Amazing opportunities are provided by MATC for many students,and what happened to Carol Shaw is a prime example. She went to the 10th anniversary Smart Talk Women’s Lecture Series back on March 29, 2007.The Lecture had invited Erin Gruwell, co-author of the famed “Freedom Writers Diary.” That is where Shaw’s story began.

After the lecture, Gruwell was having a book signing, when she asked Shaw and the other students of MATC’s TEP (Teacher Education Program) program who were in attendance to wait so she could speak to them. It was while they were speaking that Gruwell asked Shaw to come with her to Long Beach, California.

Gruwell personally heads a workshop for teachers at the Freedom Writers Institute, and it was that workshop Gruwell wanted Shaw to attend. Gruwell was looking for 150 teachers to continue the “cycle of change” as Shaw puts it, through Gruwell’s unique teaching style. Shaw describes them as “simple lessons.” An example is the Peanut Game, where although every peanut may be different, they still taste the same. Gruwell used this to teach her kids tolerance, integrity and other life skills.

This was an all-expense-paid trip, “even snacks,” Shaw stated. Shaw still wonders to this day why she was picked. “There were actually teachers, administrators, who should have been picked,” she said. Shaw believes that Gruwell listens to people
with her heart, and heard something in Shaw. Shaw was the only student pre-teacher picked to be a part of the 150 teachers Gruwell hand selected to continue her lessons.

According to Shaw, Gruwell was the teacher who sought to teach kids at a “tough school” in Long Beach, California. Gruwell used many games to reach children who others referred to as “unteachable.” Also, Gruwell encouraged each of her students to write in a journal, now known as the “Freedom Writers Diaries.” They just entered everyday experiences,but that gave them a way to express their hardships happening at home. These kids were kids who nobody wanted.

It is the same kind of students Shaw hopes to someday teach. “I don’t want to go to school where the kids know everything,” Shaw said. She believes it’s in the tough schools that teachers are needed most. “I want to go where a difference can really be made,” Shaw said. “Because if I can help one person, and that one person helps another person,that’s what makes the world go around.”

Back in April of this year Shaw was invited back again, and again it was all expenses paid. This meeting was both another seminar and a meeting to discuss entries in the “Freedom Writers Diary, Teachers Edition.” Shaw has been a part of the TEP for about four semesters, and has interned twice, once at Clemnos Elementary and the other at Roosevelt Middle School. She graduates from MATC this winter with an Associate in Applied Science degree in Music Occupations. Afterwards, she plans on attending UWM to finish her teaching degree. Shaw will be a Special Education major, minoring in Music. She wants to eventually teach at a school “that will let me teach the way Erin Gruwell taught.”

For the last three or four years TEP(formally known as CUTEP) used a text in the Orientation to Teaching class called the “Freedom Writers Diary.” This is the book by Erin Gruwell. It was through this book that Shaw learned about Gruwell.

The CUTEP program, according to Eva Hagenhofer, Teacher Education Program Faculty Coordinator, stood for Cooperative Urban Teacher Education Program and was originally intended to help minority students become teachers in urban areas.

However, today the program is open to all students interested in teaching, and is just called TEP, or Teacher Education Program.
“Our primary affiliation is with Milwaukee Public Schools,” Hagenhofer said.

She added, “We are an urban teaching program, so our coursework and texts are still geared to preparing students to become good urban teachers.”

Over the last 20 years, MATC has developed relationships with four-year colleges that license teachers. These include: Cardinal Stritch, Lakeland, Marquette, Alverno and the UW universities just to name a few. Working with these colleges has helped TEP
students take the required courses, just at MATC’s price.

As part of the program, students complete field experiences
at MPS. Hagenhofer describes the program: “They first do some
observation, then they do service learning (volunteering), and finally a 50-hour field experience.” The students don’t teach, but they do work with a teacher, one on one, in a classroom.
Also, students in TEP take a class that prepares them to take
the PreProfessional Skills Test (PPST), which they are required
to pass before being admitted to a teacher licensing program at a college or university.

We figure there are at least 600 people right now that we could call alumni for sure,” Hagenhofer said. However, it’s likely to be more. Staying true to its original design of being geared toward
minority students wanting to be urban teachers, a large percent
of TEP students are of color. But it is open to any race.

In order to be fully admitted into the program students must
complete ENG-201, MATH-114 and SOCSCI-249 “Orientation to
Urban Teaching,” with a grade of 2.5 or better. According to Hagenhofer this program offers students “a lot of advising. We make those connections with colleges. We have a speaker series. We bring people in from MPS to talk about issues in the school system. (And) they begin developing a teaching portfolio while they are here.”

In celebration of its 20th year, the Teachers Education Program
(TEP) is having an alumni reunion and fundraiser on Saturday,
November 22. They are meeting at 5:30 p.m., with dinner
being served at 6:30 p.m. at the Italian Community Center in
Milwaukee. There are many ways one can help support the fundraiser, and all funds raised will go directly to student scholarships. For more information about tickets or sponsorships, call 414-297-6982.