Winners Never Quit

This past weekend I had the pleasure of talking to one of my friends from Grove City College that was thinking about applying to MTC.  We’ve been going back and forth for a few weeks ago as she is a senior biology major at Grove City and as a matter of fact just applied to MTC.  I did my best to honestly describe the difficulties of teaching in a critical needs school.

To be honest I’ve blocked a decent amount of stuff out of my mind from the first few weeks.  I was at a basketball game this weekend and talked to a 7^th grader with my roommate, another 7^th grade teacher.  Between the two of us we teach all 210 7^th graders and apparently this student had me for the first month of school but I was convinced I never did.  It was one of those old person moments….at 22.  Anyway even though the first few months were nightmarish, I made it through those dark times and my classroom is improving.  Unlike me though there are many first year teachers, particularly in TFA that have quit in my district since the first day of school in August. 

It’s difficult because I believe that when it comes to supporting teachers that are thinking about quitting a lot of the problem probably came before that.  Most people may have written about how to support struggling teachers but I believe that a lot of the problem comes during the selection process.  I was accepted to both TFA and MTC and after going through the TFA interview it seems as though the person they are targeting is someone with impeccable manners, a great resume and the ability to answer situational interview answers.  TFA’s interview process is rigorous.  I had to write several essays, spend hours on the application, interview on the phone multiple times and spend an entire day in a group interview. 

One thing that I believe TFA should incorporate is something along the line of ‘role plays’ in their interview process.  I was able to slide through and get into the program without ever being in a ‘tight spot’ where I really need to think on my feet.  Moments like this happen hundreds of times in the classroom each day and may separate those that quit and those that stick with it.  I’ll never forget when I asked one of my students to move back to her seat and she said ‘Get the Fuck out of my face.’  I was shocked and had no idea what do so I just called the principal to sort it out.  Now the recruiters don’t need to talk like sailors to applicants but making the interview more realistic would be incredibly helpful in lowering dropout rates.