A J In The Delta

My MTC Experience

2008-04-16T20:24:00.000-07:00

Where do I begin? I spent the entire first year thinking “What the HELL did I get myself into?” Seriously, I asked myself that every day. I spend every morning forcing myself to get out of bed. I cried every afternoon and morning. I was sooo emotionally unstable last year. It took so much for me to continue working and living. I didn’t really enjoy my personal life very much last year. I did however enjoy my students. To become a teacher I had to become a whole other person. I had to transform my normal personality into that of an assertive leader. I struggled with this transformation a lot last year. I took so much out of me. The dramatic change just drained me daily. But I learned how to be a responsible adult. I have grown up and matured so much in the last two years. It is amazing to me. I am not the same sweet, kind Ashley from two years ago. The real world is no joke!

I have also grown a lot as person. I am much more aware of my surroundings and my environment. I feel as if the way I see things has also changed a lot. I am more aware of other’s perception of things. I must say I am a much more liberal thinker than I was when I began this journey. Being from the south, I was raised very conservative. Teaching has changed many of my views. I have been able to form my own ideals. I don’t necessarily believe everything my parents, family, and friends believe. This experience has encouraged me to become more educated in all aspects of life. This new enlightenment has challenged me to question the laws and many of the conservative ideals. But at the same time, I must say that my relationship with the great Lord has grown dramatically!! I read my bible and pray more that I have ever done. I truly believe that even after my MTC experience is complete; my relationship with the lord will continue to grow. I feel that MTC gave me a chance to get rid of much of the junk I had in my life. It has given me a chance to clear my mind and think. I have become my own person. I am no longer the person people want me to be. I can’t describe how much this program has changed me as a person. Majority if not all of the change is for the better. I will always be great for that.

This opportunity has also given me a chance see how strong I am. Any other job will be a cake walk compared to teaching. I faced adversity everyday my entire first year of teaching. And…..I came through that adversity with my head held high. Because I changed schools after my first year of teaching, I was given the opportunity to see the other side of the tracks. I went from an all black school to a majority white school. I went from being in the majority to being the only minority teacher. I must say that the transformation was tough. It made me realize that this is still the good ole south. And that we have a long way to go in the “good” schools nevertheless what has to be done in the “bad” schools. Changing schools also gave me an opportunity to observe different leadership styles. This was important to me because I want to become a principal one day. I truly believe that the principal I had in Greenwood was a better hands-on, down and dirty principal. I think she is doing a great job at working toward a vision. It just seems as if she is against all odds and running an uphill race. Many of the things she does at Greenwood would improve Desoto Central. If only things could be different. Greenwood has a good principal; she just needs good teachers that believe in her vision. And if that combination occurs I truly believe Greenwood Middle could be a level five school. The students I taught in Greenwood were much smarter and able to learn quicker than the students I teach at Desoto Central. But the students in Greenwood don’t work as hard and have no goal or vision. The Desoto Central kids work extremely hard; good grades are important to these kids. They also have attainable visions and goals. The Desoto Central principal works on the “good ole boy” system. If you are not a part of this system, it almost impossible to be successful and to advance. He is a hands-off principal; he has the luxury of having very good teachers. This made me realize how important good teachers are. This just drills the importance of MTC. MTC gives bad schools good teachers. Good teachers can help a lot; they are able to cover for a bad principal. Good teachers are more important than good principals.

Just Being Me..

2008-03-25T20:14:00.000-07:00

I am so confused about what I want to do with my life. I have no idea what I want to do next year. I am considering teaching here or moving back home to good ole Tennessee. Hopefully I will figure it out before too long.

I am coaching track, which I know nothing about. So if there is anyone out there who can help please e-mail me at arjohns2@gmail.com . We have our first track meet tomorrow. I am very excited. My girls seem to be real nervous, and so am I.

Update: We had our first track meet today, and I am happy to say that it went well. All of my girls completed their events. I even had a few finish first. I am so proud of my girls. They all looked like deer in head lights at the beginning of the meet. I am so proud of them. I actually like track. But there is a lot of sitting and waiting…which sucks.

2008: Most Improved Student (MIS)

2008-03-25T20:09:00.000-07:00

My most improved student is in my Science Skills and Reasoning class. He began the year sitting in the back of the class with a constant gaze in his eyes. I am pretty sure he spent the majority of the beginning of the year high. What I mean by that is that he has been on drugs while in my class. His behavior was so bizarre. He was constantly zoned out, and he rarely completed his assignments. He had an I can care less attitude. But lately his grades have improved greatly. I moved him away from his friends to the other side of the classroom. I also pulled him into the hallway and asked him if he did drugs. I told him that I thought the drugs were affecting his performance in my class. I asked him to not do drugs ever and especially before attending my class. I also began to show interest in the things he seemed to be interested in. I discovered that he enjoys skateboarding. After I discovered this, I went out of my way to ask questions and show interest in skateboarding. Once this occurred, I saw a great improvement in his grades and participation. He now asks and answers questions in class. He has shown great improvement. I am so proud of him. Since his grades and participation have improved, I have seen improvement in his behavior. I now enjoy teaching this student…….some days :)!!

Feb. 19, 2006

2008-02-19T18:06:00.000-08:00

I am finally finished with basketball and I am so happy it is over. I have been finished with basketball for one week and now I am starting track. I am excited about the track season, but I don’t know much about track. I had the first try-out today. I think the try-outs went well. What I don’t miss are the long hours. I did enjoy my weekend!! I got to go home and see the family. It was fun and I miss them like crazy. I am considering moving back to Nashville next year. I’m going to start looking for jobs soon. I still have not decided whether I want to stay in education. Hopefully I will figure it out.
Just because I am in a “good” school district doesn’t mean the kids are bad. These kids are a different kind of bad. They are spoiled, and they awful attitudes. These kids are so used to getting what they want. They do not understand what “No” means. Also I have some of the craziest students I have ever seen. I am pretty sure that many of my kids do drugs. I have written this one student up four times, and he has gotten nothing more than a paddling and lunch detention. This student has walked around and smacked 5 students just because he felt like it. He runs around the room and jumps over desk. He is out of control. On the days of this behavior, his eyes are dilated and he is sweating!! It’s like he can’t control himself!! It is very strange to watch. I can honestly say that I cannot control this student. Also the administration is not making my job any easier. Same problems no matter where I go!!

Favorite Students in the Hills

2008-01-14T20:43:00.000-08:00

"I don't know what your destiny will be, but one thing I do know: the only ones among you who will be really happy are those who have sought and found how to serve."
-Albert Schweitzer

I can honestly say that I don’t have a favorite student. I know this sounds corny but I enjoy all of my students. I find positives in them all. I can’t honestly just name a few. So I will describe my classes.

First period is my basketball girls, who I enjoy coaching. They are so crazy and energetic. They tell me everything you can imagine. It’s crazy they just open up to me. These girls just come up to me and ask, “Hey coach what do you think I need to work on.” I tell them. The next couple of days they stay after school and work on it. I must say these girls work hard; they just have so far to go to become good ball players. But I hope that they are learning something about life in the process.

