The University of Michigan's Center for Entrepreneurship and School of Education are partnering to bring a more entrepreneurial mindset to Teach For America's Detroit teachers.
The new partnership will help 20 Master's of Urban Pedagogy students at U-M who are also working as teachers in Detroit for
Teach for America think more like small business owners when they return to their classroom this fall. The idea is that a start-up mentality will help bring innovation and problem-solving to urban classrooms.
"The entrepreneurial mindset is how do you approach problems with limited resources and drive change," says Moses Lee, assistant director for student ventures at the university's
Center for Entrepreneurship.
Typical problems for Teach For America teachers range from poor communication within the school to lack of parental participation to chronic truancy. The new partnership at U-M will provide a week-long workshop that will focus on the ideas behind social entrepreneurship, such as how to identify problems, assess needs, solicit feedback from customers, solve problems in creative ways and execute a solution with limited resources.
"We're hoping the teachers will feel empowered to bring these methods to Detroit," Lee says. "We hope they will be inspired to try new things.
Source: Moses Lee, assistant director for student ventures at the University of Michigan's Center for Entrepreneurship
Writer: Jon Zemke
Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.
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