There is such a thing as too much shopping

Supplies

Say what you will, but spending money is usually one of the best ways to have fun. The activity is made all the better if you get to spend money that isn't your own. After planning six lessons over the past two days I really needed a break, but with a to do list stretching over thirty items long and less than a week to get it all done in, I needed an activity that was both relaxing and productive. I figured spending up my Teacher Corps supply stipend would fit that bill perfectly, however, I was very much mistaken.

Four hundred dollars is a lot of money to spend on school supplies, especially if you've never taught before and you have no idea what you actually need for your classroom. Despite this fact, I spent that money like a champion. After two hours in Office Depot and three hours in Wal-Mart, I had managed to spend almost the entirety of my stipend, and completely exhaust myself. I'm just really glad I won't have to do this again for at least another year. Hopefully it will go much smoother though since I'll know what I'm doing and I'll be able to reuse a lot of what I bought this year.

I purchased everything from three prong folders to prizes for my ticket economy, pretty much all the essentials an inexperienced teacher could think of. If you look closely at the top right corner, above the scissors and to the right of the markers, you may see a small steel item that I could very easily see working its way up to becoming my favorite item purchased. As for the small portion of my stipend that remains, I am reserving it for the vessel I deem best suited for storing and carrying my students' folders; suggestions are not only welcomed, they are encouraged.

Mississippi Teacher Corps offers quite a few benefits and incentives. In my opinion, the stipend for supplies is most definitely one of the best ones. I'd go as far as to say that thus far it's probably second only to the free masters degree.

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Poetry is written about sights like this

Right outside my bedroom window there are about a hundred or so dragonflies buzzing around, just doing their thing. As they fly about, their wings are reflecting the rays of the slowly descending sun, casting brilliant golden hues in all directions. It's quite an impressive sight, albeit a bit blinding. I'm finding it very hard to lesson plan with such a spectacle going on.

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Time to go whistle shopping

Just a few minutes past eight this morning, I was pulled from sleep by the ringing of my phone. I woke up to Coach Hunter, the former track coach, informing me that I was currently missing a meeting for all of the district coaches and that I should get to the school as soon as I possibly could. One can't help but find the communication system over at North Panola just a little bit lacking.

I had spoken with Coach Hunter earlier, and expressed interest in assisting him with track this year. He was very accepting of the offer, and even proposed starting up a cross country program together. However, Coach Hunter must have taken my willingness to help as his golden opportunity to retire, because when I arrived at the school I was told that I was going to be the head coach of both cross country in the fall and track in the spring.

I foresee this little endeavor being quite a bit of extra work, but it's a challenge I'm really looking forward to. I don't know the first thing about coaching, but running is one thing that I definitely know and there are plenty of books on how to coach. Since I'm starting a brand new program, it's safe to say that I'm going to be coaching the most successful cross country team in North Panola history. Plus, now that I can go by Coach, I no longer have need of going by Captain.

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Consider me professionally developed

Ben Guest Assignment: Free write.

The school year hasn't even started yet, but already I've been given a glimpse of the administrative problems all the second years so willingly talk at length about. Rumors of professional development workshops began circulating among those teaching at North Panola less than a week before we were expected to show up for the first scheduled meeting. I use the term rumors since many of us, maybe even most of us, never received an official notification. Seeking out secondhand information pertaining to a series of mandatory meetings that had not been announced was not something I had envisioned. Between calling the school and talking to other Teacher Corps members, I obtained all sorts of conflicting information regarding the workshops; the only way to sort it all out was to just show up the first day.

We sat, or should I say suffered, through three days of seminars on literacy that I can only presume were geared towards either a much younger or a much less sophisticated audience. They were borderline painful, and I took very little from the experience. I remember the chairs being extremely uncomfortable and I remember the speaker pronouncing some very common words in a strikingly unique manner, but aside from that I don't really remember much else. The objective, if one could actually be derived, was to demonstrate various methods that could be used in the classroom to enhance the reading ability of our students. This objective however, was not met in the least.

