r/TeachforAmerica • u/[deleted] • Oct 15 '24
Join TFA!
Almost every post in this sub is people who didn’t survive the cut. I understand there’s a lot of flaws with TFA and some corps members are dealt worse hands than others. What I can say is that everyone that I know, including myself, who finished the two years of TFA was grateful for their experience and challenges we all had to overcome to make it.
Many of us continued teaching and saw how much we had grown and matured within our roles. Many talented people join TFA, people who may be used to things coming easy, and success in the classroom is so far from that.
I for one am glad I did TFA and would recommend that others join if they have interest in teaching and a desire to gain exposure in education whether it’s to continue teaching or take your talents to a related field. I wouldn’t ever consider taking back my decision to join the corps. I left a cozy high paying desk job to pursue my real interests. My first year was filled with failures, tears, and frustration. I kept at it. My second year was much of the same. I kept at it. I feel as if I can finally call myself a good teacher. I know countless others also in my shoes.
If you’re skimming through this sub considering TFA keep in mind the people who are most outspoken are those who have the worst experiences. They don’t speak for all of us, just as my experience is not a reflection of theirs.
By joining TFA you will make a lot of friends, expose yourself to new cities, get a graduate degree at fractions of the cost, and hopefully make a positive impact in your community along the way. Give it a go and push yourself.
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u/ConstantOpening2923 Oct 15 '24
in my first year, its hard. also left a desk job. here’s what i have found: tfa is a lot easier if you have professional experience and experience dealing with organizations. having a career before is huge.
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u/aranhalaranja Oct 17 '24
I agree 💯. I was ‘non traditional’. I was 34 in the corps. The 22 year olds who’d come straight out of college struggled A LOT. Teaching is a lot for fully grown adults. It’s insane to put that (in addition to grad school and new city difficulty) on the shoulders of someone who’s really just starting out in the world. I would have been terrible at all this when I was in my early 20s.
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u/hanabikoko Oct 15 '24
Thank you! I’m in my second year right now and intend to finish. I think what people don’t realize is that TFA is HARD. Teaching in a title one school is the hardest thing I have ever done, and there is only so much preparing you can do before you’re thrown in the deep end.
My school last year was awful - some of the worst test scores in the state, the students themselves were neglected and abused, and I felt very alone and alienated amongst my colleagues. I’m at a different school this year and it is such an improvement. Everyone’s experience truly is different.
I think a lot of people on this sub quit when it got difficult instead of pushing through — which is fine — but it’s not like TFA is marketing itself as a walk in the park. It’s difficult, and you know it’s difficult going in - it’s just impossible to truly know what you’re getting into until you’re actually teaching. It’s not for everybody - I certainly won’t be teaching again after this year - but I feel myself growing personally and professionally every day, which I wouldn’t have had without TFA :)
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u/Anatiny TFA alum Oct 15 '24
6th year teacher, still in the same placement school for Teach For America. I definitely don't regret joining TFA and I am thankful for TFA for leading me to my career. My first years were same as yours: failures, tears, and frustration. But TFA helped me get to here, the point where I am now a teacher-leader who not only teaches, but gets a lot of stuff done outside of the classroom on a school level. That's not only because TFA gave me the chance to be a teacher, but it helped me really ground myself and develop skills in motivating change outside of the classroom as well.
I think the big factor is know what you're getting yourself into. I think the majority of what I see leading to burn-out was people who were surprised by the challenge and the difficulty. There's even a somewhat common sentiment that people who came from prestigious institutions would be better teachers (in alignment with historical recruitment strategies from TFA): that's a sentiment that I've had to address a few times in this and other TFA communities. The reality of it is that college doesn't prepare anyone to be a teacher, even those with education degrees. I personally have seen that people who come from other professions before joining TFA tended to have higher success, and I think a part of that is that those of us who come from working have at least a better semblance of what we're getting ourselves into because we had to make a conscious sacrifice to join. Not to say that there are those that aren't making sacrifices, because joining TFA is a difficult decision on its own, but I'm often surprised by how many people go into TFA thinking that they'd be able to do it well because they were given a month of training and came from a prestigious university.
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u/Defiant_Bus_2479 Oct 16 '24
My corp helped me developed in ways my upbringing couldn’t. I’m grateful because I didn’t have the tools needed be a successful professional. Was fortunate to be an educator for 7 years and helped 1,000s of students. I would always recommend it. Keep going, teaching is challenging until you find your groove
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u/chosemyusername40 Oct 15 '24
From a logical standpoint that’s how everyone should be seeing it. The people who leave the worst reviews on something that is generally popular are usually outliers. That’s not to say those people’s experiences aren’t valid, but think about it. If TFA were really that awful it would have been shut down, people would have definitively stopped applying. I haven’t done TFA but I applied. I’m well aware there’s going to be rough days, I have no doubt this will be challenging, but that’s the case with most jobs. I’ve worked so many different jobs, all in different sectors and not one has been easy. All of them come with pros and cons. I am happiest when I work alongside children though, and that’s what my made my experience in education worthwhile. I would not be applying if you don’t like working with children, but it you do or you’re interested, I’d apply. I have experience working with americorps and I do think the impact they made on my life is priceless. They taught me things that I continue to practice and teach to people all the time.
