Reasons to Work for TFA

The key to a student’s success is the quality of their classroom teacher. I believe that in spite of any external obstacles (chaotic/troublesome home life, administrative incompetence, access to services, etc.) a quality teacher can positively impact a student’s life more profoundly than almost any other influence. I believe that Teach for America (TFA) cultivates, develops, and supports the type of teachers who can have this kind of impact. I seek to join TFA for this very reason; I want to positively impact students by providing a high quality experience in the classroom. Having graduated from a public inner-city high school in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, majored in Sociology in college, and worked for four years as a Benefit Specialist at a non-profit law firm which exclusively serves the underprivileged of Milwaukee, I have a practical understanding of the inequalities that exist in cities today, specifically the inequalities in access to public services and educational tools. My experiences in high school and in the work place have made me sensitive to the challenges of being a minority (only 15% of my school was also white, 100% of my current clients at Legal Action are over 33+ years my senior), and taught me to respect and celebrate different belief systems and cultures. As a children’s piano teacher, I have recognized the different ways that children learn (tactile, cerebral, auditory, exploratory), and the importance of helping students with varying levels of intelligence and natural talent develop models for success that make their classes satisfying experiences for them. In TFA, I hope to make my classroom a place that creates stability for my students (often whose needs have gone unmet), provides the opportunity for them to successfully meet self-determined challenges with positive reinforcement and support, and allows them to cultivate a passion for learning, a passion that-if harnessed-can help to level the uneven playing field that exists today. The measure of my success in TFA will take different forms for different students. With some students, increased enthusiasm, participation, and academic performance will be my measure of success. For other students, success would be to help emotionally and socially stabilize them, providing tools to survive unforgiving circumstances. I believe that the sense of genuine self, pride, and empowerment that a child feels when he/she meets a challenge far outweighs the value of the lesson itself. Finally, and most importantly, I would measure my own success in terms of the future choices and adaptation of my students. Their lifelong success is my success. TFA participants have a complicated task; the challenge of promoting healthy learning and living habits in students. I have tackled adversities in my life and I look forward to embarking on this challenge with the same zealous attitude. I grew up in Milwaukee, and it is this city that inspired my belief in service and my forward-looking attitudes. I want to serve the community that raised me so well by giving back some of the passion, discipline, and courage I learned from it.