A Fellowship that Makes Teaching and Learning About Discovery

You’ll be joining a cohort of innovative, entrepreneurial Columbus City Schools Educators who will be learning transformational new methods of teaching while experimenting and collaborating at your school on interdisciplinary teaching teams.

Over the course of 24 months, you will participate in cohort-based learning that is built into your school schedule, with time scheduled during the school day for: immersive Fellowship courses, co-planning, co-teaching, with ongoing coaching and support. Upon successful completion, Fellows will earn a Korda Institute Master Teacher Certification and a minimum of 18 CEUs.

Join a Cohort of Educators Who Are Excited About Being:

Innovators
Education changemakers eager to try new methods for teaching and learning
Learning Driven
Creating and leading educational experiences through the lens of what’s being learned by every student
Whole Child Centered
Skilled and knowledgeable in supporting whole child development of every child
Collaboration Oriented
Open-minded, generative and communicative in working with others
Actively Curious
Humble while continuously seeking new learning, perspectives, understanding and feedback
Community Minded
Actively committed to increasing wellbeing and justice in society, locally and globally

Fellowship Goals

Fellows will learn while applying and mastering over time:

  • How to teach with proven, research-backed methods that result in significant individual growth

  • How to design projects centered on student teams solving real and urgent problems for local organizations

  • How to teach so that students develop critical skills like creative problem-solving, critical thinking, collaboration, communications and citizenship

  • How to teach for deeper learning of academic knowledge and skills

  • How to implement instructional practices for engagement, agency and equity

  • How to create a classroom culture of discovery, collaboration, community-mindedness and belonging

Fellowship Details

Stage I. Method Immersion & Upskilling (January 2023 - June 2024)

Fellows will learn science-backed methods for design and teaching to apply through collaboration and experimentation in their classrooms throughout the year. Highlights include: 

  • Building a community of practice that engages students in learning while solving real and urgent problems for local partners

  • Experiencing the teaching methodology in action in the immersive Fellowship training courses

  • Learning powerful, science-backed methods for Curriculum Design & Instructional Practice

  • Co-designing and co-teaching as part of an interdisciplinary team of Fellows in your school with shared planning time given during or after school

  • Receiving coaching and feedback from master instructors 

  • Using a robust set of resources for innovative, high quality problem and project-based learning including a Community Partner Portal, project design tools, case studies, and instructional guides

  • Practicing collaboration and team-building while developing teaching practice

June 2023 PD: Accelerator Training (June 12-16, 2023)

August 2023 PD: Project Planning Workshop (August 16-17, 2023)

Optional: Summer Experience (Summer 2024)

April-May, 2024: 

  • Fellows who choose to do Summer Experience will form interdisciplinary teaching teams to use what they have learned to co-design an immersive Summer Experience for CCS middle school students.

June-July, 2024:

  • The Fellows who opt in for Summer Experience will teach in a single CCS school building

  • The Summer Experience will be an immersive, community-based learning experience

  • Fellows who choose to do Summer Experience will form interdisciplinary co-teaching teams

  • Students will learn while solving real and urgent problems for local organizations

Stage II: Method Integration & Portfolio Defense (Fall 2024)

Method Integration

Fellows will have the opportunity to deepen their practice as they further integrate the new methods they have learned into their teaching. Fellows will design their individual learning goals for the fall semester of the Fellowship, as they further develop their skills in areas such as:

    • Designing trans-disciplinary learning experiences

    • Scaffolding for skills mastery

    • Teaching for rigorous academic learning 

    • Ongoing assessment of student understanding, abilities and needs in order to drive teaching and learning plans

    • Leading student-centered, inquiry-based learning experiences 

    • Providing meaningful and impactful feedback

    • Designing effective reflections and deliverables

    • Overcoming structural barriers to successful implementation

 

Mastery Portfolio

Fellows will create a portfolio with evidence of new skills they have mastered over the course of the Fellowship (e.g., using videos and deliverables showing student growth, Fellow reflections, etc.). Fellows will present their portfolio defense for final Fellowship credentialing. 

Fellowship Celebration of Learning

A culminating celebration for Fellows to present their learning to an audience of community members and stakeholders. Note that each Fellow will choose what they present and how to present it at the event that will be designed by the Celebration of Learning planning team. 

Fellowship Reflections

Eligibility

Middle School Educators (including Elective and Special Education Teachers) are eligible to participate in the Fellowship. Educators will form School Design Teams that include one administrator and a minimum of 2 Co-Teachers.

School Design Teams will:

  • Experiment with new methods of teaching and learning;

  • Form active community partnerships;

  • Participate in reflection and sharing of learning.

Apply Here

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