Wendy Leonard's article, "Making a difference — Program puts new college grads in tough classrooms", informs readers of education majors who spend their first few years after graduating from college teaching in inner-city, low-income schools. The concept is part of a program called "Teach for America" and places new teachers in extreme classroom situations, with students at all levels of learning. Most teachers come out of the program impressed with students' progress and the program in general.
Personally, I feel that the "Teach for America" program is an excellent idea on many levels. New and inexperienced teachers are often more idealistic and eager to please, so presenting them with a challenging classroom immediately can have positive effects on both students and the new teachers. Also, inexperienced teachers who begin in a challenging situation can better shape their techniques for future students. I feel as though having teachers right out of college participate in the program is more beneficial than using experienced teachers who can often be stubborn and set in their ways.
There are some flaws in the "Teach for America" program. Teachers often don't stay in the low-income districts and move on to "easier" positions. Students in the district may get attached to the teachers and then they move on.
However, I see mostly positive benefits from the program and think it will definitely change lives of students in inner city districts, as well as the teachers involved.
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5 comments:
I think this is a very useful programs that benefits everyone involved. The new, fresh teachers benefit from trying out their techniques and learning from the students. The challenges that arise in a more difficult job will deinfitely help them to shape up and give them some experience under their belt. As for the students, have a new teacher fresh from college may help them relate better and feel more comfortable in the classroom. They can also benefit because the teacher will most likely have new techniques that may suit the students prefectly that they have never been introduced to before. Last but not least, the more experienced teachers can also learn from the new teachers because of the techniques they bring to floor, considering they are more recently out of college than the older teachers and they are more up to speed and less stubborn and they don't really have a way to be set in just yet.
I almost forgot to touch on the negatives you mentioned!! I don't think those issues are long term considering the students will graduate and take with them what they learned from the teachers and if the prgram continues, there will always be new, fresh teachers coming in, therefore making it a continuous change the students will be used to and will be able to use to their advantage. Each teacher is different and has something new to bring to the table. So, I think what you see as negative can also be seen as positive because if things don't change, it will be the same as any other teaching job, and it won't do very much for the students...who also change each year.
I agree with Hillary. This is an excellent concept and it reminds me how my Aunt orginally started teaching in a similar way. She believes that it made her a better teacher and I would agree because tougher teaching situations force a teacher to become skilled in ways that some teaching does not provide. Although I also do see Hillary's point about student's becoming attached to a teacher, I think the good definitely outweighs the bad in this situation. This program makes me think of the Freedom Writers movie/book and I know those are the types of classroom situations most would want to strive for.
While I agree with everything suggested here, I do question whether the program should be geared solely toward new teachers. I don't think all experienced, older teachers are stubborn and set in their ways. I think many of them can actually be more open-minded and willing to try something new, given that they have the experience to know what hasn't worked from their previous experiences. I also think that, while new teachers are excited and eager to get in there and be the best teachers they can be, some of them are a bit too idealistic and don't really have the experience needed to recognize the reality of how difficult teaching really is. Therefore, some of these new teachers coming into this program may feel a bit overwhelmed when placed in these extreme classroom situations. I'd be interested to know if these teachers are provided with a supportive mentoring program while in this situation. According to the article, the results stemming from this program have been positive, which is great, but I still question whether some new teachers may be in over their heads in this program. I do agree, however, that the experience can help new teachers develop useful teaching models for their teaching career in the future.
Lori brings up a good point about new teachers being overwhelmed by the difficult students in the classroom. This was something I hadn't considered until after I had posted the blog and shared it with my sister, an elementary school teacher. I still stand by the positives of the program but I am also curious to know about a support system for the new teachers.
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