Gary Rubinstein was one of the earliest members of Teach for America.
In this post, he looks at what has and has not changed in those years.
You’d think that after 29 years, TFA training would have improved. But since they are supposed to be so data-driven, they should look at the most telling statistic about their quality of training. The quit rate for TFA has not changed from 29 years ago until this day, approximately 15% don’t complete their two-year commitment, or roughly 1 out of 7 corps members…
We rarely get to see or hear from actual TFA corps members. I don’t know if they now have to sign some kind of non-disclosure agreement but I find it strange that this group of ‘leaders’ produces not one person live-blogging or live-tweeting their experience. When pictures of corps members in action are posted, I like to glance at them and see what I can infer from them. Sometimes I’ll notice that they are student teaching a class where there are only 5 students in the class and I’ll write about how unacceptable it is that TFA has not figured out a way to pack the student teacher classes with actual students.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I read Gary’s ideas with interest. Many resonated with me but others did not. He warns us not to create “buddies” with the children. He tells us rules must be simple and clear. He wants to warn us not to try to teach too much in a single day.
Some of that may be good for some teachers and not so good for others. It has always struck me that multiple appoaches to dealing with students is underrated. Some folks are naturally nice guys, the ones that baseball guy (Casey Stengel? Leo Doroucher?) says finish last. Some folks are natural task masters and rule followers, Pharises in the classroom. Some folks are uncanny in that they seem always to find a perfect way to explain a concept while students are captivated by their presentation, while others seem to be able to set the students up to work and manage a sort of chaos.
What we need is support for the diversity of teaching styles that supports the diversity of students we serve. That is why we have some students identifying strongly with one teacher while their compatriots see good in another. For first year teachers, it seems important to be real with students. You are incompetent. Admit it. Some things will be permanently kept from you because these things are not in your group of abilities. Being real with students cuts through the chances that you will claim authority rather than earn it. Our students will learn better if they get to interact with all types of people in a relationship that bridges the gap between being treated like children to being treated like adults. This way, they become adults who deal with a wide variety of people in a wide variety of situations
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Excellent, Roy, and absolutely right. Teachers, in my experience, must first and foremost be flexible and responsive. You know, like what real life is like.
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Good thoughts, Roy!!
Please allow me to add one thought to the following:
“Being real with students AND TRULY RESPECTFUL TO THEM cuts through the chances that you will claim authority rather than earn it.”
Far too many teachers don’t seem to understand that the authority they seek doesn’t automatically come with being a teacher. It comes from respecting the students for who they are as individuals and working diligently from a solid pedagogical base with each student.
That base cannot be learned in a 5 week training seminar as TFA presupposes it can.
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YES; imagine being humble enough to grasp that you do NOT have the answers
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Thank you, both Gary & Diane.
TFA is big in Jacksonville—with the donor class, of course. Big business showers TFA w/‘ $5 million checks— but would never talk to a career teacher like me. The contract hadn’t been renewed, but now suddenly., they’re back. A Board member is a TFAer.
Nonprofits (TFA is one) act as a barrier between the classes. I am actually more fearful of a nonprofit than big business folks who fund them. TFA is so delusional about their impact both in the classroom and beyond (as Senior Director of Staff Development at age 25, for instance). The arrogance of their impositions is pernicious.
The business community envisions all charters w/‘TFAers. Anyone over 35 is not part of the party—so my 35 years as a (primarily) Latin teacher don’t mean a thing.. When will this clown show end?
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TFA is based on arrogance. Their premise is graduates from better schools will swoop in and save the day for children in poverty. These rich people would do better giving their money to the actual school and support programs that enrich the culture of the school.
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That’s hitting the nail on the head.
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and the entire “we selected you because you are the best” premise of TFA recruiting brings in a pre-recognized personality type
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Reblogged this on What's Gneiss for Education.
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It seems that is true since I also examined them froth inside out from 2008-2012. Nothing seems to have changed from when I wrote about them in my book, my blog, Dianes, Anthony Cody’s, and with Jameson Brewer.
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I don’t know what the Relay Graduate School of Education is offering as a curriculum and how they enlist the teachers who do the short introductory sessions before the TFAs enter classrooms.
The President of Relay, Mayme Hostetter, has an Ed. D. from Teachers College, Columbia University. Relay has a “Dean” for each of the 19 venues where training is offered, plus two Deans for online learning. Of the Deans engaged in teacher education, five have doctoral degrees (one Ph.D) and five are pursuing doctoral degrees.
This is to say that Relay is trying to upgrade the scholarly credentials of its Deans.
Dr. Angela Duckworth known for her Character Lab and extensive scholarship on attributes such as “grit “is a recent collaborator with Relay Graduate School of Education. The Character Lab is offering training for Teach for America trainees, in addition to Doug Lemov’s non-nonsense techniques for classroom management in “Teach Like a Champion.”
Judging from the classroom photo in Gary Rubinstein’s post, I can imagine that the “fusion” of these forms of student management is posterized. Even so, Angela Duckworth’s Character Lab curriculum has migrated to an on-line format–massively open (MOOG).
