From student to teacher in 5 weeks...TFA recruits play bigger role.

[madfloridian]

This is from the Washington Post today. Even as the government is giving money to districts to keep them from laying off teachers (which money incidentally is being hoarded for really bad times by many districts)...brand new teachers with 5 weeks training are being sent to fill positions. And the districts have to pay to hire them, in many cases the TFA company gets $2000 per recruit.

With limited training, Teach for America recruits play expanding role in schools


From student to teacher, in five weeks
Jamila Best graduated from Howard University in the spring. Monday will be her first day teaching special education in a D.C. charter school. After taking part in a Teach for America boot camp this summer, she says she's ready for the job.

Four months ago, Jamila Best was still in college. Two months ago, she started training to become a teacher. Monday morning, the 21-year-old will walk into a D.C. classroom, take a deep breath and dive into one of the most difficult assignments in public education.

Best is one of 4,500 Teach for America recruits placed in public schools this year after five weeks of summer preparation. The quickly expanding organization says that the fast track enables talented young instructors to be matched with schools that badly need them -- and the Obama administration agrees. This month, Teach for America won a $50 million federal grant that will help the program nearly double in the next four years.

But many educators and experts question the premise that teaching is best learned on the job and doesn't require extensive study beforehand. They wonder how Best and her peers will handle tough situations they will soon face. Best, with a Howard University degree in sociology and psychology, will teach students with disabilities at Cesar Chavez Parkside Middle School in Northeast Washington. She has none of the standard credentials for special education.

I took many courses in teaching special education. I was raising my kids, teaching as well. There were so many courses required, I could not do justice to any job...so I did not finish the course load. I never finished enough courses to get qualified. It helped me a lot though through the years I taught. I had skills I never had before which helped me work with special ed students better.

My, how times have changed. A TFA student with only 5 weeks training is considered qualified to teach students with disabilities. That's wrong in my book.

Arthur Levine, former president of Teachers College at Columbia University, had this to say.

"For inner-city kids, it's a huge disadvantage to have a teacher who doesn't know how to teach," Levine said. And even if the teachers rapidly improve, they just as rapidly quit. Almost half of Teach for America instructors leave the profession after their two-year commitment, according to a 2008 Harvard study. Such turnover, Levine said, "ensures a continuous array of rookies."

There are many teachers and others as well who fear this is a way to get "cheaper" teachers, to thin the ranks of the experienced teachers who make more money because of their years of teaching.

Teach for America. A way to replace experienced, higher-salaried teachers?

Those who are thinking of participating in Teach for America with a social justice mission in mind should consider this. Although a far more daunting task for sure, those really interested in social justice should consider ways of solving problems like unavoidable unemployment and low-wage jobs.

On top of failing to make a dent in poverty, Teach for America actually detracts from social justice by hurting real teachers. Teach for America students take low, entrance-level pay while also receiving a government subsidy for their salary in the form of Americorps stipends. Schools lay off teachers and then hire Teach for America teachers to fill positions that real teachers would otherwise be filling. Teach for America teachers are undercutting the wage needs of real teachers and causing them to be laid off as a result.

Imagine this: a well-off college student takes a subsidized teaching position at an impossibly low wage and displaces actual teachers who might already be struggling to get by — all for social justice!

For anyone who has any concern for labor rights, this is extremely abusive. Not undercutting wage demands of often unionized workers is rule number one of how to be a serious social justice advocate.

One school board member summarized Teach for America's goal in this way.

Peter Downs, president of the elected school board, summarizes TFA’s role in one word: “privatization.” He says that the mayor, not the district, first invited TFA to St. Louis, in line with reforms such as for-profit charters and the privatization of services in curriculum development, teacher recruitment, maintenance, and food service. As part of its contract with TFA, the district pays $2,000 a year to TFA for each of its recruits. (The elected board has no power because the state took over the St. Louis schools; the mayoral appointee to the new three-person board is a former regional staff person for Teach for America.)

For more information about TFA read Rethinking the spin

[MadHound]

1. Meanwhile, with two college degrees in education, one in history,

Graduated suma cum laude, perfect, I mean perfect, PRAXIS scores, I can't get a teaching gig.

TFA is being used to drive down the wages of teachers, which are already abysmally low, break unions, turn teaching from a profession into simply another entry level job. All while doing a huge disservice to future generations of students.

