Ode to Cheaters, Crackers, and Strippers..in that order.

Most of my "bonding" moments that I have with my students happen in the cafeteria. It's not surprising. We're just sitting there in a semi-relaxed atmosphere, not worrying about verbs, vocabulary, or culture and quite naturally the conversation drifts to topics far away from lessons learned in the classroom. On this day I was particularly bothered, after just catching KA cheating on her make-up test. She was sitting in the hallway, right across from my door, which I purposely left open so I could keep an eye on her while she took her test. By pure coincidence I happened to look over at her just in time to see her pull out a cheat-sheet from her pocket. I stepped outside, asked for the paper, and politely informed her that she would be receiving a "0" for her test. She responded like most any student would do, she tried to fight it, but to no avail. I invited her back into the classroom to participate in the lesson, to which she replied, "Shut up, you stupid cracker!" As I reached for an office referral form, TH came and told us it was my classes turn to head to the cafeteria for lunch. KA ate hers in the Assistant Principal's office.

While my class was waiting in line, I was sitting at the table reflecting on this when I was slapped back into reality.

"I think I want to be a stripper, Mr. M," said LH, one of my brightest seniors who is already enrolled at DSU for the summer term and has really opened up with me since Christmas.

"Why would you do that," I quizzically asked her.

"Because they make a TON of money, and I need to pay for college."

I said, "You do realize that you would have do dance naked and have dirty old men groping all over you," trying my hardest to dissuade her.

"No, I want to do the whole behind-the-glass-window thing, they won't even be able to touch me."

Realizing that I was going to have to try a bit harder to change her mind, I tried lying to her. "They don't make as much money as you think they do."

She called my bluff. "Mr. M., I got a friend that is a stripper and she told me how much she makes. I could pay for my school stripping on the weekends."

Touche, I thought. "You're willing to drive all the way from Cleveland to Jackson or Memphis on the weekends just for a weekend job as a stripper? That doesn't seem too practical."

She responded unfazed. "Well, I won't really want to strip anywhere near where I go to school."

We talked about it for a little bit longer, and I think I changed her mind...or at least got her to think again. It was just surprising to me that one of the smartest girls in the school was even thinking about becoming a stripper. Nothing against strippers, but LH just doesn't seem to fit the bill. I just thought you needed to be a little more desperate to strip, and she SEEMS like she has things in order. Who knows.

March Blog #2...at the buzzer.

Nothing like waiting until the last minute to finish the blogs…I still have 18 minutes until its technically late…

So, I know by now next year’s class is either set, or close to it, and blogs are an excellent way for the new guys to sort of get a feel for what they’re in store for next fall. With apologies to David Letterman, here are the Top 10 reasons to be a part of the Mississippi Teacher Corps.

10.) It’s a free masters. Honestly, this is a sweet deal. You get a Master’s done in two years for free while working a full-time job and getting paid real money. The coursework is not overly demanding and you save big bucks by getting your school work paid for.

9.) If you don’t teach here, who will? It’s called a teacher shortage, folks. Everybody’s feeling the pinch, but nowhere worse than in the Delta. People HAVE to be in the classrooms, and if its not you, who knows who it might be.

8.) If you want to feel like you are making a difference, now is the time to do it. For the most part, we are all fairly recent college graduates, and for the most part, we are still idealistic enough to believe that we can make a difference. I just don’t know if we’re capable of holding on to that idealism after too long in the “real world.”

7.) You need to see what’s going on first-hand. People talk about the problems that are plaguing our nation’s schools and sometimes you just need to see it to believe it. Luckily for me, my school’s not perfect, but I haven’t seen anything that sends shivers up my spine, but after listening to some of my classmates…it happens.

6.) To steal from CBS’s catchphrase regarding the Master’s golf tournament, “The Delta, a tradition unlike any other.” The Delta is so unique, with its own culture and history and way of life that is amazing in so many different ways. I mean, on my way to school, I pass some of the most historical places in the world if you are a fan of the Blues, but at the same time, I drive through some of the most pitiful places in the country to live. The juxtaposition of historical value and poverty is mind-blowing.

5.) If you are white, it’s interesting and eye opening to be in the minority. Since I lived in Argentina for two years prior to joining the Teacher Corps, this was nothing new to me, but it’s still an interesting and insightful experience to try and fit in where it seems like you may not belong.

4.) The kids need you. Honestly. This may be related to number 9, but it’s different. The kids need to see someone that has high expectations for them and someone that can fill them with hope. To see someone come from the outside and be helpful, friendly, and outgoing is refreshing…after they realize that you WANT to be there and are not looking at them as charity cases.