Outlining the problem of student illiteracy greatly overshadowed possible solutions, but the majority of our time spent there was wasted with impertinent anecdotes from the speaker and a continuous series of trivial complaints from the audience of teachers. The lectures were completely ineffective, but an absurd amount of breaks combined with a very generous compensation made them tolerable.

I plan meticulously and promptness has always been a defining characteristic of mine; I see these two qualities clashing with the attitudes of the administration I'm going to be working with for the next two years. I've come to the realization that Mississippi time runs much differently than what I'm used to, and I'm just going to have to deal with that or go crazy trying.

Read and post comments

Looks like we made it

And just like that, it has finally come to an end. Final grades have been handed out, we saw our last presentation, and all that's left is our end of the summer social. Nothing could have made for a more fitting ending than the bestowing of our official state of Mississippi teaching licenses.

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Finally I can get some sleep

Ben Guest Assignment: Reflect on the summer training offered by the Mississippi Teacher Corps.

It's hard to believe that tomorrow will be the very last day of summer training, and oh, what a summer it's been. If I may borrow a quote from a friend, "The days seemed like months, and the months seemed like days." Summer training was the longest, most stressful endeavor I have ever undertaken, yet I can't believe how quickly time has elapsed. I can recall moving in the first day so vividly that it's hard to believe it occurred over six weeks ago, but after that, it's all a blur.

There's no denying that summer training prepared me as much as anything else possibly could have for the start of school in August. In Dr. Monroe's class I learned how to write a lesson plan and the importance of classroom management, fundamentals for anyone going into the field of education. A cornucopia of various workshops provided me with all kinds of advice to help the year go smoothly. I now know I'm going to be using a folder system and a paper grade book. I know that I'm going to be overly prepared for the first day of school, meaning all of my rules will be hung up, my syllabus will be printed, and I'll have a huge assortment of time fillers in case of the almost inevitable holding of homeroom. Role plays taught me that there is a small collection of right ways to handle a situation, but more importantly that there are a whole lot of wrong ways to handle a situation. Many of the role plays felt like what I imagine participating in the Kobayashi Maru test must feel like, attempting to complete an unwinnable scenario, but they were definitely one of my favorite parts of summer training. Last, but certainly not least, being forced to stand in front of a classroom, a real trial by fire induction into teaching, provided me with a forum to gain the voice and presence I'll need in the fall.

Summer training has been an incredible experience, but that's not to say it was entirely without its faults. I found some things to be unnecessary and others to be too long, but since all of my concerns have been brought up anonymously in the eight or so dozen surveys we've taken in the past few days, that'll suffice for the purposes of this post. Teacher Corps is a constantly evolving program, and in time, I'm sure all of its kinks will be worked out.

I'm as ready as I'll ever be for what lies ahead. Of course I'm apprehensive about starting school, but summer training got me exactly where I need to be. Uneasiness precedes all new endeavors, but this is the greatest thing I have ever attempted and thus those feelings of trepidation are magnified accordingly. I'm definitely nervous, but I'm way more excited than I am worried; I think that's just about as good as anyone could ever hope for.

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

A place to call one's own

For a brief period of time I was beginning to entertain the idea of homelessness. Our search for a house started a little later than it probably should have, but eventually we found the perfect place. The only thing that didn't sit well with me was the landlady. Her husband was quiet and slightly awkward, but she was very firm and persistent on her rules, expectations, and worries upon first meeting her; the fact that she is a teacher definitely didn't hurt her getting her point across either. In an effort to exercise tact, I'll refrain from passing any written judgement about her sanity. Nonetheless, we agreed to rent the house.

