Our Christmas Tree 

The Ice-Skating Rink that opened infront of our house for three days! 

So this is Christmas...

It is strange that this time last year James and I were in Scotland spending Christmas with Mum, Dad, Gran and Granpa. Even though it is Christmas Eve night, officially it is now Christmas Day in Scotland! How much has happened in a year and yet how quickly it has gone by. I guess that is what happens as you get older—since time is relative in the sense that a year moves more quickly for someone who has lived through 23 of them than it does for someone who has only lived ten or fourteen years—time seems to speed up the older you get. When you are a child you don’t have as many responsibilities or things to try and cram into 24 hours a day. Also, as a child I don’t remember as many things changing every year as have changed in my life the past few years.
I guess not all the changes have been bad. I met James, and that along with the whole falling in love and getting married bit, has possibly been the best thing that has ever happened to me. However, I also lost Carrie and just like I am still marveling at the fact that I found someone as wonderful as James, I am still suffering from loss of someone as wonderful as Carrie. Christmas is really hard this year. I guess the change of pace of being in Scotland last year helped distract me more than I realized. I have been crying on and off all day today. I don’t know how I will make it through tomorrow being around James’ family. I remember even before Carrie died, I cried the first Christmas I spent with James’ family because I missed being with Mum and Daddy and Carrie. I had to go outside so that no one would notice until I could compose myself. I don’t like crying in front of others, and I don’t think most people would understand. Luckily James’ family changed up their plans so James and I will get to spend Christmas evening with my parents.
Another positive change was going to college where I had many wonderful opportunities to travel while studying Journalism and International Studies. A wonderful education that I have not used since I took my final exams. I am currently teaching seventh grade English even though I have only had 12 hours of English classes in College. Journalism is not English and I have always had serious disagreements with quite a few “traditional’ American grammar rules. That was one reason I felt at home with Journalism, it broke most of the rules and just made up new ones. Now I am in a job where the rules aren’t clear and because I am now in a role model position I am definitely not allowed to break them. So when my students do things that I do not think are wrong, but the school sees as wrong, I must punish the students. I also am not allowed to say what I really think and feel in front of my students. If my students do or say something really funny, I am not allowed to laugh at the risk of hurting someone’s self esteem. I feel restricted, exactly the opposite of how I felt as a journalist.
So in addition to having one degree already that I do not use, I am afraid I am in the process of earning another one that I am not sure if I will actually use after these two years are up. I do take consolation in the fact that the pursuit of knowledge is not an end in itself and that even if I do not use the knowledge that I attain in any sort of professional manner it will help me to become a better person. Yeah, well, in theory anyway. I want to go to law school next, but I am really starting to wonder if it would be yet another degree that I will not use. When will I ever figure out what I want to be when I grow up? At 23, I feel mostly grown up and I definitely feel that I should know what I want to do.
So what will this next year hold? What changes will come and what will remain the same? James only has 7 hours of school left before he graduates this May with his Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering (YEAH!!!). Soon he will be making about twice as much as I do now! Both of us are hoping to find jobs and moving to the Tupelo area (closer to my parents, about the same distance from his) this summer. I hope to find a job teaching HIGH SCHOOL (not seventh grade) and hopefully Social Studies instead of English. If everything goes as planned—although it never does—than this time next year maybe we will have even more positive changes occur in out lives. I realize that unfortunate changes are inevitable in everyone’s lives but I do hope that they will be few and far between for James and I and for you all. Have a merry Christmas and a truly happy New Year.
PS It is rumored that we are supposed to have a new principal when we get back to school on January 3rd. More details as events warrant.

Holiday Highlights

Number of days of school left before Christmas break—one and three fifths (Friday is a 60% day)
Number of students who took an exam today—nineteen (I had a lot of absences)
Number of nineteen students who passed—six (grades ranged from an 80 to a 34)
Number of days I spent going over the exact test questions—three
Number of students that have yet to take their tests—forty-four
Number of students who received failing grades of their progress reports—50 (of 63)
Number of students who scored above a 70% on their 6th grade MCT—three
Number of students my school expects me to prepare to pass the 7th grade MCT—63
Number of school districts I will be applying to over Christmas break—12
Number of months before this school year is over—five and a half
Number of students who have thanked me—six
Number of things thrown at me this semester—too many to count (calculator, pencils, erasers, paper wads)
Number of times I have been shoved—twice
Number of times I have been scratched—once
Number of times I have been called names including racial slurs—too many to count
Number of times I have questioned what I am doing—a billion
Number of days of school left before Christmas break—one and three fifths (Friday is a 60% day)

