Three out of four principals who work with corps members report that Teach For America's training is better than that of other beginning teachers
Ensuring our corps members are successful in the classroom is our top priority and most critical responsibility. Over the past 18 years, through rigorous research and evaluation, we have come to understand what truly differentiate a successful teacher in the rural and urban communities in which we serve. This experience and knowledge informs our pre-service training and ongoing professional support program designed to ensure corps members achieve significant measurable results with their students.
 |
Institute overview | |
Institute coursework |
|
Institute programmatic structures | |
Video reflections |
We operate rigorous five-week summer preparation institutes in Atlanta, Houston, Los Angeles, New York City, Philadelphia, and Phoenix. Through opportunities for practice, observation, coaching, and study — as well as careful planning and thoughtful reflection — corps members develop the foundational knowledge, skills, and mindsets needed to be highly effective beginning teachers. Click here for the institute schedule.
Corps members typically describe the institute as intense, challenging and rewarding. Five weeks is a short time to prepare corps members for the rigors of the classroom, so we work hard to take full advantage of every day. In the mornings and early afternoons, corps members teach in a district summer school program, under the close supervision of veteran educators from the hosting school district and Teach For America instructional staff. In the late afternoons and evenings, corps members participate in interactive courses and clinics to build knowledge, deepen skills, and apply learning to upcoming teaching.
| Teaching | Corps members teach summer school students for approximately two hours each day, under the supervision of experienced teachers. For the first hour, most corps members work directly with four to five students to build skills in math and literacy, which also builds the teacher's skills for facilitating student group work. For the second hour, corps members lead a full class lesson, which also builds the teacher's skills in delivering lessons and managing the classroom. |
|---|---|
| Observations and feedback | Teach For America instructors observe every corps member several times each week, provide them with written feedback, and engage in debrief conversations to help them refine their teaching practice. |
| Rehearsal sessions | Corps members get together in small groups to rehearse the delivery of upcoming lessons and to respond to management challenges. Rehearsal sessions provide safe space to practice new skills and to receive feedback from Teach For America instructors and other corps members. |
| Lesson planning clinics | Corps members receive extensive support in lesson planning from Teach For America instructors. They work to internalize the upcoming week's objectives, determine the assessments that will be used to evaluate student progress, select the appropriate instructional methods to meet their objectives, and flesh out their plans in greater detail. |
| Curriculum sessions | Teach For America instructors present essential material that all new teachers need to know to be effective. |
| Reflection sessions | Corps members get together in small groups to engage in structured reflection on student achievement data, student work, and the feedback and observations of Teach For America instructors, veteran district teachers, and other corps members. Reflection sessions lead to clear steps for corps members to take to improve their effectiveness. |
|---|
At the core of this approach are six important strands of content:
| Teaching As Leadership | Focuses on the overarching approach of successful teachers in low-income communities |
|---|---|
| Instructional Planning and Delivery | Presents a goal-oriented, standards-based approach to instruction, including diagnosing and assessing students, lesson planning and instructional delivery |
| Classroom Management and Culture | Teaches how to build a culture of achievement to maximize student learning |
| Diversity, Community and Achievement | Examines diversity-related issues new teachers may encounter |
| Learning Theory | Focuses on learner-driven instructional planning |
| Literacy Development | Explores elementary and secondary methods for teaching literacy |
Hear an education major reflect on the training.
Listen to an alumna talk about the improvements to the institute she's seen over time.
Listen to 2006 corps members describe the institute and the training they received.
Teach For America thanks the Lehman Brothers Foundation for its
generous support as our National Teacher Training Partner
Our corps members
Corps and Alumni
