AFSF Teacher Externship Program

In this three week program, classroom teachers from different SFUSD high schools worked with AFSF personnel to develop new curriculum units based on 21st Century Skills for their classrooms. In order to increase their knowledge of how these skills play out in the contemporary workplace, each teacher was placed with a mentor in a firm in San Francisco. These firms ranged from architecture firms, to software companies, to construction firms and newly formed “dot-coms.” Each mentor and firm was specifically chosen to meet the needs of the teachers and their goals for improving their instruction. Teachers spent two mornings with their mentors, and three mornings working on their curriculum units. The overarching goal of the externship program is the creation of new lessons for high school students in a diverse group of classrooms. Each of the teachers used information from their externship experience to develop new approaches to their subject area.