Our Programming
National Overview
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Louisiana Delta Programming, Training, & Support
Onboarding
After our teachers accept their offer to come to our region, they engage in a series of onboarding units (excerpts, articles, and videos with follow up "town halls," or video-chat group discussions). These units dive into our work at the national level and over time gets more specific about our work here in the region to prepare them to know our context and begin building their knowledge about best teaching practices, primarily around managing a classroom. This is also the time where our teachers are getting to know our team and preparing for certification and hiring.
Timeline: varies by deadline, 1-7 months, between October & May
Location: remote
Timeline: varies by deadline, 1-7 months, between October & May
Location: remote
Induction
The summer before they begin teaching in the fall of their first year, our new teachers come for about a week where they spend time getting to know our communities firsthand through many different experiences, like panels and presentations from students, parents, and community members. In addition to getting to know our communities and region, they also get to know and build relationships with each other and reflect on their past experience and their own leadership they are bringing with them to this work before they get more classroom skills training at institute.
Timeline: 1 week, late May or early June
Location: Louisiana Delta (we travel throughout our region during this time)
Timeline: 1 week, late May or early June
Location: Louisiana Delta (we travel throughout our region during this time)
Institute
After briefly getting acquainted with our region firsthand, our new teachers go off to Summer Institute where they will spend 5 weeks living on a college campus taking classes and teaching summer school with new teachers from other regions as well (often mostly rural and mostly southern regions). During this time our corps members build their knowledge and skills through workshops, one on one coaching with a Corps Member Adviser (CMA), and practice in the classroom. Key areas of focus during this time are creating classroom goals and vision, investment and management, lesson planning, and tracking and analyzing student data. This is run by a separate TFA team comprised of some full time staff and a large number of summer staff coming from all the different regions that send new teachers there (including Louisiana Delta corps members and alumni).
Timeline: 5 weeks, early June through mid July
Location: Mississippi Delta - Cleveland, MS (using Delta State University as home base)
Timeline: 5 weeks, early June through mid July
Location: Mississippi Delta - Cleveland, MS (using Delta State University as home base)
First Year Kickoff
After Summer Institute (and usually roughly a week break), our new teachers come back to the Louisiana Delta for another week of professional development where we focus on preparing for the first day of school. During this time we focus our time on building the specific tools needed for their specific context for the upcoming year, including a meaningful vision, classroom culture plans (investment, management, procedures), instructional content plans (long-term plans, unit assessments, unit plans, lesson plans), data analysis tools (mastery/growth trackers, diagnostics, end of year assessments), and community involvement plans (parental contact, student relationships).
Timeline: 1 week, late July
Location: Louisiana Delta (we spend each day in a different town throughout our region during this time)
Timeline: 1 week, late July
Location: Louisiana Delta (we spend each day in a different town throughout our region during this time)
Professional Saturdays (Pro Sats)
Throughout our teachers' first and second year, our teachers attend four different Pro Sats that occur each quarter of the year to provide ongoing support and development on key areas that will push our teachers' practices to increase their students' learning. We spend time offering differentiated sessions that focus on key areas of teaching, including content, planning, execution, investment, management, revisiting visions, tracking and analyzing student data, exploring diversity and equity in our work, and building relationships with students and their families. We seek to invite other teachers from our communities (and across the state) to attend these events as presenters and/or participants as much as possible.
Timeline: 4 Saturdays throughout the academic year (often in September November, January, and March)
Location: Louisiana Delta (we try to have each Pro Sat in a different location throughout our region)
Timeline: 4 Saturdays throughout the academic year (often in September November, January, and March)
Location: Louisiana Delta (we try to have each Pro Sat in a different location throughout our region)
Ongoing Observations, Support, & Coaching
In addition to the whole group professional development that is scheduled, we also have Managers of Teacher Leadership Development (MTLDs) that regularly observe our teachers in their classrooms and give them ongoing coaching to help ensure they are constantly improving their practice. In tandem with the observations, the coaching interactions can vary to meet the teacher and students' specific needs for development, whether it is a debrief meeting, written feedback, analyzing videos of the teacher's own or exemplar classrooms, site visits to observe other teachers in their school or nearby, co-planning, execution practice, co-teaching a lesson together, or additional small group workshops. Generally, the goal is to have MTLDs observe and have a meaningful observation and coaching interaction with first years ever other week and second years every three weeks.
Timeline: every 2-3 weeks throughout the year
Location: Louisiana Delta (varies by where teachers work)
Timeline: every 2-3 weeks throughout the year
Location: Louisiana Delta (varies by where teachers work)
Beyond 2 (B2)
Outside of the professional development our teachers get in the classroom, we also have optional events throughout the year that are focused on thinking about their work outside their initial two-year commitment to the classroom to allow our teachers the space to connect with community members and rural TFA alumni about issues that face our students and intersect with our teachers' interests more broadly, but as it relates to the context and living and teaching northeast Louisiana. Events range from teaching beyond two years to educational leadership, nutrition to public health, economics to community organizing.
Timeline: periodically throughout the year
Location: Louisiana Delta (varies by event)
Timeline: periodically throughout the year
Location: Louisiana Delta (varies by event)
2014-2015 Event Dates
The document below outlines our event dates for the 2014-2015 school year.
(last updated 8/18/14)
(last updated 8/18/14)