2nd period- These are my Greenwood babies. They remind me of the kids I taught last year. I absolutely love these kids. It is easy to draw them in and get them interested in a lesson. But they sure can talk and walk around the classroom. I still give out write-offs in this class. They are the students that I feel need the most attention and love from me. They always speak to me no matter where they are. “Hey Ms. Johnson!!” They love to tell me stories and ask me thousands of science and random questions. I really don’t want to leave them next year.

3rd period- These are my angels, up to this point in the year that is. They are the sweetest group of kids ever. I have never raised my voice at them. They do what I ask of them. I push them to limit. I give them homework every night. I cover a Chapter a week. I teach them Biology I, which is a state tested subject area. They have somehow figured out that one of my ex-boyfriends plays in the NFL. They love teasing me about it. I have to threaten write-offs and outlaw certain names!! But I push them hard!!

4th period-Now these are my talkative, IEP babies. All but five students in this class have IEP. Many of these IEPs consist of behavioral or social problems. So can imagine how out of control these students can get. They drive me crazy, but I somehow find ways to enjoy them. The diversity of the student’s learning levels are so vast. It is really hard to plan for this class. I struggle with keeping them interested.This class is very dynamic with a lot sensitive personalities.

Beginning of semester Reflections

2008-01-13T20:46:00.000-08:00

I am still coaching girls’ basketball, as I did last year. I enjoy it more this year. I feel, I have more input and my opinion actually matters. I am getting a lot of hands on practice. I head coach the freshman team. We are not very good, but I really enjoy my girls. They are very respectful and try to do what I ask. The girl’s basketball team is doing better this year than they did last year. Last they only won three games; this year we have already won eight games. At this moment, I am happy with my choice to move.

Teaching is fun and stressful as always. This year I have a wide range of students. I have two classes of the “Delta” students and one of “Suburban” students. The Delta classes are very similar to the kids in Greenwood. I have to tell them to be quiet five times a day. I still give out numerous write- offs. At the beginning of this semester, I went over the classroom rules again. I said each rule five times in every way I could think of saying them. They still don’t get it. How hard is it to follow my rules? They are simple.
1. No Throwing and Tossing
2. No talking while the teacher is talking.
3. Bring all materials to class.
4. You need your book every day.

There are only 4 rules. I still can’t figure out how you can make it to fourth period without paper or pencil. I am so tired of saying that you need your book every day. Ok let’s focus on the positives; I must say that I do like my students. I have realized that helping children is my calling. I really enjoy kids. I don’t want any right now, but I enjoy teaching them. Their smiles and comments, I enjoy everything about them. They all show so much potential. I must say it is tougher teaching these students. It’s like they don’t catch on as easily. The difference is that they do their homework and some of them actually study.
My suburban kids are great. I have never given a write-off in that class. I have never raised my voice either. But some of these students just don’t do the work at all. A few of them already have two zeros. They only have three grades. I have found that some of them are just lazy!!

MTC Applicant Qualities

2007-11-09T20:34:00.000-08:00

1. Compassionate- First and foremost an applicant must care. They must care enough to be a part of the change. They must be sympathetic to the situation of the students.
2. Tough- An applicant should be tough. They should be able to with stand pressure and stress!!
3. Honest- These are the kinds of people who should be around students. They also need to be able to be honest with themselves and with others.
4. Balancer- Need to be able to balance many tasks at the same time.
5. Role Model- because this is what many of our students need today. Many of our students don’t know the difference between a positive role model and a negative role model.
6. Resilient- They should be durable. This must be a person who can bounce back after failure. Needs to be someone who can pick themselves up.
7. Dedication- Need to be dedicated to being a good teacher and dedicated to changing the lives of students.
8. Prioritize- Need to put first things first!!!! They need to know when helping one student is harming a class.

My Favorite Teachers

2007-11-09T19:35:00.000-08:00

When asked to complete this assignment, many of my past teachers came to mind. Some of these teachers were good teacher some were bad. My favorite teachers were all good teachers. They all reached me. The first teacher I will discuss was my fourth grade teacher. Before I got to this teacher I hated school. I spent majority of my third grade year calling home pretending to be sick. My third grade teacher was awful. Well, she was a good teacher, but she was very mean to me. The reason, I think, she was so mean was because in second grade, I was what you would call an at-risk student. I was also a discipline problem, a major discipline problem. As I grew up I always felt bad for the way I acted in the second grade. I actually apologized to that teacher when I got older. She just happened to be a first year teacher that year. And now I know how it feels, so I feel really bad. Since I have been teaching, I have learned that there are reasons for every discipline action taken by students. So this summer I asked my mother if there was something going on in my life during second grade. Sure enough there was. I guess it was something I blocked out all these years. But I now truly know that students that act out are seeking attention and sometimes even help. This provides background to why I hated school so much. My fourth grade teacher, I guess had not heard the rumors about my behavior. She gave me a fresh start. That is when I began to like school and to have confidence in myself. My grades improve dramatically. They went from barely passing to having all A’s. The thing I liked most about her is that I truly believe she cared about her students. I felt special in her class, and I felt as if I could succeed. Ms. Neece was a great teacher. She restored the confidence I needed to a better student. The next teacher I will discuss was my high school geometry teacher. Up until I got to Mrs. Rittenberry, I had never challenged myself in my studies. I took the classes the counselor suggested for me with no fuss. Well, Mrs. Rit saw a better student and a better person. She encouraged me to take honors and AP courses. She even went to guidance counselor and had my schedule changed. She also encouraged me to join the National Honor Society. Because of her, I was the only minority to graduate with honors from my high school in 2002. She rarely taught in class. She would give us problems and we would figure them out for ourselves. When she noticed that I could grasp a concept fairly easily, she encouraged me to tutor others. I began to tutor other students every day before school. Mrs. Rit would spend majority of her class time telling us stories that always ended with a life lesson. She had taught half my family and was well known and respected by many. She was the first teacher one heard about when rising to the high school. People would say I hope you get Mrs. Rit, you will love her. After I graduated I began to tell my younger family members the same. She made me feel as if I was somebody. And I will always appreciate that. Now that I am a teacher I can only hope I can be as good a teacher as these two great teachers.

In it to WIN it!!

2007-10-09T21:32:00.001-07:00

My life in North Mississippi has been wonderful so far. I love this area and the people. I would love to stay in this area for a while. At my school there is a first year teacher who is going through everything I went through last year. It is so hard to see her struggle. I see myself a lot I her. The last week for her has been hell. She has cried everyday. Crying because she is coaching her first year, because she feels unappreciated, and because she feels she has no control of her class and no administrative support. She is crying for all the reasons I cried last year. Everyday I try to give her advice about how to improve classroom management and what to do about coaching and other issues; after all I just went through that last year. But no matter what I tell her, she is the only one who can change her situation. The first year of teaching is all about seeing what works best for you in your classroom. It is about trial and error. It is almost like you are supposed to fail. But you have to get up and keep going. You have to try new things. You have to take and use advice from others. I remember last year people tried to give me advice, but all I thought was that they do not know what I am going through. But I have realized that no matter what school district you are in your first year, teaching is really, really hard. You can only make it easier on yourself. It is important to stay positive and to try new things. My heart really aches for her. She is having such a hard time. But it is up to her to change that. Sometimes we have to become different people to survive, which in my opinion is fine, as long as you don’t lose sight of who you truly are. I know that my senior year of college basketball, I had to become an assertive, outspoken leader. For me being assertive and outspoken are the hardest things to be, but I had to change for myself, the

