The Arthur Zankel Urban Fellowship is a financial aid award in the amount of $10,000 per academic year for Teachers College students to work with inner city youth. The Zankel Fellowship is made possible by a gift from the estate of Arthur Zankel, who was an esteemed trustee of Teachers College.   The Zankel Urban Fellows carry on Mr. Zankel’s legacy of passion for education by contributing their expertise to programs serving disadvantaged inner-city youth. 

Eligibility:

• matriculated or fully admitted to a masters or doctoral degree program at Teachers College (international students who will begin their studies at TC in 2009-2010 are not eligible)
• consecutive enrollment in the fall and spring terms for a minimum of 11 points per semester
• demonstrated financial need
• interests, skills, experiences and/or characteristics that are a good match to the purpose of the fellowship and the approved service internships
• availability to complete the required service internship at a school or community site during the normal school day in both fall and spring terms

Fellowship Requirements:

·        Internship of at least five hours per week during the academic year in an approved educational program intended to benefit disadvantaged inner city youth.   The list of approved programs is maintained by the TC Office of School and Community Partnerships.  Students are matched to an approved internship by the Zankel Fellowship Committee.

·        Participation in a full year (fall & spring) service learning seminar which carries one academic credit.  The course will meet periodically throughout the year.  It will provide an academic context to ground internship experiences and a set of cohort experiences for all Zankel Fellows. 

·        To receive the stipend and academic credit associated with the Fellowship, students must:

1)       attend an orientation offered by TC at the beginning of the fall term,

2)       regularly attend and participate in the assigned internship placement, and

3)       attend and complete assignments for the service learning course.

Students will:

• Submit a FAFSA or other financial aid application determined by the College
• Complete the Arthur Zankel Urban Fellows application available through the Financial Aid Office  website
• Submit an electronic copy of a Personal Statement that describes how their interests, experiences and educational plans fit the fellowship criteria and requirements. (The personal statement should not exceed 2 pages)
• Submit an electronic copy of a  Resume (The resume should not exceed 2 pages)

Except for the FAFSA and other financial aid documents, Zankel Fellowship documentation should be sent electronically to:

car36@columbia.edu

 Fellowship Selection:

Brief Description of Zankel Internship Sites (2009-2010)

1. Internship Title or Site: Say Yes to Education at P.S. 180 and P.S. 83

Department or Program: NCREST, Department of Curriculum and Teaching

Brief Description of Internship Experience: Interns would work directly with small groups or individual 5th grade Say Yes to Education students at P.S. 180 or P.S. 83 in Manhattan. Say Yes to Education (SYTE) is a non-profit foundation that provides socio-economically disadvantaged students with a college scholarship upon their graduation from high school. SYTE identifies students in kindergarten and supports them through high school so that they can take advantage of the college scholarship. The students in the New York City Chapter are now in 4th grade in 5 Harlem public elementary schools. Each school has a 3 person SYTE team that includes a program manager, an academic specialist, and a program coordinator. The internship experience would take place at two of the SYTE schools. Interns would work directly with specific SYTE students in the areas such as: academic tutoring, enrichment, literacy (reading, writing and vocabulary development), middle school preparation, homework support, and talent development. They would work with individual students and/or small groups (3 students). Interns would collaborate with the members of their SYTE team and be supported by the SYTE program manager.

Internship Site(s): Promise Academy and possibly other Harlem elementary schools

Program and Department: Cognitive Studies, Human Development

Brief Description of Internship Experience: For the past several years, I have been working with colleagues in the Boston area to develop new computer software designed to promote mathematics learning in children ranging from preschool (age 4) through the second grade.   The software now functions well and we are beginning to pilot test it with children at the Harlem Promise Academy.  The proposed intern would use the new mathematics software to supplement the classroom’s standard mathematics curriculum. The intern would work with individual children, helping them to learn and practice mathematics concepts and skills through the extended use of our software. The children will gain valuable extra experience enhancing and practicing their mathematics abilities, while also developing computer skills.  This work would also provide useful information to our research project regarding the effects of extensive, long-term computer use on mathematics learning, particularly in struggling children.

Department or Program: Counseling Psychology

Brief Description of Internship Experience: In addition to the characteristic psychological and concerns encountered by adolescents generally, students attending New York City schools often face developmental and emotional obstacles that stem from sociocultural stressors. Activities that help youth to become active interpreters of the world and their own options and to find and use their own voices can help students envision themselves advancing to college and beyond.

In the proposed project, Zankel Fellows (four in all) will work with two groups of New York City public school students to consider, discuss, and study issues of importance to their community’s well-being (specific topics to be chosen by the students themselves) in participatory action projects. “Participatory” refers to the fact that the projects are collaborative, and students will be involved in creating the parameters of what they study. “Action” refers to something that students create to convey the results of their work. These projects are therefore rooted in the philosophy that underlies participatory action research (PAR) more generally, but unlike true PAR, will be time-limited school-based activities.

In the past, youth PAR groups have chosen to study such issues as wellness and health disparities in their communities, the antecedents and consequences of leaving school to pursue a GED, and images of young women of color in the media; their actions have included the creation of websites, pamphlets, and/or presentations. As part of such projects, students become involved in processes of introspection, group discussion, and critical thinking, as well as the analysis of individual, community, and social factors in their lives. 

