Teaching Fellows are new teachers

…with a few differences or twists.

They can be ‘fired’ by The Teaching Fellows (not really, but if TTF drops a Fellow, that Fellow loses certification).

They are more likely to come from the {out of state, white, young, degree from a better college, already looking for another career} demographic.

They are more likely to lack pro-union sentiment, and more likely to harbor anti-union animus than other teachers (except TFA).

And aside from this, new teachers. With all the problems that new teachers have, all the misconceptions. They make as many mistakes, maybe offend a few more people, have as much trouble adjusting, etc, etc. They become administrators pets; they become administrators targets. They do not know how to protect themselves. Do they stay as long as non-TF recruits? It’s probably close.

And this is my starting point. Because, right after “Math is Fun” the next theme of this blog is “We [teachers and our union] need to do a hell of a lot of adjustment in how we work with new teachers”

(Here’s a few posts about or directed towards new teachers:

• No more lesson plans
• Looking to transfer schools in NYC?
• UFT: Know your rights
• Failure to retain
• What does “pensionable” mean?
• In June Teachers Quit
• New Teacher Handbooks now available
• Goodbye too soon
• TFA

There’s a bunch more, mostly focused on retaining teachers)

Most of the above holds in relation to all new teachers, including Fellows. But there’s more we can do. (Next post: Summary for new teachers. Following post: specific ways to target Fellows)