The Decision

2007-10-09T21:31:00.000-07:00

The decision to change school was a very hard long thought out decision. If I can recall it took me about a month to make the decision. For me it turned out to be a great situation. That is at least so far. I really enjoy the people I work with. Last year I felt so alone as if I was the only one going through the first year and the only one in teacher in my school in a new place and new culture. Last year was so hard and depressing. At this time last year, I was beginning to cry everyday. I am proud to say that I have only cried one time this year. Also I have much less feelings of anxiety and frustration. I really feel as if I am making a difference. At the new school I still have the chance to work with at-risk students. Although these students are in a better situation, they are still being left behind. Many of them end up dropping out or receiving certificates of attendance. I am happy that I have gotten the chance to see both sides of the spectrum. I have worked in a bad and in a good school district. I now can see why the bad school district is bad. And in my option it was not the leadership, at least not at the middle school level. There so many little things that go into running a school. This experience has given me the courage and desire to continue teaching after the two years are over. I would like to take the things that I have learned from the good school district back to a bad school district. I would love the chance to be an administrator one day. I feel that if I would have stayed where I was at last yea, this year would be the last year that I taught. I have realized that just maybe I do want to spend my life teaching.

THEN vs NOW, HERE vs THERE

2007-09-06T14:10:00.000-07:00

I am really enjoying the school I am now at. I am teaching the same kind of kids. I am still teaching the at-risk student. These students are just in a better situation. These students are given more opportunities to succeed. The difference is these kids are cared about. The school, faculty, and parents take a great interest in the student’s education. Parents are more involved and the special education teachers are always asking questions about my class and are involved. Last year the special education teacher was not very involved. I think, the SPED teacher from last year did not believe that these at-risk students can learn. Here at my new school the teachers tell the students everyday that they can learn and succeed in life, and that they help boost their academic and personal self-esteem. In fact, one of the SPED teachers told me that it takes her about nine weeks to rebuild the children who have been torn down all their lives. The SPED teachers also take the students on trips to different colleges!! Last year I was lucky if I could get a SPED student to write their name on a piece of paper. But this year these students are doing great they are involved in the lessons and they ask question, they take notes everyday. They try their best on test. I love teaching these kids. I love that they care about their education. The difference is that the teachers and administrators have more parental support. Because they have more support they care; they do not feel as if they are fighting a losing battle. They have HOPE!!!!!! I was only at Greenwood for one year, and I felt as if I was fighting a losing battle. This year I have HOPE!! Although I like it here, I want to take the things that I have learned back to the delta. I would like to bring HOPE back.

This year vs Last Year

2007-08-29T18:24:00.000-07:00

Seeing how I am at a new school I am not sure how good this comparison will be. I love my new school. Although it is just as unorganized as the school I came from in the Delta, the kids are much better behaved. I am not sure if the kids are better behaved or if I am a better disciplinarian. Something that I found is that the students are the same. These are the same children just in a better school. I still teach the at- risk students, which I love. The first week of this year was a lot better than the first week of last year. I was more organized and not as nervous. One of the things that I learned over the course of last year is that, I control my classroom. If I allow my kids to control the classroom they will. But this year I was determined that they would not control my room. I would control my room. Because of this attitude, I have had no major discipline problems. I have still given out a few writing assignment, and I have also written a few kids up. But no major problems have occurred. This year I feel as if my kids respect me more. It is also so much easier to say “No.” That has become my favorite response. Last year I had five rules, and this year I only have three. These rules are working great for me. I think, this year I better communicated my expectation to the students. I spent a whole day on expectations. Also this year I have more student- conference when kids break the rules or expectations. I have found once I tell them what I expect, their behave changes and the student and I develop a better understanding of one another. Over all this year has been great so far!! The only thing I dread is waking up so early in the morning.

How to Prevent First-Year Burnout

2007-07-10T22:33:00.000-07:00

1. Have a hobby outside of school. (running, sports, working out, TV., reading)

2. Learn to leave work at school. ( This very hard to do, but it can be done. Try to plan for the whole week on the weekends. Don’t plan day to day because you will get no sleep. Print all worksheets and handouts a week before. I would print anything that I thought I might use for the upcoming unit. There will always be times when you have to hold classes, and you can use the extra worksheets for those occasions. I would grade on Sunday afternoons only.)

3. Hangout with friends who do not teach.

4. Try to have “Me” time every month. Do the things you enjoy doing.

5. Go site seeing in the Delta or in Jackson.

6. Find a lake or river to walk along or swim in. I find that a walk by the water relaxes me.

7. Do not add unnecessary stress to your life. You already have enough.

8. Have a good friend in the teacher corp who you can vent to. Always vent, never hold it in. Hangout with other teachers.

9. Go away for the weekends. It is not possible to do this every weekend but once every few months would be good.

10. Try to see your kids outside of school. (church, grocery store, etc.) It will allow your students to see that you are a real person. I find once I did this, the bad ones weren’t as bad. They didn’t give me as much trouble.

11. Take advantage of the vacations and take a vacation!!

Impact on My Life

2007-07-10T22:32:00.000-07:00

This experience has changed my life. It has opened my eyes to so many things I had no idea still existed, such as generational poverty. I was clueless to the fact that towns like the Delta towns still exist. Another thing that has surprised me is the amount of education many of the students’ parents have. Many of them are uneducated. This experienced has opened my eyes to how many people live. It has made me thankful for all the things I have. It has also opened my eyes to how big of an impact one person can have on people or even a community. I also formed friendships that I hope will last a life time. I grew very close to my mentor teacher; in fact, we hung out together outside of school. I would go and watch my kids play recreational sports. This allowed my students to see me outside of school. I think, this made them realize that I was a real person. I am also less superficial. I am more understanding to the fact that many people sometimes go through hard times. Hard times are when you are unsure of where your next meal is coming from and unsure of where you will sleep from night to night. I found that hard times happen to many of my students and their families. No matter what I do in life I plan to somehow continue to be involved in education, whether it is through volunteering at a local library or school, donating money, or being a teacher. I truly can say that I know the importance and the value of an education. This experience has changed so many things about me. It has in some part, made me who I am today.

Learning Goals BLOG #2

2007-06-22T18:23:00.000-07:00

My performance as a teacher this summer has been good. I have used more hands on activities and better questioning strategies. The hands on activities and questioning strategies can be used in my classroom during the year. This summer I have used more inductive instructional strategies. All of these strategies can be used in the classroom during the year.
My student was most successful with the learning goal that includes measurement and unit conversions. The student was successful in this goal because I did a good job of breaking down the information. I also used his prior knowledge to make new connects to the new learning goal. The student was given plenty of practice problems. He was also given a chance to demonstrate the skills he learned in unit conversion by completing a hands-on activity.
My student was least successful with the learning goal of periodic trends. I did a bad job of assessing his previous knowledge. I assumed he knew more than he did. I did not do a good job of providing the student with information. I did not emphasize the important trends of the periodic table. I also did a bad job of planning. I had the student taking notes and color coding the periodic table all at the same time. This would not work in a real classroom setting.
Since I only have one student for summer school, I have not used differentiated instruction in summer school. To improve my student’s performance in the future, I could teach study skills and note taking at the beginning of the year. This is an important skill that, I think, many students lack. I would also teach the students how to listen and follow instructions. My instructional procedures vary from lesson to lesson. I think, this is a good strategy to keep the students engaged. In my class during the year, I used very few instructional strategies. I think this caused many of my students to lose interest in my class.

