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Relentless Pursuit
Each year, a new crop of college graduates signs up with Teach For America, dedicating their efforts to serving some of the nation's neediest schools. Within five years, however, more than half of them are no longer teaching. In her new book, Relentless Pursuit, Donna Foote spends a year with three TFA teachers, including Taylor Rifkin. We're also joined by Ren McDermott, a current Bronx-based TFA teacher.
See information about Donna Foote's event Thursday at 7 at McNally Robnison Booksellers
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Comments
I will not, unfortunately be able to listen to this today. I taught in the system for one year full time and one year three days a week. I did not do it through the Teach for America, however, I was recruited by a particular school. Not only is the job brutally hard in and of itself but the system treated me as though I were borderline criminal. I had the deputy superintendent at District 21 yelling at me for presuming that I could teach when I was not fully licensed. It wasn't even my idea to do this. Then I had to pay $80 for fingerprints (I hear it's $150 now) and wait to get paid for 5 months before the results came back. That was just June through November of my first year, when the teaching started in September. It does not surprise me that people drop out.
I was a 2005 Teach for America corps member. I finished my two year commitment in the South Bronx. There are, of course, both good things and bad things about TFA. My biggest issue is that TFA corps members, on the whole, do not make significant, long-lasting changes in the culture of a majority of schools where they work. Two years is not long enough to really make a difference. Also, I believe the stats TFA gives to show their progress are padded.
I am a 47 year old unemployed music teacher who has had interviews with twenty-one districts, throughout New York State, since 2002. I have the permanent state license. I have a strong desire to be on the the conductor's podium in front of a concert band in a program I can call my own. Let's get with it.
I taught English in the public schools for six years, in inner city, rural, and suburban systems. I left to train as a reading specialist and later, due to what I saw as a national education crisis, opened an after school reading and writing center. In my experience with teaching, tutoring, and test preparation, I have found that those students who have received a rigorous education that focuses on rich and difficult content, and those parents and teachers who have prioritized content over simplistic strategies-based education, have experienced the most success across socioeconomic lines. This trend is corroborated by about a thousand students that I have taught of the years, and specifically by their test scores. I think we as parents and teachers have to ask the hard questions about whether we are sufficiently challenging students to perform, or whether the methods our teachers are learning are designed to make their jobs easier on them instead of more conducive to student performance. Unfortunately I find that our very capable teachers are simply expected to serve as "warm bodies" in their classrooms. Learning is hard, and teaching is hard, and it is made harder by those administrators, teachers, and parents who do not believe enough in our students to present them with rich and rigorous learning opportunities.
I am hesitant to apply to any teaching position "in the trenches" here, including TFA, since surprisingly, my credentials from the Netherlands are always questioned. I am a certified and experienced teacher from the Netherlands. Most of my experience is teaching in underprivileged areas (and yes, they are actually there in the Netherlands!) in primarily urban settings, but it seems greatly devaluated here in the US.
Why miss out?
"In the trenches"? Why the war metaphor?
In fact, the whole way we think about teaching in this country is unprofessionalizing. Why is it that upper middle class young people with no preparation are considered capable of performing what should be a profession.
No one should be allowed to teach without proper training. The fact that many teacher ed programs are diploma mills doesn't change that fact.
I entered the NYC Teaching Fellows six years ago and am still teaching in a public school in the Bronx. However, the vast majority of my peers -- both in NYCTF and TFA -- have left teaching. These programs throw unprepared, inexperienced teachers into the most difficult schools in the city. I'm not sure how TFA or the Teaching Fellows has changed in the last six years, but when I entered teaching all the Fellows in both groups were overwhelmed, under-supported, and burned out very, very quickly. Students saw teachers come and go every year, as did more experienced teachers and administrators.
I am a retired teacher who mentored a TFA graduate at a middle school in the So. E. Bx. He was woefully unprepared (he was a BYU grad, a 6'6" Mormon---might as well have been from Mars) for who his population was. He left after one year, moved to LA and is now a lawyer who specializes in issues regarding housing for the poor. That being said, he would never have known about the poor and their housing issues had he not done TFA in the SE Bx.
A friend of mine teaches at Columbia Teachrers' College and ger course teaches grad students how to teach reading so that almost no child, even the dyslexic, cannot be taught to read. The main comment from her stucdents is "I wish the college would realize thaT THIS IS THE MOST USEFUL COURSE WE HAVE TAKEN. Why do they give us so much theory and very few methods to ensure our success?"
