Five days a week, Jamie Rubenstein, BC ’10, wakes up before dawn to teach Shakespeare to a group of high school seniors at The Marble Hill School for International Studies in the Bronx. As a member of the Barnard Education Program, Rubenstein is one of eight seniors student teaching this semester as the final step toward earning her teaching certification in the spring.
On the path to teaching, Rubenstein is taking the road increasingly less traveled. While Rubenstein will soon earn her teaching certification, grassroots programs like the non-profit Teach for America have attracted a particularly strong showing from Columbia students.
According to an e‑mail from regional communications director Kaitlin Gastrock, 11.2 percent of the Columbia class and 13.5 percent of the Barnard class of 2009 applied for the corps that year. There are 102 Columbia and Barnard alum current corp members and another 208 have completed their two‑year teaching commitment. Meanwhile, in 2009, thirty students graduated with certification through the Barnard Education program, and an estimated twenty‑five are expected this spring.
Founded in 1990, the non‑profit Teach For America recruits college graduates from all academic backgrounds to two‑year teaching posts in low‑income communities.
In a speech at Teacher’s College in October, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan applauded nontraditional programs, such as TFA, which helped contribute to one third of New York City’s teaching hires in 2008. Yet with training taking place largely after graduation and regardless of prior teaching experience, some debate whether TFA corp members are fully prepared to take on the classroom.
Learning how to teach
“For people going into Teach for America without any education background, I’m not sure they’re getting enough support,” said Lee Anne Bell, Director of the Barnard Education Program.
The Barnard Education Program is one of numerous university‑based programs that prepare undergraduate students for higher degrees and careers in education. The program is open to all undergraduates and consists of 23-26 credits, 100 hours of pre‑student teaching through a junior‑year practicum and independent work, and 200 hours of student teaching senior‑year. Students prepare for initial certification from the New York State Education Department in either Childhood Education (grades 1-6) or Adolescence Education (7-12).
Sruthi Swami, BC ’12 and potential applicant to the Barnard Education Program, points to this aggregate of teaching experience as her main point of contention with Teach for America. “They’re training for 5‑6 weeks whereas Barnard Education Program is over two years. I’m not saying that it’s [Teach for America] a bad program, not at all. I’m just not sure if what we learn is instilled in Teach for America.”
After going through so many years of teaching training, it can be discouraging for students in the program to watch a rookie with less training also be lauded as a teacher, Bell said.
With the application deadline set for February 19th, Teach for America corps members will begin training during their final semester and continue throughout the summer. This includes 30 hours of independent work and observation, a five‑week summer training institute, a regional orientation in the schools where they will be teaching, and assignment to a full‑time program director who mentors corp members throughout their two‑year service. Corp members receive health benefits and a full salary during their two‑year service.
“I think they do the best they can in five weeks. I don’t think they can fully prepare anyone to be in a classroom in five weeks,” said Kathryn Struthers, CC ’05 and a TFA corp member in 2005. “But I know many people who went through traditional training programs who were still overwhelmed.”
Struthers, who has remained in touch with TFA, said that the program has shown marked improvement since her service five years ago. “I would imagine the students graduating the program now are even better prepared,” she said.
According to Elliot Epstein, a 2007 New York City corp member and recruitment director for Teach for America at Barnard and Columbia, TFA training changes and prepares corp members significantly, regardless of the comparatively shorter training sessions.
“When you compare the corp member in February to the one in September, there is a dramatic difference,” Epstein said. He also said that organization is constantly being reevaluated, citing the work of a perennial institute team that revises and makes improvements to training every year.
Still, Rubenstein wondered whether the training is comprehensive enough to teach full‑time.
“I’m not an expert on education,” she said. “But I feel like I’ve learned so much in the education program and I’ve learned so much in student teaching that I can’t imagine walking into a classroom having not had these experiences.”
Planning for the future
For Struthers, the timing of TFA allowed her to explore more options in college. As a psychology major, Struthers said, “I didn’t know I wanted to be [a] teacher right away. I thought I might like to be a guidance counselor for a while. By the time I knew for sure I wanted to go into education, it was too late to do the Barnard Education Program.”
Looking back, Struthers said she would have done the Barnard Education Program if she had considered it in time. “I would have loved to get that extra experience of student teaching.”
Rubenstein suggested that timing might inform a student’s decision to partake in the program. “I would take a guess that some people just don’t figure it out until late. You have to be pretty on top of your stuff and realize somewhere early in your college career you want to do this.”
To Bermudez, the assurance of a job after college is one factor that may attract students to TFA—for better or for worse. “You can be a very smart student, but that doesn’t mean you’re going to be a good teacher in the classroom. It seems that Teach for America hires a lot of really intelligent students, but some might not necessarily have a passion for teaching and just want to get a job.”
But Epstein said that the experience at TFA can be transformative for some participants. “There are a lot people who go into Teach for America without plans to make education their life‑long careers, but that doesn’t mean their interests don’t go towards education in the future.”
While reportedly only one in 10 corp members say they are interested in the teaching profession before joining Teach for America, nearly 2/3 of alums remain in the field of education (63%) and almost half of them serve as classroom teachers, according to Gastrock.
For Jonathan Piliser, CC ’10 and member of the Barnard Education Program, the pathway toward teaching is a moot point. “I haven’t seen much of the stereotype where people just apply to Teach for America to put it on their resume. Everyone I know who’s a part of the program really wants to teach. They’re just two different paths to the same end,” Piliser said.
Teachers teaching teachers
The chance to connect with fellow teachers, both veteran and novice, is an important aspect of both programs. Epstein described his first year of teaching as challenging, and said TFA provided support and advice.
“I had alumni standing behind me, a program director standing behind me who was like a full time teacher coach … I felt very supported knowing so many people were supporting me and believed I could succeed.”
In the Barnard Education Program, collaboration is a key component as well. Student teachers meet with their supervisor on a weekly basis and receive constant observation and feedback by sharing a classroom with a full‑time “cooperative” teacher. “Teaching is one of those things you get better at with age,” Rubenstein said. “Being a young teacher is exciting but you get a confidence when you’re older. My cooperating teacher can look at a lesson plan and can tell you exactly how long it’s going to take. That’s the value of experience.”
And while Rubenstein admits to debating the differences between TFA and traditional education programs with friends, she contends that ultimately, the purpose of education is one that all educators share. “We all have the same goals here. Everybody wants to help. I don’t want infighting from people who want to make a difference.”
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