teach for india - faq sheet

7/27/2019 Teach for India - FAQ Sheet

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We believe that providing an excellent education for all is the most eective means of ensuring equal opportunities for everyone.

All kids in India deserve the chance to reach their full potential. Educational opportunities should not be determined by your

familys income or the neighborhood in which you live.

Teach For India is building a movement of leaders who will eliminate educational inequity in India. These leaders start their path

as Fellows, helping students in high-need communities for two years. Deeply aected by their teaching experience, our Alumni

continue to advocate for students and build lasting change in many roles across dierent sectors. The Fellowship Program aords

you the opportunity to become a part of the solution and serve as a change-agent in the society.

The Teach For India Fellowship is a two-year paid commitment during which Fellows are placed as full-time teachers in

under-resourced and low-income schools. By joining Teach For India, you have the opportunity to develop yourself as a leader,

transform the lives of students and join hundreds of individuals committed to creating a better future for all children, families, and

communities.

Teach For India started in 2009 with 87 Fellows teaching

in 33 schools across Mumbai and Pune. In its second year

(2010), 136 Fellows joined us and began teaching in 63schools across Mumbai and Pune.

In 2011, Teach For India added Delhi to its reach and

selected 230 Fellows to teach in 130 schools across Mumbai,Pune and Delhi.

In 2012, with 280 more Fellows, Hyderabad and Chennai

became a part of Teach For India placement cities along

with Mumbai, Pune and Delhi.

2013 brought in our largest Cohort of 480 Fellows. Today,Teach For India Fellows are teaching approximately 22,000

children in these 5 cities.

For 2014,we are seeking Fellows to teach in Mumbai, Pune,

Delhi, Hyderabad and Chennai. Teach For India is fast

gaining momentum among the youth across the country. In

the next ve years, we aspire to reach out to 60,000 childrenacross 10 cities.

Teach For India Fellows are a diverse group of people,

brought together by their past achievements and theirpassion to eliminate educational inequity. They come

from diverse backgrounds of colleges such as IITs, IIMs,

St.Stephens College, St. Xaviers College, Christ University,Presidency College etc and companies such as Accenture,

McKinskey, Mahindra & Mahindra, IBM, Ernst & Young,

Schlumberger etc. By joining the Fellowship, you will getan opportunity to work with some of the brightest and most

enterprising minds of the country.

Why Teach For India?

When did Teach For India begin?

What are the proles of Teach

For India Fellows?

Why does the Fellowship

last two years? Can I teach

for just one year if I choose?

FAQs

The two-year commitment is necessary to make the impact

we wish to have on student achievement. In the rst year,

Fellows will rene their teaching skills and will start to

establish respect and trust among various stakeholderswithin the school community and the students. This work

will allow Fellows to achieve signicant academic gains forstudents and to implement their community/school project in

the second year.

During the two years, you will strive to:

1. Transform the student : An excellent Fellow can

make a huge dierence to the lives of 40 students

because he/she is in their classrooms and their lives

for two full years. Transformation does not only meanimproved academic performance, but also changes in

characteristics and mindsets. These include condence,

leadership skills, responsibility, teamwork, respect and

the ability to think and question.

2. Transform as a leader : The experience of teaching

in extremely dicult circumstances enables you to

develop strong leadership skills. The intensity of the

two-year experience is critical for you to understand

the complexities of educational inequity and be a life-long advocate. We believe that this can have a much

deeper impact on a systemic level as compared with the

piecemeal value added by volunteering on a part-time

basis.

3. Transform the school and community : It takes two

years to build strong and meaningful relationships as

you partner with the school and community to ensurethat all children receive an excellent education.

With the Fellowship, thus, we hope to create an energythat adds up not linearly but grows exponentially to benet

children, communities, Fellows and systems alike.


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We look for individuals who show leadership potential

and have other traits that are found in our most successfulteachers. There is no specic personality or background

that predicts success in the classroom. Some Fellows were

educators prior to joining, but many do not have any prior

experience in the education eld.

Your potential as a Fellow can shine through whether youve

achieved academic honors, managed a complex project atwork, led a group on campus, or have rallied support for a

cause thats important to you. And those are just a few of the

countless experiences our most successful Fellows bring to

the table.

Our approach to selecting Fellows is based on our

commitment to student success. Fellows are charged with very

high-stakes work: helping their students achieve the academic

success that will expand their life opportunities, and instil

essential values and productive mind sets. Weve discoveredthat successful Fellows have:

A deep belief in the potential of all children anda commitment to do whatever it takes to expand

opportunities for students. Demonstrated leadership ability and strong interpersonal

skills to motivate others.

Strong achievement in academic, professional,extracurricular, and/or volunteer settings.

Perseverance in the face of challenges, ability to adapt

to changing environments, and a strong desire to do

whatever it takes to improve and develop.

Excellent critical thinking skills.

A drive to continuously learn and develop their skills. Superior organizational ability, including planning well

and managing responsibilities eectively.

Respect for individuals diverse experiences and the

ability to work eectively with people from a variety of

backgrounds.

Students and professionals with a Bachelors Degree at the

time of joining the Fellowship are invited to apply. Applicants

need to be either of Indian citizenship, or of Indian origin.

Who do we look for?

Teach For India strongly believes that excellent teachers

employ the same skills as excellent leaders in any eld.Spending two years in the classroom will help Fellows develop

leadership skills such as organization, communication,

problem-solving in an unstructured environment, people

management and resourcefulness that are valuable inany sector. Teach For India will select Fellows who havedemonstrated excellence in the past and will work with them

throughout the two-year Fellowship to ensure that they take

advantage of the experience to become extraordinary future

leaders.

How will the Teach For

India experience help me

grow professionally?

