NEXT (Northwestern Externship Program) -- Externships in Education
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Please refer to the reply code below each externship when you are completeing your application. Click here to return to the NEXT homepage.
California
Compton, CA
Available: Opportunity for a student to get a glimpse of life as a high school teacher of foreign language. Students may sit in on a class, and, depending on lesson, may be able to participate directly in the class. Student will be able to debrief with teacher about lesson, unit, and long-term planning, developing a management plan, and many of the other thinking processes that go along with teaching. Student will also have opportunity to learn more about Teach for America. Reply Code: EDU37
Fairfield, CA
Available: Opportunity for students considering education. This would be a day spent in a diverse elementary school shadowing the principal in his daily responsibilities. Future teachers may benefit from seeing education from an administrative viewpoint, including lesson/data analysis, the family-school partnership, staff development, and working with teachers to resolve student issues. For those interested in counseling, speech/language, teaching, or school administration. Reply Code: EDU19
Los Angeles, CA
Available: Opportunity for students considering a career in education. As a teacher, administrator, or policy maker, students will learn what makes up a day-in-the-life of someone who works in the trenches. They will see how to prepare and administer curriculum, how to manage and engage a room full of people, how to make every minute count, and how a school functions in-the-moment while maintaining a clear vision for the future. Reply Code: EDU35
Los Angeles, CA
Available: Opportunity for a student to shadow a kindergarten teacher working at a Charter School in Los Angeles, and can also most likely arrange for other grade level observations. The charter school is a social science-/social justice- based school. School teaches children through a whole-child approach, not just in basic core subjects. Find out more about the class here. Schedule excludes Tuesdays. Reply Code: EDU40
San Rafael, CA
Available: Opportunity for a student to spend a day working with public school students in middle school and elementary school teaching them music (orchestra). Teacher has 210 students in four schools, 55 of them are daily students at the middle school, and the rest are taught twice per week. Reply Code: EDU30
Stanford, CA
Available: Opportunity to shadow an assistant professor of education at Stanford University. Attend research meetings and visit school sites as professor works with teachers. Extern will accompany professor to classes, and see how lessons are planned, organized, and taught in collaboration with other instructors and TAs. Reply Code: EDU18
Connecticut
Farmington, CT
Available: Opportunity for a student to shadow an assistant professor of medicine in the Neag Comprehensive Cancer Center and Center for Molecular Medicine at the University of Connecticut Health Center. Students will have the opportunity to spend a day in a cancer research laboratory to get a sense of the life of an academic researcher. Students will also be able to shaddow current graduate students to get a sense of what a research PhD program is like. This is a molecular biology and biochemistry lab with a special emphasis on DNA repair and colon cancer. Reply Code: EDU44
Georgia
Atlanta, GA
Available: Opportunity for a student to spend a day with a college professor. Day is filled with classes, meetings, and research. Reply Code: EDU01
Atlanta, GA
Available: Opportunity for a student to learn first-hand about the diversity initiatives and plans of an independent school in Atlanta, GA and its immediate (and lasting) impact on the institution and the city's culture. Student will have the opportunity to learn three roles from one person: director of Hispanic Student Development; Spanish teacher; and varsity basketball coach. True diversity and global understanding starts in the hallways of our schools. Reply Code: EDU21
Illinois
Chicago, IL
Available: Opportunity for students interested in special education. Spend a day in one of the Chicago Public Schools seeing first-hand several innovative special education programs at work. This is an elementary school setting. Opportunities will include seeing hearing- impaired programs and programs for students with learning disabilities. In addition, externs will have the opportunity to see a range of special education settings, from self-contained, to resource room to inclusion. Each extern's day can be tailored to their interests. Reply Code: EDU36
Chicago, IL
Available: Opportunity for students to visit an urban elementary school. Reply Code: EDU42
Chicago, IL
Available: Opportunity for a student to shadow an international student advisor at a busy English language school in Chicago. Teacher started the job after a successful and enjoyable experience teaching English abroad. Students can expect to sit in on a variety of classes, shadow advising meetings with students and teachers, assist with activities, answer cultural questions, and more. Perfect for study abroad returnees itching to stay involved in internationally-focused career fields or for students interested in teaching English as a foreign language. Reply Code: EDU15
Chicago, IL
Available: Opportunity for a student to observe a science class in an urban environment with youth at risk. Reply Code: EDU20
Chicago, IL
Available: Opportunity for a student to visit North Lawndale College Prep H.S., one of Chicago's oldest charter schools. The school's mission is to provide a quality, college-prep education to traditionally underprivileged students from the West side of th city. Visitors would be welcome to sit in on classes if they are interested in teaching or to shadow an administrator for the day. Reply Code: EDU23
Evanston, IL
Available: Opportunity for students to get a glimpse into the life of a PhD student, with a focus on conducting research. This externship would be a good opportunity for undergraduates who are considering pursuing graduate school in the social sciences. Reply Code: EUD32
Libertyville, IL