I know that it has been a long time since I have blogged, but I have discovered that the only real way to cope is to just not think about school unless I am there (and even then sometimes it helps to try and think about something or somewhere else).
I have been thinking a lot about my future lately and the future of my students. I am definitely not going to be at my school next year and I am not going to feel guilty about it. I love my students, but unless they fail the seventh grade I wouldn’t be responsible for teaching them again next year anyway. I do not like my principal and chances are she will still be there next year. I am tired of driving 45 minutes to job that, for the most part, I do not like and then having to drive another 45 minutes just to get home to my favorite person in the world. So, I have decided to ignore the impossible (or implausible) and focus on the few things I know I can do that will help my students the most. I am still trying to narrow the areas they need help in to a few that I can focus on the next two semesters. I am really curious to see how the MCT scores turn out this year and whether or not our school is taken over by the state. I guess I will have to read about it in the papers, because I definitely won’t be there to find out.
Most people seem to really enjoy going to class on the weekends and being around all of the other Teacher Corps people. I, however, seem get even more depressed on weekends when we have classes. My grades are good, at least that is something to be proud of, but it is hard not to think about school when everyone is talking about it. It is hard to be happy with my lot in life and not be envious when everyone is talking about how things are at their school. It is even worse when people are complaining about something at their school, like the copying machine being broke, when my school doesn’t even have a copy machine!
Now you see why I have not been blogging and why I have been avoiding TC people. No I am not depressed. I love life. I just have to focus on the things that I love in life (and beyond) and remember that as both of my fathers tell me “this too will pass”! Christmas is just around the corner and I couldn’t be happier. The week I had off for Thanksgiving Break felt like the best week of my life. I can only imagine how wonderful two weeks will feel. There is so much I want to do. There are so many books that I want to read. There is so much paper work to complete. There is an L-SAT to study for. There is a teaching position closer to Mom and Dad to try and find for next year. There is cooking and cleaning and Christmas shopping to do. There are Christmas cards to write and cookies to bake for James’s co-workers. Oh, but it never before sounded like so much fun!

my best and brightest 

Frou Frou Lamar Carr 

James' side of the jack-o-lantern 

my jack-o-lantern 

Did ya miss me?

