This August I start year 5 in the classroom but this summer I took a walk down memory lane and worked at institute, TFA's teacher boot camp to prepare the new corps for 2 years of serving our nation's low income communities. I took on the role of CMA, not crystal meth anonymous, but corps member adviser. What a trip! I was part counselor, coach, mentor, teacher, manager, colleague, analyst and student. 11 of our nations brightest minds made it through the 50,000 applicants to be part of about 4500 new corps.
We wake up at 5 AM and I observe, coach and analyze the new teachers all day. Back at ASU, I start meeting with corps members around 6 PM and don't stop until 9PM. Sometimes, instead of meeting with corps members, we've got meetings. On a lucky day, I'm at the gym for 40 minutes.
Why work 18 hour days? Why do I put myself in a vulnerable position to receive so much critical feedback, be the shoulder someone cries on, and read lesson plan after lesson plan (up to 20+ a day)?
Because now there are 11 teachers prepared for their own classrooms. Those 11 teachers are middle and high school teachers who will each teach about 100 students this year. Those 100 students will have effective first year teachers. Because I was able to coach, mentor and advise them for 5 weeks.
When an upcoming 8th grade student asks questions like, "how do I get a scholarship?" "what do I need to do to get a laptop?" "how did you know what to study?" how could I not be grounded in what we do - training teachers was almost more satisfying then teaching my own kids. I got to see teachers build connections with colleagues and kids, make a kid believe in himself, invest kids in their education, and share success stories about their kids. It was so inspiring!
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