Giving Compass' Take:

• As Teach for America Memphis kicks off it's summer program, students convene on a panel to tell first-time teachers important lessons to advance student-teacher relationships and boost academic achievement.

• How can more Teach for America participants be guided by the students they are teaching? Does TFA have programs that incorporate mentoring or long-term relationship building so that teachers can learn from their students? 

• Read about the survey that found most principles approve of Teach for America's teacher participants and staff in their schools. 

Respect for others, being resourceful, and confronting biases are among the lessons four high-school-age students wanted to convey during a panel discussion for future Teach for America participants.

Teach for America Memphis trains recent college graduates and places them in local classrooms for two years, with the goal of developing leaders who will commit to educational equity.

Based on interviews and the panel discussion, here’s what the students thought first-time teachers should know:

  • Tell us you won’t tolerate bullying. And mean it. “In reality, that two minutes could be the difference between a child getting in a fight or being talked about or ganged up on,” she said. “Be articulate that you won’t tolerate bullying of any kind."
  • Open up. Everyone is nervous on the first day, including us. “When a student is in an environment where they feel like the people around them couldn’t care less about their education or what they do in life or what happens to them, you get the unfortunate situation that a lot of students are in right now,” Evan Walsh said, referring to two of his former classmates who lost their lives to violence in the city.
  • Expect only the most out of us – we’re smarter than you think. When Asaiah Irby thinks of excellence, she thinks of a poster that was on her English teacher’s wall: “I won’t insult your intelligence by giving you easy work.
  • Teaching is about developing your ‘mommy instinct.’ Detario Yancey enrolled at KIPP in the fifth grade, eating his lunch during tutoring as he worked to recover his grades. Being a teacher in a school this rigorous requires a kind of finesse and quick wit – almost like a “mommy instinct,” he said.

Read the full article about Teach for America Memphis by Rebecca Griesbach at Chalkbeat