Teach for America- any one done it?

Parent Cafe
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<p>My D is interested and has been leisurely researching it. I am wondering if any one has a student who has done it? How competitive have you found it to be?</p>

<p>I just spoke to the parents of a girls we’ve known for years- amazing girl, lots of great accomplishments, the typical maybe Ivy profile, attended a top public and spent her entire time there involved in an inner city tutoring program, so even some inner city teaching experience. She made it to the last cut, but was not chosen. I really would ahve predicted she would be chosen.</p>

<p>Any one have any info on the type of student they are seeking in the program?</p>

2

<p>I’m not sure about the “admissions” aspects of the program, other than I know students who have gotten in and students who haven’t at my college.</p>

<p>My college send a large number of students to TFA every year. I’ve heard some very good reviews from people who have decided to teach in the inner-city (or other disadvantaged locations) after participating in the program, but I’ve recently heard some complaints about insufficient training. I think there was a post on this maybe a year ago if you want to run a search.</p>

<p>Edit… Here is the link from a past post: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/358203-teach-america.html?[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/358203-teach-america.html?&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;

3

<p>My son has several friends who are currently teaching in TFA. I heard that it is his college’s #1 employee for recent graduates. One is an occasional poster on this board. If you’d like to pm me, I’ll give his screen name so you or your daughter could contact him. I believe he’s been really pleased with the whole experience.</p>

<p>I don’t know too much about the selection process but I understand that it helps to apply to less popular locations. For example, San Francisco and Hawaii are very competitive, some rural locations less so. I also understand that the training is fairly minimal so they are definitely looking for self-motivated, innovative young people.</p>

4

<p>My d is going through the process right now. She made it to the final round. Will have a full day interview within the next few weeks and will get a decision by early March.
I have spent a bit of time on the TFA website recently- so this is what I have gathered so far-
There are 4 cycles each year. I believe the 4th deadline is early February. The response time is pretty quick. Example- my kid applied this cycle. Her application had to be in by January 5th (or thereabouts) and she will get a decision by March 3th.
1st round- kids apply (application- essays).<br>
2nd round- 30 minute phone interview.
3rd round- full day interview with 12 other applicants.
My d will be having her full day interview within the next 2 weeks.
Next week my d has to send in her preferences for location placement and grade level.</p>

<p>My understanding is that once she is placed in a school district, she must meet the certification requirements of that district. It looks like most districts require TFA applicants to take the Praxis. There are some exceptions -California required you to pass their own California teaching test.
There is 5 weeks of training during the summer.<br>
so for some kids- this really can be a sink or swim situation.<br>
The website stated that around 20,000 kids applied to TFA- and around 3,000 are accepted into the program each year. So it is fairly selective.</p>

<p>she’s still in the running- so we will see what happens with TFA. but if I get more info, I’ll pass it along.
corranged- thanks for the link!</p>

5

<p>My S explored it and met with someone in the Fall, though I think he decided not to apply. It’s extremely competitive, but if you have majored in math or science you have abetter shot since the schools are desperate for math and science teachers. You also have a better shot if you’re willing to go to the less popular locations.</p>

6

<p>how hard is it to get a teaching cert. and just do it yourself? what would be the difference?</p>

7

<p>My daughter made it all the way to the last round (full day group activities/presentation). She did not get in, despite three years’ work in local disadvantaged school classrooms and a summer internship living in the inner city and creating an educational summer program for community kids. We, frankly, were shocked. It’s turned out to be a blessing, though, because there is no way she could have afforded it, even with help from TFA. (She would have had to pay for transportation, living expenses, etc. for the summer certification - I’ve heard from other who’ve done TFA that it is costly for the participants.)</p>

<p>She is still glad she went through the process and said it was a good experience for future interviews. I am proud that she made it that far - a lot of kids from her school did not make it past the initial application or phone interview.</p>

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<p>The difference would be in only having to have a two year commitment (rather than an actual job), there is support from the national offices including a lot of retreats and workshops, it’s now as high a profile activity as the Peace Corps so it’s a huge resume booster, if you don’t know what you want to do with your life you can end up working directly for TFA, you also get AmeriCorps money (along with a paycheck) if you do a few extra projects.</p>

<p>I have a number of friends that are or have been involved with TFA (and I nearly applied myself). Most of my friends enjoyed, I have one kid I went to junior high with who is now working for TFA as teacher support staff. I do know a couple people though who said that TFA misrepresented what the experience was going to be like, and that they didn’t feel adequately prepared - and this was a married couple, both of whom were extremely successful while in college (the husband was president of the student government). They actually quit the program after their first semester of teaching. They still recommended it when I asked about applying at the time, but just had some cautionary tales.</p>

<p>I recommend reading One Day, All Children by Wendy Kopp, TFA’s founder. Really good read.</p>

9

<p>My daughter is in the final round. Yesterday she visited some schools that work with TFA and she was very impressed. Along with math and science, applicants who are willing to work in special education are desired because there is a big need there.</p>