Learning Objectives

2007-06-14T17:22:00.000-07:00

My objective strategy for summer school has been similar to those that I used during the school year. I try to use a level one or two objective at the beginning of the class. Then, I try to build on the knowledge of the students by having them apply their knowledge with the use of a level four or five bloom’s verb. I like to use analyze, demonstrate, design, and summarize to allow the students to apply what they have learned. I expect students to be able to explain the lesson and the objectives learned to another person. I expect the student to learn the material not memorize or regurgitate the lesson.
When first teaching a student, it is often unknown how far you can push a student. I have found that my summer school class can be pushed farther than the eighth grade classes I taught this past year. My student is very bright and already has a lot of prior knowledge of eighth grade science. It is very important to activate prior knowledge and build on what knowledge the student has. I used the inductive strategy, in which, I provide the students with a discrepant event and they ask yes/no questions to find an answer. I used the question to activate prior knowledge. The discrepant event was the occurrence of night and day and the seasons. I found that the student could tell me why night and day occurred, but not the reason for the seasons. This helped me to realize that the majority of the lesson needed to be spent on the seasons and the explanation of why they occur. My student is very bright and my objectives need to be on a higher bloom’s level He also needs to have objectives that have more activities and demonstrations. This will allow him to use the knowledge that he learned through the lessons taught.

Final Decision and Advice For First Years

2007-06-03T20:18:00.000-07:00

As I was saying in the last blog, family is very important to me. Moving to Desoto would only puts me about three and a half hours from home. This would be great because I can go home on the weekends. Also I will get a chance to be around my family and get to know them better. In the past five years, I have never been home longer than a week at a time. I am also considering moving back to my home town after I complete the program. The only available jobs there would be teaching. I would love to teach at my high school. Desoto is very similar to my high school. Working at Desoto would make it an easier transition to teach my third year at my high school. So needless to say, I am moving to Desoto County. I am really going to miss Greenwood Middle and my students.

Advice For the Newcomers

1. Do not smile until Christmas break!! You will have to be mean. You need to let the students know that you are the head person in charge and that you run your classroom. You need to say “No” as much as possible.

2. Show no weakness because the students will take advantage of it.

3. Be consistent. Treat all the students the same. You must punish all students who break rules.

4. Always use your consequences, no exceptions.

5. Do what the administration ask you to do. You will probably need their back up on discipline issues. If you do as they ask you to, they will be more inclined to assist you.

6. You will write-up a lot of students in the first two months.

7. Try to do something outside of school. It is important to have a life outside of school. Always take time for yourself.

8. If possible get involved in a school activity such as a club or a sport. It is much easier to get to know the students and their parents if you see the students outside of the classroom.

9. Take care of yourself mentally and physically. Eat right and try to have someone to talk to about problems at school.

10. Have fun and always remember that you are making a difference!

Do I Stay or Do I Go

2007-06-03T20:15:00.000-07:00

This past month, I was faced with a big decision. The decision was whether to stay at my present school or go to an even better school. This was a very hard decision to make. The school I was at this past year was a middle school in the delta. Greenwood Middle School had many dreams of becoming a level five school. These dreams where shared by the faculty, staff, and the students. As I wrote about in my previous blogs the school tried extreme measures to achieve this goal. The students also worked very hard. After all the work ,I doubt Greenwood Middle will be a level five school. But I am proud to say that I was part of the efforts to better the school and education in Greenwood. Needless to say, I was satisfied with my first year of teaching. It wasn’t as bad as others, strangely I enjoyed teaching at Greenwood Middle School, and I somewhat miss my students already.
About two weeks ago, one of my college basketball coaches gave me a call to ask if I would work basketball camp. While I was telling her that I couldn’t work camp because I had summer school in June, she mentioned that a coach from Desoto County called her and asked about potential assistant basketball coaches. She told me that she mentioned my name and I said that was fine. Well, the next day the coach and principal of the school called me. They seemed to be very interested in me teaching at their school. I never really thought that I would leave Greenwood, but I was thinking this might be a better opportunity. I knew that if I stayed in Greenwood for another year that next year would be my second and last year of teaching. When Desoto asked if I would like to come visit the school, I said thought to my self why not. The visit went great. A few of the teachers went to Ole Miss while I was there and were acquaintances of mine. The faculty and staff seemed like great people. They also seemed to be dedicated teachers. At Greenwood Middle, I believe, that the primary problem was a lack of dedication and pride on behalf many of the teachers. While at Desoto, they took me on a tour of the school. While on our tour, I observed a class in which all the students were quiet and on task , and it was at the end of the school year. I did not know that was possible. My kids have been so crazy the last couple of days. Then I found out the class had a substitute teacher. This made their behavior even more shocking. I knew that if I came to Desoto that I would be teaching well behaved kids. Even though Desoto had a great many things to offer, the decision was still really hard. Greenwood was also a great place, and I am needed more there. Desoto wants me to teach high school biology and science skills. I really want to experience teaching high school before my two years are up so I know which I like best. Desoto is also closer to my home town. I also a nephew who is growing more and more every time I see him. I really want to be a part of his life. I have been away from home for about five years and every time I go home I feel as if I don’t really know my family. Also my small cousins seem to not recognize me when I go home. That makes me feel really awful; family is very important to me.

Almost There

2007-05-08T14:17:00.000-07:00

This is a continuation of my last blog on block scheduling. The veteran teacher that I worked with was not very motivated or positive person. If I choose to stay in teaching for a while, I hope I do not become as negative as she was. The thing I did enjoy about block schedule, was that I did not have to plan anything for two weeks. That was nice. Yet, I really missed teaching. I am also not sure how much block schedule actually helped our children. The whole plan of the block schedule, was to get our children ready for the MCT. I think, we overloaded them. The children did not enjoy the block schedule at all. They complained everyday.

On the other hand, some of my worst children ,as far as behavior and class work, became some of the most engaged and well behaved students. For these children, this was their last chance to pass the eighth grade. Many of my students believe that if they pass the MCT, they will not have to pass the classes. Some of them are making more of an effort to pass and do their best than they did on the first day of school. These kids go all year and do no work, but they expect to pass at the end of the year. They come to me and ask for extra credit and ask what they need to do to pass. These children have perfected the art of playing the system. They know how much work to do in order to barely get by. It is really sad that they are that smart, but chose to not use their ability positively.