3.) Mississippi needs you. Some of us have done service world-wide, be it Peace Corps or in my case, a religious mission, but as much help as the rest of the world needs, we need it right here in Mississippi as well. Our contributions may be small and the results may not be immediately visible, but helping out the kids and trying our best to make sure they become independent thinkers, capable of learning on their own, and thinking critically is imperative to the effort to keep this state from falling further behind. An educated work force is one of the best ways to assure that businesses invest in this state. It’s a vicious circle, and right now Mississippi’s out of the loop and we’re trying to break in.

2.) You’ll learn more about yourself than you think. Heck, I’ve been me my whole life…I would think that I knew myself pretty well, but when you are responsible for the education of 135 kids, you put a lot of pressure on yourself to do it right. I won’t say it’s the most difficult thing I’ve ever done because I know its not, but the pressures and the responsibilities are different than anything most of us have ever done. You’ll learn a lot when you’re under the gun…hopefully not literally…but hey, it’s a possibility!

1.) Why the heck not? Honestly. What else can you be doing? If it weren’t for the Mississippi Teacher Corps, I would probably be working ungodly hours for ridiculously pitiful pay producing TV newscasts with an entry-level job. If I don’t like teaching, an entry-level job is still going to be there waiting for me. All I did was take two years doing something very respectable and made more money at it than I would have using my degree. Sometimes I feel bad because, if I do say so myself, I thought I could be pretty dang good in the field of broadcast journalism. But my professor for my capstone class in TV news reporting told me, “we need more good teachers than we need good TV reporters. Go be good in a place where we need you most.”

High School Sports...ahhh, the "Glory Days"

In many ways, athletics at my school seem to be a joke. I don’t coach, and honestly, I don’t think that I could because of the atmosphere surrounding athletics. Throughout this school year, our teams have proven to be mediocre at best. The students are all extremely athletic, but it seems that they let the athleticism get to their heads and there is no real improvement in the teams. Fundamentals in all the sports are sorely lacking and they are trying to get by on pure athleticism.

In the fall, the football team advanced to the first round of the playoffs before bowing out, but after watching the team’s performance, I think they qualified for the playoffs just because the other teams in the division were worse, not because we were much better. I saw several games this season, and all of them were riddled with turnovers poor decision making. I don’t know how many times I saw our punt returners try and return a punt that landed inside our own 10 yard line or how many ways our QB’s and RB’s managed to mishandle snaps and handoffs. I just thought that by the end of the year, many of these mental mistakes would be taken care of, and teams that are considered to be the best in their respective divisions just don’t make mistakes like that.

Also in the fall, the girls’ softball team’s season came to a screeching halt before the season even started when there was nobody hired to coach the team.

Winter, of course, brings with it the basketball season, which at this school was not a real source of pride. The boys’ team was a train wreck from the get-go, and at some point I think that just about every boy in the school was on the team. Kids came and went, some quit, some were dismissed, more came, and more quit or were dismissed, and finally the athletic director came up with a rule that if you quit a team, you could not participate in another school sport until the sport you quit finished its season. Thank goodness they did that or else I’m not sure we would have fielded a team for the post-season tournament since so many kids quit when track season started. After talking to several of the boys on the team, most were dissatisfied with the coach and how he yelled and made them run. On the court, the boys got murdalized in just about every game they played. The same mental mistakes that plagued the football team carried over into basketball season. Again, they were relying too much on their athleticism and not enough on fundamentals and organization.

The girls, however, had a fairly respectable season and seem to avoid many of the problems that they boys had…however, I must confess that I only saw two or three girls games this year.

In my mind, spring means one thing…baseball. I was so excited to go out and watch some baseball after school…was I ever let down. I went to one game and decided that was all the baseball I needed to see. I watched as our pitcher threw a no-hitter through four innings and the other pitcher had a two-hitter going. Now, you would think that this was some sort of a pitcher’s duel and a low-scoring affair. On the contrary, the score was 12-6. Most innings went like this: walk, walk, hit batter, wild pitch, walk, error on an infielder, strike out, walk, walk, error, walk, wild pitch, passed ball, strike out, thrown out stealing. After four innings it was time to leave before my head exploded.

We just started track season, and we seem to be doing really well so far…it’s too early to pass judgment just yet.

So, at my school, this is how athletics works. The coaches do a good job of keeping the kids in line, and they do a good job of helping other teachers with their athletes. The coaches that I have worked with have been extremely cooperative and supportive and there have been no shenanigans from them. Nobody complains, so I guess this year is just another year for our teams.