This is a shame and a sin, part of the ongoing assault against public education.

Thanks for keeping us informed madfloridian.

[madfloridian]

3. Amazing resume', Madhound.

Yes, this is part of the assault on teachers.

Good luck to you. :hi:

[msanthrope]

7. From the article, the starting salary is 49k for a DC teacher, more if

you agree to performance pay.

"In an economy in which options have narrowed for new graduates, competition is intense. Applications are up by a third, and just 12 percent of this year's applicants were accepted. Starting pay for teachers rivals that in many other industries; new teachers in D.C. public schools will make $49,000 this year, and possibly more if they participate in a voluntary performance pay program."


That's not a bad starting wage, is it?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/22/AR2010082202893.html?wprss=rss_education

[MadHound]

11. 49,000 in DC is a pittance,

At least judging from what my experience with the cost of living in DC. I've found it to be about twice as high as out here in the Midwest, where a staring teacher gets paid somewhere between 27 and 30 thousand.

Yes, that's horrible starting pay for any teacher in DC. Frankly, starting teachers' pay anywhere is not good.

[Recursion]

17. I made less as a sysadmin in DC

And I was pretty well off.

[MadHound]

19. Really?

How did you cut it, where did you live, etc.

Like I said, my experience is from just visiting the area, but looking around at rental prices, housing prices, etc. the cost of living there was huge.

[Recursion]

21. That was what I started at in 2004

I left in 2007 making a few K more. I lived in Columbia Heights. You probably couldn't live in Columbia Heights now because it went and got gentrified (by people like me) but there's always Petworth or inner Northeast or (*shudder*) the burbs (in fact, as the gentry come in to gentrify the city they're leaving the suburbs more open for normal people to rent).

If you go the places where people visiting the city go (ie, south of Florida Ave) it's going to be absurdly expensive because the District's unofficial motto is velia salutos, "fleece the tourists" (I'm probably misremembering the declension of salutor). In the neighborhoods it's worlds cheaper than NYC, Boston, SFO, etc. It's actually pretty similar to Baltimore.

[JDPriestly]

35. The TFAers don't have families. They aren't trying to save for

retirement. And they are actually earning more than is stated because they are earning some forgiveness on student loans. So, the pay is misrepresented.

As one who got an education degree (in music) but never worked as a public school teacher, the education courses I took were invaluable when I gave private music lessons.

The more they try to fix education, the worse they mess it up.

[madfloridian]

36. AMEN! "The more they try to fix education, the worse they mess it up."

:applause:

[Freddie Stubbs]

20. Talk to an entry level Capitol Hill staffer

They are lucky to make half that much.

[seleff]

27. Feel for you

PhD in Biology; Certified in Biology, Chemistry in 2 states; near perfect PRAXIS scores, taught HS 3 years in another state before moving; a 20 year research career and 10 years of college teaching (now as an adjunct which is the lowest pay a PhD can work for)and I can't find a HS job where I live in SE PA. $49K would more than double what I can make as an adjunct especially considering benefits. but now in my 50s I have age working against me along with the advanced degree. And I am by no means alone in this boat. I know at least a half dozen displaced science PhDs that have been unsuccessful finding jobs transitioning to HS teaching... Meanwhile Science PSSA scores even in well to do suburban schools lag 20-30 points behind everything else...

[kwassa]

32. keep trying

Part of it is the economy right now, and the teacher layoffs in various jurisdictions, some having it worse than others.

I became a teacher at 50, a career changer, in Maryland. There are programs in some school districts looking for these kinds of people. I am now teaching my 7th year in this school.

[Blue_Tires]

31. +1

[Name removed]

57. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Jakes Progress]

63. Ahhh. So naive.

That is 4,500 classrooms manned by untrained, unprofessionals. On a lark they want to be a teacher. Not enough to actually earn a job, but enough to get them jobs that should have gone to real teachers if the government weren't providing incentives to districts to cut the trained teachers and hire the kids playing at being a teacher.

I have worked with TFA teachers. No big whup. Mostly they overestimated their worth and performed with true mediocrity. Two did stand out. I worked with them for a year. I would try to come by their rooms once a week at the end of a day when I could help them get through their frustrations and tears. These two cared and that's why they were crying. The others were partying most nights while these two were grading and planning. Both of these fine women left TFA and went back for a teaching degree. They will be wonderful - if arne will let them.

