TFA ● Metro Atlanta's Philosophy on Professional Development

We believe deeply in the potential of our students and communities to extend the legacy of social justice that precedes them. We also believe that as members of the TFA-Metro Atlanta community, a crucial step in fostering this activism in students and ourselves as life-long leaders in the movement for educational equity is developing the knowledge, convictions and skills required of transformative educators. Our professional development program is comprised of components that allow you to empower yourselves and your students in this vein: Content & Culture; Power & Privilege; and Values-Based Leadership.

 

Why Content and Culture

Content mastery is often the currency of access to opportunity and power in our society, and one of the strongest enablers of content mastery is a culture rooted in achievement. Teachers who can empower students with knowledge and skills simultaneously broaden opportunities for our students and provide fodder for students’ personal growth. Experiences in this category will allow you to align your instruction and classroom culture to the bar of excellence that equips your students with undeniable academic and personal growth.

 

Why Power and Privilege

Educational inequity is deeply rooted in race, class, and privilege. In order to truly understand our movement and our roles in it, we must reflect regularly and honestly on these issues, and commit to acting in a way that ensures a more just world. This set of experiences will help you further develop the actions/orientations that align to our aspirations of anti-racism and social justice.

 

Why Values-Based Leadership

The strongest leaders lead from their values. To be life-long leaders in this movement, we must engage in reflections and experiences that help illuminate and challenge the values we hold. Many of our actions are based on deliberate belief systems, and some of the most powerful learning is “unlearning,” when we realize that the way we had been thinking is limited in some way. Trigger experiences create disorientation, which illuminates a particular set of assumptions we may be holding. While some triggers happen naturally, orchestrated experiences, travel, books and movies can also provoke new ideas and provide the grist for new realizations.