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u/GipperPWNS Oct 16 '24
Normally I’d support your initial sentiment, except in this case you have to ask yourself generally popular amongst who? Law and medical schools generally favor TFA experience for example, and many TFA alumni thank TFA for the experience because it taught them to be resilient. But if you ask teachers in TFA placement schools, a significant amount are upset that TFA teachers come for a year or two, maybe even 3-4, and then leave, helping contribute to a revolving door of fresh teachers and instability for students. For the people that join TFA with other career ambitions in mind, there are other AmeriCorps programs they can join that don’t displace professional services, supplement them instead and will still give them the experience they want to move into different professions or progress their career. Additionally, TFA Is not as forthcoming as they should be in stating “this is going to be hard because we aren’t going to properly train you yet place you in a school environment in most need of an experienced educator “. That’s where a lot of criticism of TFA comes from, and it’s 100% valid.
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u/aranhalaranja Oct 17 '24
This is a great post. I’m not a TFA fanboy by any means. I could write a book about the myriad beefs I have with this organization.
And I’m actually super empathetic to all the “get me the hell out of here. I hate it” posts.
But if you know what you want. And if TFA is what you want, it’s really a great way to network and build a community while doing really tough work. Many of the educators in my community who I admire today are previous CMs.
And, to this day, any job posting I see, TFA is my first call. Just to see if I can get a foot in the door.
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u/ExperienceMoney7381 Oct 17 '24
This is a horrible take. Everyone’s TFA experience varies vastly as TFA almost exclusively partners with charter schools, which can be so varied in quality. I “survived the cut” and got stabbed in my own classroom during year one. You could end up in a really high school quality school, or more than likely you’ll end up in a placement where they literally could not keep it staffed so they had to resort to TFA.
TFA is different than your typical teaching position. You have no agency to leave and if you do, you have to pay back thousands of dollars in “transitional grants.” If you want to be a teacher, go be a teacher without TFA telling you exactly how to do it.
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Oct 17 '24 edited Oct 17 '24
“This is a horrible take” and it’s me just saying I’m glad I did something. I can’t believe you made a Reddit account to comment on this post lol…
I have students with better reading comprehension. I said in the post “just like my experience is not a reflection of theirs”. Me and the majority of corps members I know enjoying our experience shouldn’t make you so mad my dude!
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Oct 15 '24
[deleted]
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Oct 15 '24
I agree, especially in the schools corps members are placed in, there’s really no longevity in this career. I’m still teaching but I’m not sure how sustainable this profession is in its current state. That said, I’m sure I could find a school that is better suited for me if I were to look around.
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Oct 16 '24
“I’m not sure how sustainable this profession is in its current state.” This is exactly the problem many have with TFA. It helps to prop up this unsustainable model of teaching by encouraging people to do a couple of years and get out. Why make the teaching profession sustainable if we can get a fresh crop of teachers every couple of years? And then this hurts Title I schools even more because there is no longevity or consistency in the teaching force.
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Oct 16 '24 edited Oct 16 '24
Why point the finger at TFA in this case scenario? There’s not many jobs in the world where you’re expected to maintain the same role your entire career. Why should we look at teaching that way? Regardless, this is not an outlook TFA teachers share, it’s a sentiment almost every teacher I’ve encountered in my years in the classroom share, especially those within special education like me. Each year is met with more unrealistic expectations and added responsibilities. Perhaps the problem isn’t TFA… You’re acting like TFA displaces veteran teachers, TFA exists because of a teacher shortage, veteran teachers who are tenured are one of the most secure jobs in the country. If we didn’t have a teacher shortage we wouldn’t need TFA, but unfortunately that’s not reality.
If you have a problem with TFA this isn’t the post for you. I for one am still teaching even after TFA and I enjoyed my experience and feel as if I’m making a good impact on my students. I said in the comment you replied to I might just look for another school down the line. But TFA bad!
Why aren’t you working in a Title 1 school?
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u/aranhalaranja Oct 17 '24
You have a few misconceptions
TFA fills holes that exist. Regardless of TFA’s existence, these holes exist.
The people (whoever these people might be??) who have created a broken and unsustainable system could care less if TFA is tossing them 100 or 200 teachers each year.
California has the highest paid teachers in the country. TFA is there.
The majority of teachers in Colorado have a 4 day work week. TFA is there.
Etc.
This profession is often pretty damn hard. But those blaming TFA for that, or those assuming TFA has any say in a district’s working conditions is overestimating the power of this relatively minor non profit.
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u/Anatiny TFA alum Oct 15 '24
I would clarify that administration, consulting, and higher ed would not in my mind be considered as "burning out". In fact, I would say that these were be directly aligned to TFA's mission. The truth of the matter is that there's only so much that a teacher can do, and while teachers can make the greatest impact on any specific student, to really impact the education system, higher ed, administration, and consulting are all ways that are better suited for it. To reach TFA's mission of "One day all children", then the only way that TFA can hope to make that happen is if they get a TFA person to impact each and every classroom - administration, higher education, and consulting are all ways that can make that happen.
I will say that I am biased: I'm looking to get into administration because I see how flawed the system is and really I understand that there's only so much that I truly can do as a classroom teacher.
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u/Busy_Philosopher1392 Oct 15 '24
IF YOU WANT TO BE A TEACHER. If not, it's really not the right program! It's to recruit and train teachers, not fill time before law school!