I’m back!!!!!!!!
It has been a really long time since I have blogged, but I will get into the excuses and explanations later. First I will catch everybody up with everything that has happened since I last blogged.
James goes grocery shopping.
Today was a really great day. James and I got to sleep in. When we got up we went to the grocery store together, which is a huge step for James. James doesn’t like going to the grocery store. You wouldn’t think it would be that big of a deal to me but for some reason I always want him to go with me. My dad likes grocery shopping and I always enjoyed going with him. I guess I always thought when I grew up my husband and I would go to the grocery store together. James is so perfect in every other way that I was shocked to learn that he doesn’t like going to the grocery store. He says when he used to go with his sister to the store she would always take 400 hours to decide whether she wanted green or blue Dawn (that is a hyperbole, but my students don’t understand that). So, since James is perfect and always wants me to be happy, he has agreed to start going to the store with me and I have agreed not to ask him questions about what we are buying. We have been to the store several times in the past few weeks and it seems to be a pretty successful compromise!
Janus the jack-o-lantern.
So, anyway we went to the grocery store and picked out a pumpkin to make a jack-o-lantern. It didn’t take us long as we both spotted the perfect one at the same time. Last year we carved two jack-o-lanterns (one each), but the town house we live in now doesn’t have as much covered front door space as our last house, which had a large front porch. The year before that we carved one together, or I guess I should say we attempted to carve one together. James let me clean it out and carve one eye and then he took over because “I didn’t make it look scary enough”. So this year I cleaned it out and we each carved a face on a side of it so it is a two faced jack-o-lantern.
Frou Frou Lamar Carr
A few months ago I used the term frou frou to describe something frilly (a term I picked up from my dad). James had never heard the term and liked it so much he looked for opportunities to use it. One night he jokingly told me that if we have children we should name the first one Frou Frou Lamar Carr. A few weeks later he started asking me if we could get one of those Beta fish (a male Korean fighting fish). Apparently James used to have one, but I was a little surprised that he wanted any kind of pet because James has always been against having anything that adds to our load of responsibility. So about a month ago we went to Wal-Mart and purchased Frou Frou Lamar Carr along with a peace lily for him live in and eat off of and a clear glass vase and some decorative stones. All in all Frou Frou seems happy. He tries to fight me when I change out his water and he likes to hide in the roots when anyone other than James or I approach his vase. He didn’t really like it when I tried to take his picture. He kept swimming to the opposite side of his vase. I don’t like having my picture taken either. James says if we don’t in any way contribute to the eventual death of Frou Frou then maybe we can graduate to a cat or dog and if we handle that okay, maybe eventually children. That is why Meredith isn’t having children, her beta fish (I won’t release his name) committed suicide while she was changing his water. He jumped right out of the vase and down the drain. We’ll see if James and I have any better luck!
Broken computer + broken truck = broke us
This month almost everything that can go wrong has! James’ laptop is still not working right. Last month it suffered from a virus and had to have its’ hard drive reformatted (a la James) but now we think the hard drive is going out. We still can’t figure out why my laptop won’t work with our cable internet (it works fine on dial up but we don’t have dial up here) and we can’t find the printer driver software to put it on my laptop. So we can type things on my computer and save them, but we can’t print them or upload anything to the internet (that is one of my explanations for not blogging). James took it to see if John could fix it and the whole time John had it the stupid thing worked fine. John did a hard drive scan and said it looked fine but it is possible that it is starting to go bad because that is usually the first thing to go on a laptop. James’ truck had a radiator leak or something, and somehow water got into the engine and cracked one of the cylinders (part of the engine for people who don’t understand how cars work). So when your engine cracks that is not a cheap thing to fix, plus we had to pay someone over a hundred dollars just to verify what was wrong with it! While we were contemplating what to do, his parents offered to buy him a new truck as an early graduation present (he has seven more hours of college left before he finishes his BS in Mechanical Engineering—I married a younger man, he is eight months younger than me). So that worked out great but there is still all of the additional expenses involved in getting a new vehicle that you don’t think about, the additional insurance and all the little things add up. I only get paid once a month (James gets paid twice a month), but next week is payday!
The British are coming!
Well, actually, they came and went (another reason I have been too busy to blog, plus since they are half of my audience and they were here to see and hear my life in action I didn’t feel as bad about not blogging). Gran and Granpa arrived at the beginning of the month (October) and left this past Monday. James and I drove over to Fulton to see them (and Mum and Dad) two weekends and then they came over here to see us one Sunday. The Sunday they came over here we met them for lunch in Oxford so that my step great grandmother Aggie, who was up from Natchez visiting her granddaughter, could see my grandparents again. Aggie and my great grandfather (on my fathers side) visited my grandparents (on my mother’s side) in Scotland once, where they live, and my grandparents used to visit my great grandparents in Natchez when they came over to visit me (and Mum, Carrie and Daddy). Since we moved to Fulton, my grandparents have not been back to Natchez and so it has been over ten years since they have seen Aggie.
Stepfamilies:
Aggie is pretty funny. Even though she was at my wedding and has met James several times since the wedding and even one time before she never seems to remember who he is or that I am married. We ate lunch with Aggie, Kathy—one of my grandmother’s half sisters, and Lane—my dad’s half cousin, which would make her my half first cousin once removed. I know this along with her age, her marital status, her sisters' names, ages and marital status. Lane, however, not only admitted at lunch to having no idea how we are all related but also kept asking my Mum how her girls were doing (before I arrived) apparently having no idea that my sister died a year and half ago. Why do so some people even bother to pretend they care? I hate obvious insincerity. Aggie got on to me for not coming to see her in over a year, even though James and I both went to see her in May when we went down for Kati’s high school graduation. So, since she can’t seem to remember when we do visit her I am tempted to not visit her or visit her and make up a bunch of stuff since she won’t remember anyway. All she does when I visit her is talk about her grandchildren anyway. She doesn’t seem to be interested in what I am doing otherwise I think she would at least remember that I am married (she was there) and that his name is James (her husband, my great grandfather’s name was Thomas James so it wouldn’t really be that hard). It is funny how your opinion and ideas about people changes as you both grow older.
All work and no play.
My job seems to be growing increasingly harder instead of the other way around, my principal (who is not pal of mine despite how the word is spelled) keeps heaping stuff on me and my only reward for doing what she asks is the task of helping other people do their stuff and then getting more stuff heaped on me since I am doing what I am asked when I am asked. She never gives me any positive feedback without lacing it with criticism. I was surprised when Ben and Mr. Rowland both told me they thought I was doing a good job this week (after observing my classes). I do not feel successful, I feel horrible, and I don’t think I am doing a good job at all. My students remind me a lot of the stray cat I befriended. They want attention and love but they are scared I am going to lash out at them and hurt them; they also don’t know the proper way to get attention. Then when you do give them attention and they finally trust you enough to get close to you they get too excited and claw or bite you (literally in the case of one of my students who scratched me last week) because they don’t know how to act or how to react. I am torn between a desire to help them and a desire to protect my own self-interest. If a wild animal bites you how many more chances do you give them before you have them put down? I really don’t think I am going to be at my school next year. I honestly believe that I would be happier teaching at the high school level and I know I would be happier teaching Social Studies instead of Language Arts. However, in some strange way I feel guilty about not staying there next year, like I would be quitting on them. I have to remind myself that the students I am teaching now would not be the same ones that I would be teaching next year (unless they fail and then I am not sure I would want to teach them again). I definitely do not want to deal with my principal another year and if she leaves or is fired I am not sure that I would want to be there during a transition. James is not sure if he will have a position at the company he interns at once he graduates in May, and even if he does we are both tired of driving 45 minutes one way to work everyday. If James’ can stay on in Batesville than I might try and find a job closer to Batesville for next year. I am still planning on going to law school after next year and I think I would like to teach high school social studies if for no other reason than to have a varied teaching experience.
Since I compared my students to something I would like to share a metaphor that I feel sums up my principal’s approach to school improvement. My school reminds me of a fat person who orders every diet pill and miracle machine known to man off of the T.V. while sitting on the couch eating cheetos instead of getting off her butt and going for a walk or two. EVY remarked one afternoon that she wonders what the satellite dish behind the school is for (or was used for as it has vines growing on it). I told her it was probably meant to teach the children but was abandoned when it failed to understand what they were saying. We have computer programs to teach them to read, learn math and now they are spending more grant money ordering another program to teach them math in addition to the two we already have. Our math teacher is frustrated because it is overwhelming for her to have to learn all of these programs and keep up with all of the different reports. I have been told that we are supposed to get to the point where we teach without using any books by next year. I really don’t think that I could successfully teach English for 90 minutes everyday without a book of any sort but that explains why the school was so reluctant to give me any books when I requested them this summer and why it took me such a long time to get literature books for the students. God help whoever takes my place next year. I am going to try and help them as much as I can by leaving behind what I do this year and some insights into the way the school works that I was not blessed with.
Teachers do not take their own advice.
It dawned on me during my afternoon class at Ole Miss yesterday for about the billionth time since this summer (another hyperbole) that teachers do not live by their own advice. We were doing poetry explications in class and the general message behind two of the poems was that life is short so what will you do with it. I was expressing my dislike of the last three lines of one of the two problems when one of my peers suggested that I didn’t like the lines because I was scared of facing the fact that life was short and answering the question of what I would do with mine. This really annoyed me because (a) I hate it when people try to put words in my mouth and (b) I am probably more aware of how short life is than she is and I now what I am doing about it (although that was multiple choice it was not MCT format in case you were wondering). Carrie only had 20 years to live. I have already lived three years longer than her and I don’t know how many years I will have. I am determined not to waste a single precious minute of it. That is one reason why I decided to do the Teacher Corps, but it is also the same reason that I will only be teaching for two years. It is not that I don’t like teaching or that I don’t think it is an honorable profession, but there are so many things that I want to do before I die—teaching was just one of them. Besides, does anyone other than me see the irony in a 60 year old women who has lived in the same 60 mile radius for most of her adult life who retired from teaching high school to teach an occasional college class teaching poems about how short life is and how we need to seize each day and live it to the fullest? As a side note the woman who told me maybe I was afraid of the question posed in the poem is about twice my age and I don’t see evidence that her life has been that eventful!
The frustration mounts.
I am sorry if I seem bitter or negative in this blog, it is just that I have grown increasingly more irritable. Little things set me off here lately and although I know that it is a result of the stress I am experiencing but somehow knowing what causes it doesn’t really help, since I don’t know what I can do about it. I spend all of my time either at work, traveling to or from work or working at home. I don’t feel this is fair to James, or me but even with everything I am doing I feel like I am treading water. If I quit even for a second I am afraid I will drown. I promised myself I would not stay late after school every single afternoon this nine weeks, but so far I have managed to leave before 4:30 only twice in two weeks. After Ben visited my school he said that it was probably the most challenging environment he has visited. While this provided me with validation, so that now I know I am not crazy, however it kind of depressed me and has made me wonder how much more I can take before I do go crazy. Maybe next time I will have found my happy place or something and I will have a more positive spin on things. Until then…