[madfloridian]

64. They replaced experienced teachers who were laid off.

There is no excuse for that.

[Hannah Bell]

2. tfa is slightly more expensive; why is there money for tfa teachers & not real ones?

[madfloridian]

6. And it doesn't cost a recruiting fee to hire teachers locally.

It's about cheaper teachers. :hi:

[Catshrink]

51. and union busting.

[Recursion]

24. If I read between the lines of the principal's comment...

...it's that they're more willing to teach "his" way, since they didn't learn any other way to teach beforehand.

[Starry Messenger]

44. I'd love to know what that TFA traning entails.

My money is on heavy anti-union propaganda.

[Brickbat]

4. Let's just save money across the board -- boot camps for every profession!

Including superintendents and administrators, consultants, lawyers, carpenters, multinational CEOs, defense contractors, generals, brain surgeons, journalists, locomotive engineers, pilots, social workers, municipal workers, electricians, interpreters -- all of 'em! Think of the savings to EVERYTHING IN THE WORLD! It's like INVENTING PROFIT!

[madfloridian]

9. And pay a private company to recruit them while locals stay unemployed.

Amazing, isn't it. :hi:

[Recursion]

26. In this case, very deliberate

They don't want any of the pre-receivership Old Guard to be part of the charter school.

I hate to keep on harping on this in every single education thread that mentions DC, but I literally cannot describe the extent to which decades of nepotism and corruption ruined nearly every single public institution in that city, including the schools, school administrations, and teachers' union. The school system was treated as a jobs program and people are trying to exorcise that attitude.

[proud2BlibKansan]

49. TFA is just another crony taking tax dollars

Sorry you don't see that.

[Recursion]

65. If so, it's someone else's crony NT

[Billmelater]

15. now you're thinking

you have a bright corporate future ahead of you! ;)

[msanthrope]

5. Jamila Best has degrees in psychology and sociology from Howard.

I have a feeling she's no stranger to human behavior.

From your article....


"Last week, Chavez Parkside Middle was abuzz, with boxes of books shifting around and new students dropping by to enroll. Administrators said Teach for America recruits account for a quarter of their faculty.

"I came from a traditional background," said Raymond Weeden, the principal. He graduated from the University of Virginia's education school as a skeptic of Teach for America. Now he's a convert.

"If I can find people with the right values, I can mold them to be great teachers," he said. He estimated he hires 10 percent of his teachers from traditional programs and the rest through alternative channels. The school's teachers spent the first three weeks of this month in workshops. Every week during the school year, they have a few hours of professional development. Teach for America recruits also attend night classes run by the organization."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/22/AR2010082202893_2.html?wprss=rss_education&sid=ST2010082301888

I never noticed teacher's unions getting up in arms when the unqualified teachers were union. That might be why TFA has gained so much ground.

[MadHound]

10. She's not a stranger to human behavior, no,

But she is a stranger to teaching. Teaching, even with "normal" kids is a difficult job, one that you can't pick up in five weeks. Hell, in the freshman year of the education program I attended you spent a hell of a lot more than five weeks in the classroom observing and participating. Same thing with other practicums that you take during the course of obtaining a teaching degree. And still student teaching itself comes as a rude awakening (though a great learning experience).

Expecting anybody to be able to effectively teach after only five weeks training is ludicrous. Since I was getting an elementary education degree, I took methods classes in every single subject, and in some cases like math, reading and writing, more than one. Hell, I had one upper level class that was devoted to nothing but reading assessment, how to make one, deliver it, interpret it.

If you're going into secondary education, which I also got a degree in, you have to, along with more methods classes, virtually get a degree in whatever subject you're specializing in. Since I was going into Social Studies, I got my third degree in History, might as well since by the time I was done with the requirements for my secondary education degree, all that I had left to do to get a history degree was write my senior thesis. I would hate to think that somebody with little more than a high school grasp of history goes through TFA and becomes a history teacher. That would be doing a huge disservice to their future students, it's appalling.

