As the first day quickly approaches

Ben Guest Assignment: Write a letter to the incoming first-years.

After having met most of you already and even offering a few of you some "veteran" advice, it seems a little weird to be writing you a letter of welcome. Maybe that's saying I should be more on top of my blog writing; I'm not really sure. Rather than giving you a list of advice like many others have done, let me take a different approach and wish you good luck on Tuesday, your first day of summer school.

I'm sure many of you are nervous, especially those of you who are actually teaching on the very first day, but you are all going to do fine. Maybe your first couple of lessons won't go as well as you will have liked, but one thing I can tell you is that as soon as that first bell rings and the kids start pouring in the front door, you will all officially be real teachers. You may start out shaky, awkward, unconfident, or any combination of the three, but know that you are real teachers.

Have faith in the fact that Mississippi Teacher Corps will train you as well as you possibly can be trained in a six week period of time. Don't get caught up in thinking about the duration of your initial training, because by the end of the summer you will all be qualified to teach in your respective classrooms in the fall. The caveat to that is that you might not necessarily be great, or even as good as you would like to be, but the students of Mississippi really do need you and between role plays, summer school, and Dr. Monroe's class, you have incredible training to fall back on. Aside from the training, you also have an unbelievable support system to rely on; do not forget this.

Learn and acquire all that you can this summer, and I assure you that you will be ready in the fall. Plan those lessons and rest up this weekend; I can't wait to see you tap into your potential and grow as teachers over the next three weeks. Good luck, and remember that you're going to do fine!