10

<p>My d’s friend- because she was a math/science student, was immediately advanced to the final round. Both will have there full day interview soon.
My d may be interested in special ed. She did volunteer and teach special ed kids for a few years while she was in HS.<br>
so you never know how your activities as a teen-ager may affect your opportunities when you are an adult.</p>

11

<p>My daughter was accepted into the program and was very disappointed. </p>

<p>The training program that begins in June was intensive but disorganized. The teachers have to prepare lesson plans for imaginary classes. They are not told what grade or subject they will be teaching until they get to their school district in late August, so it’s a lot of busy work under time pressure and a waste; prepare a year long lesson plan for a class you’ll never teach. It would make more sense to let them know their grade and subject BEFORE they begin their training so that the preparation is useful.</p>

<p>As part of the training, she did some student teaching during the summer, then drove to her new state in late August. Once she arrived, she interviewed with several principals. They decide where you’ll teach, not you. You would prefer to teach English and they place you at a school that doesn’t need an English teacher, so you teach Math. You have no say in where you’ll be placed.</p>

<p>They gave her two afternoons to find an apartment in a city that was a half hour away from the training site. Good luck stranger. </p>

<p>Once she got to her school, they didn’t process her pay information so she didn’t get paid for a month even though she had to pay for her apartment and living expenses. Then, they didn’t pay her what they promised her. She ended up getting paid as a substitute for the next month.</p>

<p>They told her the subject and grade she would teach the week before school started. Now start from scratch and begin putting together your lesson plans. All of the TFA teachers were under a lot of stress. They worked and lesson planned and had no time for anything else. Then they had to attend meaningless training sessions at sites an hour away.</p>

<p>The school administration didn’t support her. The greatest disappointment was the feeling of helplessness. She never saw her principal after the first interview.</p>

<p>She was placed in a high school and worked with a regular teacher. After the kids kept threatening the two, the regular non-TFA teacher quit and left my daughter to fend for herself. When my daughter was threatened by students repeatedly, she would send them to the office, only to have the students return to the classroom in 10 minutes. </p>

<p>Threaten the teacher and come back to threaten the teacher again?</p>

<p>My daughter was thrown into a classroom with 30 special ed kids and 15 desks. Each day started with “F**k you teacher! I’m gonna kick your ass.” The students crumpled up their assignments and threw them away. They would walk out of the classroom as they pleased. </p>

<p>When she asked for help from her TFA mentor, she was told “I know the answer, but you have to figure out the solution yourself.” My daughter ended up crying every day while she drove to work and crying on the way home.</p>

<p>The last time she was threatened, she broke down in tears in the classroom and left the classroom as the students chanted “Crybaby.” My daughter quit after three months. My daughter was deeply depressed because she never quit anything in her life. This was unbearable. The teacher who replaced her lasted only three weeks before she quit. My daughter was one of 10 TFA teachers who quit the program. More have left since.</p>

<p>It was a horrible experience and a waste of six months of her life. She wanted to do the right thing and TFA let her down. You’d better think twice and ask a lot of questions before you commit. She lost money-never got her full pay and had to break a lease in her apartment and lost more money. But at least she’s home safe.</p>

<p>TFA has overextended itself by moving into schools without sufficient support. It sounds to me that TFA is more interested in press releases that they are going into more schools than in delivering a good product and preparing the students they hire.</p>

<p>She was definitely not prepared for her experience by TFA. You can read about other schools and other TFA teachers who love what they are doing. I’m thankful for them. The problem is you have no control over where they place you. I’m just happy the nightmare is over.</p>

12

<p>^^I’m truly sorry your D had this negative experience.</p>

<p>Some of the rough things mentioned, such as this, also happen to experienced, credentialled teachers.

</p>

<p>But you do tap into the essential criticism of TFA by teachers, that newly graduated college students are sent with poor preparation to the roughest school districts of all. </p>

<p>The classroom students are just as tough, no matter who teaches them, but there is no doubt that teachers college does provide some buffer between being the idealistic college grad and standing in front of a classroom where deprivation is the key theme.</p>

<p>Since the OP asked what kinds of students they might be looking for from TFA, I can’t answer. But I can answer from the pov of someone who taught (certified,credentialled, mature mom of 3, second career) a decade in very impoverished school districts. One district was rural, one urban.</p>

<p>It’s important to communicate a sense of authority to gain the respect of kids. Hesitations, doubts, y’know guys, rhetorical questions, do you want to vote on what we’ll do next…that won’t fly. It’s not summer camp, and charisma alone isn’t enough.</p>

<p>Communicating an inner sense of authority and respect is different, however than being an authoritarian personality.</p>

<p>Students who only got A’s, never had to struggle academically, are brilliant sometimes do NOT perceive the obstacles faced by others who either don’t care or can’t grasp school.</p>

