New perspectives

CAREER CHANGE: Michael Mehle worked as a reporter and editor at the Rocky Mountain News in Denver, Colorado, for 20 years. Then, in February 2009, the newspaper closed after 150 years in business. Now Mehle is retraining as a teacher.

“I spent 20 years at the Rocky Mountain News ,” Mehle told KUSA-TV in Denver. “As the resources start dwindling, the staff starts getting slashed and you start asking yourself, ‘Why am I doing that?’ And, ‘How long is it going to last?’”

Now, thanks to an innovative programme called the Denver Teacher Residency, Mehle spends one day a week taking courses at the University of Denver and the rest of the working week at an elementary school. The programme is modelled on residency schemes for doctors, who work in hospitals or clinics as part of their training. It aims to increase the number of teachers available for so-called “high needs” schools in urban areas.

Young teachers are often unprepared for the problems of city schools, according to Thalia Nawi.

Four days a week, Mehle works with Betty Lott, an experienced teacher at Archuleta Elementary School . “Anything I have to offer, I try to give him,” Lott says.

Thalia Nawi, who directs the residency programme, says it is different from normal student-teacher training. “Teaching [in] urban schools is hard,” Nawi comments. “It’s really complicated and one of the reasons urban school districts see such a high level of attrition is people come unprepared for the rigours.”

Currently, 27 people are taking part in the programme. Nawi says it is an advantage to have previous experience in another career. Michael Mehle says retraining has given meaning to his life and a new purpose at the end of a long career. “I wanted to make a change that had some meaning to it, that had some power behind it,” he explains.

After one year as resident teachers, the 27 members of the programme are expected to begin fulltime teaching in Denver schools in September 2010. The programme was funded by a $3 million donation from Janus Capital Group.