Former TFA Teacher Offers Advice
Seattle Public Schools should avoid 'Teach for Awhile' programBy Jesse Hagopian
Special to The Times
FROM 2001 to 2003, I "taught for America."
After graduating from college, I headed for the Bronx, N.Y., where I underwent Teach for America's (TFA) "teacher boot camp." With just five sleepless weeks of on-the-job training teaching summer school to fourth-graders, team meetings and night classes, I was given the stamp of approval and shipped off to Washington, D.C.
The Seattle School Board is expected to vote Wednesday whether to bring TFA to our school district, and before they decide, they should consider the lessons of my experience.
At 21, I found myself in a public elementary school in the ghetto of South East Washington, D.C. — in a
Special to The Times
FROM 2001 to 2003, I "taught for America."
After graduating from college, I headed for the Bronx, N.Y., where I underwent Teach for America's (TFA) "teacher boot camp." With just five sleepless weeks of on-the-job training teaching summer school to fourth-graders, team meetings and night classes, I was given the stamp of approval and shipped off to Washington, D.C.
The Seattle School Board is expected to vote Wednesday whether to bring TFA to our school district, and before they decide, they should consider the lessons of my experience.
At 21, I found myself in a public elementary school in the ghetto of South East Washington, D.C. — in a