Just a few days before we had told them we wanted to move in though, we still hadn't signed a lease or even heard back from them. I had a sneaking suspicion that they had decided not to rent to us out of fear the house would fall apart if four people were using the washer and dryer, one of our landlady's biggest worries. Fortunately Hanna and I just got back from signing the lease, an ordeal which included an hour long reiteration of our landlady's major concerns, everything from washing clothing and throwing parties. I'm just glad we have a place to live, and I'm even more glad that we get 24 hour notice before our landlady can drop by.

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

A wise Judge Jensen once said...

Ben Guest Assignment: Choose a blog written by a second year, read it in its entirety from first post to last post, and reflect on their experience.

I could've made this assignment very easy for myself; there are plenty of blogs that are of a less than challenging length, blogs that would've taken no time at all to read. However, I chose one of the longer blogs to ensure I would be able to take at least a little something away from it. In an effort to avoid boredom though, I made a point of it to chose a blog I thought I would find amusing. Thus I went with Trevor Jensen's blog, and I hope that won't go to his head.

The most important thing that I took away from reading Trevor's blog was the fact that despite the calm, confident, and engaging personas the second years all carry so well, even the best of them faced some struggles in the beginning. I find it extremely reassuring to know that everyone gets better with time, practice, and experience. Some of us definitely took to teaching quicker than others, but we have a long two years together and that's plenty of time to work towards becoming the teachers we all hope to be.

Between teaching a completely foreign subject, having to act as a stand-in janitor, and a slew of various other complications and unexpected hitches, I'd venture to say that Trevor had one of the more, how should I put this, interesting Teacher Corps experiences. I'm knocking on wood as I say this, but it seems like it can really only get so bad down here. I have no doubt I'll experience my fair share of failures and problems along this journey, and the actual magnitude of that probably hasn't even fully hit me yet, but at the end of the day, at the very least, I'll still be surviving. For the time being, that's something I can take comfort in.

I can relate to many of Trevor's thoughts and beliefs, everything from a deep aversion towards the no smiling until Christmas rule to an appreciation for the addictive quality of southern cuisine. Trevor's blog offered a wealth of information, and I think that living with him this upcoming year will prove to be an invaluable experience. 

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Attempting to be a real teacher, take two

Ann Monroe Assignment: Videotape a lesson in the month of July and write a reflection that compares your current teaching style to the style depicted in the first videotaped lesson.

My second videotaped lesson was much easier to watch than my first. Where I had been awkward and fidgety, I was now confident and comfortable. One major downside however was the fact that I had taped an extremely boring lesson. Unable to break my endless streak of continual procrastination, I passed up plenty of opportunities to videotape great lessons. By the time I got around to filming myself, all that was left was a lengthy, unbelievably boring review of all the cellular biology we had covered over the last five weeks.

The most notable change in my teaching has been my newfound sternness. I started off being very apprehensive about handing out consequences, ignoring almost everything the students chose to do, but now they have come to expect that there isn't a whole lot I'm willing to tolerate. I can't help but feel a rush when I tell everyone to quiet down and then twenty pairs of eyes immediately look up at me.

At the beginning of the week, a girl asked me why I had decided to be so strict all of a sudden. I lied and told her it was because I didn't want anyone to get the wrong idea and start thinking it was summertime when they were still in the homestretch. How funny would it be if my students knew my initial inability to discipline had been due to the fact that it was the very first time I had ever stood in front of a classroom? 

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

A lesson in southern cuisine

My students already think I'm a freak because I don't eat meat, but they were quick to prevent me from making a huge mealtime faux pas in the cafeteria today. I was about to dig into my rice, the side offered with the chicken I had declined, and before I could even touch the fork to the soggy grains, I was stopped in my tracks. The student sitting next to me kindly informed me that I was doing it all wrong and that "it ain't right without sugar." I asked the class if that was how it was done down here, to which they all enthusiastically responded in the affirmative, several of them even offering me their extra packets of sugar. They were definitely right; despite being a sodden mush, the rice was actually really good. How could it not be though when it was covered in butter and sugar? I'd venture to say that it was probably more desert than meal.

