Teacher Residency Program Provides Mentorship for New Teachers
The WNMU School of Education is in its second year of offering a Teacher Residency program that allows students finishing their coursework to earn $35,000 for a two-semester guided apprenticeship in which they work alongside mentor educators. The program was created following the passage of House Bill 13, the Teacher Residency Act, which in 2022 established funding and guidelines for offering teacher residencies across the state. According to Assistant Professor of Secondary Education Stephanie Fanselow, who directs the program at WNMU, lawmakers created the program as a measure to grow and diversify the teaching workforce. “They want teachers who look like the kids in the classroom,” she said. What that means can vary in different parts of the state, depending on the local population, said Fanselow. The residency is a two-semester program that pairs each teacher resident with a mentor teacher who works in a New Mexican public or tribal school. Students planning to teach at...