About the Program

List of 9 frequently asked questions.

• Q. Do I need to have a degree in education or have acquired certification?

  Absolutely not.

   

  While some candidates come to the program with degrees in education, with certification, or with experience in student teaching, many are simply recent college graduates with an itch to teach, and this is an ideal way to explore that possibility. In each of these scenarios, the fellows find that their fellowship experience offers them the growth opportunities they need to refine their own sense of calling. For some, this is questioning whether teaching is really what they see themselves doing. For others, it is a process of deciding what age child, or what discipline, or in what type of school they wish to launch their teaching careers.

   

  There is no expectation of a background in education courses or of teaching experience; only a love of children and a willingness to learn.

• Q. Why would I accept a fellowship rather than look for my own classroom?

  Your first year in your own classroom is a year unlike any other, and no preparatory experience can change that, whether it is student teaching, assistant teaching, or a teaching fellowship. That being said, experiencing your own classroom for the first time after having successfully completed the Carter Fellowship Program will significantly alter the confidence and wisdom with which you will lead that first classroom.

   

  The chance to work side by side with master teachers, learning the art and craft of excellent teaching with the “safety net” of the fellowship, is an invaluable experience, a gift that many veteran teachers would love to have had the chance to experience. We have yet to hear a teaching fellow say afterwards that he would have traded his fellowship year for a year with his own classroom.

• Q. Sounds like a great opportunity, but I think I want to teach older students.

  Many of teaching’s most important lessons are transferrable to virtually any age level. Many of our teaching fellows feel called to teach elementary or junior high students, but others see themselves eventually teaching at the high school or even college level.

   

  We have former fellows teaching in high schools around Dallas and the country, and several who are university professors. And all of them will credit what they learned teaching younger students for their understanding of the learning process and their sense of how to plan and teach a lesson, how to consider and accommodate different learning styles, how to develop fair and productive assessments and grading rubrics, and how to make genuine human connection with students. A year of teaching Lower School students will benefit you regardless of what level you teach in the future.

• Q. What if I’m not completely sure that I want to teach?

  The fellowship is a life-changing, eye-opening year of learning about teaching, about schools, about students, and about yourself. The vast majority of our fellows continue teaching in schools around the country, but even those who do not continue to teach in a school setting will credit their teaching experience here as formative in their sense of calling. And ALL of them talk about the year of working with amazing colleagues and inspiring students as a source of daily joy that propelled them into the next stages of their personal journeys.

   

  It is only one year in a lifetime of work and self-discovery, but what better way to spend a year than working with students?! A common theme that we hear from our fellows: “There is not a single day that I don’t look forward to coming to school!” How many “work” experiences can boast that?

• Q. Does a fellowship position include benefits?

  Yes – our teaching fellows are salaried and receive the same benefits package as all full-time faculty, including our retirement plan, medical and dental insurance coverage, short and long-term disability, and a free lunch daily.

• Q. What about professional development opportunities?

  And speaking of “benefits,” teaching fellows take regular advantage of tuition remission for continuing education or certification courses and often attend workshops and conferences with their mentor colleagues. Our fellows participate in LOTS of professional development opportunities of all kinds.

• Q. What’s the timetable for applying for a fellowship position?

  We begin looking at resumes and cover letters in February and March for the following fall. The search committee narrows its list to a group of finalists invited to campus for interviews in April and May, with positions offered (usually) in May and June. Fellowship orientation typically starts the second week in August.

• Q. So I have an amazing year, but then I am looking for a job all over again?!

  This is, indeed, the reality of the situation. However, we spend a tremendous amount of time – as a group and in one-on-one “counseling” sessions – discussing the job search process, and you will receive a great deal of support in this process.

   

  We will discuss the logistics of researching potential schools, assist you in defining the important criteria for you in your search, expose you to many different schools in the DFW area and around the country, and offer workshops on interviewing and writing “personal teaching statements,” show you how to compile your teaching portfolio, and serve as your advocate, official “recommenders,” and cheerleaders in your search for the next step in your teaching journey.

   

  You will be going through the job search process yet again, but by virtue of your fellowship experience, you will go through this search as a completely different candidate with an impressively bolstered resume. Our fellows leverage this fellowship experience to find exciting jobs around the country that challenge them and offer them wonderful growth opportunities!

• Q. Where are last year’s fellows teaching?

  • Middle School Math Teacher at Greenhill School

  • Middle School Math Teacher at Canterbury School (North Carolina)

  • Prekindergarten Teacher at Friends Central School (Philadelphia)

  • First Grade Teacher at St. Pius Catholic School (Dallas)

  • Kindergarten Teacher at the Rhodes School (Houston)

  • Kindergarten Teaching Assistant at Lamplighter School (Dallas)

  • Kindergarten Teacher at Parish Episcopal School (Dallas)

  • Preschool Teacher at Bright Horizons (Dallas)

   

  In addition, two fellows are serving a second year as Carter Fellows in different grade levels