Coaching

Corps members receive support from their Teach For America manager of teacher leadership and development (MTLD), their peers, and Teach For America regional staff, and have access to the support resources available to other beginning teachers in their regions. Ongoing individual and team coaching helps corps members become successful teachers who can make a substantial impact on student achievement.
 

Regional Orientation and Tools

The initial regional training helps corps members create achievement-focused classrooms from the very first day of school. In-person and online sessions during the late summer and early fall help corps members build relationships with their students, understand their school and community, establish goals, create long-term plans for the school year, and develop detailed lesson plans for the start of the year. Corps members can also access regionally-recommended student achievement resources to maximize student learning in their classrooms. These resources include sample assessments, student data tracking systems, and planning templates, among others.
 

One-on-one Support

Each corps member partners with a manager of teacher leadership and development (MTLD) who provides support, guidance, and constructive feedback.  Strong relationships are the basis of this support, and MTLDs and corps members work to develop trust quickly so that they can work as teammates. At least four times during the year, MTLDs observe corps members in the classroom and then follow-up with different types of coaching and support to help them make a deeper impact on student achievement and improve classroom culture.  This may involve analyzing student results to determine what’s inhibiting progress.  MTLDs may model instructional techniques and give guidance on how to implement them in the classroom.  MTLDs and corps members also discuss challenging issues such as difficult student relationships or unmotivated classes.  Throughout the year, MTLDs and corps members celebrate progress and successes together.
 

Learning Teams

In some regions, corps members are grouped into regional learning teams based on the subject or grade that they teach. These teams are led by teachers with demonstrated records of success including Teach For America alumni and second-year corps members. Learning teams discuss challenges specific to their grades and/or content areas, share best practices, and work together to increase knowledge and skills in focused areas of teaching.