Learning from Counternarratives in Teach For America: Moving from Idealism Towards Hope(472 Counterpoints)

Grounded in the belief that hope comes from a place of reality, not necessarily popular ideology, this book explores the gap between designated and actual narratives within Teach For America. TFA founder Wendy Kopp stated that there is «nothing elusive» about successful teaching; people simply need to «work hard» and be «disciplined». Taking an inquiry stance, Sarah Matsui surveyed and interviewed 26 of her fellow corps members in the Greater Philadelphia region. Their counternarratives collectively problematize this standard reform rhetoric. Many are working hard, yet their stories and challenges are complex, elusive, and commonly self-described with the words «shame», «failure», and «isolating». Corps members reported experiencing new levels of fatigue, alcohol dependency, depression, and trauma during their two-year service commitment with TFA. Learning from Counternarratives in Teach For America utilizes multiple frameworks to analyze the depth and range of corps members’ experiences. Relevant to helping professionals and people working to address constructed systems of inequity, this book ultimately advocates for a more honest, contextualized, and egalitarian approach to reform – one that openly addresses both individual and systemic realities.

Table of Contents:
Contents: Counternarratives and the Complexity of a Fuller Truth – Examining the «TFA Script» – Unexpected Life Changes Teaching in TFA: Counseling, Medical Prescriptions, Weight Changes, Increased Alcohol Consumption, Strained Relationships, Fatigue – The Reality of Trauma in TFA – TFA’s Culture of Guilt and Shame – The Complex, Politicized Process of TFA and CM Identity Development – TFA Idealism and the Hero Teacher Narrative – Listening and Learning from Counternarratives: Moving From Idealism Towards Hope.

About the Author :
Sarah Matsui holds a BA in urban studies and a MSEd In secondary math education from the University of Pennsylvania. She taught middle school math and is an alumna of the 2011 Teach for America Greater Philadelphia Cohort.

Review :
"Sarah Matsui's book offers an unusually rich example of what practitioner knowledge and inquiry can contribute to critical conversations about educational equity and the toll that simplifications can take on teachers and, by extension, their students. Her intelligent and thoughtful narrative unpacks the complex interplay between TFA's persuasive discourse and the intense experiences of corps members as they grappled with profound gaps between expectations and their on-the-ground experiences as participants in the most highly touted reform of teacher education in recent history. Conducted with great sensitivity to their self-described conflicts and trauma of participation, Matsui's analyses and interpretations of her extensive interviews are informed by her considerable knowledge and insights as an insider, as well as her use of compelling interpretive frameworks drawn from a number of disciplines. The book is timely and provocative, a must-read for anyone who cares deeply about teaching, teacher education, and quality education for urban communities." (Susan L. Lytle, Professor Emerita, University of Pennsylvania) "Few elements of the education reform movement have been as polarizing as Teach For America. Critics of TFA have focused on its leadership, the inadequacy of the training, and the placement of recruits in mostly high-poverty minority schools, but Sarah Matsui's study opens a new and important window into why TFA deserves critical reconsideration. Matsui provides a detailed and revealing look at what it means to be a TFA recruit, including the pressures, challenges, and consequences for those recruits and the students they serve. This is a fair and complex work that contributes important nuance to how education reform is often misguided. Matsui's critical confrontation of TFA narratives and experiences calls for a re-imaging of what it means to become and be a teacher." (P.L. Thomas, Associate Professor of Education, Furman University) "Sarah Matsui has written an ambitious book that highlights the tensions and struggles that Teach For America corps members face during their tenure in Philadelphia schools. Through extensive interview and survey data, Matsui presents powerful counter narratives that engage many of the key questions and concerns that continue to circulate regarding TFA including how corps members negotiate various traumas, how they take up or resist the TFA discourse, how they address issues of race and privilege, and how they understand their own identities as teachers." (Katherine Crawford-Garrett, Assistant Professor of Teacher Education, Educational Leadership, and Policy, University of New Mexico) "In this book, Sarah Matsui deeply captures the experiences and struggles of teachers who enter the teaching force through Teach For America. Matsui's thoughtful exploration of corps members' stories and experiences, along with her own, helps us not just understand the challenges particular to teaching in TFA, but also the challenges and struggles of teaching in contexts, macro and micro, that under-support and deprofessionalize teachers. From the carefully analyzed self-reports of corps members, we learn so much about the personal and professional struggles that they experience. From this deep, contextualized look into their insider experiences, which Matsui examines using multiple interpretive frameworks, can come vital learning that is hopeful and promising for teachers and those who educate and work to support them." (Sharon M. Ravitch, Senior Lecturer, University of Pennsylvania)