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

The roller coaster that is Teacher Corps

Last Wednesday as I had mentioned, was an example of a completely perfect day. Thursday however, was not. A lot of hushed whispers about the possibility of a fight occurring after school have been spoken, causing rumors to spread abound. In an attempt to extinguish the quietly simmering embers of rising tension, high school lunch now takes place right in the middle of fourth period. Having to go back to class after lunch makes for a much more controllable dismissal than everyone leaving all at once from the cafeteria at the end of the day. My students were not able to handle such a change.

The first half of fourth period was fine, no surprise there, but the second half, after coming back from lunch, was a huge, chaotic mess. It was the first time I felt like I actually wasn't able to control my class. I handed out writing assignments and detentions like candy on Halloween. It got them in their seats, but not in the state of mind that would allow learning to take place. The bell finally rang, and everyone jumped up. I sat them back down, and to ensure order, I dismissed each student individually. Prior to last Thursday, I had never before felt relief at the sight of an empty classroom. I was beat, no doubt about it.

Friday came, and as soon as first period started I began to rain fire down on my classroom. I let them know how disappointed I was, and I made sure to inform them that I thought it would be a very poor choice to do the wrong thing, get expelled the last week of school, and lose credit after putting in four weeks of hard work. Based on the fact that I probably could've heard a pin drop, my speech was a resounding success. They were silent, and it was awesome. I'm not the kind of teacher that typically needs, or even wants, a soundless classroom, but when that silence marks victory, I'm happy to take it.

Sunday was the Fourth of July, and it was the first time that I actually really missed being home. I'm a big fan of the buddy holidays, the holidays like New Year's Eve and St. Patrick's Day, where you spend time with friends and more often than not end up having indulgent amounts of fun. My friends in Teacher Corps are great, but it just wasn't the same time I would've had in New York. Plus, when you spend the last five years watching fireworks with the same person, you can't help but come to affiliate the two. Oxford put on a pretty good show, but I just couldn't allow myself to fully get into it.

Monday rolled around, and I was back on top again. The days down here range from awful to damn near perfect, but usually fall adjacent to either side of the median. An endless series of ups and downs has been my experience thus far with Teacher Corps, but thankfully the good days outnumber and outweigh the bad. 

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Evidence of a need for improvement

Ann Monroe Assignment: Videotape a lesson within the first two weeks of summer school and write a reaction.

I'm the kind of guy that hates to watch videos of myself from my childhood. My girlfriend would argue otherwise, but I find them anything but adorable; in fact, I find them downright embarrassing. Those feelings are made so much worse when you can't chalk it up to being too young to know any better. While watching a video of one of my earlier lessons, incredible teacher was not the first thought that popped into my head.

The video showed me just how deceptive improvement can be. I know I've come along way from the teacher I was when I first stood in front of a classroom and taught about experimental design. I'm much more confident and I feel like I have a pretty good grasp on what I'm doing, but the video showed me that I definitely have a long way to go. The deception is perpetuated by everyone who observes me, telling me that I'm good or that I've improved by so much. Maybe they're just being nice or maybe they just don't notice because they're not me, but the video showed me a lot. 

I move around the room much quicker than I'd like to, and when I say the wrong thing, I get way more flustered than I should ever really be letting on. I fidget with my clip board too much, but I'm not confident enough yet to give it up entirely; I have no idea what I'd do with my hands if I didn't have a clip board to play with. Most disconcerting is the lack of authority in my voice. My speech is notably more confident than it once was, but it still lacks the authority necessary to truly take center stage in a classroom.

I found watching the video of myself to be a pretty painful experience, but at the same time, it proved to be an excellent tool towards my eventual improvement. I, like many others, am my own harshest critic, so having had the opportunity to see and scrutinize my own teaching can only lead to shaming myself into getting better. I'm all about improving by any means necessary, and this is just one more technique in the arsenal to get me to be the teacher I'd like to be.

Read and post comments | Send to a friend