Aww, what makes you feel like you bombed it? It may not be as bad as you think. It’s sometimes no knowing with TFA… ppl who think they aced it, get rejected, and ppl who think they fail gets accepted. So unpredictable at times. @lakooh
@MoLoveMoGrowth
When my interviewer started asking these curveball questions, I was so taken back that my brain stalled. I just gave her really basic generic answers and basically ended every answer with “and uh…yeah…” HAHA but it was a learning experience, so it’s all good 
And yes never hurts to stay positive!!!
I haven’t yet. I go back and forth a lot but I’m hoping to talk with some of my family members who are teachers this weekend. Decisions are not due until 11/18
@FTKBlackbird I know a while ago you wondering if any of us could tell you why we’re excited to join TFA. I’m not sure if this would help you, or anyone else on this thread, but I recently wrote an article about why I’m accepting my offer.Hope this helps: http://theodysseyonline.com/niagara/why-im-accepting-my-offer-to-teach-for-america/211392
Great article, best wishes on the journey @MichaelEdu
Made it to the final!
YAY! congrats!
Surprisingly, SO DID I!!!
legit cried tears of surprise and joy
Congrats @lakooh!! What are you all thinking for your 5 minute lesson?!
@MichaelEdu thanks so much for sharing! Your article is great and certainly helpful!! If I do accept my offer, I’ll only be teaching 20 minutes away from you which is funny! Thanks for the perspective!
Hi I’m a 3DL and have decided to join this thread. I made it to a final interview!!! Is it me or did the other deadlines have more people commenting?
Congratulations @lakooh and @MoLoveMoGrowth I guess it will just be us three for now
Congrats @JPTEACH !
@MoLoveMoGrowth , I’m not sure yet…Elem. Special Ed is my top subject priority so something along that line I suppose? But 5 minutes go by so fast…
Yes, 5 minutes does go by fast! lol @lakooh …I don’t know what I want to do for my lesson yet :-/ @lakooh @pioneerwoman @JPTEACH
I already know what I want to do and I’ve been practicing. I just have to get my visuals together/make sure I keep my time below 5 minutes. @MoLoveMoGrowth @lakooh @pioneerwoman
After seeing the lessons at my final interview, I would recommend to keep it fun and simple. Show that you can engage the class and keep it under the time allotted. Some people were too ambitious and didn’t finish, but some people didn’t use the time wisely and finished after three-four minutes. They want to see that you can organize a lesson and engage with an audience more than anything, I think. Some people get really creative and that’s great if you want to stand out. My lesson was very standard, primary and seondary sources, I brought in examples of each, textbooks, autobiographies, newspapers, etc, and had the interview group do a handout. I’d say more people had like “Stand up and do this” kind of lessons than like mine. Definitely recommend coming with everything written out already. Don’t eat into lesson time writing things out on the board if you know you need them ahead of time!
@lakooh I had the same reaction, totally thought I bombed the phone interview and ended up with an offer after my final! Good luck!
While we’re on the topic of lessons, TFA really likes explicit lessons. The layout of those lessons would be “I do. We do. You do.” Essentially, the want to see a clear explanation of something (in an introduction), a portion of collaborative work (engaged involvement/check for understanding), and then an assessment. I was the only one who had an assessment, just three questions, at my interview. TFA is very data driven. So if they see you implementing a quick assessment, that could potentially quantify your “students’” success, then I think it could help your chances.
Thank you @TFAHopeful2016 for your experience and your tips!!!
Thank you @MichaelEdu great stuff! I was thinking that I would not have time to add a You Do but I am going to reconstruct my lesson to be ale to fit in it.
@TFAHopeful2016 @MichaelEdu Wow thanks so much for the tips!! Really helpful!
I finally narrowed down to what topic and grade level to teach but now I just have to think of the structure and content.But all your advice and insights were really helpful! Thanks!!