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Thursday, May 22, 2008
What TFA Teachers Really Think About CPS

Teach_for_us_tfa_group_blogWondering where all those Internet-crazy TFA corps member blogs are?  You can find a bunch of them at Teach For Us, a Facebook page whose tagline is "Closing the TFA blogging gap."  Click here for a list of blogs affiliated with the page.  (There are, of course, many others.)

Here are excerpts from a couple of CPS TFA blog posts -- let me know if there are other good ones out there:

Southside: When I grow up I want to be a superdelegate.
Yes. A student actually said that to me today in class. "When I grow up, I want to be a superdelegate."

chicagomsj  The Return:  I was dreading today; however, it was surprisingly calm…dare I say I even missed some of my students....Funny story of the day: william: ms jiang look different today, i think it’s her hair zanay: no, her hair always like that martize: i think she’s dressed nice william: that’s not it cortez claps : I know! she not pale no more! 7th period: yea!

carainchicago:    Allow me to introduce myself 
In the fall I will become a first year teacher in an all-girl 4th grade classroom in Chicago in the fall. The school is co-ed but this year the third grade was divided into a boys and girls class, which they are going to keep together into the future. I will be inheriting the girl’s class, which I am incredibly excited about.


Comments
Sun May 25, 2008 at 9:17 AMBy: Kat What TFA Teachers Really Think About CPS Very interesting to see that some of the TFA teachers see the same things in their students, and have come to understand the problems that these kids face, just as the rest of us teachers already in the system already realize. TFA is a noble idea, but the problems that these teachers face are daunting for everyone in the system.
Sun May 25, 2008 at 9:37 AMBy: Don Justice What TFA Teachers Really Think About CPS I have two issue with TFA. (1) Many of the candidates see the position as a holding pattern for greater things. It's a two year commitment that will lead them to a career in Ed Policy. You don't learn enough in two years to be an expert. Besides, the learning curve for teaching is huge. BY the time they start to get any good, they leave. I don't want to spend my time training somebody who I don't think is with me for the long term. Besides, it probably takes about 5 years to get really good. (2) Also, without actual student teaching experience, they make a lot of mistakes in that first semester of teaching. Too many dumb mistakes that should have been weeded out earlier.
Sun May 25, 2008 at 11:38 AMBy: 1.04 What TFA Teachers Really Think About CPS I would be the last person on earth to require extensive educational
training for new teachers. I thing teaching is a gift, a talent..
For example ,The last year the Bulls won the championship
The team was really a art form. Not a basketball teem winning games
but a collection of masters plying their craft like no one else in
History had ever done before. Training only got them so far,
From then on it was a gift.

Teaching is like that. A person who can impart knowledge to another
Has the gift. All the training in the world will not give the gift to a person.
Those of us who have been doing this for a while know after 6th grade
We stop becoming teachers and become coaches, since after that a
Person teaches themselves. Some of these NFG’s do have the gift
Others do not. But they come so full of bullshit the truth can be a killer.
You want a lot more teachers, make a semester student teaching
Stint required and we will sort them out.
Sun May 25, 2008 at 5:26 PMBy: Don Justice What TFA Teachers Really Think About CPS "Training only got them so far, From then on it was a gift."

Extensive research into becoming an expert or master at something shows that this "common wisdom" isn't true. People learn to become experts by practice, receiving expert feedback, adjusting and more practice, etc. Perseverance and expert feedback are critical to success in any endeavor.

"gift" or "natural born talent" is a myth
Sun May 25, 2008 at 6:44 PMBy: 1.04 What TFA Teachers Really Think About CPS Give me a break

No training in the world can make me draw a circle or
ever sketch anything I do not have that talent. Have you
ever met a genius in say, math, who cannot impart knowledge
to anyone. The Journeymen who taught under the Smith Hughes
act in the Vocational Schools all the teacher gene and all had to
student teach. Under you should have scene them in action.Poety
in motion. That is the kind of talent I am talking about. Research
conducted in the classroom. Not the university Lad.
Sad to think none of those great people can even get near a classroom today
It is a real waste.
Sun May 25, 2008 at 6:47 PMBy: 1.04 What TFA Teachers Really Think About CPS Give me a break

No training in the world can make me draw a circle or
ever sketch anything I do not have that talent. Have you
ever met a genius in say, math, who cannot impart knowledge
to anyone. The Journeymen who taught under the Smith Hughes
act in the Vocational Schools all had the teacher gene and all had to
student teach. You should have scene them in action.Poety
in motion. That is the kind of talent I am talking about. Education
conducted in the classroom. Not the university Lad.
Sad to think none of those great people can even get near a classroom today
It is a real waste.

Sorry about the sloppy post
Mon May 26, 2008 at 7:17 PMBy: Don Justice What TFA Teachers Really Think About CPS google "deliberate practice" and you might be surprised what research shows and what you could do with the correct practice and feedback.

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