Teach for America?
 

Has anyone applied, gone through, or know anyone who has done Teach for America? I'm thinking of applying, though i've had my strong opinions on such programs. But, i perused the website and it didnt seem so bad.

I wanted to get some advice. yes, i used the search function, and yes, perhaps this should be in the careers or education section, but i need some more immediate advice if im gonna get the application before the deadline.

What exactly do you want to know?

One of my friends (who has since died, not because of TFA though, lol) was one of TFA's success stories and recruited others for it. One of her recruits is now a Principal of a KIPP Academy in Brooklyn.

Another one of my friends applied and was rejected.

I also have a former coworker who was a DC Teaching Fellow, which is similar.

good question. i was concerned about a couple of things, in particular, what the support is like from the partnering schools, if people really like the program. does 5 weeks of training suffice for 2 years of teaching...that sort of thing. i know this is my decision and all but i really want some opinion.

Well, as far as I can tell, I have never met anyone who went through TFA and hated it.

One of the characteristics of Maya and Ky (my friends who are TFA alums) is that they had supportive Principals. Nobody assumed that they had a savior complex or anything of the sort. There is usually a lot of staff development throughout the year anyway, in addition to mentor teachers. (I am speaking from a DC Public Schools standpoint, not a TFA standpoint.)

Is it hard? Yes. Teaching is hard in general, and I don't believe that any amount of training, outside of gettin hazed and combat experience, can really prepare you for teaching in the inner-city. But I do believe (as an outsider) that TFA has a good support system and alumni network, as well as principals who are supportive of the program and its participants.

My daughter tried and came back one day early from her HONEYMOON for them......!! and was rejected.....so who knows?

A college friend of mine was accepted and is now MISERABLE there. She didn't get placed in the program which she had requested and neither had her roommate. The friend isn't completing the second year of her contract and is counting down the days until the end of the school year. The one benefit she learned from the experience is that she loves teaching and is going to be pursuing a teaching certificate to teach elsewhere.

I have over 10 friends who are either currently in TFA or have gone through the program (they recruit heavily at my undergrad and take lots of people every year). In general, I would say about half of them have enjoyed their experience. One quit before X-mas of her 1st year because of the lack of support she was receiving and because her kids were so out of control (to no fault of her own) she feared going in there everyday knowing the Principal wasn't helping. Two friends quit after a year. One friend in it now really wants to do the 2 years because she thinks if she signed a contract she should stick with it but is very unhappy. And another friend did her 2 years, realized that TFA made her hate the public school system in America, and now she's in law school.

Most of the people who didn't like it got very little support from their schools. The ones with support tend to do better--but there's no way to know how your school will be. Since TFA works with school districts, but it's the districts that actually hire the teachers (TFA tells the districts how many people they've hired--who are guaranteed placement *somewhere*--and the district tells TFA where they're putting them) sometimes the districts are slow and complicate things. In St. Louis, many of the TFA people this year didn't know where exactly they were working until the day before classes started andthen some of them found out that they weren't teaching what they were originally told they would be teaching! One friend of mine did TFA in Baltimore and TFA told her she'd be teaching 2nd grade, but when she got placed in her school they told her she'd be teaching 6th grade. BIG DIFFERENCE!

TFA seems to be a crapshoot--some love their time; some despise it. And there's never a way to know. All of my friends have gone into it with good intentions and real desire, and some of them have turned into cynics.

So far I agree with what deadbear has said. I work with a lot of elementary ed teachers and some of them have been in TFA. It really does go you either love it or hate it. I won't repeat what everyone said already but there is something I want to add.

This past week I over heard one of the TFA teachers talking about the amount of outside time the TFA program also takes up. Including teaching and TFA meetings she said she puts in anywhere from 80-100 hours a week in. She loves it though and is getting great support from her school.

It is a lot of work but if you love teaching and helping children succeed then do it. If you are hesitant about it though I would reconsider.

