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Education

Riley House Directory

Bowdoin Teacher Scholars

Become a teacher. In the classroom, you can make a direct impact by inspiring children to learn and grow, and make a broader impact by contributing to the common good. As a teacher, you create meaningful change.

Bowdoin Teacher Scholars (BTS) is unique in that it offers both current Bowdoin students and recent graduates the opportunity to become certified to teach in any public school in the US. The one-semester program takes place on campus and in nearby schools.

BTS is also unparalleled in the financial support it offers. Bowdoin's Snow Family Fund offers forgiveness for college loans and a generous stipend to both BTS undergraduates and graduates. Bowdoin College waives tuition costs for post-graduate students.

“The opportunity to have a certification in a short period of time for no additional cost, and the opportunity to go straight into a classroom, are the only reasons that I have been able to be a teacher and do what I love. ”

—Adrienne Hanson ’14

Pathways

BTS is open to Bowdoin seniors and recent graduates who have completed all of the content area and course prerequisites (EDUC 1101, 2203, 3301, and 3302).

Additionally, alumni who need extra time to complete EDUC 3301 and 3302 may do so in the fall semester within two years after they graduate—while receiving a stipend.

If graduates wish to gain more teaching experience, they can also apply for the fall-semester Snow Family Teaching Fellowship. 

Undergraduate Pathway
Post-graduate Pathway

Course expectations 

With rigorous scholarly and classroom training, BTS prepares a select group of Bowdoin undergraduates and alumni to begin full-time teaching jobs soon after graduation. 

  • Complete a full-time, fourteen-week, student-teaching practicum in a public secondary school. 
  • Participate in an introspective weekly seminar and engage in critiques of colleagues’ teaching and your own teaching. 
  • Develop a professional portfolio and defend its contents before a group of Bowdoin College faculty. 
  • Receive a Maine State Department of Education Public School Teaching Certificate, making you eligible to teach in any public school in the United States through the Interstate Reciprocity Agreement. 
  • Gain access to the Boston, New York, and Philadelphia Teacher Induction Programs sponsored by the Consortium for Excellence in Teacher Education. 

Ahead of the Curve

For hundreds of years, Bowdoin has prepared students to become teachers.

Bowdoin Teacher Scholars, sponsored by the Snow Family Fund, provides current Bowdoin students and recent alumni the opportunity to further prepare for the field of teaching. 

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Taking notes on desk
Teaching classroom in front of whiteboard
255 Maine Street
Brunswick, Maine 04011
 (207) 725-3000