At my school in the Bronx, my fellow teachers, the administration, my students' parents all felt almost betrayed when we left after the two years. While that was what we signed on for, that was not how the community members saw it. I personally feel guilty for using my school as a 'learning experience' or a way to really 'understand' inner city neighborhoods or inner city schools. I am sometimes afraid that what we as TFA corps member do--while possibly helping education as a whole in the future--will hurt the individual schools where we teach for those first two years.
I'm a teacher in Brooklyn, and I've met lots of TFA teachers--both people who completed the program, and people who ran from it. I don't know where the guest got her stats, but I cannot believe that TFA retention rates are higher than regular certification programs. It's true that they stay for two years, but that's because they MUST or they have to pay for the master's degree they received. But as soon as they can, they leave or run to the suburbs. New York and the rest of the country don't need these unprepared fools giving students two years of practice teaching, then running back to the towers. These kinds of people make my head want to explode! We need teachers for the KIDS, not to give Ivies something else that looks good on their law school apps.
Responding to callers saying that the program is more about changing the privileged teachers than the "underprivileged" students. All students deserve to have the best teacher possible, not to serve as a valuable social learning lesson for twenty-somethings who have been fortunate enough to not realize that our society fails to serve its poorest populations. If thats what you get out of TFA, you should learn that lesson on your own time, not while standing in front of a call of students. We should spend more effort to recruit full-time, career teachers rather than this short-term, stop-gap method.
As a good friend of Taylor Rifkin's, I have heard her struggles and triumphs in the Teach for America program from day 1. She has invested so much, more so than any of my other friends in jobs just out of college, and continues to do so even when she is faced with violence in her schools, disappointments with school officials and frustrations with students on a day to day basis. Teach for America could use more teachers like Taylor, who strive everyday to make the school system a better place.
A retired educator, I have always resented these resume-padding dilettantes—their sense of nobles oblige was exceeded only by their incompetence in front of the kids.
You don’t have to go to the wilds to see human beings getting eaten alive. Just observe one of these Teach for America types attempt to bring order to an inner city classroom.
But it sure looks great to list the experience on the law school application, doesn’t it?
I had to hang up, but my question is: why not also try to attract older (fifties) professionals who are ready to step down from their high-powered jobs and would like to teach? Many of us are well-credentialed and motivated and would be committed teachers.
The School system doesn't attract lower GPA graduates into teaching, the school system only ACCEPTS lower GPA graduates into teaching because it doesn't want to pay higher GPA graduate salaries. Back to the main CFA problem, you want better teachers, then pay them well.
I an 36 years old, and work as in the publishing department of a financial company. I studied history undergrad and have volunteered in a tuturing program at Manhattan Comprehensive. I would love to change careers and be a teacher, but I cannot afford to live in this city on the starting salary at this point in my life (primary breadwinner, mortgage, car, etc..). It is unfortunate that such an important profession is so undervalued in our society. If I knew I could pay all my bills on a teacher's salary, I would not hesitate to change careers.
Exposing upwardly mobile college elites to the inner city so they'll one day do good as lawyers or policy makers, is not a reasonable tradeoff. Teaching is not a stepping stone. It is a craft.
Robert: have you observed some of these TFA teachers bring order to an inner-city classroom? Some of the best-run, well-managed classrooms that I have ever seen have been run by TFA teachers. There are both good and bad, and to discount every TFA teacher as a "resume-padding dilettante" does not give justice to the entire issue.
I am currently a career changer, pursuing a master's degree in education. I have met many TFA teachers, some good, some bad, all cocky. TFA is a cult. They are all working off a script, which is immediately thrust upon the unwary listener. They can gloat all they want about how most of them stay in education, "although not necessarily in the classroom. Many go onto politics..." So the thousands of inner city parents are to thank them for using their children's heads as stepping stones to "better" careers? This is the same generation of people who originated "service hours" as college app material, not altruism.
Oh, and by the way, my GPA from an exclusive, New England private college included two Bs and the rest As. Do I stand a chance in the school system?
There was a lot of disparaging of unions and comments for charter schools and being called "professionals" as teachers. Unfortunately, the reality is that teachers need unions and everything is blamed on "bad" teachers which is part of precisely why teachers need unions to protect them from inept administrators who throw around condemnatory terms about teachers they can defame. Charter schools, of course, are not unionized and the teachers are not protected. Only idealistic young people would not understand that with all their idealism they need the protection a union affords to them as teachers in a not ideal situation.