<p>Students from comfortable homes don’t always understand families that do not organize their lives around the school’s priorities, schedules, values or concerns.</p>

<p>Some emotional recognition of what’s bothering the kids is very important. School is much more than academic. For some it is the only safe space they know where there are rituals, rules and order. Their parents did not like school and give the mixed message that they must excel there and “mind the teacher” even though the parents themselves do not enjoy their own school memories. It’s a very mixed message, and the kids act out in class as your D sadly experienced, by attacking any weak link in the school system.</p>

<p>Your D had a lot to cry about in that school. I sympathize with her.</p>

<p>I’m not in TFA, but if I were interviewing candidates, based on my lived experience, I’d be looking for physically healthy, strong, capable, organized individuals who at the same time had a soft heart for those who falter. Sometimes that means they, themselves, have overcome an obstacle before they actually begin to teach.</p>

<p>I’d look for a hard outer core with a soft inner being. As well, an overriding sense of idealism that the task is worth their time and attention, and not to imagine they can personally change it in one year, but want to be part of a massive effort towards change. Strong but humble.</p>

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<p><a href=“http://www.city-journal.org/html/13_1_how_i_joined.html[/url]”>http://www.city-journal.org/html/13_1_how_i_joined.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>My D did well at her summer school. At the end of the year party for her kids, she overheard one say, “She’s white, but she’s ghetto like us.” </p>

<p>She tutored in inner-city schools for four years in college and has many of the qualities you described as necessary. Her experience was much closer to the article above by Joshua Kaplowitz except the kids were older and bigger.</p>

<p>My D taught five classes. The sad thing is that she had two classes where the kids were doing very well. They all had A’s and B’s. The students in the three classes of special ed kids were all getting F’s.</p>

<p>The administration’s unwillingness to discipline the problem students who didn’t want to be there means that those two classes of good students are deprived of a caring teacher and only increases the possibility that those good students may eventually join the ranks of the problem students. </p>

<p>If you threaten a teacher, you shouldn’t be permitted back in school. Period.</p>

15

<p>Thanks for the above postings (I think). It sounds like you are absolutely right about placement.
I read that the applicants list their preferences and then TFA “assigns” them to a grade level and subject area. But then I also read, that the Principals of the school district have final say as to your hiring and placement. So I think you are right that the TFA kids do not get their “final” assignment until the school year begins, and probably gets the least desireable positions or those that are hardest to fill.
There seems to be a big push to get TFA into New Orleans- As there is probably such a need for teachers there, I can’t figure out if that would be a real good or real bad place to be for the next 2 years. </p>

<p>In the event my kid is accepted, I think I may share this thread with her. Apparently they give the applicant about 3 weeks to accept or decline the offer!!
Thanks again- Keep posting!!</p>

16

<p>I really appreciate the stories and links that are being posted. I forwarded a few to my dd who is applying to the program.</p>

17

<p>Older D participated in a very similar program - NYTeaching Fellows. It was without a doubt the hardest thing she ever did in her life - but she would do it again in a heartbeat. </p>

<p>The downside - summer training was minimal at best, little support finding actual placement school (she too had to shop around to get a placement within the system) and some initial resentment from principals and teachers at school where she was assigned. The actual school was tough - and supplies were non-existent. The first weeks were incredibly difficult. Being a first year teacher with no actual student teaching AND attending graduate courses at night in a new city - no less New York. </p>

<p>That being said - by November she had really become a very good teacher and by the following fall, she was excellent. She moved to DC the following year and continues to teach in the public school system. She is really a superb teacher, she had her masters paid for by the program, and she lived for two years in NYC, although she was too busy and tired to really enjoy the experience.</p>

<p>She believes in the worth of the program both for the prospective teachers and the students, although she would admit she was shaky as a teacher in the early weeks. It is not for the faint of heart - you’d better be confident, persistent, and resilient to survive. </p>

<p>Good luck & I really hope to hear how your daughter fares.</p>

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<p>seems like alot of cities/states have Teaching Fellowship programs. When I was checking out TFA in New Orleans, I was linked to a Teach Lousisiana program. I think the main difference between these programs, is that TFA just requires the 2 year commitment, while some of the other programs have the expectation that you will remain in teaching as a career.
The Fellowhips also seem to lead to a Masters in Teaching or Education. Whereas TFA will accept alternate certification (depending on the district) or it can lead to a MA too. </p>

<p>My d went to a TFA presentation at her UG school- the panel was made up of TFA alum who are now in law school.
In each instance, they all agreed that their TFA experience was more demanding, challenging, and gave them more insight into themselves than their experience at Law school.
In one regard, I think the TFA experience would be a unique opportunity for my kid. But I can also imagine that, a bad teaching experience can take its toll.
I can only hope that if my kid does get into the program, she has a similar experience to your kid wnp.
I think that Teachers are the backbone of our society. I have the highest regard for them. (well most of them- there was this teacher I had…)</p>