And on top of this, this woman is going into Special Ed? Really now, does she have the needed experience and pedagogy to do this? No, there is simply no way, not in five weeks. I've watched what my fellow graduates had to go through to get a Special Ed certificate, over thirty six hours of extra course work, not to mention the extra psych courses and such. To try and cram all this into five weeks is absurd.

Oh, and how are her classroom organization and management skills? Did she have any classes, or practical experience in this, or is she simply being thrown in cold? Hell, classroom management is half the battle of teaching, and if she can't control her students and instill a desire to learn into them, she's failed and they're screwed.

I have yet to see an unqualified teacher in a union. Every single teacher that I've met in my union has a degree from an accredited college or university, along with proper certification. Yet what does this so called "teacher" have? Five weeks of training:woohoo: Hell, used car salesmen get more training than that.

[madfloridian]

25. With 20 hours of special ed courses from a university...

I would not have been qualified to teach special ed. Those courses helped me be a better teacher, but I was not qualified.

[msanthrope]

29. But you taught special ed kids though, even unqualified?

[msanthrope]

28. I don't disagree that 5 weeks isn't enough, that's why I'm

glad she's getting continuing education, as outlined in the article.

Funny, when I got my certification through a Master's program, I was told by 4-year Education Majors that I wasn't a real teacher. Had they only known what was coming.

[madfloridian]

8. What cities are paying TFA....Sacramento 2.7 million...

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/6048

How many teachers could be hired locally for that amount?

[Orsino]

12. This is creeping corporatization. n/t

[snot]

14. It's not creeping; it's been happening rapidly.

It's our comprehension of what's being done to us that's creeping.

[Orsino]

16. This is not quite the same as Blackwater contract teachers...

...but it is how a private company will eventually be leeching tax dollars. It's how corporatization creeps in.

Teach For America had some laudable goals, and is at least still non-profit.

[snot]

22. Actually, not so different from Blackwater -- take a look at madfloridian's journal.

She's documented instances such as one in which public school kids were literally kicked out of their own library, recently built with public dollars, so it could be handed over to a charter school.

[Orsino]

30. Are you still discussing Teach For America?

Is there something specific for me to read?

[snot]

58. I was replying re- the "corporatization" of education generally.

The particular story I mentioned is at http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/5077 ; but there's MUCH more in madfloridian's journal, at http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/5077 .

[snot]

13. K&R'd (and note, the unreccer's are out)

[JVS]

18. Scab for America

[Brickbat]

23. I like it.

[madfloridian]

33. Hey, think I'm kidding? New Haven, CT pays TFA $2500 for each recruit.

The fees are being paid from the federal stimulus money.

http://newhavenindependent.org/index.php/archives/entry/teach_for_america_partnership_expands/id_28418

"Growing Partnership

Under its contract with TFA, the school board agreed to pay TFA $2,500 for each first-year teacher, and another $2,500 for each second-year teacher, that the organization recruited. The fee subsidizes the professional development that TFA provides to its teachers during those first two years, Novak said.

The contract was approved at last week’s Board of Education meeting with no discussion. The fees are paid for with federal stimulus money, according to schools spokeswoman Michelle Wade.

Wade said the partnership has grown this year: Last year, the district paid for 21 TFA teachers; this year, the school board agreed to pay the fees for up to 30. The district may not need all 30 slots, but “the expansion offers us more flexibility with TFA if/when our needs require us to look to them for more candidates,” Wade wrote in an email.

Teacher recruitment is one main plank of the city’s school reform effort, which aims to cut the dropout rate in half and close the achievement gap by 2015. Besides the TFA partnership, the New Haven school district has taken trips to Puerto Rico to look for bilingual staff, and has expanded its job."

[madfloridian]

34. Folks are still defending paying recruiters to hire teachers as locals are laid off.

It amazes me how much we are willing to accept without complaining. It is stunning how few find it upsetting.

[Starry Messenger]

37. Whoa.

That's insane. How are the parents going to feel about their special education students being taught by a teacher with no sped credentials?

[madfloridian]

38. They probably don't know yet.

[DemocracyInaction]

39. Sp Ed---on those credentials???

I would like to know what their regulations/laws for teaching sp. ed. are and how they can just ignore them when hiring. But look at it this way, folks: the more money you can save hiring teachers, the more money the administrators can give to themselves. You don't have to look any further than the nearest administrator (and my family is full of them) to see why education just doesn't have the money for the poor kiddies any longer. It's just another "con" game......

