A case study of a career in education that began with “Teach for America”

Abstract

In this article I share the results of a seven-year case study of an educator who began his career without formal preservice teacher education, as a participant in Teach for America. Steven (a pseudonym) began teaching mathematics in an urban middle school, later teaching social studies to English language learners, and is currently a principal of an urban charter school. Using a narrative/ biographical research method, I have documented how Steven combined his personal resources, the confidence he gained from participating in Teach for America, and, because he began taking professional coursework in his second year of teaching, his emerging understanding of the foundations of teaching and learning (i.e. what he learned at the university) to form the educator he has become. His growth in understanding the culture of his students is a particularly compelling part of his story. Implications for contemporary teacher education are discussed, including the role of multicultural education courses and why customized teacher education programs should become more commonplace.That some teachers get their psychology by instinct more effectively than others by any amount of reflective study may be unreservedly stated. It is not a question of manufacturing teachers, but of reinforcing and enlightening those who have a right to teach.

“Good Intentions Can Only Get You So Far”: Critical Reflections From Teach For America Corps Members Placed in Special Education

“…Kevin likewise suggested he was “constantly in, just, experimenting mode especially here in special ed.” Yet Ingrid believed she was a good enough actress to “learn it enough” along the way by asking questions “in a way that made me look like I was checking my knowledge instead of gaining knowledge.” If anywhere in schools, special education should not be the context in which teachers experiment and fake it till they make it. This is perhaps analogous to what Téllez (2011) has characterized for a CM in his study as “a confidence asymmetrical to . .…”

“…TFA celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2015 with a new cohort of 4,100 teachers, bringing the total number of CMs who have completed the program to more than 50,000. Most of these CMs have been recent graduates from top higher education institutions but not from teacher education programs, a common point of critique among educational scholars and practitioners alike (Kumashiro, 2010; Labaree, 2010; Schneider, 2011; Téllez, 2011). Indeed, there seems to be an implicit assumption within TFA that leadership skills and extra-curricular experiences are more important than previous experiences in teacher education (Anderson, 2013b; Thomas, 2016).…”