As part of the Tier I, II, and III intervention, I wrote letters to all my students who are endanger of failing eighth grade science. I told each student what he/she needed in order to pass eighth grade science. I am hoping it will motivate these students. Yet I think, it is unfair for these students to be so lazy throughout the year, and they are still able to pass my class. It is unfair for the harder working students. But this is what I have to do for Tier interventions. Apparently in order to fail a student, a teacher must prove how they tried to help the student. This is the reason for the letter. Many of the students seemed to appreciate that I cared enough to inform them of their possible failure. Yet other students, saw the letter as a negative gesture. They said they knew there was no way they could make the grade. For these students, they will continue to perform poorly and be lazy.
Have I already stated ,that I am very happy that the end is near. I am sure I will miss my students, but I am ready for the summer. I can’t wait to go home and see my family and friends. I have learned so much this year, a lot from myself and some from my students. I will never forget this experience. I can proudly say that I have almost survived my first year of teaching.

Block Schedule

2007-05-07T16:37:00.000-07:00

I am so happy the end of the year has finally arrived. The last couple of months have been so hard for me. They were the worst months of my teaching career. For starters, I have been extremely home sick lately. I miss my family so much. My brother just had his first child, and I feel as if I am missing out on an important part of his son’s life. School has also been hard. We went to block schedule. We only taught Reading, Math, and Language Arts for two whole weeks. It was awful. Everyday I would come home and sleep. I was so tired. My job during block schedule was to manage two classes at one time, while another teacher taught Reading. The school combined two classes into each classroom and the students stayed in each class for two class periods. So I had to manage about forty students at a time. It was so tiring. I did not teach for the whole two weeks. I just disciplined students. I never thought I would miss the teaching part. At first, I thought it would be fun to be mean and that it would be good practice for my classroom management skills, which I am still working on perfecting. It was so draining to be mean for so long.; it was terrible. I wrote up kids all day and spent most of my time taking students to in-school detention. I also thought the block schedule would give me a chance to see another good teacher teach and allow me to learn things from the veteran teachers at my school. I soon found out that I did not need or want to incorporate any of her teaching methods in my classroom. I can understand why some of our students can’t read. That teacher was awful. She never took the time to explain anything to the students and she didn’t check for understanding, or answer students’ questions. So I found myself running around the class trying to assist forty students. On the other hand, eighth grade is almost too late to teach someone to read. It just seemed as if she had given up on the school and the students. It was very depressing and draining to be around her everyday. She just sucked my spirit and my optimism right out of me. The students took a practice MCT while we were in block schedule. The scores from those tests weren’t very good. The teacher told each student their grade aloud in front of the class. Then if the student scored basic or minimal so yelled at them and told them how pitiful they were. She did this aloud to every student. It was awful I had to leave the room. It really hurt me to hear her speak to my kids that way. This teacher has been there for about twenty years. The students do not like her. I think she is tired of her job and unhappy at the school. She told me the only reason she is working is try to get the top amount for retirement. She was negative about everything. Every time the principal told us to do something; she complained. She always did the very minimum.

The Testing Blues

2007-04-01T21:53:00.000-07:00

In light of the MCT, our school is trying to make the necessary changes to enable our students to be successful. The administration is making all kinds of changes as we get closer to the MCT. Including Saturday school, block schedule, and teaching only math, reading, and language arts. I am a science teacher, and I am required to spend two days a week teaching math. The math teacher and I collaborate to ensure that the students are learning the same things in both classes. We try to give the students a double dose of math. I also give the students homework in math. All science teachers are suppose to teach math at least twice a week. All teachers in the school are to help the subject area teachers. Subject area teachers include math, reading, and language arts teachers.
Next week we are giving our fourth practice MCT. The week after that we will be going to block schedule. During block schedule, the plan is to teach only math, reading and language arts. All other teachers will be assisting the subject area teachers. They will not be teaching at all. We will sit in the subject area teacher’s classes and ensure that all students are on task. We will basically be helping with discipline. The subject area teachers will be teaching two class for two consecutive class periods. The students will be taught nothing but math, reading, and language arts up until the MCT. After the test we are going back to the regular schedule.
The school started Saturday school this week. The same teachers that teach extended school teach Saturday school. Extended school is for students who are struggling in the subject areas. The students stay after school for extra help on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays. The students also get extra points in the classes and a snack for attending. The students attend Saturday school from nine to twelve. The students get extra points for the class they attend and pizza for attending and being on task and engage for the entire four hours.
We are doing this with only one month left until MCT. I can’t help but think that we are doing this too late. Is it ok too overload students with this much information.? Is this effort too little too late? This is what we talked about in class this weekend. Is NCBL putting too much pressure on our students? Our students are not learning to be life long learners. They are learning how to pass a test. I think, we are destroying our students love for learning. The students at my school constantly complain about the amount they are tested. All teachers are supposed to give an SPMS test on every Wednesday. We also give our regular tests and the practice MCT test. By the time the MCT comes around our students will be worn out with testing. Everyday I see more and more of my students becoming unmotivated by school. I think that many of my students will become drop outs. I think, this over testing will increase the drop out rate. Many of my students dislike school already. With this extra testing their dislike for school is increasing.

Teaching As A Career

2007-04-01T21:52:00.000-07:00

Lately I have been thinking about whether or not I want to pursue teaching as my career path. I know the value of education. I know it is important that our children receive an adequate education. I know it is important that our students know how to read and write. I just do not think I am the person to do the job. I do not have the long term patients. I love teaching for now, but I am not sure if I will continue to have that passion. I really care about my students and I really want to be there for them. I can’t help but think that I am being selfish. I should continue to give back and help youth, but I just can’t see my self being happy in the long term with teaching. There are too many failures and too little successes. The students do not care and have bad attitudes. For now I can deal with these things. I think, later in life I will not be able to deal with these unmotivated, bad attitude children. For now I am up to the challenge and I love my job. I love being there for my children and being a role model. I like being someone for my girls to look up too. I like letting them know that I am no different from them. I tell them all the time, that they can achieve anything that they put there minds to. They just need to be motivated and determined. I have formed so many personal relationships with my students. It hard sometimes to not cross the line. Many of my students tell me what is going on with their home lives. I just wonder what can I do to help my students. One of my students recently put herself into a mental hospital. She was out of school for two weeks. The reason she checked herself in was because she could no longer handle her home life. Many of students do not live with there mothers or fathers. They live with their grandmothers. It just hurts when I think about the home lives many of my children have. No wonder they have bad attitudes and are unmotivated. Many of them have to worry about surviving from day to day. These are the reasons I love teaching. You get a chance to be a bright spot for so many children who’s lives are always dark. Just to see the kids smiling and laughing brings joy to my life. Children can be happy no matter what is going on in their lives. They are so precious and innocent. Of course, these are the same unmotivated children fighting, and refusing to be quiet. I just try to remember that someone caused them to be the way they are. All behaviors have reasons. I guess, I will continue to go back and forth about teaching, but for now I love my job and my students.

