Teach For America

I was lucky enough to secure a position with Teach For America. I am filling out the paperwork soon to accept, which isn’t terribly surprising. My sense of self-criticism is usually dialed up to high/self-flagellating, so one can comprehend why my initial blog post after the interview was more of a negative appraisal. While I don’t know the specifics, the offer was for early childhood education in Colorado. TFA is still filtering applicants and the specific assignment will come into focus this spring and summer, even though I presume reading and spelling will be my responsibility. From an early age I loved reading and I could be found with my head buried in a book, and the idea of sharing the joys of reading is an ideal task for me.

Despite my conviction to accept it and enter the classroom with as much energy and passion as I can muster, I am still left to wrestle with the question of why TFA? Growing up poor and working-class, I can identify with the socio-economic—yet not racial—circumstances of the communities TFA addresses. Still, there is the larger question of evaluating if TFA helps or hinders, and I think there is room for ambivalence among teachers.

When I first shared my desire to apply to TFA with a high school teacher and labor-minded history friend, she attacked the program, concept, and value to students and teacher solidarity. Her stinging opinion can be viewed from the perspective of a tenured educator who rejects the idea of seemingly unqualified teachers temporarily joining the ranks of public school teachers. For my friend, it’s a black and white issue, however, one could reject her commentary as symptomatic of the problems that afflict teachers’ unions and entrenched teachers. My opinions on organized labor are transparent and I feel that a strong labor movement is the best for the country and the bulk of its citizens. However, I cannot disagree with the idea that education’s centrality in developing and socializing children requires flexibility in the labor market. I would not support the belief that the solution is the end of tenure, private schools, vouchers, or whatever host of neoliberal solutions one touts.

My good friend Katy Plechaty, a spectacular educator and person, shared her positive and negative thoughts on TFA, as well as dashes of confusion or doubt. I think her comments accurately reflect my own opinions and I anticipate sharing them with her and soliciting her advice. Along with my brother, mother, and aunts, I have a store of advice and decades of experience to call upon. Even though I won’t face grading, classroom discipline (of one sort), standardized tests, intense lesson planning, and the rigors of a high school or middle school teacher, the challenges of early education will require discipline, passion, and drive. I am grateful for this opportunity and will enter the classroom with the realization that I cannot change the world in two short years, but I know that I am presented with an opportunity to facilitate the development of a child’s mind at a formative stage.