For the second year in a row, New Hampton School invited college students to campus to participate in our Teaching Fellowship program. The program began as a partnership with Bowdoin College, and continues to host several education students from Bowdoin each year. However, the program is open to students from other colleges and universities. This year, we hosted two students from Bowdoin, and one from St. Lawrence University.
Learning from mentors
By design, the program’s goal is to introduce more young adults to careers in independent schools; we’ve also learned that it is an incredible opportunity to enrich our campus experience. Participants and faculty mentors are matched by subject area interests. For two weeks on campus, they shadow their mentor, support house duty and co-curricular activities, and also participate in a seminar with the directors of our fellowship program. This allows them to reflect on their experiences, gain further insight and strategy, and collaborate with other fellows.
Program co-director and English faculty member Meghan Aronson reflects, “Regularly meeting with the teaching fellows to discuss their experiences exposed me to the inspiring work led by my colleagues at New Hampton. As well, having the fellows in both my classroom and advisory gave me the opportunity to re-visit course materials with a fresh perspective and share my love of education with the fellows. All of us were able to learn from each other, growing as educators and administrators in a very short time period.”
Campus Immersion
Beyond classroom instruction, teaching strategies, and lesson planning, one of the most meaningful experiences for our fellows is spending time with students. One fellow reflection cites “I really loved helping with Moore House and the JV basketball team! Coaching was a great experience for me and it was such an easy way to get to know the girls. Moore House was a dream and I felt that I really understand how dorm duty and weekend activities work as well.”
It’s important that faculty at residential schools understand the 24-hour a day nature of the job. For these young fellows, the opportunity to experience the close-knit student teacher relationships illustrates what makes our work so meaningful. They got to know our students and we got to know them.
As our current fellows return to their home campuses, we hope they will apply their experience to the remainder of their degree studies and into their professional careers. New Hampton School looks forward to hosting more fellows next January.
