My Discussion with Matt Barnum Part 4
Gary,
If you’re not finding any thoughtful reform writing, then you’re not looking hard enough. Read Michael Petrilli and the Fordham Institute’s stuff, particularly Education Next; read some of the Dropout Nation, which includesimportant discussion of school discipline; read Rick Hess or Jay Green. Not of course that all these writers fit neatly into the ‘reform’ box – and I think that’s a good thing.
I certainly agree with you that TFA can be far too simplistic both in its public portrayal and its training of corps members. I remember during Institute having an almost religious belief in ‘high expectations’; then I got to my school and realized that, no, what made a great teacher was not so simplistic as ‘teacher mindset.’
That being said, I’m willing to defend TFA to a small extent: I think it’s appropriate for teacher-training programs to be highly aspirational, even unrealistic. During my first, very difficult year teaching, something TFA indoctrinated in us often haunted me: “Everything that happens in your classroom is your responsibility.” Could this literally be true? Of course not, and I often tried to convince myself that it wasn’t. Yet, to this day, I basically
If you’re not finding any thoughtful reform writing, then you’re not looking hard enough. Read Michael Petrilli and the Fordham Institute’s stuff, particularly Education Next; read some of the Dropout Nation, which includesimportant discussion of school discipline; read Rick Hess or Jay Green. Not of course that all these writers fit neatly into the ‘reform’ box – and I think that’s a good thing.
I certainly agree with you that TFA can be far too simplistic both in its public portrayal and its training of corps members. I remember during Institute having an almost religious belief in ‘high expectations’; then I got to my school and realized that, no, what made a great teacher was not so simplistic as ‘teacher mindset.’
That being said, I’m willing to defend TFA to a small extent: I think it’s appropriate for teacher-training programs to be highly aspirational, even unrealistic. During my first, very difficult year teaching, something TFA indoctrinated in us often haunted me: “Everything that happens in your classroom is your responsibility.” Could this literally be true? Of course not, and I often tried to convince myself that it wasn’t. Yet, to this day, I basically
