9 posts from July 2007

Lauryn Smith, our fabulous MTC 2007 Summer Intern, recently completed a survey of administrators at schools where we placed first-year teachers.  This is the third year we have done such a survey.  Each year the summer intern is responsible for the survey and report.  2005 Summer Intern Ginny Best started this project off two years ago.  2006 Summer Intern Molly Goldwasser, now a first-year MTCer, continued the project last year.  And now Lauryn.  Check out the results...

Two Mississippi Teacher Corps Alumi, Elizabeth Savage and Tiffany Bartlett, recently did a workshop on the days leading up to the first day of school.  Here is their presentation:

"He makes decisions about as well as a twelve-year-old in a Baskin-Robbins."
-Sportswriter Dwight Jaynes on Point Guard Rod Strickland

I mentioned Point Break in an earlier post.  It is an okay action movie with one exception: it has one of the greatest chase scenes ever put on film.  I found this clip searching for the trailer on YouTube.  Enjoy...

From Bruce's Seeger Sessions tour of Europe...

Bodie

There are two weeks left in the Mississippi Teacher Corps initial summer training.  We have finished one week of the July session of Summer School.  In the afternoons, the first-years are working on extreme classroom management situations: sexual harassment, verbal confrontations, and potential physical confrontations.  It is important that we cover a lot of different situations through role-plays so that our teachers are prepared.  A lot of times, simply being confident that you know how to handle a situation prevents the situation from occurring.  As the surfing philosopher Bodie says in Point Break, "Fear causes hesitation, and hesitation will cause your worst fears to come true."

The Untouchables

At the beginning of the summer, I encouraged the first-years to release themselves from all expectations of their upcoming experience in Mississippi.  I was reminded of this over the weekend when I watched the movie The Untouchables.  The screenplay is by one of my favorite writers, David Mamet.  During a tense stakeout, the older, Irish cop, Malone (played by Sean Connery, who won an Acadmey Award for his portrayal), tells one of the younger police, "Don't wait for it to happen.  Don't even want it to happen.  Simply react to what does happen."

Jim Malone and Elliot Ness

Last Saturday, second-year Ashley Johnson and I showed Lauryn Smith, the fabulous MTC intern, around the Mississippi Delta.  We toured Greenwood and Money and parts in between.

Money is the small town where Emmit Till was tortured and murdered (interestingly enough, Till's Wikipedia page has caused a heated debate).  The store, where he committed the unpardonable crime of whistling at a white woman, is still standing (barely).  Photos of the trip are below.  More photos here...