jd2718 on Teaching Fellows
2008 August 5
Just a list of posts:
What Kind of Recruitment for NYC Public School Teachers?
What to do about Teaching Fellows?
Teaching Fellows or the Teaching Fellows?
Am I a Fellow?
Teaching Fellows are new teachers
Using Fellows for what they weren’t intended
Organizing Teaching Fellows as teachers
Does signing a card make you a UFT member?
What issues matter to new teachers?
JD:
Can you start a post for teachers to post advice on how fellows can better fit into their schools? Because I just want to succeed in my career and help the kids … I would like to avoid the other BS
Yes,
I will work on it. And I would welcome further suggestions.
I applied for the Fellows but was not accepted. I understand that there are a lot of applicants but I had experience working with special eductaion students and I wonder if this worked against me.I will still pursue teaching in NY because I know that I can make a difference…I just needed to vent. =)
There are many paths you can take…some of which parallel the TF approach. Contact the teacher education departments at any or all the CUNY schools. It may take a couple tries, but you should be able to find someone who can guide your thinking.
I was recently rejected from the Fellows program after getting halfway though past the six hour interview. I have a masters in English and worked for ten years as an adjunct college teacher of English and ESL, so I have experience and a graduate degree. I’m fifty five and wonder if this counted against me. Neither the rejection form letter nor any of the NYCTF material provide specific criteria to explain what this program wants when they choose or reject applicants. Does anyone know? Are there others who wonder why public service advertisements beg for public school teachers and then dismiss attempts to teach, and/or put insurmountable obstacles of red tape in our paths by way of The NYC Department of Education website? Does anyone have any insight into how to become a teacher in the NYC public schools?
The Fellows have accepted real change of career people, including older than you, but yes, I think they tilt heavily towards younger teachers. The system as a whole seems to discriminate (though it has not been proven) against older teachers, and in the past few years the NYCDoE has adopted policies that encourage principals to take part in this discrimination as well.
Further, they have encouraged opening charter schools at the expense of public schools, and the charters are largely dependent on young teachers who treat teaching as a temporary job.
The ads generate a pool of willing replacements, which may become a weapon in the next round of negotiations, as the DoE tries to force older teachers to quit, or worse, tries to fire them.