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Apprenticeships at Citizen Schools give adults the opportunity to take what they do best in their professional careers or personal pursuits and use it to help middle-school students move to a long-term trajectory of success.

Volunteer Citizen Teachers enable young people to learn real-world skills by creating real-world projects. Lawyers turn their apprentices into prosecutors, artists cultivate young muralists, gardeners lead a team of twelve-year-old green thumbs, software engineers teach students to create their own video games.

“WOW!” is what people usually say when they encounter the results of the apprentices’ work. So that’s what we call the final product, presentation or performance at the end of each apprenticeship. Every WOW! showcases the students’ learning for a public audience of family, school staff, and community leaders. Past WOW!s include a video on lead contamination, a prize-winning solar car, an arts festival, a naval ship design, a CD of local music, even a financial plan for a new business—all created by middle school students taught by volunteers like you!

The whole experience spans 11 weeks (usually 30-40 hours, total) and includes:
- Volunteer training with Citizen Schools staff
- An on-site orientation
- 10 afternoons of instruction with apprentices at their local middle school, culminating in a WOW!
- A final session for apprentices and Citizen Teachers to reflect on newly acquired skills and information

Please visit http://www.citizenschools.org/volunteer/index.cfm to view a three minute video about the volunteer experience. If it's a good fit, sign up. We hope to see you soon!

No prior teaching experience is necessary -- only a handful of our Citizen Teachers come to us with teaching experience. Dedication and enthusiasm are the most important qualities in a successful Citizen Teacher.

All Citizen Schools volunteers receive intensive training and are supported by a professional educator who helps plan each week’s lesson, assists in the classroom, and provides coaching throughout the apprenticeship.

Questions? Contact Jessica Graham:
email: california@citizenschools.org
phone: 650.363.2726
fax: 650.363.2728