Teach for America

[lippy]

Has anyone participated (or known someone that did) in Teach for America

Basic idea of the program: get good recent college graduates to teach at underprivileged schools for two years after graduation. The teachers receive some training and are paid the base salary by the school district. It is a way of getting intelligent, motivated people into classrooms that otherwise wouldn't teach.

I've always wanted to teach, but can't deal with the low salary. Thus, this program would be great for me. I could spend 2 years teaching before I go to law school. Although, that'd put me at 27 when I graduate law school.

Any thoughts or experiences?

[damaniac]

I planned on doing that, but I got rejected and so am now in law school. Would have liked the time off. Maybe I could have saved 150k and not gone to law school, given how terrible being a lawyer sounds now. Someone needed to tell me that BEFORE I went to law school. Thanks everyone!

I do have a friend who just completed it teaching on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. She seemed to enjoy it, although the support you get from your administrators and other teachers can vary. Obviously you are not going into great schools and often an uncaring administration will be a part of the reason it isn't great to begin with, but, like I said, it's going to vary.

She dealt pretty well with the kids given that she came from a typical white middle class suburban household and they were lower class urban black and hispanic. I'm not sure what your background is and what experience you have in cross cultural communication (boy does that ever sound like a stupid PC buzzword, but I think it matters here), but depending on where you wind up, that could well matter. She dealt with elementary kids, FWIW.

The people they select are very motivated and intelligent, though, at least the people I've met from the program convey those qualities. So I can see it being very rewarding, but you're going to have some stress too. But, if you're planning on doing law school, you'll have stress either way, albeit a different kind.

Best of luck.

[AWoodside]

From what I've seen it's a fairly soul destroying experience. Basically you bust your ass hardcore for two years, are underappreciated, underpaid, undersupported, and in the end don't feel like you've made any tangible difference. I've had several friends that started TfA as naive, idealistic, do-gooders that are now cyncial, jaded iBankers that basically hate poor people and social work in general.

Granted, this is coming from a small sample size and you may get lucky and be one of the few that ends up in a great location with a supportive staff or whatever... but even so, I'm fairly certain Teach for America is -EV overall.

[SoloAJ]

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From what I've seen it's a fairly soul destroying experience. Basically you bust your ass hardcore for two years, are underappreciated, underpaid, undersupported, and in the end don't feel like you've made any tangible difference. I've had several friends that started TfA as naive, idealistic, do-gooders that are now cyncial, jaded iBankers that basically hate poor people and social work in general.

Granted, this is coming from a small sample size and you may get lucky and be one of the few that ends up in a great location with a supportive staff or whatever... but even so, I'm fairly certain Teach for America is -EV overall.

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I've had multiple professors tell me about previous students who were really excited about teaching and very energetic/exhuberant/etc....and after one year of Teach for America they were just totally destroyed and ready to take meds from psychiatrists....

This quoted section seems spot on from what I've heard...

[lippy]

Wow, am I glad I posted this or what?!

I can see how one would feel as though he did nothing while spending time in this program. I would assume the students are not very condusive to any kind of schooling... thus leading to an awful experience.

I hope a couple others can give some insight.

[jd2b2006]

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I can see how one would feel as though he did nothing while spending time in this program. I would assume the students are not very condusive to any kind of schooling... thus leading to an awful experience.

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I tried teaching (at a school of mainly upper class kids) before going to law school and this was my experience with the kids I taught. It also did not help that I was 23 and looked young and fresh out of college. IMO, they tried their best to get me out of teaching.

If you are going to do teach, you have to give the kids the impression you take no crap, otherwise they will try to take advantage of you. Also make sure that you have a good support system as it will be the single most important thing you will need when you are having a bad day or if you have a problem. I had a poor one and was not able to teach a long time since teaching made me very depressed and unable to eat. If you do it I hope your experience is better than mine.

[SoloAJ]

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made me very depressed and unable to eat. If you do it I hope your experience is better than mine.

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I could stand to drop a couple pounds...After that I'll get my support system in place...

(I'm going to be getting my secondary certification after this year....well, starting it...it will take another 1.5 or 2 years.)

[wmspringer]

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From what I've seen it's a fairly soul destroying experience. Basically you bust your ass hardcore for two years, are underappreciated, underpaid, undersupported, and in the end don't feel like you've made any tangible difference.

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I taught for two years....and that was largely my experience. Teaching is NOT as easy as people think.

I'm now working on a PhD full-time while TAing a class with 160 students, and I have much, much less stress and more energy than I did while I was teaching. (Less money too, since I'm living on a stipend - hth people manage to live on minimum wage is beyond me)

[jzpiano]

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From what I've seen it's a fairly soul destroying experience. Basically you bust your ass hardcore for two years, are underappreciated, underpaid, undersupported, and in the end don't feel like you've made any tangible difference.

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I taught for two years....and that was largely my experience. Teaching is NOT as easy as people think.

I'm now working on a PhD full-time while TAing a class with 160 students, and I have much, much less stress and more energy than I did while I was teaching. (Less money too, since I'm living on a stipend - hth people manage to live on minimum wage is beyond me)

[/ QUOTE ]

What grades did you teach and was this an inner city type setting or a nicer school? What about it wore you down? Are you planning on teaching when u finish ur PhD?

Reason I'm asking is I'm just graduating college in Dec with a BA in history and music w/o a teacher's ceritificate. I always figured I would just get my Masters and PhD in history right away, live life on my stipend and then teach at a university. However, I'm getting married next Oct. and would like to provide some type of income for the wife. So recently I've been thinking about acquiring a teacher's certificate (IL) and just teaching 4th or 5th grade, possibly history 6-12 (pretty flexible with either, but I think the 4th and 5th grades would pose as a bigger challenge for me) and pick up my masters and PhD sometime in the near future.

I'm interesting in this thread because I'm trying to figure out what to do come Jan and Aug of next year. I was looking into a program like Teach For America because I could get a teacher's certificate and a Masters Degree while I still have a full time job.

/rant ......just another college kid that is very confused [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

[lippy]

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/rant ......just another college kid that is very confused [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

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Welcome to the club, we have meetings every Wednesday at 6PM. We alternate bringing cookies, your turn will be on the 22nd!