The Highs and Lows of Teaching

2007-03-05T19:34:00.000-08:00

This month has been filled with many highs and lows. For the first time I question whether I can make it through this. Whether I have what it takes to complete this mission. I thought that October was suppose to be the hardest month, but for me it has been February. The students’ behaviors have seem to have gotten worse than last semester. Also the state science test is on March 07, 2007. Very few of my students are taking preparation for the test seriously. The students were given a practice MCT the second week in February, and the average score was about fifty percent. This was the third practice test they have been given this year. The scores should have been around seventy-five percent. This makes me question whether I am doing my job. I can say that many of them did improve from the first test, which was the same test as the third practice test. Actually all of them improved. This is a great plus. Back to teaching in general. This is the hardest thing I have ever had to do. I am learning so much about myself. I always thought I was one of those people who had it all together. Now I question how much I really have it together. I look in the mirror don’t even recognize myself. Who am I and when did I change so much? Has teaching in the Delta changed me this much? Or is this something that naturally happens when you enter the “real world.” I am filled with emotion, which is a good thing I guess. On the other hand, I am a stronger person than I ever imagined myself to be. I get up every morning and give my best no matter how many bad days I have had. That is the way it is with teaching. I have a some bad days and some good days. But I know that my suffering will be well worth it in the end. I am not doing this for myself, I am doing it for the children. I am making difference. Maybe I can inspire one child to reach for the stars and follow their dreams. Sometimes I can see these changes happening. I see it when that one student who misbehaves changes their conduct, when that one student who has been struggling passes a test, and when the students who do not understand the lesson stay after school to ask for assistance. If only I could get these changes to occur more often. For now I am happy with the progress. Although it is very little, it is progress. However, I will strive to bring out the best in my students. I will do my best to get these moments to occur more often.

Athletics In School

2007-03-05T19:32:00.000-08:00

Athletics in schools has its perks, as well as its flaws. Sports in schools are used to help teach students the importance of the development of fundamental skills, competitiveness, dedication, commitment, and good sportsmanship. However, sports have become driven by fans, school boards, and communities as a must win at any cost game. The real reasons for sports have been overshadowed by town’s demands of winning. The love for the sport has been substituted by the love of winning. Across the nation many coaches have been plagued with the problem of overlooking the real reasons for sports to satisfy the demands of their bosses. Coaches have be transformed into the modern day “Gladiators,” meaning to stay employed they must do everything in their power to win. Winning is not an option, it’s their only choice. Most teachers have the stigma that coaches have it easy because they do not have to worry about preparing students for state test or worry about getting a class to understand a particular lesson. Many of them don’t realize the magnitude of the stress to win that is place on a coach’s shoulders. In teaching if thirty percent of your students fail, there’s hardly any thing done about it. However, if a coach loses thirty-fifty percent of the his or her games, he or she will be out of a job. Coaches also have the task of trying to teach the players plays that will help the child to display his or her skills, as well as making sure the players are on top of there priorities in the classroom to be eligible to play. The demands of winning are so high in the “Delta” it is ridiculous. It’s like the community doesn’t care about the player’s education, but they only care whether the team wins each and every game. The “Delta” has proven to be the most hostile place to coach in; if you can make here, you can make it anywhere. Which is the same with teaching; if you can make it here, you can make it anywhere. The Delta’s natives constantly criticize coaches of not knowing how to coach after every lost. With all the crazy demands of the community of being great, you would think that the town has a long tradition of being state champions or of at least having winning seasons. Wrong, the town has never won a championship in anything. They have came close but no cigar. Coaches rarely stay in these towns for long periods of town. They often leave after one year or after a winning season. For instance, the girls basketball team has had five different coaches in the span of five years. Two of the coaches left after having a winning seasons. It all ties back, to the demands of winning put on the coaches by the community. It seems like the community should be taught that there is more to sports than winning. Their should be a greater satisfaction in knowing that one tried their best and gave their all to win but did not succeed this time. However next time, I will triumph and win. This attitude of expecting nothing but your personal best will then carry over into the classroom. That is the key to athletics in school, not the love of winning.

Coaching: Is It Really For Me?

2007-02-04T19:03:00.000-08:00

Where do I start with coaching? What was I thinking? The girls are unmotivated and armed with bad attitudes. Looking for someone to blame other than themselves for their losing season. Where else to turn other than their coaches. Coaching adds another two hours of teaching a day. I love the game of basketball so much. I feel like the girls are sucking that love out of me. Coaching is suppose to relieve the stress of teaching but it only makes it worse. I have about four girls who are truly motivated and who I believe truly love the game. Two of which are freshman with very little basketball skills. But these girls have some of the biggest basketball hearts I have ever seen. Through this losing season I can see improvements in their game everyday. They try so hard. They hustle and work hard everyday in practice. Just hoping to improve their skills. Now at the end of the season I can see their great improvements. The other girl is a senior who has not played organized basketball since she was in middle school. She has also came a long way. She can now get a rebound without falling down or traveling. She has very limited skills but she plays with great passion for the game. She has learned to hit a lay up and catch the ball. She has also added a head fake to her game. At five feet six inches, she is greatly undersized for the post position. But a big heart is one thing she does possess. The other girl has all the talent and ability in the world. She is a five foot eleven guard who can shoot, drive, rebound, post up, and handle the ball. She does it all for us. She brings the ball down the court and goes to post up. She has a great heart, but she lacks the work ethic. She carries our team. If she play well; we play well. She also has a great passion for the game, but she has no help. She also handicaps herself. If her best friend is not on the floor then she doesn’t play. Her best friend play no defense, takes awful shot, turns the ball over like it is second nature, on top of that she has an awful attitude. This girl has the talent but thinks nothing is ever her fault. She is also very lazy. Although I have spoke of a lot of negative, there are some positives. I truly care about my girls and hope they succeed in everything they do. I now know the dos and don’ts of head coaching. I am not sure if I want to coach again. I will always love the game of basketball, but I do not think coaching is for me. I could maybe coach eight to eleven year olds, who hopefully will have no attitudes. All they will possess is the want to learn and play the game. Maybe I can instill in them the same love and passion that I possess for the game. Maybe they will go on to be great players.

Who Says the Second Semester is Better Than the First?!

2007-02-04T19:00:00.000-08:00

I thought the second semester was going to be easier than the first. I came back from the break rejuvenated and refreshed. I was ready to tackle another semester of h*ll. But for some reason my kids are way worse this semester than last. The thing that bothers me the most is that they seem to be more disrespectful. I can’t even ask a student to sit down with out back talk. These days have gotten so bad that everyday I just want to cry. Cry because I feel inadequate and that I am unable to make it through another day. I just hope that next week is better.
Eighth grade science officially becomes a state tested subject on March 04, 2007. Here I am about a month away. I really do not think my kids are ready. Somehow I have managed to teach majority of the benchmarks, but I still feel my kids are not ready. The last practice test they took went awful. With an average of about 23% correct, they are far from ready. I can’t tell if they just do not know the information, or if they didn’t try. Our school gives practice MCT tests every nine weeks. At this point the kids know that it doesn’t count. For this reason they are done with the fifty -five question test in about twenty minutes. I guess, it all goes back to motivation.
One thing that I am happy about is the conclusion of science fair which, came to an end last week. It was a hassle which did not benefit the students. The people at the top came to our poorly put together science fair, which clearly showed the motivation of our students. Of course they said it wasn’t good enough. Or in the eyes of my town it didn’t look good enough. Because so many students didn’t complete the assignment which was worth six grades, we the teachers, were ordered to give the students another chance. Although I have informed all my students who did not complete the assignment the first time, they have made no effort to make up the assignments. With this said, I will be failing a large percentage of my students. I know it will be more than twenty-five percent which is a not acceptable according to the district. They must be unaware of the students I am teaching. I teach unmotivated students with raging hormones, and no parental support. I heard middle school is tough to teach, but wow. These kids are tough to teach. They have so many other things on their minds other than school. I know I am teaching eighth grade science but my kids say some of the most inappropriate things. It is obvious they are going through puberty!
Am I making a difference? That is the question If I knew and could measure the answer to that question, I would then know my worth. I would know if my absolute misery is worth it. Am I truly changing the world one child at a time? This is a statement that I chose to believe is true. I know I am changing the world one child at a time. This is what I tell myself everyday. This is the only way I make it through the day. This all I can do. Believe that I am making a difference!