They recently opened up one of those KIPP Academies here in OKC. My wife teaches at an AVID charter school. She raves about KIPP kids. Sounds like a great program.

in most cases the lack of support thing comes with being a new teacher, regardless of where you are/who you are placed with. i teach in a city school district, and while i recieved some support it really is more of a sink or swim thing. what i personally believe it comes down to is some people can be teachers and some people can't. if you can, you'll succeed regardless of where you are. if you can't, then unless you have very strong support system you will fail.

if you want to teach as a career, and you are interested in an underrepented field (generally science, math, or special ed...sometimes forgien languages) many states, particualry in the northeast and the mid-atlantic, have an alternate route certification program where you are hired, placed in a classroom with a mentor for usually 60 days and attend classes to obtain certification as you teach. i would reccommend looking into that option

if you aren't interested in teaching for the rest of your life, and just want to "give back" or something like that, then try teach for america.

You just made my day and will tell my daughter but then again, luckily she got her courage up wrote more resumes on her own..and has a great new job...but it did hurt...and hey, it was her Honeymoon in Rome of all places!!!

How has there NOT been an IHE reference in this thread?

LOL.

Teach for America is never not funny.

yeah, we have teaching fellows here in the city. i really didnt consider that TFA doesnt give certification. i wouldnt wanna teach for 2 years just for experience, especially if im gonna come out bitter. let me be bitter with a masters.

p.s. i want in on the IHE joke...

I did a similar program, Teaching Fellows, for NYC. Lots of TFA members were at my school when I started & have gone on to new city charter schools or teaching in the suburbs. I finished up my committment in 2005 & have been even happier at my school since then (probably bc there's no graduate work to think of). It really all does depend on your principal and your co-workers as to whether you'll like it or not. Our principal retired after the end of my 2nd year & our new one is FABULOUS. My co-workers are really supportive & while we each have our own classroom, there's a lot of sharing going on in planning & instruction. I've applied & received my perm. teaching certification for New York & hope to have teaching as a long career. Not everyone who applies for these programs does but I think it would be nice if people stayed at their schools for longer than 2 or 3 years!

How the holy hell did I miss this thread?

You too can be like IowaHawkeye!

TEACH FOR AMERICA!

DONT DO IT!

I am currently in my first year teaching in an inner city school. I was however, an education major. I am working in the inner city for many reasons, but it was not my first choice for my first year.

There were 3 TFA teachers working with me at the beginning of the school year. One quit after 2 weeks (6th grade-the kids were crazy).
The other quit before christmas break. (5th grade with me)
The other is absolutely MISERABLE and is not sure whether he will be back next year (another 5th grade with me.)

I myself am having serious doubts about education- which everyone tells me is a normal "first year" mentality.

It is not as glamorous as their website makes them out to be.

Although, there are two successful TFA teachers currently in their 2nd year at my school.

So really it all boils down to your own personal strength and determination.
I do know from what my fellow teacher has told me, they do take alot of your personal time for meetings/observations/classes/etc.
And as it is there is little time for yourself as a regualr teacher. I find that I am physically and mentally exhausted by the end of the day.

I would just do as much research as you can before making a final descision.If your interested in teaching, persuing an education certificate may be a better option.


Good Luck!

If you were an education major, why are you in TFA? I felt like people in TFA generally wouldn't meet the NCLB requirements otherwise due to their majors/coursework.

I don't think she is. I think she's referring to her coworkers who were in TFA and is trying to give advice based on her observations.

Oops, you're right. :) I was skimming too fast again, lol.

I think you are right as far as the majors and coursework, but I think in general TFA types maybe smarter and better educated generally than many of the folks who go straight through with education majors. And, there are enough non-traditional paths to certification now in many states that if you try TFA, and like it, you can get full certification later.

However, I think folks should keep in mind that TFA will be in schools that are hardest to staff: fully certified teachers choose not to go there and that's probably for a reason. You may go in expecting a Dangerous Minds/ Freedom Writers experience, but I'd imagine everyone who teachs there hopes for that, and yet, those results are the exception. It's important to believe that you can make a difference, but it's important not to be delusional about it. It will be hard work every day; the successes are likely to be small; and to really make a systematic difference would require more than two years.

Completing the TFA contract would probably give you new insights into human nature, management, educational policy, and social class in America, which, if you think about it, could serve you well in many other fields later.

It might be a mistake, though, to use TFA as your experiment to see if you liked teaching generally. It not likely to be a representative sample.