Just another Manic Monday (whoa-ah oh)!

I started getting sick Thursday night and when I woke up Friday I felt horrible. Since it isn't unusual to feel horrible at 4:30 am (for me anyway) I didn't realize how sick I actually was until I got to school and the air conditioner was still not working (for the past week and a half it has only worked half of the time). There is nothing worse than having a cold in hot (unair-conditioned weather) or so I thought. Then my first class, noticing I wasn't quite as aware as I normally am, decided to break out in a paper wad fight! This was the first time that (a) I really lost control of my class and (b) that I lost my temper with my class. I am not sure what I said and/or if I screamed it but I am sure it was not nice because they got deathly quiet while I went on a rampage of some sort (the combination of the heat, sleep depravation, mild food depravation, Advil Cold and Sinus and anger is not good). I really feel bad because I have been trying very hard not to loose my temper with them.
Since I didn't feel well enough to drive two hours Friday night and since James had to work Saturday we staid in Clarksdale Friday night. I went to sleep as soon as I got home. I woke up early Saturday morning still sick but feeling 100 times better than I did Friday. I then drove to Oxford for my 8:30 class. My classes seem like they are going to be interesting. It made me feel better to hear how Eric is doing with his middle school administration and students. I do admit that after listening to peoples' stories I am a little bit jealous of those who are teaching high school. They aren't having nearly as many discipline problems as those of us that are teaching middle school. However, I firmly believe that there is a reason for everything and I would not have been placed where I was if there is not a reason or purpose.
I have just quit searching for a purpose in the things I am told to do. Everyday is a crazy day, but I am starting to feel like it is a game I can win even if I have to play by their rules. That is a good feeling! I am trying to hold onto it and let my competitive nature take over. Today, for example, the assistant principal came into my second class and said get your stuff together you need to leave for a staff development meeting that we forgot to tell you about that is already in progress. Thus EVY and myself (somehow being the only two affected by this development), drop everything we are doing and jump in the car to drive to arrive at a meeting about 30 minutes late. The staff development meeting was very beneficial, but I was trying to get my students ready for a unit test on nouns this Friday and showing them their averages so they can get it in gear before this first progress report. So now half of my students are a day behind the others, depending on what happened after I left—which I am assuming isn't much—and their unit test is days away.