Final Reflection

2006-12-09T09:38:00.000-08:00

If I knew then what I know now! That is all I can say. I have learned so much from this semester of teaching. I think that I will be a much better teacher next year. Things have gotten a lot better in my classroom with motivation and management. These issues were the most pressing for me. My kids are much more motivated now that they know that I care and that I am here to help them. I have only written one student up in the past two weeks. I do however still have problems with those select ten. But overall this semester has been great. I think, I can make it through another semester may be even another couple of years.
If I knew then what I know now, I would reconsider coaching. I love the girls but it is too stressful. Coaching and teaching in your first year of both is not a good idea. But it is a great way to get to know your students. So on the personal side I do not regret it, but on the professional side I do.

Other Classroom Management Plan

2006-11-18T09:44:00.000-08:00

I am struggling with the coaching thing. It seems almost pointless to continue coaching. My girls are so unmotivated. I have never seen anything like it. They are lazy and aren’t coachable. Coaching seems to be more frustrating than anything else. I am enjoying getting to know my girls, and I have grown to love each one of them. I have never quit anything and I don’t intend on quitting this. But after a long day of stress and frustration it seems pointless to go to practice and become more frustrated. I just need to figure out a way to get my girls motivated. If anyone has any advice, please feel free to let me know. How do you put your all into both teaching and coaching without being drained? How do you coach and teach?
I have not made very many changes to my classroom management plan. My rules are still the same. I think I should a rule about excessive hagging. Some of my procedures have changed however. My bathroom procedure has changed. It went from “no” to “ ok if it is an emergency.” I also completely got rid of the electronic pencil sharpener. The students now must use hand held pencil sharpeners. My students were spending half of the class period sharpening pencils. The consequences in my plan work decently. I have classroom management problems with the same group of kids each week. My philosophy of classroom management remains the same.

Classroom Management Blog

2006-11-11T10:00:00.000-08:00

At the beginning of the year, I did not assert myself as being strict. I began the year with lenient and great optimism about my kid’s behavior. I knew teaching was not going to be easy, while at the same time, trying to get students to behave, but I had no idea it was going to be this hard. The hardest thing for me is to be consistent everyday. My management changes with my mood. This is a huge problem for me. I try to work on this everyday. I try to be consistent as much as possible. I think my kids are beginning to read my moods. They know how far to push on a good and they know not to push me on a bad day. I think this is not fair to m kids. I am supposed to provide them with consistency. This is the biggest down fall to my classroom management. I intend to work on this!
As week three passed, I realized I had to assert myself as the dictator of the classroom. I think many of the students were trying to test me. The first nine weeks I gave out at least three writing assignments per day e class period and it did not work, their bad behavior seemed increase drastically. Then I began to write up the disruptive students. This worked great. The writing assignment decreased.
I now give out about one writing assignment per week. It seems to me, that I give the detention and writing assignments to the same group of students every week. My biggest problem during the last nine weeks was excessive talking. I now have reduced the problem by half. Now my biggest problem is throwing objects and “hagging”(local slang that means talking about another person) I now give detention for both throwing and hagging, I feel that this has helped.
I am very lucky to have a great administrative staff. I try to deal with the students on my own before I send them to the office. I move them from one side of the room to the other, I talk to them, call their parents, give them detention, and writing assignments before I send them out. Then, when I do send them out I document all the things I have done prior to this. This works very well, my administrator supports me greatly. If I write a student up he or she generally gets about five days of In School Suspension. I can now say that I have very few classroom management problems three of the five days in a week. I feel like I am starting to take complete control of my class.

Learning Styles Inventory

2006-10-14T02:27:00.000-07:00

I gave the learning styles inventory during the first week of school. I used the learning styles inventory given to us this summer. I found that most of my students are visual learners. I did not find this information surprising. I try to show the students pictures and illustrations. I also use hands on activities. I found that the students enjoy these activities. I am hoping with that enjoyment learning will follow.

Poverty Blog

2006-09-16T09:10:00.000-07:00

Wow, I’m a teacher. This is what I tell myself everyday all day. It is still hard for me to believe. I hate all the excessive work that comes along with teaching but I love the kids. And it seems like everyday just gets better and better. I had a good week in the classroom and I am beginning to finally adjust to the Delta. Now for my personal life; it was the worst week ever. Someone stole my debit card and I wrecked my car. Even though all this happened, it doesn’t seem that bad.

The book made me put things in perspective. It made me realize how lucky I truly am. It is so sad what some of my kids have to go through each and everyday. What stood out to me most in the book was Chapter 4. In this chapter the book lists characteristics of generational poverty and how they surface at school. If these characteristics are true, I have a lot of students who are stuck in generational poverty. Many of my students exhibit these same behaviors. That wakes me up. I do, however, think that all students in generational poverty can make it out. I am a product of generational poverty. My mom was the first in her family to make it out. I can remember the exact day my parents found out that we were classified as lower middle class. This is according to the income tax people. My parents came home talking about it and about how shocked they were when the lady said we were in the lower middle class. Although they seemed somewhat upset, I think my mom was proud that she had made it out. Many of my family members are still stuck in generational poverty, but I know they can make it out. I like this book because it told of ways for me to help my students who may feel like they are stuck in generational poverty.

Chapter 7 gave a good explanation of why students in poverty resolve their issues with violence. This chapter gave a great idea for how to teach children in poverty appropriate behavior. It provides a solution for one of my primary classroom management problems. My students love to touch each other, and most of time it is in a negative way. This drives me absolutely crazy. They are always hitting, or hitting on, each other. The chapter provided a four-part questionnaire for students, that I will definitely be using that in class.

Go Shawty

2006-07-17T17:54:00.000-07:00

Every time I hear myself talk, I am amazed at how country I sound. I videotaped myself on a very special day - my birthday!!!! I came to class on Wednesday morning expecting nothing, and what did I get … more than I could have asked for. The wonderful people of the MTC sang happy birthday to me and gave me a muffin with a candle on top. I was so shocked and surprised to see that someone was thinking of me. It was so sweet! It really meant a lot to me knowing that people care. So there I was, smiling and thinking of what to wish for and feeling so much love. Then it finally hit me - what do I want more than anything else? (Wouldn’t you like to know?) Well, I can’t tell you what it is ‘cause then it won’t come true. The whole time they were singing I was thinking, “They really care!!” Then just when I thought I had the fixings of a perfect birthday, I go outside to find that my car had been decorated with pink balloons, window paint and streamers. Then, I look on my front windshield and find the cutest little stuffed pink bunny I had ever laid eyes on. Now who would put a bunny on my car? The only thing that could possibly top that morning would be iced-wine and Sonic burgers by candlelight ...