I am not in TFA, but have seen and am currently working with TFA teachers. As others have said, TFA experiences will differ greatly.

For me the greatest challenge has been going in with such high expectations and being hit with the reality of the situations these kids are in. I've had to lower my expectations and work towards mini success goals.

I have learned to take things one day at a time.

:)

I'm sorry but I take offense to this comment. Just because you are a TFA doesn't meant that you are generally "smarter and better educated than the folks who go straight through with education majors". In fact it is probably the other way around.

TFA's spend 5 weeks in intensive training. I'm sorry, education majors (non-alternate certification) spend 2+ years training. I know from my experience at ASU, that you had to do volunteer tutoring hours prior to applying to the COE (college of education). Then once in the program you spent your last four semesters in the field and 3 semesters taking all education coursework.

I chose alternative certification (because I obtained a BA History). I got my MA Elementary Education and certification at the same time. It was a one year intensive graduate program. All I took were education courses. And I'm still taking education courses. One reason is to get another certification but also to get more pay. To get more money, I have to continue to take graduate level coursework.

There are couple TFA's at my school right now. I can tell you that I am more educated than them. The most they have done is completed the appropriate coursework required to become state certified. While I have a Masters degree.

Just because your a TFA doesn't mean you're a great teacher. (And the same thing apply's for a regularly certified teacher's, I won't even get started on my coworker :D).

I stand by my comment generally although it doesn't apply in your case. Someone with an undergraduate degree in history is likely to be well educated in my book, but someone with a degree in education may or may not be. I didn't mean you with my original post; what may be true when you look at trends, may not be true in an individual case.

Based on my own experience taking education classes, reading studies of education, paying attention to educational reform, my impression of education programs is pretty bad. They might or might not actually prepare you teach in a school where you are likely to get a job. Yes, you will have jumped through more hoops than a TFAer, but those hoops might or might not have anything to do with teaching.

At many colleges, the school of education will have the lowest admission standards and some of the weakest students, as determined by GPA and SAT scores.

TFA, on the other hand, pulls heavily from the Ivy league and other top tier schools. They seem to attract and select very bright candidates, and they seem to have a rigorous selection process. The five week training course might be pretty skimpy, but in many schools where they take TFA candidates, the administration will frequently hire people will no education training at all if they can qualify for a provisional certificate. The turnover of fully certified teachers at the schools is usually very high.

I think there are excellent teachers out there who went though traditional programs, but I wouldn't say on average that graduates of education programs are better educated than people with the same level degree in a non-education field. Think person with MA in History vs. person with MA in Social Studies Ed: who do you think is generally better educated? You'd hope the Social Studies education majors were better prepared to teach, but I'd bet the history majors know more history.

Depending on the program they went through, the education program graduates might or might not be more prepared to teach, which is sad because it was the focus of their education for four years rather than five weeks and they ought to be clearly better prepared to teach.

(Now, the TFA folks you know may be complete idiots, but that hasn't been my experience. I haven't taught with any, though: I just know some folks who after college did TFA.)

Sorry for the rant. I'm sure that you personally are a great teacher. This is just an issue that winds me up.

You may be the smartest person ever, but if you can't transfer that info to your students when you teach, it doesn't really matter, does it?

I've had teachers and professors that I'm sure were certifiable geniuses, but they couldn't teach for jack, and I learned nothing in those classes.

I once read a novel where the main character bemoaned the fact that he wasn't GREAT at something, like writing or math...but he came to the conclusion that he was good at a lot of things, and that made him a great teacher. I think that's about right.

Sure, 33Girl, it's true that a lot of smart people aren't particularly good teachers, but if you don't know something then you certainly can't teach it. We'd all hope that any college graduate would have mastered the content knowledge through high school, so maybe it doesn't make that much difference.

The original point that I was responding to, I think, suggested that TFA candidates were less educated and prepared than education program folks. I think that's a hard case to make considering how staffing works at the schools that TFA is in.

I'm not sure that "not great at anything but good at a many things" is really descriptive of most good teachers, but I do think a lot of teachers choose teaching because it allows them to use many of their talents.

No.

