To prospective TFA corps members:
This site is intended mainly for you. I'm not trying to discourage people from joining TFA. Many former and current corps members are very pleased with their decision to join TFA and feel that the experience has been/was valuable for them and for their students. If you're thinking about working as a teacher for TFA, you could very well find the experience highly rewarding.
On the other hand, you could become one of those people--and there are a lot of them, including myself--who are made so miserable by their experiences in Teach for America that they leave the program wishing they'd never joined. The only way to avoid that misery is to make informed decisions about TFA, which means that you should know:
1. Why you are applying to Teach for America, and how your reasons jibe with the realities of program,
2. Exactly what is required of a TFA teacher (and of teachers in general), and what you yourself are willing and able to give,
3. How you intend to deal with the overwhelming stresses and disappointments involved with teaching,
4. Which TFA placement(s) (region, student age, subject area) will best suit your personality and qualifications if you do decide to join TFA.
You should find out as much as possible about each of those issues before deciding to join Teach for America. My goal in creating this site is to provide to prospective corps members with a view on those issues that may not be readily available anywhere else. If you are considering joining TFA and have questions that are not answered here, please contact me. I’d be happy to answer your questions to the best of my ability.
On the other hand, you could become one of those people--and there are a lot of them, including myself--who are made so miserable by their experiences in Teach for America that they leave the program wishing they'd never joined. The only way to avoid that misery is to make informed decisions about TFA, which means that you should know:
1. Why you are applying to Teach for America, and how your reasons jibe with the realities of program,
2. Exactly what is required of a TFA teacher (and of teachers in general), and what you yourself are willing and able to give,
3. How you intend to deal with the overwhelming stresses and disappointments involved with teaching,
4. Which TFA placement(s) (region, student age, subject area) will best suit your personality and qualifications if you do decide to join TFA.
You should find out as much as possible about each of those issues before deciding to join Teach for America. My goal in creating this site is to provide to prospective corps members with a view on those issues that may not be readily available anywhere else. If you are considering joining TFA and have questions that are not answered here, please contact me. I’d be happy to answer your questions to the best of my ability.
posted by ex-TFAer at 1:09 PM
1 Comments:
I'm so glad I found your blog. I'm definitely going to look into it further and consider it in my decisions about applying/accepting to TFA. Thanks so much for your opinion. Will let you know what happens if you are interested.
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