Over the last few weeks, I’ve seen our small group of unique and talented individuals, our corps of teachers with common goals and aspirations, become a team. We are all working together, and learning from one another. I feel like I have improved so much this summer, and have seen my peers continue to get better with every lesson as well. I learned from one of our English teachers that cor- in latin means heart. And that is what I see when I look around at our class of MTC first-years. They care so much about what they are doing and want to be incredible teachers wherever they are going. It makes me proud to be a part of this team. I hope that we all keep this open mind and open heart when things become difficult for us this year.

Now back to my video. I think I did much better this time around. I finally walked around the classroom. Since I had more than two students, I had reason to. I forgot to state my objectives during my set, and did this the first three days of class. Now I just need to remember to point them out on the board and read them to the class. My dress attire was fine, but I should probably wear quieter shoes. With every step, my shoes make a noise that sounds like someone is tap-dancing around the room. I need to work on not saying “ok” after I give directions. Also, I shouldn’t say “right” at the end of statements. I need to label what I write on the board. I was writing formulas all over the board, and none of them were labeled.

Serendipity

2006-07-03T21:21:00.000-07:00

"I set off to change the world, and the world changed me"
-motorcycle diaries, che guevera's autobiography
*A very special person told me about this quote. I feel like it sums up my MTC experience.

I had no idea that Oxford was so beautiful. Actually, that nature was so beautiful. I never made the time to stop and enjoy what was all around me before, but now that basketball is over I have had the chance to enjoy and experience many new things. I think the things I have enjoyed the most are the MTC people and the late night walks. I have never had friends that were more than athletes. This is the first time I have ever been around people who are what I consider the ultimate athletes. I must say that I really enjoy the new company. I feel as if I have learned more in the past few weeks than I have my whole life, by getting to know different types of people. To me, it is great to have so many different types of people interacting in one place at one time. I feel like I have learned so much by just listening to people's different philosophies of life. This whole experience in my eyes has been a blessing. These last couple of weeks have changed my life in so many ways, and I feel that most of these are for the better.

Now, back to those late night walks. I have never in my life even thought about taking a late night stroll down the street, nevermind through the woods. But suprisingly, I like it. I like facing my fears and not knowing what is lurking out there in the dark. And the stars and moon make it even more worthwhile. The natural world can be so beautiful, just like the people I've gotten to know. I feel ashamed to say that I never took the time to see that. That is very sad. I always thought life couldn't get much better than it was - you know, because I was a student-athlete - but this is what life is really all about. Seeing new places and making new friends. I am enjoying this experience. I feel like I learn more and more about myself everyday. I have learned more about myself in these past couple of weeks than I did in the past four years.

I can't wait to see what tomorrow brings.

Holly-Green-Wood

2006-07-02T22:32:00.000-07:00

The Delta is a strange place. It is extremely hot and there are huge mosquitoes. It is like a whole different world compared to Oxford. People have been telling me that Oxford is like no other place in Mississippi. Now I believe them. Despite the humidity and mosquitoes, I really like the Delta. Now back to the other things I don’t like. House hunting is crazy in the, "Nicest town in the Delta." How can Greenwood be the nicest town in the Delta and there be no available housing? Every place we looked at was sub-leasing to cockroaches, with a nice pastel paint job of mold and mildew. And what is up with "don't live south of the bridge?" I think that is crap. Every realtor told us that. So we decided to look for ourselves, and the houses were the same except that black people lived in them. Although the housing was not all that good, I am really excited about living there. Every time I tell my Ole Miss friends that I am going to teach in Greenwood they give me this look. A look like, "Wow, what the *$#% are you thinking?" I mean, how bad can it be? I can't wait. I just hope that I can make a difference in a student's life. I can't wait for this new adventure to begin. Maybe one day they will make a movie about me and play it on Lifetime.

Self Evaluation

2006-07-02T16:57:00.000-07:00

I look nothing like I imagined myself to look on camera. I think my overall lesson was good. It had its ups and downs. I thought this was a good idea because now I see what I need to work on. I first need to work on speaking louder. I know I only have two kids but I could not hear myself on the video. I definitely need to talk louder and walk around the class more. Also I should talk slower. I am a "speed talker." Second I stood through the whole lesson. I should probably take Ben's advice and sit some. I feel like the lecture was more of a discussion than a lecture. Which I think is great. I am already very tired of lecturing. I am happy that the lecture was open ended. The students had a lot of input and gave their opinion on the subject. I feel like I should smile more and show the students that I am enjoying teaching them. I also need to work on my timing. I always get to my closure a few minutes too soon. I did like that I questioned the students a lot throughout my lecture. I just wonder how am I going to do this with a larger classroom. How will I check for the understanding of thirty students?! I like the idea of giving a quiz at the beginning of every class. This would be an excellent way to check for understanding. I think my lesson was ok, but I have some things to work on. Modifications to my lesson will need to be made in a bigger setting.

Paper Folding

2006-06-24T18:12:00.000-07:00

The students in my class have been working on a week long research project about the biomes. The students were asked to research all the biomes and find out the precipitation, climate, vegetation, and animals of each. I gave the students science fair poster boards to put the information on. The students were asked to find a picture of each biome and to tell an interesting fact about each biome. The students had the option of using flip books to organize their information about each biome. Both the students used this option for their projects. In order to make the poster boards look filled, I provided the students with large construction paper. On Friday the students presented their posters to the class and described each biome. For this project I created my first rubric. I was impressed by the students creativity and knowledge. I feel as if they learned more by doing research than I could have taught them in lecture. I thought both students did an excellent job on this project. The hardest thing for me is grading the project.

Questioning Technique

2006-06-18T14:30:00.000-07:00

I asked the students to write down any questions they had about my class on an index card. The students turned in the cards with no questions. We only have two students. They both said they had no questions. Then, the next day I asked the students to write on the card a positive and negative comment about class. Both students responded by saying they wanted to do more activites. Their positive comment was also they same. They both said that they thought I was a good teacher. The positive comment really meant a lot to me. I feel as if I have developed a good relationship with my students. By building this relationship I feel that I can help them more. I just wonder when school starts if I will be able to do this with all of my students.

Focus Paper

2006-06-10T21:39:00.000-07:00

Wow, this is my first blog. I keep thinking to myself that I am so lucky and blessed to be involved in this program. Then, I begin to hear the horror stories. But then I think to myself that it will not happen to me. Let's be realistic the horror stories can happen to anyone, especially to a sweet lady like myself. Yet I still feel blessed to be in a situation where I can truely have an impact on someone's life. This is my chance to give back and make a difference for the better in someone's life.
I chose to read the focus paper written by Ruth Kuhnau entitled "Tactics to Avoid Integration." I really enjoyed this paper. I learned a lot about the state of Mississippi that I did not know. I learned that the Mississippi government was very involved in these tactics to avoid integration. It is hard for me to believe that some of the agencies formed to avoid integration were government funded. Also the amount of governors involved in these agencies was alarming. It seems as if the people who were trying to integrate Mississippi were fighting an uphill battle. Things have not changed much since then. The people of Mississippi have become experts at avoiding integration. The school are still segregated because of the numerous private schools throughout Mississippi. Inspite of all of this I am excited and ready to jump on board and help fight in this uphill battle.