Brief Description of Internship Experience: SPI seeks to hire creative and dynamic Zankel Fellows to support onsite high school literacy projects. Hired fellows will work with students, teachers and SPI Curriculum Consultants to mentor writers and organize school-to-community connections.

SPI teams work directly with teachers and other educational leaders to co-develop and implement curriculum-based projects for their English Language, ELL, Science, and even Math classrooms. Wide-ranging topics focus on human rights, intergenerational learning, and even climate and weather research. We have a proven track record in some of New York City’s most in-need and underserved schools, and SPI ensures that all students, regardless of reading and writing level, will publish work they can be proud of. SPI organizes public readings for school and community audiences to celebrate students’ success, and distributes SPI books as a means of sharing outstanding examples of student work.

Brief Description of Internship Experience: SPI seeks to hire creative and dynamic Zankel Fellows to support our family literacy initiative at the Rose Singer Center at Rikers Island.

Hired Fellows work directly with incarcerated mothers to strengthen family literacy practices. Mentors work one-on-one and in small groups to help women practice reading and writing skills, identify appropriate age-level books for their children, and learn about maintaining healthy and supportive family literacy practices. For example, children of participating mothers will receive gifts of books with attached CD recordings of their mothers reading the books aloud.

Committed steadfastly to the belief that incarcerated people deserve and require continued opportunities for literacy, the SPI Incarceration Literacy Program works to expand programs for teaching reading and writing to incarcerated learners. Research reveals that the more education an inmate receives while incarcerated, the less likely he or she is to re-offend upon re-entering society (Bard Prison Initiative, 2007).

SPI has a proven track record in some of New York City’s most in-need and underserved schools. Our five years of literacy work with incarcerated students at the Rikers Island jail has greatly impacted GED completion

Brief Description of Internship Experience: The Urban Masculinities Project builds on successful digital storytelling practices to create opportunities for boys involved with the project to become proficient multimedia storytellers as they learn to weave together traditional and media literacy skills.  The Zankel Fellowship would be used in this project to support Media Literacy Interns who will be a part of an action research team interested in understanding the literate identities and media lives of urban adolescent males.  This project partners with the Steps to Success/African American Male Initiative (AAMI), an initiative of the Children’s Aid Society.  In its first year, the afterschool digital media program has worked with nine fifth grade boys who were recruited to be a part of the AAMI as fourth graders.

As part of the Urban Masculinities Digital Media Afterschool Program, each Media Literacy Intern will co-facilitate weekly digital media workshops with boys, ages 10-12, which will follow a critical media literacy curriculum that the interns will co-create with the project directors (Vasudevan & Dworkin, co-PIs).  During these workshops, participants and interns will work together to analyze as well as produce short films on a variety of topics through an integrated approach that involves ongoing reflective dialogues (in groups), (individual) participant journals, and guided media production (as individuals and in small groups).  This approach to media literacy instruction draws from the latest research in adolescent literacy and youth media studies, which collectively suggest that adolescents are best supported to become critical consumers of media – and therefore, the messages that media promote – as they engage in the production of media, themselves. 

Brief Description of Internship Experience: The purpose of this internship is to extend the existent Zankel Fellows presence in an urban high school in New York City, and replicate the successful partnerships that exist between Teachers College students and students in urban science classrooms at Marie Curie High School. The basic premise behind the internship is to place Teachers College students in direct contact with high school students in urban science classrooms by providing them with opportunities to be co-teachers in classrooms and facilitators of dialogues with students and teachers about ways to improve the teaching and learning of science during lunch and after school. The chief goal is to continue the project with Marie Curie High School with the two fellows that are currently there and possibly extend this work into two High Schools in Harlem through an additional fellow.

Department or Program:  Human Development

Brief Description of Internship Experience: In separate classes dedicated to the effort, middle-school students engage in activities designed to develop inquiry and argumentation skills.  The implementation is labor intensive as students work in small groups with adult coaches.  Under my guidance, TC students serve in this role, and it has proven a valuable experience both for them and for the middle-school students.

Brief Description of Internship Experience: The TC Reading & Math Buddies program is a part of a systemic effort by TC to support whole school improvement at low performing schools in the immediate TC neighborhoods of Harlem and Northern Manhattan.     Placement is at school sites that are in walking distance from Teachers College.  Each TC Buddy provides individualized support in reading and or/mathematics for 30 minutes per day per child, every day, Monday to Thursday, for a minimum of one semester.  TC Buddies work individually with each of four children, and with the classroom teachers and school building level administrators.   Fridays are spent in the classroom, working with the classroom teacher and in supporting the tutees in their regular classroom setting.    TC Buddies meet one Friday per month for a two hour seminar at the College. This monthly seminar is an integral and required component of the TC Buddy experience.

TC students who have served as Reading or Math Buddies in the past, have used this TC Buddy experience to satisfy degree requirements for practica in Elementary Education, Math Education, TESOL, International and Transcultural Studies and Counseling and School Psychology.  International students have made wonderful contributions as TC Buddies and are also invited to apply. Approval of the TC Buddy experience to satisfy degree requirements must be approved in advance by the Reading & Math Buddies Director and the respective faculty advisors.