Teach For India Fellows are placed in 2nd to 8th standardclassrooms where they teach all major subjects including

English, Mathematics, History and Science, with the exception

of regional languages. English is the medium of instruction in

all Teach For India classrooms and Fellows are not expected to

know their students mother tongues.

In 2014, Teach For India Fellows will be placed in government

schools or low-income private schools in Mumbai, Pune,

Delhi, Chennai and Hyderabad. All Fellows will be required to

reside in one of these cities between May 2014 and April 2016.If you are unable to do so, please note that we will expand into

more cities in the upcoming years, and hope to be in ten citiesand their surrounding rural areas within the next ve years.

While Teach For India is currently only actively present in

urban areas, Teach For India is present in rural India but

through our Alumni. India has over 4 million classrooms.

Since it is not practical for us to place 4 million Fellows, werely on our Theory of Change to reach out to as many students

as possible.

Currently, we have Alumni working in several rural areas

and even in naxal aected areas. Some of our cities are also

beginning to place Fellows in semi urban areas (example:Pimpir-Chinchwad in Pune). However, for the two years for the

Fellowship, we will continue to place Fellows in urban setting

in the foreseeable future.

Teach For India will work relentlessly to ensure that all

Fellows have the knowledge and skills necessary to leadtheir students towards achievement. The Teach For India

Fellowship begins with a ve-week residential training

program in May & June of 2014. Here, Fellows are exposed to

curriculum, lesson planning, and classroom facilitation and

student assessments among other keys to successful teaching.

Additionally, each Fellow will have a Program Managerwhose primary responsibility is to guide Fellows to become

eective teachers and leaders throughout their two years in the

Fellowship.

Which standard will I be teaching

and what will be the medium of

instruction?

Where will I be teaching?

Is Teach For India

present in rural areas?Will I be trained adequately

before I start teaching?

Teach For India Fellows will be paid a salary of 17,500 per

month. If required to relocate from their home city, Fellows will

be given a housing allowance ranging from `6,500 to `8,300,

depending on the city in which they will stay. In addition,

Fellows will receive an allowance for school supplies.

How much will I be paid during

the Fellowship?The Fellowship is a two year full-time commitment. It is

extremely rigorous, challenging and intensive. We have

found that it is extremely dicult to handle another set of

responsibilities and it will therefore require all your dedication

and attention. Hence, part-time work is not possible.

Is it possible to take up part-time

work along with the Fellowship?


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Teach For Indias mission is to create a movement of leaders

who will eliminate educational inequity in India. In order for

that mission to be realized, Teach For India Alumni need to

excel in multiple sectors and collaborate towards a multi-

pronged solution to the complex problem of education inIndia.

Teach For India supports its Fellows to pursue their career

interests by training and mentoring them and striving to

build relationships with top schools, universities, NGOs, and

corporates throughout the country.

Teach For Indias third cohort of Fellows graduated in April

2013. Teach For India Alumni are now spread all over the

country and abroad in jobs ranging from consulting to

education startups; and as students in top universities such

as IIM, Harvard, Cornell, Chicago Booth, Columbia and TataInstitute of Social Sciences.

The expectations from Fellows traverse a wide gamut:

getting to know their students in and out of the classroom;

creating instructional plans to match the whole class

and individual students needs; delivering instruction

in an engaging manner; working with other teachers,administrators and community members to build skills

and obtain resources for the classroom; and administeringand analyzing assessments to ensure that students are

progressing towards their academic goals.

On joining, Fellows will be given a Fellow Handbook whereinstruction planning and delivery, classroom management

and culture, norms, dos and donts etc. will be covered

extensively. We also expect Fellows to think critically about

the problems that are plaguing the education sector at large.

What happens after

the Fellowship?

What are the expectations of

Teach For India from its Fellows?

Teach For India only accepts online applications. The deadlines for the 2014 Teach For India Fellowship Program are :

28 August 2013 | 23 October 2013 | 11 December 2013 | 5 February 2014

Please visit the website www.teachforindia.org for more details. Please email [email protected] for more information.

When and how can I apply to the Teach For India Fellowship?

Teach For Indias Teaching As Leadership (TAL) model is based on the belief that excellent teachers employ the same skillsas excellent leaders in any eld. The TAL model requires teachers to plan purposefully, execute eectively, work relentlessly and

reect continuously in order to push students to signicant academic gains. Through the TAL model, Fellows become extraordi-

nary leaders who can help their students make signicant academic gains in the short run and advocate for systemic educational

reform in the long run. Learn more about the Teaching As Leadership framework at http://www.teachingasleadership.org/

Teach For India strongly believes that excellent teachers employ the same skills as excellent leaders Teaching As Leadership.Fellows are expected to lead students in their classrooms towards academic achievement that dees traditional expectations. Fel-

lows foster this achievement by getting to know their students in and out of the classroom; creating instructional plans to match

the whole class and individual students needs; delivering instruction in an engaging manner; working with other teachers,

administrators and community members to build skills and obtain resources for the classroom; and administering and analyzing

assessments to ensure that students are progressing towards their academic goals.

Fellows are trained to operate as leaders in the classroom by setting ambitious and measurable visions for student achievement,

investing all key stakeholders, creating detailed plans, executing eectively, continuously reecting on and improving their own

performance and working relentlessly and strategically to realize their vision.

Many of our Fellows have found that teaching by the principles of TAL is signicantly dierent from the education that theyreceived in their classroom and is more holistic for a childs development. Using the TAL framework, Fellows not only teach

academics, but also strive to instil strong values and mindsets, provide pathways of opportunities and exposure and access to the

rest of the world.

How does Teach For Indias approach to

teaching dier from traditional approaches?

teach for india - faq sheet

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