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his book is designed to help you get accepted into Teach For
America. If you read the book from cover to cover, taking action
where needed to build your resume and thoroughly prepare for the
application and interviews, your chance of being accepted will increase
dramatically. If you pick up the book months or even years in advance,
you will be able to build the skills that successful applicants exhibit to
convince the selection team that you are the right candidate to lead a
classroom. If you open the book two weeks before the deadline, you will
get considerable guidance and structure in submitting your application
and preparing for the interviews.
ere is no easy way into Teach For America. It takes a lot of energy
and hard work to develop the types of accomplishments that Teach For
America values the most. You must assume leadership positions and
do whatever it takes to achieve signicant and measurable successes
in those roles. You must reach outside your comfort zone and rise to
daunting challenges, even if it means that you will sometimes fail. Most
importantly, you must be ercely committed to leading and educating
students, and you must showcase that in all parts of your application.
is book will help you do all of these things.
Teach For America aligns its selection criteria with those qualities
that research has identied in outstanding teachers. e organization
has invested heavily in research to determine exactly what dierentiates
excellent corps members from mediocre ones, and it has incorporated
those ndings into the applicant evaluation process. us, by
demonstrating these qualities in your application, as outlined in this
book, you will also develop the skills to be an exceptional teacher.
2 Destination: Teach For America
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e overarching theme of the Teach For America selection process is
leadership. All successful corps members
1
are leaders. While exemplary
teachers may be introverted or extroverted, male or female, rational or
emotional, Teach For America knows that it takes a leader to excel in
a classroom, so the program makes sure that all admitted applicants
have the potential to become leaders. is doesnt mean that all corps
members ultimately succeed in becoming leaders in the classroom, but
that they all showed exceptional leadership potential in their applications
and interviews.
Leadership is a complicated quality. Some dene a leader simply as
one who leads or one who has followers. Others go much further,
delving into the complexities of power, inuence, behaviors, visions,
values, and inherent traits.
I would like to refer to two quotations that, when combined, I believe
form the most accurate denition of leadership in the context of Teach
For Americas search for exceptional teachers:
1. Leadership is a function of knowing yourself, having a vision that
is well communicated, building trust among colleagues, and taking
eective action to realize your own leadership potential.
Warren Bennis , pioneer of leadership studies
2. If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do
more, and become more, you are a leader.
John Quincy Adams , sixth president of the United States
Bennis dely denes the practical nature of leadership , while Adams
eloquently states the ultimate purpose of a leader. To be an outstanding
teacher, you must lead others by creating and communicating a vision
among your colleagues (in this case, students), and also inspire those
you lead to become more than they could ever imagine. us, I will
frame leadership according to the following denition, which combines
the two aforementioned quotations:
1 Teachers in Teach For America are called corps members.
ntroduction 3
Leadership is taking purposeful action in pursuit of an ambitious and
well-communicated vision to inspire others to reach and exceed their
potential.
Teach For America strives to identify leadership because it is the
only universal quality of exemplary corps members. erefore, keep
this crucial question in mind as you read the book and prepare for the
application and interviews:
How can I use this knowledge, skill, or quality to demonstrate my
leadership po tential ?
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e rst part of Destination: Teach For America focuses on the
organizations mission and selection criteria, and on ways you can
improve your candidacy in the months and years before you apply. e
second part of the book outlines the recruitment process, application,
and interviews, and helps you prepare for each step using the experiences
you already have. Your interaction with this book will be very dierent if
you begin reading it one year versus one month before the application is
due, but either way you will considerably improve your chance of getting
accepted.
Craing an excellent application starts well before the submission
deadline; it takes time to build leadership experiences. As you prepare
to submit your application to Teach For America, use the timeline below
to ensure that you are staying on track and doing what is necessary to
become an exceptional applicant. If you are beginning your preparation
late, dont worry; just do as much catching up as you can and focus on
craing the best application possible.
4 Destination: Teach For America
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