Really and truly, the LEAST qualified or even unqualified teachers, as the latter describes TFA "graduates," have absolutely NO business whatsoever teaching in the tough urban districts in this country. As any teacher will tell you, it takes YEARS to get good at this one-time profession, yet first-year teachers and temps are expected to hit the ground running. It's impossible that first year because every single thing teachers are taught in ed school has NOTHING to do with the reality of being in a classroom, no matter if it is in a wealthy district or a poor one.
I would argue nobody with less than TEN years of teaching experience should be working in an urban district. The BEST, most qualified teachers should be in these districts because these students have the greatest need. Even if these teachers have to be paid substantially more than teachers from other districts, it would be worth it for these kids.
However, TFA isn't about what's best for kids. It's about undermining the teaching profession altogether by deskilling it, by peddling the crapola about how "anybody" can teach. Well, no, not everybody can do it. And when you have mentally unstable, unethical, and downright stupid principals running schools, it is even worse for teachers, for they can ruin their careers very easily.
More of a critique on this article is here.
This blogger absolutely nails it on the head about teaching:
Real teaching is HARD. It's the nitty-gritty. It's not walking into your classroom with a bluetooth and saying, "Okay, lets begin!" (Honestly, I don't really have that much beef with Mr. Taylor. He might be great. That article just pissed me off.) In a lot of environments, you do the work every day and you rarely see the payoff. This is what real teaching is, and I hope people outside the profession can see that.
This is not an easy job to learn. Your not just born with everything you need (although there are certainly some people who are more naturally cut out for it than others). So anytime someone like Ms. Ripley uses her position to suggest that all we really need are some fresh faces, it really pisses me off. Those fresh faces are being used in most under-performing districts to fill in the gaps that professional teachers refuse in hopes of maintaining their dignity; they're being used to de-professionalize a job that needs to be viewed with more respect by society as a whole, not less. And sadly, most of them will be out of teaching within two or three years, which is just at the point you start to see a glimmer of what good teaching is really all about.
Take Mr. Taylor as an example. He's working on his master's in administration. Imagine that. After three years, he's ready to jump out of the classroom. In my mind, this is a perfect example of one of the things that is so wrong with the young TFA type (even though Mr. Taylor was not a TFAer). Too many of these people are type-A personalities who are unwilling to gain the experience necessary to go into administrative positions. It's about moving up the ladder for them and showing their family and friends what an important person they've become. You don't learn to be the perfect teacher in three years and then move on. There are far too many administrators at my school who have less experience teaching that I do, and I only have four years. They're telling me how to teach, making unrealistic demands on my time, and working their ass off to show their boss how ready they are to be principal next, and then maybe they can get a superintendent job somewhere. That'll impress. Ugh - get off your high horse and actually do your time in the classroom. You'll be a better administrator for it when the time is right.
Good advice about these would-be administrators putting in the time, but more and more of them are not putting more than a few years after they were flops in the classroom.
"Those who can, teach; those who can't, administrate."
1 comment:
I take serious issue with many of the items you raise.
1. I agree that urban schools are best filled with people with ten years of experience or more, and maybe even that these teachers should be paid more. But if that becomes the rule, the teaching shortage in these areas will reach record highs. If there were experienced, dedicated, exceptional teachers lining up to teach in these districts, Teach For America wouldn't exist, be expanding, or be needed at all.
2. TFA does not and has never asserted "anybody can teach" as you so idiotically assume. If that were the case, the selection requirements would be FAR less stringent and it would be volunteer--nobody would have to apply at all. On the contrary, Teach For America recruits and selects people on a rubric based on personal characteristics that have been found in highly successful TFA and non-TFA teachers alike. Those selected are not just "anybody;" they have been through an extensive selection process that weeds out the "anybodys."
3. Actually, Teach For America is ALL ABOUT THE SKILL that it takes to make a great teacher. If you have been keeping up, they are opised to release a book next moneth "Teaching As Leadership," which outlines their Teaching As Leadership framework, by which they train teachers. The ENTIRE T-A-L rubric and curriculum is based on specific teacher skills and actions; for example, Effective Teachers set measurable, attainable goals, plan purposefully (backward from said large or small goal), and execute these plans effectively. There are many specific steps inside of these larger headings, and these are just three of the steps, but it should be clear that this is not a "just get up and talk" methodology, but rather, a well-researched and time-proven skill set which they teach, re-teach, monitor and improve in their teaching corps.
4. Temps for America, really? 2/3 of TFA teachers stay in education, and about 1/3 stay in the classroom--on par with all teachers, of any educational background, after two years of teaching. If they are Temps, then statistically, so are all of the other beginning teachers.
I don't agree with everything TFA, but at the very least, criticize them based on fact, and not this poorly spun fiction.
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