[Starry Messenger]

40. I think the school in the OP is a charter school

They tend to be freed from some laws and regulations in the name of "innovation", but I thought they had the same educational expectations and standards as traditional schools. There's another poster here who keeps saying that. But if that were true, wouldn't the laws for hiring special education teachers have to be more in line with what was used in a public school? This situation seems dangerous.

[KamaAina]

46. That would be me

this is yet another example of how it's OK to Leave A Child With A Disability Behind as long as it's done in the name of union-busting education reform.

[Catshrink]

52. It's a lawsuit waiting to happen

for non-compliance with IDEA. More money out of public education to pay for the folly of undertrained McTeachers.

[bertman]

41. I wonder if these young people, who seem to be very bright and motivated,

have any idea how they are being used to undermine our public education system. My guess is they are so excited about having a job that they would think someone was crazy who tried to explain to them why they are being used.

Especially noteworthy for me was the comment made by Principal Weeden: "If I can find people with the right values, I can mold them to be great teachers." I'd love to know what he considers THE RIGHT VALUES that only he can instill in these new teachers.

Recommend.

[madfloridian]

42. I believe Cesar Chavez is a charter school, which frees it from many regulations

Here is a story about another Cesar Chavez school that wanted to change its name because of low test scores.

Charter school might change name because of low test scores. That will surely fix things.

In its latest effort to fend off forced closure because of low test scores, Cesar Chavez Charter School — Santa Barbara’s only bilingual school — wants to change its name to Adelante Charter School, which means “moving forward” in Spanish.

...The Cesar Chavez saga began in October, when the school’s parent organizers went before the Santa Barbara school board with the hope of getting their recently expired five-year charter renewed (Charter schools are funded with public tax dollars, but enjoy more local control than traditional public schools. However, their charters are subject to approval or denial by the locally elected school boards of the districts in which they reside.)

To the dismay of the Cesar Chavez community, the school board was informed by district administrators that the 10-year-old school’s test scores were by far the lowest in the district — and too low for the school to qualify for renewal.

[Recursion]

45. Sounds like the system worked

CCCS wasn't working, and doesn't get its charter renewed.

[rucky]

43. The attrition rate must be ridiculous.

Even with a master's, the first year is brutal.

[truth2power]

47. Question for madfloridian...Do Florida and D.C. schools use the IEP...

(Individualized Education Plan)in their Special Ed programs? Just wondering because those things are a bear to put together. I can't imagine how this TFA grad could even begin to construct one of those, nevermind try to implement it with the students.

Oh wait...it being a charter school, they probably won't have to worry about that.

[madfloridian]

50. Yes, Florida does. I did not teach special ed, but my friends did .

IEPs are very hard to do. Teaching special ed takes great training. And yes, if it be charter the rules are different.

[truth2power]

48. Why don't we start a program to train people to be lawyers in 5 weeks? Obama would sign on

to that, I'm sure. Give 'em a survey course in law and send 'em out.

Yeah, with the right sort of mentoring, they could be great lawyers.

Oh, wait...lawyers have their whole profession sewn up. Yes, indeedy!! No interlopers allowed.

[proud2BlibKansan]

53. I have worked with TFA teachers; our kids deserve better.

The concept of recruiting what amounts to peace corps volunteers to teach our children is incredibly offensive to our children. How sad that we don't value our children enough to want them to have the best. Instead we allow private companies to profit off of our kids and in return we get rookies who aren't even educators. And the veteran teachers get to clean up the mess.

The five week training program is a joke. These TFAers can't possibly learn enough about classroom management to be effective teachers in 5 weeks. It takes a might strong dose of koolaid to swallow that line.

There are a few facts left out of the article. The TFAers are also offered student loan forgiveness. This of course adds to the expense. Districts are also expected to sign two year contracts with TFA teachers. The rest of us of course only get a one year contract.

Another thing that bothers me about TFA is the lack of support and mentoring the TFAers get. I have never seen such a minimal amount of in class mentoring for brand new teachers.

[Catshrink]

54. +1

A friend's daughter was a TFA McTeacher - they offered her no support whatsoever. She wanted to quit but honored her two year commitment and got out. Her posting was in an inner city - not only did she have to deal with being a rookie teacher but she had to deal with the difference in community.

