<p>^^^The final deadline is Feb. 4th.</p>
<p>I think an applicant’s best chance is to apply in the first cycle, which is not to say that no one will be chosen from the last one, only that the odds are not as good. The 3.1 GPA is lower than most applicants, but the selection process is holistic, and being bi-lingual for Spanish is an excellent attribute for any potential teacher in urban schools. </p>
<p>amazon, if your d is not a senior, some undergrad schools have TFA liaison organizations (for lack of a better description). Students do some of the legwork for TFA recruiters, make contacts with them, become more familiar with the program, etc. TFA also offers internships at the various Summer Institutes, which can be intensely demanding, but also provide an inside view of the program. Interns do clerical work, provide transportation, etc.</p>
<p>Is teaching your d’s intended profession? Even if TFA doesn’t work out for her, she can look into alternative certification programs in each state.</p>
<p>amazon, as I posted earlier, she can improve her chances by indicating that she will teach any grade, pre-K through 12, and that she is willing to teach special ed, and that she has experience with diveristy (she can let this come out in her resume somehow). She can use the word “economically disadvantaged” instead of “underprivileged” and “developing” instead of “underdeveloped” with regard to the country to be a little more PC - the evaluators may pay attention to the subtle implications of the words that she chooses. She will have to write an essay - it may be about a project that she has undertaken - and she can indicate in this essay that she has gone outside of her comfort zone. Good luck!</p>
<p>“I remember being shocked one time when I visited my daughter, and suddenly a case of paper was delivered to her apartment. The school had run out of paper, so she had ordered a case from Staples and paid for it herself.”</p>
<p>I’m a traditional teacher and I probably couldn’t tell you how many cases of paper I’ve personally purchased over the years. Not an unusual thing to do. Plus most of us buy a lot of our own class pencils, books, and other supplies.</p>
<p>"A few specific grace notes: In her program, new corps members weren’t paid during the summer boot camp or the weeks of job-search that followed,… Neither she nor we had anticipated how much financial (and emotional) support she would need in those 3-1/2 months. (She hadn’t cost us a dime during the summer since 10th grade.) "</p>
<p>This would probably correlate to traditional student teaching programs that can last from 4 months (my program) to possibly a year. You work fulltime as a student teacher in a classroom but are paid nothing, and paying your tuition for the opportunity to do so.</p>
<p>I haven’t met any TFA teachers or had the program in any schools I know of but being a new teacher in any program is hard. Many more hours than anyone would imagine, tons of stress, and the possibility of being cut at any time due to budget issues adds to that. Even with all that, I wouldn’t trade my job for anything. I love what I do.</p>
<p>She wanted to try to boost her resume before applying. How un-PC is the word “underprivileged”? They’re always changing these words trying to trip people up.</p>
<p>She asked the TFA people at her school and they said they save spots for all applications but maybe it is better to apply earlier.</p>
<p>DD#1 is in her first year at Tulsa teaching fifth grade through “Teach for America”. Although you are chosen by TFA, you do have to get hired by the school district you end up in. </p>
<p>The summer before, you undergo an extensive summer training program, including teaching summer school. My d got sent to Phoenix for 6 weeks. TFA was pretty strict about absences, etc. DD #1 only got 24 hours literally to see d3 graduate from high school in southern cali.</p>
<p>The school she teaches at is 98% free lunch. She has to watch her kids during their breakfast time – and lunch bc there are no school lunch aids to watch the kids during lunch (consequently the kids cant play outside and my d doesn’t get a lunch break away from kids).</p>
<p>So far, she likes it but it is hard. First year teaching is hard anyway, but even harder in a very low income school. D does spend quite a bit of her relatively low income buying stuff for her classroom. She also tries getting money through the “Donor’s choice” donation program.</p>
<p>D does plan to teach as her profression, however teaching through the TFA program is probably harder than teaching in most other places that a first year teacher gets hired for (If you think about it, TFA sends teachers to areas where no one else wants to teach).</p>
<p>D said when she applied last year, only 10% got accepted.</p>
<p>Like most, if not all, teachers in impoverished school systems, my d has extensive non-teaching duties. These include supervising bus lines, occasional lunch supervision, committee work, etc. Her class this year is larger, with more special needs kids, and she finds that she’s spending even more time this year developing lesson plans and finding new materials.</p>
<p>There are no teaching aides on the staff at all, though there are a few resource professionals for reading and kids who’ve been identified for special needs services, and several staff members double as translators. In her first grade class, Spanish-speaking kids learn English quickly with the help of their classmates, who do quick translations when needed.</p>
<p>My d’s frustration with the system is mounting daily. She can see the difficulties go much further than her school or district administrators. It is extremely difficult to get IEPs for kids who really need them. One boy is still languishing without one because his mother hasn’t been able to or, for whatever reason, won’t replace his eyeglasses, which were broken last year. This is the same boy who had to fail a year of Reading Recovery before being considered for an IEP, though it’s apparent to even a layperson that he really needs one.</p>