Available: Opportunity for a student to shadow a speech/language pathologist at a suburban high school. Student will be able to see the scope of practice in a high school which includes students diagnosed with learning disabilities, cognitive impairments, fluency disorders, and autism, to name a few. Speech/language pathology is an area in which there are teacher shortages throughout the U.S. There are often jobs available overseas as well. Anyone interested in teaching would be wise to explore this avenue. Reply Code: EDU05
Libertyville, IL
Available: Opportunity for a student to shadow an alumwho teaches 6th grade Spanish and French in a middle school. Student will observe 6th grade classes. If you are interested in foreign language education, and/or middle grades education, this opportunity would be beneficial. Reply Code: EDU09
Palatine, IL
Available: Opportunity for a student to spend a day observing and interacting at a private school for gifted children. Student will visit a 4th grade class where teaching techniques of gifted education will be observed. Students may also work with children one-on-one. Reply Code: EDU16
Indiana
West Lafayette, IN
Available: Opportunity for a student to learn about what being a professor at a research university entails. Student will be exposed to teaching, research, service, and advising graduate students. Reply Code: EDU10
Louisiana
Lafayette, LA
Available: Opportunity for a student interested in a career doing research and teaching. Extern can expect to learn about being in a small cognitive science department, both as a faculty member (shadowing professor), and as a graduate student (interacting with students in professor's lab). This may include planning/conducting research and planning and assisting with a class session (depending on the day chosen). Reply Code: EDU13
Maryland
College Park, Maryland
Available: Opportunity for a student to shadow an associate professor of education. During the course of a typical day, professor may be teaching classes, conducting research, attending meetings, or working on writing. This externship might be interesting for students interested in a faculty career at a large research university. Reply Code: EDU31
Michigan
Portage, MI
Available: Opportunity for a student interested in going into educational administration. Reply Code: EDU27
Minnesota
Northfield, MN
Available: Opportunity for a student in international student admissions and financial aid at highly-selective liberal arts college. Professor studied African/Middle Eastern history and Hausa language (1986-96), was a Fellow at ISRC for several years, an active Rotarian and Peace Corps veteran (1983-86), and a Fulbright Scholar (1989-90). Reply Code: EDU04
St Paul, MN
Available: Opportunity for a student to shadow the director of a math tutoring center. Director's career in higher education administration combines teaching, employing student peer tutors, and the business side of registration and orientation in mathematics. After experiencing college as a student, higher education administration as a career can be a rewarding choice. A college campus is an evolving job location with resources for cultural and personal growth in a diverse atmosphere. A key component of Host's job is supporting the infrastructure of registration by maintaining consistent standards for mathematics preparation. Meetings can be arranged with several departments -- including but not limited to -- registration, academic counseling, and other tutoring centers. Macalester College is nearby and could be added as a partner. Reply Code: EDU25
Missouri
Cape Girardeau, MO
Available: Opportunity for a student to shadow the chair for the history department at a large, state-supported university. This is a leadership position which involves being a member of the teaching faculty as well as fulfilling administrative responsibilities over personnel, budget and operations. On a typical day, Host teaches classes, participates in administrative meetings, works on grant proposals, and serves as an advocate for the interests of students and departmental faculty with deans and other administrative personnel. Reply Code: EDU26
New York
Auburn, NY
Available: Opportunity for a student to see a successful choral program in small central New York City in the Finger Lakes Region. Auburn High School is a school of approximately 1,600 students. Auburn is a city approx 32,000 residents. Reply Code: EDU14
Brooklyn, NY
Available: Opportunity for a student to shadow a college advisor at the Urban Assembly School for Law and Justice. Extern will work with students to analyze and compare college acceptance offers and financial aid packages. Extern will also sit in on classes, and meet with teachers and administrators at SLJ. SLJ is a college-preparatory high school with a focus on legal studies and debate. The school seeks to prepare students for college and beyond by fostering their communication skills, strong reading and writing, and analytical thinking. SLJ is a public, unscreened school, drawing students from all five boroughs, with a wide range of academic abilities. Reply Code: EDU41
Capital District, New York (Albany, Schenectady)
Available: Opportunity for a student to shadow an alumwho wrote and published Heart of the Matter: The Role of Attitude in Teaching, which reflects 49 years of experience in education. Host's niece is teaching MAT students at Brandeis in Boston, uses the book as the central text, and is publishing a workbook of the same title as a practicum. The book (and workbook) present an entirely different 'take' on germane teaching, post-Dewey, and sytematically expands views of what learning is about. Students will learn and hopefully integrate the fact that there are 4 faculties, not two (thinking and behaving), which include the rationality of the feeling life and accessing personal awareness. Reply Code: EDU17
New York City, NY