Years ago I was in a study of the Cambridge (MA) school system where they were attempting to address the key finding from years of research on underperforming students & schools: class & racial prejudice as it affects expectations of student ability in the minds of teachers.
First this was addressed by busing, now we were giving grade school teachers workshops on how they communicate expectations often nonverbally to their students.
I'm wondering how novice teachers from privileged backgrounds teaching in the most disadvantaged neighborhoods can be expected to not bring low expectations into their classrooms... Maybe TFA has some sensitivity training like this. But I was surprised that the subject of teacher expectation was not brought up at all in the show, by the journalist or teachers, when it was the basis for one of the most disruptive government policies of late regarding schooling: busing.
April is Poetry month. How are we judging "successful teaching?" Does a student who writes a creative lovely poem, fail because this skill is NOT TESTED on a standardized test? I doubt if the author of this book would last 20 minutes in a NYC classroom. She is unknowing and insulting and has little knowledge of the skills needed to be a "successful" teacher. It sounds as if she works for the US Dep't. of Ed. Most of her comments were very insulting and.unhelpful.
I was a teacher 40 years ago. I've been in corporate America for the last 30 years and made more money than I'd ever imagined I would. But, teaching was the hardest & most rewarding job I ever had. I'm still in contact with some of the elementary school students I taught 40 years ago.
I had to leave because I was a single Mom with two young children and needed to earn more than I was as a teacher. Raising teachers' pay will help burnout in three ways. One, burnout may be caused not only by stress from the classroom, but perhaps classroom stress plus economic stress. Two, summer vacation can be used for just that, not to have to work a second job to make ends meet. Time off is truly a necessity if you're a teacher. Three, psychologically, being paid a competitive wage provides an emotional boost by making teachers feel their services are valued just as they'd be in the corporate world.
I want to second a few of the comments made above. Teaching is a profession and, like other professions it takes time to learn and grow within. It is unfair to have a system where the most challenged schools get a constant influx of the most inexperienced teachers because of the short commitment required by programs like TFA. I think one of the problems with TFA is that it is predicated on the assumption that young people with the social/cultural and real capital to go to ivy league schools and keep a high GPA (which often means they do not need to hold down a near full time job while studying) are somehow better "talent" than a teacher candidate who has worked their way through a State or City college. In terms of the best teachers for working class and poor city schools, it is better to have someone come in who knows what it is like to problem-solve, deal with difficulty and respond positively to any situation than it is to have a teacher come in who has had every way smoothed for them their whole life. As has been pointed out, the TFA teacher is often the only one having their eyes open to new ideas and world views. I respect that they want to “give back” somehow, but the choice to teach shouldn’t be presented in the same light as doing the Peace Corps for a couple of years. You are committing to the children, to the families and to the whole community for the long run.
What a shame that a student author of a creative and lovely poem could be judged "unsuccessful" on a standardized test.
The author of this book was insulting and unknowing, I doubt if she would last 20 minutes in a NYC classroom. It sounded as if she is employed by the US Dep't of Ed.
Please let the comments of the Samuel Friedman Teacher be posted on the web...I'm so interested in her advice. She made the point that two years do not a teacher make! Make it five and then we're starting to understand things....
thanks.
jmcevoy
retired
English teacher
I am 40 yrs. old and teaching 13.6 years --much to my surprise. I studied English and Fine Arts as an undergrad and Education in Grad school through CUNY.
Firstly, CUNY will average nongrad courses into your GPA which could potentially destroy a respectible GPA of 3.4.
Next, I would have never thought of the teaching profession, in fact I almost left twice when opportunities in the private sector opened. So why did I stay when administrative harrassment is prevelant in the Comprehensive High Schools?? The students and the discovery of the Alternative School System saved my career and renewed a love for teaching.
Third, I think Alternative Schools, irrespective of the districts, have proven to lengthen the careers of new teachers. Although most students are at-risk, their returning to finish school after dropping out marks the end of a fight. Yes. Their age (18.6) "been there done that" attitude makes teaching easier, more valuable and meaningful to both the teacher and student. One north-western TFA has been with us for 7 years and loves teaching.
My one semester (S/'94) as a NYC student-teacher did very little to help me prepare to be a teacher except be viewed as free labor and I was bullied by senior collegues. The Supervisor from the State who came to observe me and the school was worried about my future. Who do you blame????