[proud2BlibKansan]

55. We had one last year who kept getting her cell phone stolen

I think it was stolen 3 times. She dressed like a model. No pockets so nowhere to put her phone. I kept remembering that when I was in college we were taught how to dress like a professional. You aren't going out clubbing, you are spending your day with children. So wear comfortable clothes with pockets.

And if you can't live without it, don't bring it in your classroom and lay it down.

[Catshrink]

59. Children teaching children.

[WinkyDink]

56. The POINT is to leave after two years. We've read how TfA is a resume'-stop.

[Catshrink]

60. From their website about this:

Graduate School Partnerships
Top-ranked graduate schools actively seek Teach For America alumni. They recognize that alumni have engaged in a highly selective process and value the rich perspective that comes from teaching in a low-income area. As a result, many graduate schools offer special benefits to corps members and alumni including two-year deferrals, application fee waivers, and scholarships.*

Attend an online event to learn more about our partnerships from graduate school faculty and alumni who have attended graduate school after the corps.

To learn more about partnering with Teach For America, visit our resources for employers and graduate schools page.


Employer Partnerships
Top employers value the leadership skills and civic-minded nature that distinguish Teach For America alumni. Recognizing that alumni have engaged in a highly selective process and have risen to the challenge of teaching in a low-income community, our employer partners actively recruit our alumni for full-time positions. Before the corps, many partners provide benefits like two-year deferrals. After the corps, partners in a variety of sectors offer fellowships, career workshops, and professional mentoring.

[kwassa]

61. This is my favorite excuse for a teacher quitting the profession

Schools Need Teachers Like Me. I Just Can't Stay.

By Sarah Fine
Sunday, August 9, 2009

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/07/AR2009080702046.html

When people ask me about teaching, however, what they really seem to mean is that it's unfathomable that anyone with real talent would want to stay in the classroom for long. Teaching is an admirable and, well, necessary profession, they say, but it's not for the ambitious. "It's just so nice," was the most recent version I heard, from a businesswoman sitting next to me on a plane.

I used to think I was being oversensitive. Not so. One of my former colleagues, now a program director for Teach for America, has to defend her goal of becoming a principal: "When I tell people I want to do it, they're like, 'Really? You really still want to do that?' " Another friend describes her struggle to make peace with the fact that a portion of the American public sees teaching as a second-rate profession. "I want to be able to do big things and be recognized for them," she says. "In the world we live in, teaching doesn't cut it."

I often feel the same way. Teaching is a grueling job, and without the kind of social recognition that accompanies professions such as medicine and law, it is even harder for ambitious young people like me to stick with it.

In their book "Millennials Rising: the Next Great Generation," sociologists Neil Howe and William Strauss characterize the members of my generation as "engaged," "upbeat" and "achievement-oriented." This is why we become teachers. We seek to challenge ourselves, and we excel at pursuing our goals. Howe and Strauss go so far as to call us a "hero generation." Our engagement also explains why we are leaving the classroom. We are not used to feeling consistently defeated and systemically undervalued.

[Jakes Progress]

62. Just imagine what we could do with this in other fields.

Think of the money we could save if we didn't need trained people in any professions. I mean, just think how cheap nurses would be if we could put them through a 5 weed course and then put them on the wards.

And Police. No more of that academy or anything. Just give 'em a gun and a patrol car and set 'em loose.

Oh. And the money saved on law school. And the military. General in 5 weeks.

Then there is the private sector. Who needs an engineering degree. I know you would be happy to have your next house designed by an architect with 5 weeks training.

I think I know why politicians go for this idea. Theirs is the only profession where you can get the job and not know jack-shit about what you are doing. Obama's education policy proves that.

[madfloridian]

66. You are right about politicians for sure.

"Theirs is the only profession where you can get the job and not know jack-shit about what you are doing. Obama's education policy proves that."

[madfloridian]

67. Look at the amazing publicity TFA gets.

http://www.google.com/news/search?pz=1&cf=all&ned=us&hl=en&q=teach+for+america&cf=all

It's really astonishing how easily TFA became so much better than being a fully trained or experienced teacher. It happened quickly, too. Just since Arne.