Available: Opportunity for a student to shadow a Teach for America corps member. Host teaches 6th grade special education in the poorest congressional district in the country -- the South Bronx. During the course of an externship day, student will explore the environment of the school, which is rated one of the worst in the city, in contrast to Host'sclassroom, in which students who are 4-5 years behind grade level are determined to make it to college. Extern will attend meetings, observethe classroom, work with students in small groups, and travel with Host after school to the TFA office to get the resources the school does not provide. This is a useful externship opportunity not only for students looking for careers in education, but also for anyone interested in public policy, business, not-for-profit, etc. It will provide an intimate look at one of the greatest injustices facing our country: the achievement gap that leaves half of children living in poverty without a high school degree (and for those who graduate, an average 8th-grade skill level). Reply Code: EDU06
New York City, NY (Upper West Side/West Harlem)
Available: Opportunity for a student to spend a day in a self-contained special education classroom with Hispanic students who have a variety of learning, cognitive, and language disabilities. Reply Code: EDU29
New York City, NY
Available: Opportunity for a student to shadow an alum who conducts a successful private practice for children and adults with Learning Disabilities. Host's responsibilities include lesson planning, teaching, communicating with parents and teachers, and maintaining the business aspect of my private practice. All these areas will be open for observation/discussion. Additionally, Host has written two books related to learning disabilities, and is developing other teaching materials. Students interested in working with learning disabled students in an entrepreneurial/creative manner would benefit from this externship. Students may prepare a lesson and teach. Reply Code: EDU34
Oregon
Portland, OR
Available: Opportunity for a student to shadow someone in a company that promotes student engagement, persistence, and success through personalized student coaching services. Reply Code: EDU08
Tennessee
Johnson City, TN
Available: Opportunity for students to observe teaching in the music department of a private liberal arts college. Externship would involve observing voice lessons, teaching advanced conducting, and conducting choral rehearsals. Student will also have the opportunity for feedback and questions. Reply Code: EDU43
Knoxville, TN
Available: Opportunity for a student to experience a graduate student environment studying viral immunology. Student will see what it is like to be a assistant professor with teaching, research, and committee responsibilities at a state college with all the challenges and excitement that comes with it. Depending on the student's background, there might be an opportunity to get some hands-on lab experience and shadow one of the graduate students as well. Reply Code: EDU24
Nashville, TN
Available: Opportunity for students to learn what is involved in the daily work of a MS principal in an independent school setting. A good externship for a student thinking about K-12 education in a non-public setting. Daily responsibilities include meetings with faculty, parents, students, or administrators, observing classes, putting out fires, leading assemblies, etc. Reply Code: EDU39
Texas
Houston, TX
Available: Opportunity for students to learn about teaching and school leadership at an independent pre-K through 12 college preparatory school. Reply Code: EDU11
Houston, TX
Available: Opportunity for a student to have an experience that would offer insight into how a top-ranked public middle/high school operates from the point of view of a dean of instruction who supervises teachers. Reply Code: EDU22
Richardson (Dallas), TX
Available: Opportunity for a student to see how graduate and undergraduate courses are put together, and how research is conducted on perception and memory for nonverbal materials. Reply Code: EDU02
Vermont
Burlington, VT
Available: Opportunity for a student to meet with various groups of administrators who will be discussing everything from academic to financial decisions for the college. The day will involve meetings with a number of faculty members engaged in a variety of projects with students and community members, and perhaps interaction with community members for fundraising and other reasons. Reply Code: EDU12
Virginia
Harrisonburg, Virginia
Available: Opportunity for a student to experience a day at the Center for Faculty Innovation at James Madison University. The Center for Faculty Innovation supports university faculty and academic unit leaders in the areas of teaching, scholarship, service and leadership. The director oversees a variety of programs and services dedicated to full-time and part-time faculty, as well as department heads and graduate teaching assistants. Exposure to development of the program, working with faculty and university leaders, creating a collaborative team, identifying needs, using data, and managing programs are learning outcomes for the student. Reply Code: EDU03
Wisconsin
LaCrosse, WI
Available: Opportunity for a student to shadow a psychology professor and clinican at a university in comparable size to Northwestern. Students would be free to accompany Host during lectures, meetings, or campus consultations. Reply Code: EDU07
Milwaukee, WI
Available: Opportunity for a student to observe and absorb the daily experiences of a high achieving urban public school classroom. Student will be exposed to a diverse student body that excels beyond all expectation in spite of their specific demographics. Student will also be exposed to educational methods that are proven to work, and not necessarily taught in the university education methods courses. Student would leave the experience enlightened about the possibilities and need for highly intelligent professionals to enter the ranks of urban educators. Reply Code: EDU33
Wyoming
Pinedale, Wyoming
Available: Opportunity for a student to shadow a teacher of 5th and 6th grade language arts. Students will observe and likely have an opportunity to work with a small group of students. Student will also attend meetings and may even get to recess duty. Reply Code: EDU28
International
Singapore
Available: Opportunity for a student to experience the education system in Singapore. Interact with teachers enrolled in graduate education courses. Reply Code: EDU38
