Teach for America lands one student in Baltimore City

Why did you decide to apply for Teach For America?

I decided to apply to Teach for America because I saw it as a great opportunity to affect the lives of children in a very positive, concrete and meaningful way.  The verse, "to whom much has been given, much is expected" became very salient to me when I began applying for jobs in the fall of my senior year. Graduating college, there is so much pressure to find a job as soon as possible, and I felt it especially because a lot of my friends knew exactly what they were doing. Once I decided to apply for Teach For America, though, I finally felt like I was going for a job that I wanted and one that would have value to me.  

The achievement gap - the fact that children in low-income areas do not perform at the same level as their wealthier peers - is an appalling injustice.  The graduation rate in Baltimore City hovers around 60 percent.  The graduation rate for African American males in Baltimore City rests around 25 percent.  Knowing that I could directly impact these children, and these statistics, kept me from deciding to do anything else.  

What was the process of applying? How hard was it to get in?  

The application process is pretty straightforward.  There are four application deadlines—two in the fall, two in the spring—where you must submit an application online.  The application requires a resume, a letter of intent, an essay and general personal and academic information.  If you are accepted at this phase, you move on to a 30-minute phone interview.  The final phase is an in-person interview, before which you must submit transcripts, references and your regional preferences (where and what you would prefer to teach).  The final interview lasts several hours and is broken down into several components.  Teach for America is extremely competitive—last year over 18,000 people applied and less than 3,000 were accepted and placed across the country.

Did you get to choose between urban or rural teaching? Did you have any say in your location?  

Yes, when you submit your regional preferences before the final interview, you have the opportunity to rank all the locations as highly preferred, preferred or least preferred.  If you do not have a preference, you can say that too. I was placed in Baltimore City and had ranked Baltimore as my top choice, so it is very possible to teach in the location of your choice!  It may benefit applicants to research state requirements for teachers. For example, I know Maryland has high standards for teachers, so it is difficult to be placed in Baltimore unless you have a certain number of undergraduate credits in your subject area.

Since you’re not an education minor, how did you prepare for this job?

You definitely don’t have to be an education major to apply for Teach For America. Over the summer I taught in a summer school program in Philadelphia and took professional development courses through Teach for America. All first year corps members go through this very intensive five-week training before their first year of service.

Tell me a little about your school and class.

I teach 9th graders at a charter school in Baltimore City called the Maryland Academy for Technology and Health Sciences.  It is a new school with only 8th and 9th grade, but will expand to have grades 8-12 over the next three years.  MATHS shares a building with the KIPP Ujima Academy, the highest performing middle school in Maryland, and Dr. Roland Patterson, ranked one of the most dangerous middle schools in the city. Needless to say, this creates an interesting dynamic in the building. 

While it is a charter school, we do not have any selection criteria, meaning we do not deny students admission based on academic performance or other factors.  We accept students from all over the city, from a variety of backgrounds.  It’s difficult to generalize about the children - some come from broken homes, some come from a household with two parents; some are involved in gang activity and some are not; some are A students reading on the appropriate grade level, others read at 2nd grade levels.  I asked my students early in the year if they ever had a teacher leave in the middle of the school year, and every student raised their hand, some even referencing several teachers who had left them mid-year.  It is incredible to think of what they go through in their lives and in their education, yet they remain the dynamic, funny, trying, resilient, amazing children that they are.

What's your favorite part about this job?

Laughing with my children every day.

What's the hardest part?

The emotional, mental and physical exhaustion that consumes every day.

How has this influenced your more long-term career goals?

Well, I'm not sure how long I will continue to teach beyond the 2-year commitment of Teach for America, but I am sure that I will stay in education in some capacity. Although this has been the most difficult experience of my entire life (and I do not say that lightly), I am confident that it was one of the most meaningful and life-changing decisions I have ever made.

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