Background

Across our organization, we are wrestling with the question of how we can best support our
teachers to ensure they realize their potential as leaders in their classrooms and maximize the
long-term impact they have on their students. In an effort to answer this, our region has
partnered with our organization’s Teacher Support and Development Team to pilot a new cohort
of approximately 30 second-year teachers.

Cohort Overview
The CMs who are accepted into this cohort will work with Joaquin Hernandez, our region’s new
Director of Transformational Teaching (DTT). As the leader and instructional coach for this
cohort, Joaquin will work with CMs from a variety of grade levels and content areas to help them
make significant strides in their effectiveness as second-year teachers. To meet this end, CMs
in this cohort will work with the DTT and each other to strengthen academic rigor, class culture,
instructional problem solving abilities, leadership skills, and more. On occasion, they may be
asked to exchange great resource finds or knowledge with content-specific PDs to help our
region improve its support for the entire corps.

The DTT will also pilot new forms of support to help ground CMs in what excellent teaching
looks like across various grade levels and content areas. Although this list is not exhaustive,
CMs may participate in: more frequent excellent school visits, peer-to-peer coaching, use of
user-generated video, as well as professional development around cross-content topics that
may include (but won’t be limited to) class culture, parent and family engagement, leadership,
and innovation in education.

Ultimately, this cohort’s work will help our organization develop greater knowledge about how
we can better differentiate our support and empower teachers so they maximize the long-term
impact they have on their students. If successful, it could lead to changes in the way we
support CMs both within the region and even nationally.

Responsibilities:
• Same as all other CMs, except for the fact that they may occasionally be asked to share
knowledge or resources with regional program staff (e.g., content-specific PDs) to help our
region improve the quality of support we provide CMs outside of the DTT cohort

Qualifications
Candidates who could be a great fit for this cohort would be strong in the following areas:

Criteria Description
Learning and • Seeks out and uses learning experiences, resources, and
Continuously information (quantitative and qualitative) to increase effectiveness
Improving • Made visible strides in effectiveness as a teacher over the course
of his/her first year*
• Willing to exchange knowledge and resources with regional
program staff (e.g., content-specific PDs) to improve their own and
others’ effectiveness

*Note: This does not mean the CM has to be a “rockstar” teacher.

What is most important is that a CM experienced significant
improvement.
 Enterprising • Excited by the prospect of working closely on a team to help our
organization learn about how we can help teachers maximize their
long-term impact on students
• Would enjoy thinking “outside of the box” to arrive at solutions that
will help move his/her classroom as well as our cohort and corps
forward

Expansive • Eager to enact a classroom vision that is anchored in

Vision the goal of setting kids on path toward greater life opportunities
through mastery of rigorous academic content and the
development of transformative habits, skills, and mindsets.

Please Note: Although content pedagogy will not be a primary focal point of this cohort,
members of this cohort will still have the opportunity to work as Content Team Leaders and to
attend CS sessions at PDS so they can continue to learn how to better teach their content.

Application Instructions and Process

• Submit a 1-page letter of intent explaining why you believe you would be a great fit for this
cohort (see above criteria). Please send this letter directly to Joaquin Hernandez at
joaquintfa@gmail.com by June 6, 2011
• Those who apply will learn whether or not they’ve been accepted by June 12, 2011

If you have any questions, please feel free to email Joaquin at joaquintfa@gmail.com