UNITE
 Unite Class of 2006 |
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Are you an energetic person considering a career change?
Are you a natural leader who takes initiative?
Do you have good communications skills?
For a rewarding work experience unlike any other, consider UNITE, a premier teacher training program of the Inner-City Teaching Corps.
If you are like many of us in to today’s contemporary culture, you have worked hard, paid your dues, and have done well, only to find something missing. UNITE is a program designed for mid-career professionals who long for something more: a fulfilling career of teaching others.
UNITE trains energetic leaders to become teachers in inner-city Chicago classrooms. We bring positive educational approaches and problem solving abilities to challenging learning environments.
Won't You Join Us?
As a UNITE member you are given a unique opportunity to bring your professional skills and experience to positively impact the lives of inner-city youth. You will work side-by-side with other talented professionals with similar principles and passions to apply your talent for the betterment of Chicago’s children and families.
The challenges of such a calling are great, but the rewards of service are immeasurable. Our teachers touch the lives of countless children. Equally important, the UNITE program inspires and empowers members whose lives are also enriched by making a real difference in the world.
Addressing Chicago's Education Climate
For decades, challenges to the education of Chicago’s children have prompted a number of reform efforts across the city. While many of these efforts have established a foundation for progress, schools and teachers continue to encounter one of the most difficult education environments in the country.
The UNITE program is unique in working with both public and parochial schools that face challenges to student learning. ICTC helps place UNITE members in Chicago Public Schools—including nontraditional schools, such as charters—and Catholic schools within the Archdiocese of Chicago, specifically those supported by the Big Shoulders Fund. Both school systems demonstrate a need for professionally trained teachers:
- In Chicago Public Schools, over 90% of students are children of color and 85% are from low-income families. Over the course of the last seven years, almost half of all Chicago Public Schools high school freshmen have dropped out without earning their high school diploma.
- Schools supported by Big Shoulders have nearly 25,000 students, 80% of whom are racial/ethnic minorities, and represent the oldest and poorest Catholic schools in Chicago.
ICTC maintains a commitment to teaching in those schools where at least half (50%) of their students live in low-income homes. It is part of our larger mission to change education in Chicago’s underserved communities.
Three Guiding Principles
UNITE’s approach to training and support is directed by Three Guiding Principles.
Mission-Based Teaching
UNITE Corps members are professionals who approach teaching with a purpose and as a driving force for positive change in high needs schools, communities, and populations across Chicago.
The view of teaching, not as a job, but rather as a calling; not as a wage earning chore, but as an opportunity to make a difference; not as a responsibility but as a privilege to be a part of the lives of children, is imperative for the UNITE Corps member. Whatever motivates and grounds the Corps member, be it faith, social justice, a commitment to equity and quality in education or a love of learning and a desire to impart knowledge, the UNITE Corps member must hold this personal value as driving force behind his or her service as a teacher.
Community of Support
UNITE Corps members belong to several communities that support them during their participation in the program.
The UNITE experience provides holistic support for professional development and personal growth in seminars, classroom visits, monthly dinners and retreats. Beyond ICTC and Northwestern staff, Support People, who are UNITE Alumni and current classroom teachers, facilitate discussion and foster reflection where UNITE Corps members can find support with others who are experiencing similar challenges.
Challenges in Change
UNITE Corps members will acquire new definitions of success and failure found in working within changing and imperfect schools, systems, and communities.
UNITE Corps members will face the challenge of recalibrating individual definitions of success and failure during the first years of teaching. Urban classrooms require different rules and strategies, different planning mechanisms and have a different pace and feel than corporate offices and boardrooms. UNITE Corps members will re-learn much of what they thought they knew about education and children as they evolve into skilled practitioners. The transferable skills and leadership they bring from their previous careers will permit them to contribute earlier and innovate more during this environmental transition to education. They will, as a result, have significant impact on the children they serve, their schools and community.
Program Requirements
- Bachelor’s Degree (Education degree NOT required)
- Minimum of 3 years post university work experience
- Minimum of 3.0 GPA
- Aspiration to have an impact in urban education
- High level of energy and initiative
- Good communication and interpersonal skills
- Applicants must take and pass the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) Basic Skills Test
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