Last I heard, teachers are required to master Lemov’s forty-nine no-nonsense teaching tips and use these boot camp tactics with charter school students who are, in the main, African-American and Latinix.
In my opinion, this new practical alliance of Duckworth with Lemov reveals a desire to frame character as a matter of compliance with rules set by others, rather than learning to think about rules, why they are made, when they are needed, who gets to decide, whether rules are fair, and so on.
In addition, I think that too little attention is given to the very troubling concept that character can be taught as a set of “skills” (skill sets). By definition, skills are evident in the effective and efficient use of techniques, irrespective of the motive. For example, I can appear to be full of zest—a performing arts skill—without actually feeling that I am full of zest. Zest is not really a matter of character. It is contingent on being healthy and feeling well. Similarly, I can display gratitude as a learned skill with no more than a dutiful smile and routine “Thank you.” Duckworth is interested in “effective learners.”
Notably absent from Duckworth’s character-education program are the attributes of kindness and truth telling. That should be a concern, especially when bullies in high office specialize in hurling insults and lying.
For more on the Duckworth collaboration with Relay see, https://www.bridgespan.org/insights/library/education/developing-many-more-effective-learners/profile-character-lab-sel
See also some well-founded criticism of Relay/Demov Values: https://citiessuburbsschoolchoice.wordpress.com/2016/05/07/the-power-of-pedagogy-why-we-shouldnt-teach-like-champions/
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“the very troubling concept that character can be taught as a set of “skills” ”
Boy is it ever. I have taught with people who know how to sound good and behave “professionally” and with people who have been accused, probably correctly, of crossing the line personally with the children. It is a toss up as to which one does more harm than the other.
I have often suggested that empathy training sessions are worthless; either you have the ability to place yourself in another’s shoes or you are intellectually barefoot.
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“. . . either you have the ability to place yourself in another’s shoes or you are intellectually barefoot.”
Hmm, not quite sure what you are getting at with that statement Roy.
It seems to me that being able to empathize with other’s plight is an inherent trait, shaped of course by one’s upbringing. Some folks seem quite a bit more capable of empathy than others. But I am not sure how that contrasts with being “intellectually barefoot”.
I am not a fan of necessarily separating out feelings/emotions from intellectual capabilities nor of the mind/body duality-mainly because we are of one whole and the parts cannot ultimately be separated out rationo-logically with coherence.
Again, please help me out by what you mean by “intellectually barefoot”. Gracias!
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I meant almost exactly what you said way more clearly in your third paragraph. Intellectually barefoot sounded pretty good at the time. This is why authors edit their work rather than post it just because it sounds good,at the time.
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A part of me really likes the “intellectually barefoot” description. I’m just not quite sure how to use it. Gotta think that one through a bit.
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Given the, “In These Times”, article about the links between Pearson and the Dean of Columbia Teachers College, the hiring of it’s students to manage Relay will have similar effect on reputation as the hiring of a Pahara Fellow (a Gates-funded org). The Dean of Ed. at the scandal ridden University of Southern California is a Pahara Fellow as is the head of the Harmony charter schools allegedly linked to Gulen.
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Speaking of the right wing’s talking points, “grit” and “resilience”, the words were linked with ACE in an article at SSIR, “A Trauma Lens for Systems Change” (Summer 2019).
The site, AWrenchintheGears.com, details the possibility of using ACE data collection for pay-for-success models. The SSIR article author (University of Missouri) is associated with a Center for Excellence in Child Well Being.
The use of the word “excellence” for political policy is associated with right wing Jeb Bush and, institutes of well-being are associated with the Koch Bros. (Truth-Out, 9-1-2016, “The Koch Bros.’ Right Wing Trojan Horse: Institutes for Well-Being”).
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Only five weeks of training with only five students. How is TFA able to get away with that? It’s so foul, so wrong. It’s Plessy v Ferguson wrong.
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It is Plessy v Ferguson wrong because it is not being practiced in upper middle-class or wealthy districts.
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But, but TFA is saving THOSE children. It’s oh so noble.
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Here is a TED talk by an actual TFA Corp member: https://www.ted.com/talks/michelle_kuo_the_healing_power_of_reading/up-next
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Rubinstein is an “actual TFA Corp member”.
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Gary was one of the first TFA.
Then he got woke
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Apparently, they learned to not provide their Summer Institute to TFAers who are in their second year of teaching. I didn’t know they used to have a second Summer Institute and just learned it from the (really hilarious) tape on Gary’s website. Most TFAers are able to get the teaching job in public schools, which otherwise must have certified teachers, because they make a commitment to go to graduate school and pursue a master’s degree in Education. Funny that. The organization seems to have passed that second training off onto Ed Schools, most of which they have frequently criticised. Any ideas why they did that?
Not only are the sizes of TFA summer school classes way too small, but the kids attending summer school are often much more motivated and compliant than students during the regular school year, since a lot of them are there because they really do want to learn and/or pass the course, frequently because they previously failed it and truly want to get promoted.
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Nothing!
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