Soon after the author began her first year as a Teach for America (TFA) corps member, she realized how underprepared she felt teaching first grade. Although she grew as an educator over time and still committed to working in education, it was an uphill battle. And, like most other TFA corps members, she left teaching within the first three years. In the light of her experience, the author recommends the following alterations in the preparation of corps members: (1) Extending the TFA commitment to three years; (2) Converting the first year of teaching to a residency training year, offering classroom training with expert veteran teachers while corps members also complete coursework toward certification; and (3) Offering incentives for corps members to teach longer than three years. The author recommends these changes with the goal of improving the effectiveness of corps members and motivating TFA teachers to remain in their assignments for longer than two or three years. (Contains 9 footnotes.)