urban schools and the communities in which these schools are located in. Generally, a group of 10–12 of our members will make a four-day trip to Chicago. A portion of these days will be spent working in the schools, and if possible within their concentration, which will give our students the opportunity to better understand the urban school setting. The remainder of the weekend will be spent in the community attending cultural events, taking tours, and taking part in getting acquainted with the residents and learning about the community in the process.
The "In-House Education" component of UNITE will occur on the ISU campus. Our goal is to make the information about urban education available to everyone on campus. This is the most basic aspect of our program and will be open to all ISU students interested in obtaining a better understanding of urban education and what teaching in an urban setting entails. Simply put, UNITE will be inviting one guest (at least) per month to speak about their area of expertise in the field of education. From professors to CEOs, our goal is to invite guests that will each bring with them a different experience of the field of education to share with our students at ISU.
UNITE wants to help change the way urban schools are being represented. Our goal is to expand and prosper as an organization and become a support system for the future educators of ISU. Building an understanding of urban education will help diminish the fear that one often associates with urban schools. As future teachers, Golden Apple Scholars, and co-founders/members of UNITE, we want to help show that past the doors to any school are students who have a right, a need, and a desire to have the opportunity to learn. With your support, UNITE can make this possible.