Teach for America helps deprived youths succeed

Amy Steketee spent her first day teaching calling role in front of a crowded auditorium full of loud high school students. The next four weeks of school she spent teaching geography to ninth graders in the last four rows of the same auditorium, along with five other classes, including choir. \nShe said that despite being the teacher, the education she received was profound.\n"I learned about race issues, Mississippi's rich culture, education, school management, social tensions, and confidence-building," Steketee said.\nSteketee, an IU graduate -- now an IU law student, spent two years teaching in the Mississippi Delta for Teach for America. Teach for America is a non-profit organization that trains college graduates to teach in inner city and rural area classrooms.\nThe Teach for America mission, according to , is to "build a corps of outstanding recent college graduates of all academic majors who commit two years to teach and who become lifelong leaders in the pursuit of expanding opportunities for children."\nIU has the second highest recruitment out of all the schools Teach for America recruits, said Carla Seeger, IU's Alumni Recruiter. Currently there are 35 IU graduates working in different schools all over the country.\nSenior Lindsay Schoenfeld works as IU's Campaign Coordinator to promote the program. \n"My responsibility is to encourage Teach for America awareness on campus, and to encourage people to apply," Schoenfeld said. "I am involved in the program because I've been fortunate enough to have a good education, and this is a chance to give back."\nNearly 140 IU students applied for the program last year, as a result of Seeger's and Schoenfeld's efforts. The numbers for this year are on track to surpass last year's numbers, they said. \nThe application process begins with filing out an online application, available at . Once candidates are screened, some are selected for an interview. The interview lasts all day and includes vigorous exercises including a writing section and also a presentation of a lesson. Lastly, candidates are then selected for a final interview, where details about the program are discussed. After that process, the candidates find out in two weeks whether or not they are selected for the program.\n"Interviewers look to see how you think on your toes," Seeger said.\nThose who are selected for the program then go onto a five-week training the summer before they teach in order to prepare them for the classroom. \n"(The training consists of) teaching summer school with two or three other members from 8 a.m. till noon, then from 1 to 4 p.m. there are workshops, and from 4 to 4:30 p.m. you attend regional meetings," Seeger said.\nCorps members then are sent to various places including Chicago, Los Angeles, North Carolina, and the Mississippi Delta. While teaching in the classroom, members also attend regional workshops where they learn how they can improve their abilities in the classroom. Placement is strategic -- members are sent to places where there is a need for teachers. \n"Teach for America is not taking jobs away, it is filling a need," Seeger said.\nMembers go to where there are shortages of qualified instructors and hope to make a difference in student's lives. Seeger, an economics major, spent three years teaching in a Lynwood, California school in the Los Angeles area, near Compton. She taught seventh and eighth graders geometry.\nStudents in her class ranged from having below grade-level math skills, to some with superb mathematical abilities. Her goal was to have all her students excel at math, and to have the eighth graders she was teaching learn high school geometry.\nSeeger keeps in contact with her former students through e-mail.\n"Some of my former students are now in AP Calculus as sophomores in high school," she said.\nSteketee spent her two years teaching in the Mississippi Delta. Steketee taught ninth graders, world geography, minority studies and Mississippi studies. She said she faced many challenges including students with low literacy levels, and the school she was not having a copying machine -- an essential tool for any teacher.\nExperienced teachers at the school where both Seeger and Steketee taught had varying degrees of reactions to the Teach for America members. Some teachers were not as welcoming, and criticized that members would only teach for two years. While other teachers were full of enthusiasm and extended any help they could, including tips on discipline, and also lesson plans.\nOnce the teachers gained the students' trust, they responded positively. \n"(The students) loved you, and trusted you," Steketee said.\nSteketee and Seeger both agree that the experience changed their life in positive ways, as the program makes a difference in children's lives, and also in the lives of those who teach for the organization. It is also just one option for students looking to make an impact in the world around them.\nSteketee is now a law student hoping to work in education law dealing with problems like disability issues and student attire issues. \nShe has advice for anyone thinking about applying for the program.\n"You have to approach Teach for America with an open attitude," she said. "You are going to have to learn to be flexible, and you have to give it your all. The returns will come back." \nThere is an information session from 7 to 9 p.m. tonight in Morrison Hall 007. Application deadlines for 2003 corps are October 25 and February 21, 2003. For more information and an online application are available at www.teachforamerica.org or call 1-800-832-1230.