Would you like to spend a month in Washington, D.C., learning about civics education, working with teachers from across the country, and exploring the city? And would you like to be paid to do it…?
Then you ought to apply to be a 2019 C-SPAN Teacher Fellow.
What is the C-SPAN Teacher Fellowship?
C-SPAN’s Teacher Fellowship is a month-long, paid professional development opportunity. Each year, three classroom teachers from around the nation are selected to be Teacher Fellows.
These Fellows live in Washington, D.C. for the month of July and work at C-SPAN’s office. During that month, the Fellows have an opportunity to curate videos from the C-SPAN Video Library and create curricular resources for the C-SPAN Classroom website. They will also work with C-SPAN’s staff to host teachers from around the nation at their Summer Educator Conferences.
You can read more about the fellowship on C-SPAN’s website here.
Why should you apply to be a C-SPAN Teacher Fellow?
In short, it’s an amazing opportunity.
In 2013, I was selected as a Teacher Fellow. I learned a ton, and the friendly staff at C-SPAN is great to work with. I love researching topics to create new lesson plans, but it’s so hard to find the time. This gave me the time and the perfect excuse to do so.
But one of the really unique things about this Fellowship is that you receive a generous stipend to cover travel, housing, and living expenses. Many summer professional development opportunities only cover basic expenses – and if you rely on summer employment income to make ends meet you’re out of luck.
See this post from last year for some more reflections about my time as a C-SPAN Teacher Fellow.
What You Need to Know About Applying to Be a C-SPAN Teacher Fellow
Becoming a C-SPAN Teacher Fellow is an incredibly competitive process.
The basic criteria are that you are a member of the C-SPAN Classroom website, you’re a certified social studies teacher, you have experience using C-SPAN’s content in your classroom, and you are available in July 2019.
First, you’ll need to complete the application here. Applications are due Friday, March 1.
From these applications, a group of finalists will be selected. They will be invited to submit a video of them teaching and using C-SPAN resources, and they will be scheduled for a phone interview. Final selections will be made and announced on in April.
If you’re not familiar with C-SPAN’s resources or not confident in your likelihood to be selected, you can also apply to attend one of the C-SPAN Summer Educator Conferences.
These are free, two-day professional development opportunities in Washington, D.C. They’re a great way to learn about what C-SPAN has to offer, and successful Teacher Fellow applicants have often attended one of these Educator Conferences first – although it is by no means a requirement that you have done so.
So what are you waiting for? Apply today to be a 2019 C-SPAN Teacher Fellow or to attend a 2019 C-SPAN Summer Educator Conference.