Let's hope that everything you need to know you learn in kindergarten.

I think I am teaching kindergarten. I am not really sure, but it definitely feels like kindergarten. Some of my students are a little bit taller than your average kindergartener, but that is the only noticeable difference. This is the third week of school and we are still talking about nouns. We keep switching back and forth between nouns and the rules. My students act like this is their first exposure to both concepts. Evy is going through the exact same situation and is having the exact same problems, so it is at least reassuring to know that I am not alone. This afternoon she and I went through worksheets to send to the district office to get copies for our substitute folder because the assistant principal told me to. She said that Evy and I have been signed up for some English workshop and that we need to have some work for the students to do on the day(s) we will be gone (we have not been notified of when this will be). When I went in the office around four p.m. to turn in the worksheets for copying, the principal chewed me out for doing it. Apparently, if she doesn’t tell me to do something, then I am not supposed to do it. She seemed agitated that the assistant principal had told me about the upcoming workshop. She did admit that she had signed us up, however she never admitted that I did the only reasonable and acceptable thing when you suspect you are going to be absent by providing the substitute with worksheets to give the kids. My principal is definitely hard to read so my general policy is to do my job and stay out of her way. I like my assistant principal, but I worry that I maybe inadvertently getting her in trouble with the principal. Every time my principal asks why I do something and I mention that the assistant principal told me to or advised me to, my principal gets livid and says she is going to talk to her about boundaries, job descriptions, etc. I have noticed that my principal is a lot of talk and no action and so I am hoping that is the case here. However, next time she asks me why I am doing something I am inclined to plea divine inspiration.
Since it has been obvious that I am teaching kindergarten I have been working on posters, visual aids and bribery (candy). When they climb on the furniture I now say, “Now (student’s name) we aren’t little monkeys, we are little boys so lets not climb on Mrs. Carr’s bookshelves.”, instead of, “Now (student’s name) we are all adults so lets act like it.” We will see how this works. Stay tuned for further updates on the situation.
On a sad note, I was notified that I need to prepare some work for one my students because he is in court. I had not personally had any trouble with this particular student and he seemed to be intelligent. I was curious as to why he had not been to my class in four days but since my school doesn’t seem to enforce their attendance policy I wasn’t too concerned. Students seem to come and go as they please and yet they wonder why our school is rated so low—that is definitely a story for another day.James and I had a good visit with mom and dad on yesterday. They brought us food and thought (and food for thought) and complimented me on my coffee making skills. More things happened but they were so relaxing that they escape my memory. They also brought us some happies. Mom brought me a little automated cat (named Max like Marianne’s dog). James wanted to name him Frou Frou Lamar Carr. Since Max came with a name we will just have to save that name for our next pet/child. Max kept me company tonight until James came home from work/college. Today was my baby’s (James’s) first day of his last year of school (we hope). I am very proud of him. He is taking thirteen hours this semester (he only has to take six of them) and then he has six next semester. I have my first weekend back at Ole Miss for some more of classes towards my master’s degree this weekend. This will not be the first day of my last year of school. I have a little bit less than two years left on my master’s and I am already looking into law school. Yes, more school. Why? Because I can! Details will be posted as events warrant.

The fun continues...

So far so good. Evy and I were both surprised that at the end of the second day (Friday) we both felt remarkably unscathed. It is not that I have not had problems--Friday I was shoved by a 16 year old seventh grader that challenged me and then came in my class after me. I was surprised how well I handled it. Their behavior doesn't bother me. In fact it just makes me more determined not to let them get the upper hand. I have seen bad kids, these kids are not bad (yet), but they want me to believe they are bad. I know they aren't bad so I have the upper hand. My students are sufficiently scared of me and that doesn't bother me either. A few of the girls (the smart ones) seem to respect the way I handle the other students and a few of the (little) boys keep trying to come to my class even when they are not scheduled to. It is nice to know that even though I am feared I am not hated by everyone (yet). I was telling James how surprised I was at my ability to be mean (but fair) and feel no remorse. He laughed and said that I shouldn't take it the wrong way but I can be really mean when I want to. At first I wasn't really sure how to take that, but he assures me that it was a compliment. I have actually left both days of school so far with a huge smile on my face. I like all of my students even the bad ones and everything seems to be going great. Everybody talked about how horrible the first day would be and it wasn't bad at all. The fact that everything has gone so well is scary. Now I find myself looking over my shoulder and waiting for the proverbial other shoe to drop. The most frustrating thing about teaching so far is the administration not the students. To be continued I am sure!
My family.
Because James and I are a family we went to family day for his company on Saturday. They held it at Liberty Land in Memphis. It was a lot of fun. James is perhaps the luckiest person that I know so I knew he would win a door prize. Since I tend to have bad luck I promised not to touch his ticket and he won as I predicted. After we left Liberty Land we went shopping. That was probably a lot more fun for me than for James but he didn't seem to mind to badly. I made sure we alternated stores of interest so he wouldn't get bored. Today we went swimming. We had the whole pool to ourselves which was nice. Then we grilled hamburgers. All day we have relaxed, worked on unpacking and I have been working on stuff for my classes. It has been a great week and I am actually looking forward to my classes this week!

