Pros
I love coming to work because the people around me are super positive and are all working together for the kids. I am rarely frustrated with a colleague and when I am I can always go to them to work it out (other places that I worked in had an adult culture similar to cliques in high school). At AF we actively work to create a strong adult culture at a school level and I have grown a lot as a teammate here. I also feel extremely supported. I have gotten weekly coaching from a committed coach for seven years -- and over time I've been given the freedom to direct what my coaching looks like and take more ownership around my development. I've grown outside of the classroom as well, as a result of being at AF. After getting encourage from our school's leadership team, a group of teachers at my school formed a white, anti-racist affinity group. Many schools ignore the racial difference between teachers and the children that they serve but at my school we are open and actively seeking to explore and grow in this area. Finally, I feel like I've built a career here. I make a much higher salary then I ever dreamed due to the Teach Career Pathway evaluation system, in which stage 5 teachers make salaries in the six figures.
Cons
With the level of support also comes a really high level of accountability. I am held to a very high standard and often the practice for how to get to that standard changes from year to year. AF is constantly looking for best practices and growing. There's a downside there - the lesson plan structure that we are expected to master has changed virtually every year I have been here. Also the network determines and writes all the curriculum. This is a huge plus for newer teachers, but for teachers who have been teaching for a while and may want to experiment or write their own curriculum it is restrictive. That being said my administration has been open to modifications depending on the teacher asking.