I was referring to No Child Left Behind requirements of a "highly qualified" teacher. In DC, that includes having at minimum a minor in education. Programs like TFA are ways around that requirement, because they are in essence teacher education programs and put you on the path to being "highly qualified."

At no time did I imply that anyone anywhere was more or less educated than anyone else.

Like I mentioned to Alphagamuga (via PM), I work with a lady (she is in the same grade level as me) who I wouldn't call a "certifiable genius" but she is probably an intelligant woman, but as a teacher she absolutely sucks! That is seriously the nicest way to put it. I mean this woman had the lowest 4th grade scores at the school (and we are talking a 3-5% difference between the other two 4th grade teachers, and that is a pretty big difference) she was moved (on purpose) down to 1st grade because she had swore up and down that she would quit. Did she? No.

I could go on about how horrible this woman is as a teacher (since I see and deal with it daily), but that's not what the thread is about (I just wanted to respond to the comment :D).

You are completely correct about matters of certification.

I apologize if I misrepresented your views. I didn't intend to go on a long rant about teacher qualifications, but being "highly qualified" by NCLB doesn't mean much, and that's where I was going with my first comment.

Looking more carefully, I can see that you were just dealing with the issue of labeling not quality. Sorry.

I have a lot of friends from college who decided to do TFA--not because they actually wanted to teach (my college does not have an undergrad education program), but because they weren't ready to go straight to law/medical/graduate school and figured that they could do that to pass the time for a year or two. None of them were even considering teaching for their careers.

The people who did NYCTF were usually committed to teaching for at least 5 years, if not for their entire careers.

I have a family "frenemy" who is a teacher here in NYC. She's annoying as hell and I can't freaking stand her, but she did have a really good point in that the teachers at her school who did TFA tend to be very very smart, but really didn't learn how to impart that knowledge to others. Plus, since they didn't go to school for education, they didn't feel as invested in their jobs as someone who did do an Elementary Ed program.

i personally value having the Master's over "appropriate coursework." i'd hope that the word "master's" implies that you've mastered the skills necessary to teach satisfactorily with room to work on that craft. of course this isnt always the case.

on the upside, many of my friends who student-taught got full-time jobs at their placement. couldve been the NYU credentials, or that they knew what they were doing, who knows. and the education students ALWAYS got ragged on for having the lowest GPA and SAT scores (for the graduate program, you dont have to submit GRE scores!).



exactly. pulling from top-tier/Ivy League schools just says to me you want to put on your website "hey most of our applicants come from schools X, Y, and Z and have X.X GPA" which makes people believe that the students are gonna absorb that through osmosis. as i may have mentioned, i worked alongside a TFA teacher who was a computer science smarty from UPenn, but how did that make him qualified to teach 3rd grade special education?

Again, with the example above, the kid (i say "kid" cause he was only a year older than me) was killing time before graduate school, and actually said at one point, "we didnt go over this kinda stuff in the summer program" (which is how i found out he was a TFAer).

Now NYCTF on the other hand, i'd give a shot, since youre doing going to school at night and teaching during the day. from its website, it seems way more realistic than TFA, and even though its intensive, its over 2 years and seems like its applicants have more dedication to the education field, which feels like more a fit than doing it to pass time between undergrad and grad.

Many of my friends that did TFA did it for that reason. Also, many of them qualified for debt forgiveness on their student loans because of TFA.

my sister is in TFA in Camden NJ. She loves it but echos these thoughts almost every time I speak with her. She has a great corps and has enjoyed her time. It seems like a great way to give back, but I don't think I could do it.

If you would like I can pass your info on to her if you pm. She's always happy to talk to potential TFA'ers

:)
I am not in TFA. I am a certified teacher (first year graduate). I
know however, that the TFA teachers I am working with always love to meet people who are dealing with the kinds of things they are.
We often get together and gripe/cry/laugh because we are all first year's together.

Glad to hear your sisters experience is great. It is good to know that some people are out there giving back and trying a career that is truly honorable.

Hi,Thank you for the sharing useful information.I am teacher. I found a website with classroom management tricks and I follow that. The interest, abilities, and time constraints of your students have to be considered. My students finish their assignments on time and ask for some more. Log on to www.classroom-management.org for additional information.