A friend of mine is going through Teach for America’s summer training institute in anticipation of starting as a rookie teacher in her own classroom this fall. She’s working with students, writing lesson plans, learning how to deal with classroom issues, and practicing her craft in a medium-stakes environment. Regardless of how one feels about TFA, it seems like a good model to get first-year teachers some experience leading a classroom before throwing them in the fire on the first day of school. Are there school districts doing this?
Update: Just to be clear: This idea would go above and beyond student teaching at university-based schools of education. Why start all rookie teachers in August when the hiring timeline could be moved up a couple months to give them some ADDITIONAL time in the classroom?
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Very interesting submit. Your blog is promptly getting to be one of my top features.
It is mostly as if you are utterly unqualified to comment on teacher preparation at all.
Ahhh… Now I too see where you are coming from, however [as organized chaos points out] budgets dictate everything in education. I don’t see how that would be feasible on a large scale. I’d say we still need to rely on university-based training and internships to get the job done.
The district I teach in offers programs to new teachers in the summer. It’s not nearly as intense as a six week program, but since all of the teachers hired by my district already completed university training they do not necessarily need to go through it again.
I see what you’re saying now, and it is an interesting idea- giving new teachers the specific, intensive training they will need to succeed in your school.
That’s why principals like to hire teachers who completed year-long internships in their schools- they’ve already trained them in their specific school culture and know exactly what strengths and weaknesses their teachers have so they can support them during the year.
Unfortunately, the hiring process is determined by staffing needs, which fluctuates due to budget, student enrollment, and teacher retention. Many principals hate hiring in August, but are forced to because they did not know what the county would allow them to do. So, like everything else in education, the hiring time-line is driven by the budget.
Even some of the TFA teachers do not know their placements, but they are able to participate in the summer institute because they know TFA guarantees them a job.
I am well aware of student teaching at university-based schools of ed (I was in one). My point was not about teacher preparation per se, and not really about TFA at all; it’s about district hiring practices. Why start a rookie teacher in August when the hiring timeline could be moved up a couple months to give them some ADDITIONAL time in the classroom?
I’m not the first one to say this but, yes, all teachers who are given a teaching license have gone through a program like this, and it is usually much more intense than what the TFA teachers are experiencing this summer. The interns (student teachers) at my school complete a year-long placement where they work closely in two different classrooms, ending with an entire 4 weeks where they independently teach a class with limited teacher intervention. The most qualified new teachers that come into our school have all come out of these year-long programs that give student teachers as much experience as possible with child development, teaching, failing, dealing with parents, experiencing the first day of school, managing discipline, helping calm kids down in December when they are ready for Christmas, etc.
The next year, the children in their classrooms benefit from having a teacher who has been through such a rigorous year-long program.
I’ve had good friends go through the TFA summer institute. And sadly, listening to their experiences and knowing how little they came away with, and how unprepared they went into their first year teaching, made me lose respect for TFA. If TFA could somehow give their teachers better training over a longer period- something similar to traditional student teaching programs, I think TFA teachers would feel more successful, they’d earn more respect in the education field, and their students would benefit from everything they learned in their extended training.
It is almost as if you are utterly unqualified to comment on teacher preparation at all.
All accredited teacher education programs have to do all the things you list to be accredited. I wonder how much experience leading a classroom the TFA students get in a summer. University-based teacher education programs require at least eight weeks (full days). Many require sixteen or even thirty two weeks.
I’m also a little surprised that student teaching seems an unknown concept here.
My apologies… Confused my studies… The new Ladd study was on teacher credentials in which “alternative licensure” was one element.
Here’s a link to an EdWeek article on the Ladd study: http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/inside-school-research/2010/07/if_you_listen_to_a.html
Here’s a link to the TFA study I confused it with: http://www.greatlakescenter.org/docs/Policy_Briefs/Heilig_TeachForAmerica.pdf
I haven’t seen that study can you link to it?
University-based teacher training programs require an internship [usually an entire school year] to provide students with classroom experience under the guidance of an experienced teacher. Is this news to you? Really?
Also, did you see the latest TFA study by Helen Ladd?
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