A former Teach for America teacher on how TFA and APS fail their ideals
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- Congrats to 9 Blue Ribbon Schools in Georgia
September 24, 2013 - Must schools be these horrible, boring places? Apparently, yes. It's in their DNA
September 23, 2013 - State Supreme Court rules against APS in charter suit: " Intention of the General Assembly was to fund local schools unequally with regard to local revenue."
September 23, 2013
Make time to read writer Olivia Blanchard's excellent essay in the Atlantic about why she quit Teach for Americaafter teaching one year in Atlanta.
While she cites Atlanta's pressure-cooker environment, Blanchard also targets the quality and quantity of training she received from TFA and questions whether the organization really can live up to its hype and prepare bright college grads to manage a complex classroom in a single summer.
It is a thoughtful piece that's worth your attention. While Blanchard focuses on her TFA preparation, I suspect novice teachers from traditional teacher prep programs will find themselves nodding in agreement with many of her observations on first-year teaching.
I know that nothing Blanchard says will surprise classroom veterans or researchers on teacher turnover. It's that fact -- many of us understand and recognize the daily walk on hot coals that Blanchard describes -- that makes me ask again why we can't overhaul the induction of new teachers so fewer of them run screaming into the night.
Here is an excerpt, but please read the full piece before commenting:
By Olivia BlanchardDuring my training, I taught a group of nine well-behaved third-graders who had failed the state reading test and hoped to make it to fourth grade. Working with three other
