Eighth Week

Week number eight is done and there is but one more week of summer training for the Teacher Corps Class of 2005.

The Team finished on Wednesday morning with individual meetings with all first-years. While there were some concerns with inconsistency among evaluators for the most part I think things went well. The eight days of working with the Team does several things for our first-year teachers:

1) It emulates the practice of lesson planning every day and teaching every day.
2) It gives them immediate feedback from veteran teachers for eight straight days. As teachers they will probably never again get this type of intense, comprehensive feedback.
3) They get to learn from watching each other teach.
4) They get to work with a veteran teacher in their subject-area.

Wednesday afternoon was the start of the end-of-summer workshops. The workshops are always enjoyable because they are so varied and there is no homework. The workshops so far:

1) Teacher Certification
2) "Lalee's Kin." A documentary that aired on HBO about a poor, black woman in the Mississippi Delta and her extended family.
3) Reggie Barnes. The former Superintendent of West Tallehatchie (and featured in the aforementioned film) gives his no holds barred take on anything and everything related to teaching in the Delta.
4) Delta Blues. The Delta is the birthplace of blues music.
5) MTC Film. A Year in the Mississippi Teacher Corps.
6) Sunflower County Freedom Project.
7) MTC Veterans. Presentations, role-plays, and a panel discussion.
8) Extreme classroom management situations. Role-play and discussion.
9) Subject area with MTC Vets.
10) Basic self-defense.
11) Freedom Day with SCFP.

Here are the workshops planned for the upcoming week:

1) Susan Glisson. William Winter Institute.
2) Delta Students Panel.
3) Computer resources for first-year teachers.
4) Delta Administrators Panel.
5) Ole Miss football and the tradition of "groving."
6) Gospel music with the Jones Sisters.
7) Book Club with Dr. Mullins.
8) Continuation of extreme classroom management situations. Presentations, role-plays, discussion.

We will have our end-of-summer social on Thursday evening and that will be it...