NYC Men Teach Summer Fellowship at Lehman

by Romello Mills, Fatima Sherif & Lawrence Patterson

The NYC Men Teach Summer Fellowship experience has had an immense positive impact on participants this year. NYC Men Teach Summer Fellows actively engaged in a variety of learning and discussion sessions including:

• Defining Your Professional Look
• Effective Communication Strategies
• Financial Literacy
• Strategies for Working with Students
• Culturally Responsive Teaching
• Unpacking Culture in Educational Spaces
• Team Building.

These sessions have afforded our participants professional development that will prepare them to become highly effective educators in the classroom. They have created a space where participants are building lifelong relationships with their peers in educational settings, and ensuring participants are ready when they enter the classroom as an educator for the first time. 

The NYC Men Teach Summer Fellows have communicated their gratitude for having the gatherings and workshops in-person as that format has addressed each of their unique learning styles and created a stronger sense of community. Furthermore, the Summer Fellows have expressed that the space has allowed them to be vulnerable, authentic, and develop a greater understanding of the roles of educators. From examining Rita Pearson’s TED Talk “Every Child Deserves a Champion” to providing the Summer Fellows with a workshop on Effective Strategies for Working with Students from a student perspective, the program has organically allowed the NYC Men Teach Summer Fellows the opportunity to see how they can have a positive impact on future students and future generations to come. 

“Thoughts” By Lawrence Patterson

“Men as intellectuals in our community schools and classrooms are essential. They complement the work that women have been doing for generations. Black men, Latino men, South East Asian men, Asian men, Indigenous men, and all that are part of marginalized communities are necessary now that the nations demographics is forever changed. A melting pot is not monolithic. Our children need to see themselves reflected in those that stimulate and provoke their intellectual growth. The cultural perspectives that will be added is valuable and immeasurable.

This new cohort of New York City Men Teach scholars is a great representation of great things to come. The workshops dealt mainly with practical application and real-life scenarios of the theory that the scholars have been taught in the academy. The sessions were designed not to honey-coat the education profession but to give an accurate representation of what these new educators will be faced with and how to successfully navigate until they gain a firm footing in their chosen field. The enthusiasm, compassion and commitment of the NYC Men Teach scholars to become change agents for the students and community was both refreshing and reassuring.”