TFA Take Aways

Young Americans, David Bowie is playing.

I went to Teach for America's 15 Year Alumni Summit in DC this weekend. I have felt rather unsure about my opinions of TFA since I entered the Corps. in 1996. There are good things about the program (good experience for well-educated folks with privilege to carry with them throughout life; some quality, committed teachers come out of the program; there is power and support in numbers; many TFA people want to change the world but they don't spend their life being depressed about the state of the world--they get change done) and some not as good things (teachers who teach with little training and experience take away from movements to professionalize teaching; the culture of TFA also sometimes leads one to think that teacher is just a springboard to something else instead of a viable career) . This weekend I realized that a lot of good things have come out of the movement: good teachers, other movements to reform education, lots of powerful story tellers--to name a few. No one is claiming that this is the only way to change education--it is just one of the many ways. So, I am going soft on TFA.

There are several things I "took away" from the conference that I have to pass on:

from Marian Wright Edelman (Children's Defense Fund):

Keep moving.

We need to redefine success: Service is what counts, not "success".

Her life is shaped by living her faith.

Keep connected to children.

Don't underestimate the progress that has been made in the world towards justice.

We need different leaders pursuing different strategies of change (incremental and radical) at the same time.

Every child is sacred.

from John Lewis, US House, Georgia:

Get in the way.

Non-violence is a way of life.

You need a sense of calling/mission/mandate.

We must deal with the intersection of poverty and race.

from David Gergen, Director of Center for Public Leadership and a guy who worked for a lot of Presidents:

"Leadership is mobilizing others in the pursuit of shared goals." Gary Wills

Leadership is a journey. An inner journey too.

With leadership, context matters. It influences the styles of leadership, but there are three universals of leadership. Leaders are people who:

• have ambitions. For what? Self? Others?
• have character.
• have personal capacity, the ability to make good decisions. B/c of this, leaders must be informed by history and their experiences. They must be able to take this info and reflect and then make good decisions.

Leaders are readers.

Every leader needs a candid friend.

Be unassuming so that you can work with people better than you.

Give voice to community by listening and then act.

Choose something. Be scholar in that area. Develop the social skills to persuade people.

Have ambition for others.

Positive character includes: integrity, candor, confidence, compassion, empathy, and consistency.

Keep reading.


Those are my notes. May be a bit boring to you. Maybe not.