<p>According to the TFA website, there were 35,000 applicants in 2009, which yielded 4,000 new corps members this year. Of course there were more acceptances than that, but I can’t find the number. I understand that TFA instituted a waitlist for the first time last year. The failing economy led to many school closings and much upheaval in district hiring, so TFA had to scramble to assist its members with placements. Individual members are responsible for their own placements (i.e., TFA does not guarantee placement to corps members), though the organization provides a lot of support in that area.</p>
<p>Another tip, ColoradoMom, though TFA suggests it and your d would probably figure this out herself - fellow TFA members make excellent roommates. They have the same concerns, can provide great emotional support, and they aren’t likely to be noisy on a weeknight. ;)</p>
<p>Many years ago, in high school, we read a book entitled, How Does a Poem Mean? by John Ciardi. In a passage that has stuck with me for decades, he wrote that many people mistakenly approach poetry thinking they have “something to say”. In his judgment, the young poets with the most potential were the ones who simply loved playing with words.</p>
<p>Years later, when our kids were young, the singer Raffi made a similar observation about his own approach to children’s songs. Although he cared deeply about issues like the environment, he was not interested in political “message” songs. He loved to sing playful songs that communicate an innocent joie de vivre (Baby beluga in the deep blue sea, Swim so wild and you swim so free …).</p>
<p>Bureaucratic school systems (not to mention poverty and drugs) can kill that. The regular faculty become dead wood not because they are bad people or incompetent but because they lose spirit. A supportive, open-minded principal can be a good ally.</p>
<p>Thanks for the link to the PBS series – I’m going to look at it later. DD is in year two of TFA and is having her second “first year” after layoffs in our school district of first-year teachers displaced her from her first school. It’s been very eye-opening to compare working in a large urban school district that is seriously in crisis and a highly effective charter school. My one piece of advice – if your DD has any kind of break between graduation and training, I’d advise her to really decompress – to sleep a lot, do fun things and get herself as prepared as possible in terms of taking care of life details. It will be the last rest she has for a long time. TFA makes a lot of time demands on its corps members, in addition to the demands that the job itself makes.</p>
<p>I know three young women, all family friends, who have done TFA. All are just amazing, confident, might as well have LEADER stamped on their foreheads! All finished the program. Here are their TFA locations and what they are doing now: </p>
<p>Philadelphia: married a guy she met at church there, now teaching and fund-raising at a private school.</p>
<p>Phoenix: getting Ph.D. in linguistics on full-ride scholarship. Will likely become college professor in linguistics/English as a second language.</p>
<p>NYC: finished program and moved to CA; not in teaching. This young woman had the most difficulty with the program and almost quit after the first year. Her dad helped her a lot and she returned for the second year and had a better year. (The first year she had a classroom with a lot of very difficult kids.)</p>
<p>I have read that med schools highly value candidates with the TFA experience b/c it shows a high level of commitment and ability to stick with a program when it gets really hard.</p>
<p>Thanks again for the well wishes and the suggestions about “decompressing” before she attends training. Both very appreciated!!</p>
<p>I have a logistics question now. From looking at the TFA website, D is to be in North Carolina the second week of June for what they call Induction, then immediately afterward she is to be in Mississippi for five weeks attending the TFA Institute. Then back to North Carolina for Orientation right before school starts. Obviously, she will need to be in North Carolina at some point during all of this to find a place to live, preferably with other TFA members. </p>
<p>Of course I know she is responsible for getting herself and her belongings to North Carolina, but does TFA get them from North Carolina to Mississippi and back? Or does that fall on D to do that? Doesn’t matter either way, but I was curious to see if anyone knew here how it all worked.</p>
<p>Oh, and one more question. As I said in my initial post, D will be teaching mathematics. How likely is it that they would switch her subject to let’s say, science? Or have her teach math AND science? I ask because we have some reference books here at home that we purchased when both of our kids were in high school that are gathering dust now since they are in college and we don’t need them any more. I was wondering if she should take them with her when she moves because she may want them for TFA OR to donate to the school’s library she teaches at if she doesn’t need them.</p>
<p>I don’t know about transportation as my daughter did Institute in the same city she teaches in, but keep the books. Due to the budget crisis in our state, my DD had to switch schools this year and she went from teaching English only to teaching English and Social Studies – had to take the CSET exam (I think that’s the one) in that subject, etc. A lot of our books (kids books) ended up in her classroom library.</p>
<p>My d’s induction was in DC and her institute in Philadelphia, which seems a much shorter distance than between NC and Mississippi! D has a car and drove back and forth one weekend with her current housemates to line up housing. I wonder how they make it work across greater distances?</p>
<p>I think your d will be happy to have any available books, either for her own reference or for the school library. It’s possible she’ll be asked to teach science as well (and it’s good to be flexible, for placement purposes). One of my d’s roommates teaches hs math - every level the school offers! Her lesson planning is insanely tough.</p>
<p>Many TFA schools have sadly unfurnished libraries. My d raided our supply of well-worn kids’ books the last time she was home. I threw my body across a large puile I’m saving for grandchildren. :)</p>
<p>So we’re keeping the books and moving them with her to NC, and we’ll have to figure out how D is to get the 687 miles from NC to MS (one way) and back. Or, rather D will have to figure that one out!! ;)</p>
<p>we have the same one-way dilemna, d was just accepted; only for my d it is cali to indy for tfa…2000 miles. We’re thinking route 66 road trip vacation while she’s in …we have conf call tomorrow too, so I guess details will slowly emerge.</p>