No I am not dead, just dead tired.

Well so much has happened since I last blogged (that sounds disgusting doesn’t it). Today was the first day of school for my students and… …I am still alive. I started moving stuff from our house in Water Valley to our town house in Clarksdale last Thursday (July 29) and we moved our last box into the house this past Monday (Aug. 2). I had to report to my school district on July 29th for new teacher orientation and in service (I even had to go on Saturday). My last day of Teacher Corps (TC) summer classes was July 23 where I found out that the TC person I had grown closest to during the summer had quit the program. I also discovered that another person I did not so well was going to be teaching the same class as I am at the same school as I am (She was previously assigned to one of the high schools in the same town as me—Cleveland—and I was the only TC person that was going to be at my school). Since then she and I have bonded and it has definitely turned out to be a good thing as Martha Stuart would say. I also painted almost every single piece of furniture James and I own. So as you can see I have been really busy over the last two weeks, but in order to paint an accurate picture of what I have been going through I am going to write about each event as if it is the day that it actually happened.

The First Day of School
Despite all of my fears and frustration today went a million times better than I could have ever hoped for. While I still have 32 students in the period right after lunch (and it is a learning strategies class which means they are slow learners or have failed for behavior problems), I did not kill them and I think everything went okay. I left the school at four thirty feeling a lot more confident in my ability as a teacher and with lots of ideas of what to do different tomorrow. I know that the students tend to behave better during those first few days, sort of a honeymoon period before they show their true colors. I have been laying down the law, but it is hard because my school has so many stupid (contradictory and misspelled) rules. Despite my many requests the school saw fit not to give us a copy of the student handbook until the day before school started and we did not receive our class rolls until 3:30 the day before school started. Not that that really matters because the schedules are all messed up and will be changed over the weekend. Until then I have been ordered to teach rule and nothing but rules. I was told that our school was trying to reduce its student teacher ratio and so I should expect between 12 and 20 students per class. In fact twenty-five desks were crammed in my tiny little room and I had discussed the possibility of removing some of them to give me more room. So at 3:30 pm the day before school they decide to tell me that I will have one class that has 32 students in it (that is the legal limit and I am the only one that has that many at a time during any period in my school). Not only to I have to find seven desks but find a way to cram them in my room. As a result Evy and I stayed well after the other teachers trying to get things ready. I was not issued a teacher handbook or a bell schedule (we don’t have bells so I have to know what time to dismiss them) until today during the middle of the morning! Out of everyone at our school I feel that only about 4 people have tried to help me in any way shape or form—that is a little frustrating. But tomorrow is another day!

A cheesy poem I wrote in my head while driving home after spending around 12 hours at school preparing for the next day…

'Twas the Night Before School Starts
And all through the school
Only two teachers were present
Busy writing our rules

We belong to the Teacher Corps
Because we believe
Delta students deserve more
Than they currently receive

You want to teach where?
Our friends and family implore
Do you know what you’re getting into?
Are you really sure?

Where are all the others
The state pays to teach?
At home in their beds?
Or still at the beach?

Do they not care about the students?
Do they not like their career?
Why are they all so bitter,
Negative and without cheer?

Our principal doesn’t like us
But not ‘cause she’s a snob
Last year her TC math teacher
Quit just two days into the job

So right from the start
We have a lot to prove
To our principal and students
And ourselves too


It is all for the children
We constantly say
And hope that will help us
Survive the first day!


The Frustration Mounts
All summer I have wondered why teachers have such a high drop out rate, now I know. Although my students have not arrived in my room yet I do not think that any of them could possibly be as frustrating as other teachers.
A few observations:
1. Teachers/Administrators talk a lot of talk but don’t do a lot of walking if you know what I mean.
2. If the education system was run like a business than most of those involved would be fired.
3. We don’t just have teacher shortage problem, we have a severe good teacher shortage. I am surprised by the amount of teachers at my school who can’t speak proper English and show signs of a poor/mislead education.
4. Teachers like to complain (what am I doing now?).
5. Don’t ask your administrators questions.
6. As a first year teacher you are supposed to know everything but you will not be told any of it even if you ask multiple people multiple times.
7. Anything and everything you are told by anyone is subject to change at anytime!
8. Don’t trust anyone!
9. If I were to run my classroom and/or treat my students the way that I have been treated by my administration they would fire me in a heartbeat.
10. It is impossible for teachers to get along. Most teachers are women. This actually adds fuel to my theory about weddings—when you involve more than one female in anything you are asking for trouble. Men get along with other men. Women get along pretty well with just men (even if it is a love to hate relationship) but women do not like, will not help, and do not work well with other women.
11. In staff development meetings all they do is tell you what not to do (in negative ‘do not’ form) then they send you to your classroom where you have to be sure to post your class rules in the positive---Remain in your seat vs. Do not get out of your seat.
“Oh, the irony!”, as Evy said during one of our countless staff development meetings which never start on time, in which you learn absolutely nothing useful and get chewed out for asking questions such as “can we have a hand book” or “when do we receive class rolls” if we were lucky enough that they actually attempted to answer our questions nine out of ten times their answer would be wrong (and we would later be scolded for acting on the wrong information).

BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH
I am sick of new teacher orientations, school district orientations, school specific orientations—I could live a very long and happy life without ever attending another orientation (or moving again for that matter). All of the orientations just sort of morph together in my mind after awhile and no matter how interesting they try and make it I have already heard it at some point and time earlier this summer. I had never heard of Harry Wong or Madeline Hunter before this summer but I have been so submerged in the almost cult like attachment that administrators seem to have for them that I think I could write their next books for them.

Our Welcome Party has Arrived
James heard that mosquitoes in Clarksdale were bad but when I got in my car this morning to go to work there were a swarm of mosquitoes waiting on me in my car. I think they must have gotten in while we unpacked. Also when I woke up this morning I had mosquito bites on my neck, arms, foot and even one on my nose (pretty much anything that was not under the covers) so I am guessing some got in the house as well.

Paint it Black
Where are the Rolling Stones when you need them? Probably on some farewell tour somewhere for the fifth or sixth hundredth time. James and I spent four straight days painting most of our furniture black. One day I painted for 11 hours with only about two 25-minute breaks all day. All the hard work was definitely worth it as it really tied in the rest of furniture and looks really good. It was all inspired by my birthday present from James and I will be sure to take pictures once we get everything set up at our new house.

Decisions
Perhaps the only person I feel that I have really connected with this whole summer just quit the program. I am being selfish in missing her because I know that she did what was best for her. I am not mad at her for quitting and I do not really understand the people who are. In the infamous words of Forest Gump, “That’s all I have to say about that.”

Teacher Corps in Review
I am leaving my summer school program and my classmates and embarking into the unknown. I feel scared and all alone. I am not sure how adequate my training has been this summer. For this to be a graduate program so far the classes have been a piece of cake. I have a 4.0 on my first 9 hours in grad school. I didn’t do that good my first semester in college (of course I was taking 21 hours and in an honor program but still I somehow imagined a masters program would be a lot harder than any of that). I think the most helpful experience will probably be the student teaching experience at Oxford Middle School. The least helpful experience will probably be the TEAM experience although the workshop week rivals as a close second. My favorite thing all summer was when Reggie Barnes came and talked to us. A few months from now I might feel differently but for now, that is where I stand!

I Fought the TEAM and the TEAM won.
I feel like I deserve a t-shirt or something. I hate hypocrisy (although I realize we all do it from time to time). If you are going to tell all of us to speak correct English at all times, you should too (this summer we were taught this is called modeling behavior for your students). If you take off points you should explain why and/or if a student makes a mistake you should correct it as soon as possible instead of allowing them to continually make the same mistake and then failing them for it (at least in theory). You should always be consistent especially when grading (I guess unless you are grading other teachers—then apparently it is okay). I think teachers should stop and listen to themselves once and awhile and make sure they practice what they preach!

A huge sigh of relief!

Today was the last day I had to teach in front of the TEAM. The TEAM is comprised of five master teachers. My whole class was broken up into five groups of five or six students. For six days we taught lessons (from a six day lesson plan that we wrote) in front of our mock class (the four or five peers in our group) while one of the TEAM teachers evaluates us. Since there are five TEAM teachers and six days each group teaches in front of one TEAM teachers twice (on the first day and the last day--she is supposed to measure our improvement). I was lucky because my group only had five students so we got done a little earlier than most. I was really nervous about teaching American English Grammar because two of the five TC (Teacher Corps) people in my group have taught English before and my degree is journalism not English. I have practically been relearning American English Grammar to make sure that I can teach it properly. All in all I am pleased with my performance over the six days. It was sort of a strange set up because it was like being in high school or junior high all over again, except that I had to be a teacher for one of the five periods. We rotated teaching positions so I taught first, second, fourth-twice, and last-twice. Every day I had a 9th grade Biology I class, a 7th grade Pre-Algebra class, a German I class, and a senior English class. Then somewhere in the mix I would teach a 7th grade Language Arts lesson. It was strange playing a junior high or high school student one minute and then playing a college educated teacher the next. I was very nervous teaching in front of my peers and the TEAM teacher on the first day, but the fear gradually disappeared and today I wasn't nervous at all. However, all of the preparation was very time consuming and every afternoon I came home exhausted. Now that I have settled into a sort of routine and I am not getting worn out by the schedule we are through with this segment of the TC program. That seems to be the way things go this summer--just when I get used to something it is over and it is time for another change. Luckily, I only have one more assignment to turn in and I am not even going to worry about it anymore until tomorrow night. I am going to take a night and enjoy not having anything to work on for tomorrow. Even though I prepared all weekend for this week (so I wouldn't have to do anything on my birthday but enjoy it) my lesson on Monday (my birthday) went worse (not bad but just not as good as the others) than the three lessons before them. This really scared me because I expected that my lessons would always just get better. So I spent the rest of my birthday fine-tuning my last two lessons so that the same thing wouldn't happen again. So I am going to just revel in the moment of having nothing to worry about for one whole night. Tomorrow I have to go meet with the TEAM and learn my overall grade thus far (in their class). But that is tomorrow and tomorrow is another day, for now I will enjoy tonight!