I agree with Lynda, which is very much what I was saying on air. The notion of "two years and out" is not the basis of a profession. While I agree with the idea of attracting the "best and brightest," the idea that you can learn how to teach in two months and then get thrown into some of the most difficult classrooms is ridiculous on the face of it. Teaching is a complicated, complex task that needs preparation and develops over time. I'm constantly learning as a teacher.
We need to develop people who are committed to staying in the classroom and developing themselves as teachers. Money is one part of it, class size is another part, continuing professional development to encourage people to continue learning, is another. And there's more. It's not simple, but very little about education is.
A couple of points:
-There are many professions including mine (architecture)that people don't go into for the money.
-I have known many highly paid lawyers who hated their jobs. While I support higher pay for teachers, money will not keep highly motivated young people in any profession that is unsatisfying. As you get older you can become trapped by economics, expensive lifestyle, mortagges etc.
-At the risk of sounding like one of the priveleged elite, I would like to note that my children's private middle school (which includes it's share of slackers) contains many wonderful "career" middle school teachers who have taught there for years and earn less than public school teachers. There is very little turn-over. They do, however, get to teach in classes of no more than 15 students. A 28 year old friend of mine teaches high school math in a Brooklyn public school and has 35 students in her class! I could not believe it! I believe that in New Haven, a city where almost every public school has been re-built over the past 12 years, class sizes are 20 student or smaller. Why not NYC, a city that is so "progressive"? Is there some sort of "twisted" pride in NYC at having such tough schools?
-Back in the 60's, in middle class suburban NJ, in the "good old days" when there were factory / blue collar jobs, there was still a real negative stigma attached to not finishing high school. What's the deal with the crummy graduation rates that we have today?
I'm a TFA alum, I'm finishing my third year in my original placement school. When I first started teaching there wasn't a line of Teacher College trained reading specialists knocking on my principal's door asking for jobs. TFA addresses the extreme teacher deficit in the inner city by taking talented, hardworking college grads and using them to fill the void. Some TFA teachers are so-so, some are rock stars. Some stay beyond their commitment, some drop out. The fact remains, teaching in the inner city is not the most desirable career in our country, so any program that attempts to bring prestige to the teaching profession deserves our praise.
I would have enjoyed being engaged in a debate with Ms. Donna Foote during your show, Brian. I am a fan of yours and a regular listener during the day, since it is usually the highest level of intelligence I come in contact with during a day as a teacher, in NYC public schools. A graduate of UofM in Education and also a license holder of Administration and Supervision. What I have learned in this system is: The less you have to offer, the less organized you are, will assure your ascendence to the top. I argue against Donna's points about the calibre of teacher that NYC Dept. of Ed. draws. Although changes in this area are needed, currently the system draws weak individuals. What is needed to a much more extreme level is highly educated pedagogues who understand how to build a learning community. Contentiousness from the top, ought not be in the repertoire, of our educational leaders. Caring about the growth of children, and understanding how to work with teachers to excite them into personal growth, takes great talent. It is specifically this sort of talent that is resisted in our current system.
Go-bags/1950s Civil Defense
We’ve seen this before. Rent the magnificent “Atomic Café” -- clips from the post WWWII Red Scare period:“Duck and Cover” -- kids hurling themselves under school desks; Girl Scouts putting food in jars for shelters; Dad leading the family into the shelter, where tranquilizers are stashed. What does this have to do with “Go-Bags”?
As historian, I know what many of us knew then: the shelters were useless, intended to send a message to the Russians that we were ready for atomic war. As for Go-Bags: yes, we should all have our little kits with flashlights etc. The absurdities of this began to emerge when Brian asked what we would do if the catastrophe struck when we were away from our Go-Bags. The answer seems to be that we should always have our Go-Bags, as in the George Carlin routine about taking your stuff on vacation to Hawaii and then taking a selection of your stuff when we are invited to visit our friend on Oahu. It's comedy, with a little bit of tragedy.
There may be acts of God, but most of them aren’t. The damage from Katrina was an act of the Army Corps of Engineers. Terrorist attacks will be the fruit of the War of Terrorism. How can it be that we hear no mention of the fruitlessness of the Go-Bag project, nor of the necessity to take more realistic steps to protect ourselves? This series contributes to an illusion and takes us away from the important tasks that might bring us closer to real security.
This thread is closed.
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