<p>What do you think was the most instrumental in your daughter getting accepted in the 10% of applicants that they take? Was it GPA? Was she an education major?</p>
<p>Did she choose Oklahoma?</p>
<p>d did have high grades and went to Baylor for undergrad, but you are evaluated on more more than that. She also has been tutoring kids on a volunteer basis in high school and through out college. There is a several step application process including you planning a lesson plan and “teaching” that lesson to the judges grading you.</p>
<p>You indicate where you are wiling to go, but there is no guarantee you will be placed there. My Dd did not ask to be placed in Tulsa, however she like it there bc it is a lower cost of living arfea ( much lower than living in S Cali, where we are from).</p>
<p>D said a lot of Ivy League students seem to apply to TFA kind of as a Peace Corp “job” for 2 years before they go on to graduate school.</p>
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<p>The majority of students in TFA do not intend to go into teaching as a profession. Many ivy and non-ivy students do TFA for 2 years because it is considered a great soft factor when applying for grad school (especially law and med school).</p>
<p>@amazon. D was a history major with 2 minors in computer science and math. I actually think she should have getten a job in a high school bc she could’ve taught all three subjerct areas --with probably greater job security. But she like the smaller kids</p>
<p>amazon, my daughter said that the number one factor is to somehow demonstrate persistence. They got it right with my D! She is the most persistent person I know.
She continues to put in lots of extra time, even though her TFA commitment is over. She coaches sports after school, she teaches test prep for high school admission after school, she takes kids to visit high schools for evening open houses (she teaches in NYC, which offers choice), she helps them work on their high school applications (most parents are unable to do this in her school), she tutors a former student who, with her help, got into Bard’s high school program (really, really impressive from this low-performing middle school; she also has former students at Bronx Science and Lehman whom she helped) and of course she does her prep work and grading in the evenings also.</p>
<p>My daughter goes to a good school with very little grade inflation. Her overall gpa is about 3.1 something because she did a business major in addition to a spanish major and had a tough time in things like accounting and statistics. Seriously, though, I would say her top quality is “persistence”. She was struggling with an honors math class in high school and would go in early every day with her bagel to get extra help from the teacher who called her her “best C student ever”.</p>
<p>She’s tutoring now and taking the course at her school that’s recommended for TFA. Hope they don’t think she’s pandering to them.</p>
<p>Does anyone thing speaking fluent Spanish could help?</p>
<p>ten chars…</p>
<p>I think if she is interested in teaching Bilingual education or perhaps ESL, being in fluent in spanish could be helpful.</p>
<p>I just found out that a friend’s daughter is going to do TFA in Omaha. Can the poster who’s daughter is in Tulsa or anyone else tell me what you know about TFA in that area?</p>
<p>
TFA is a two-year commitment. Many corps members do a third year. The requirement, though, is two years, and if a member chooses to leave early (barring extenuating circumstances such as illness, school districts eliminating positions, etc.) he or she is not considered a TFA alum, and will not have access to TFA’s extensive career support options (and, I imagine, wouldn’t receive a glowing LOR from TFA admins).</p>
<p>I’ve read posts on this forum stating that 1st-year TFA members quit in droves because it’s such a tough assignment, but my d only knows 1 person who has.</p>
<p>My oldest daughter is a first year Corps Member in Denver. The school where she teaches is 99% Latino students. I think fluency in Spanish would definitely be a plus in the application.</p>
<p>I haven’t seen TFA numbers re: how many Corps Members don’t make it through the first year. My daughter has heard up to 10%, which seems high to me. Some years, a few that are hired never get an actual placement – never get hired by a school (this did not happen in Denver this year). Every year, some are “let go” by the school and/or tfa for professionalism reasons. And, some leave very early in the first year for family, medical or other personal reasons. Re: post TFA – TFA says over 60% of Corps Member alum continue on in education and also over 40% continue on in their school placement beyond their two year commitment.</p>
<p>One of the best things, I think, about TFA is the ongoing training and support that the CMs get all year long. My daughter often has advisers in her classroom, observing and giving feedback. Also, the support and camaraderie with the peer group of other tfa CMs who are all in a similar life situation is wonderful. My daughter lives with two other first year CMs and most of their friends are also TFA. So far, for her TFA has been a very, very good decision.</p>
<p>I love Colorado. We’ve been there quite a few times on vacation. It’s so far from home (east coast) though…</p>
<p>Do you know if there are any schools in the New York/New Jersey area that need Spanish speakers?</p>
<p>I wonder how likely one would be to get to be in the area they chose ? My daughter is expressing interest , but has reservations about being in a very dangerous area.
She is beginning to substitute teach in our area next week , as she has not had any luck finding a job in the field she studied.</p>