Thank you Sam Walton!

Jameses don't come with instruction booklets, but I still don't know how I didn't think of it sooner. Going to the grocery store every three days is not only time consuming and expensive but also tiring. However, so far I have not been able to figure out another way to keep enough food in the house to feed my James. SAMS!(sort of like Costco for you Brits) Why am I just now thinking of this? James and I joined Sams' Club on Sunday, and went grocery shopping. I bought huge boxes of James food (frozen corn dogs, frozen sausage egg and cheese biscuits, and lots of ketchup). It all fit nicely in our freezer and it was a lot cheaper than buying the same amount of food over a one or two week period. Thanks to Mum for offering to get me a Sam's Club Membership Card. I know it may sound sort of silly, but one serious concern I have about having children is that they might all have their father's metabolism (APPETITE). I have a hard enough time planning and preparing James' meals (when I cook there are usually no left overs) I don't know how I could possibly plan and/or prepare for two, three or four Jameses (especially when they are growing). Now, that I have rediscovered Sam's I am not so worried about it. Anyway I only have one James to worry about feeding now, so I have plenty of time to build that industrial sized kitchen.

This is the birthday cake Mum surprised me with. It is a replica of the one she made for my 5th birthday (in Scotland) before I started Kindergarten. Unfortunately, it got cracked on the way home, but that didn't affect the way it tastes! 

Happy Birthday to Me...

Today is my birthday, but don’t worry you’re off the hook because I celebrated it yesterday. For the record, I am now 23. Some of you have suggested that I am older or younger so I am setting the record straight. I had a lot of gun yesterday. James and I met my parents in Tupelo and ate at Vanelli’s. We then went to the Tupelo Flea Market to see all the stuff (I mainly like looking at all the animals) and kill time before the Buffalo Park opened. They had a lion, a tiger and a bear at the Buffalo Park (plus a lot of monkeys, snakes, goats, deer, a pair of giraffes, a pair of ostriches, some emus, some camels, two alligators, a skunk, birds, lizards, a ferret, donkeys, horses, etc… Oh! and lots of Buffalo (a white one named Dakota). We went on a tour of the park on a “bus” pulled by a tractor. Our guide seemed neither knowledgeable of the American English language and how we use it or the animals he was showing us. He kept talking about how bad his knees were and his last knee surgery, etc. It was kind of funny, I am still not sure if he was one of the attractions or not. One of the monkeys was watching Nascar in its cage (it had a little black and white TV/Radio). I think they both probably have a lot in common, except maybe the monkey had a better command of the American English language. Why bother going to the Delta to teach English, perhaps I will just go to the Buffalo Park, at least there you get free drink refills!
Where credit is due.
Thanks to Mum and Daddy for taking us to lunch, the flea market and the Buffalo Park. We had a lot of fun and I am already enjoying my new printer/scanner/copier! Thanks to Gran and Granpa for the lovely card and the call right after midnight (their time, a little after 6 pm our time) to be the first to wish me a happy birthday (it was July 12th over there). Thanks to Meredith for the funny (ha ha) card and the phone call on my birthday! Last but definitely not least—James picked out a wonderful card and a really cool vanity table and mirror and he put a lot of thought into what style of furniture I like, what would match my decorating style, etc. I am still picking myself off the floor. All in all I feel very special, so thanks to the people who remembered my birthday this year and made it special for me.

Long time no blog…

A week in review.
It was the shortest of weeks and the longest of weeks. Although James and I had Monday off, James had to be at work at 6 AM instead of 7 AM (those silly engineers, they decided to give the rest of the plant the week off so they could go in early and fix things all by themselves). That meant that Isla and James had to get up at 4:15 AM instead of 5:15 AM all four days this week. Since I didn’t have to be anywhere until 9 AM I wussed out on Friday and slept in while James made his own breakfast (half a box of fruity pebbles).
The Battle of Lake Itawamba
Or Redneck Adventures
Or DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME
We all had a lot of fun over the Fourth of July Holiday weekend. Last Fourth of July, Daddy and James got in trouble for making their own fireworks—acetylene and plastic bottles. This year they just shot bottle rockets at Scotty (Nichols), Zach (Rhyne) and Jamie (Graham) as they rode by on jet skis. To make it fair Daddy later rode over to the Nichols’ end of the lake to let them shoot at him with bottle rockets (Mama told him it was only fair). Scotty, Zach and Jamie didn’t do nearly as good of a job shooting bottle rockets as Daddy and James. Daddy and James had their bottle rockets loaded into pieces of pipe and were using torches to like them (for maximum turn around and reloading time). And yet Daddy wonders why the national security people always pick on him at airports? The next day we all went swimming in front of the house. Mama requested waves and so Daddy got on the jet ski and made some really nice, big waves for us. Then James and Daddy decided to try to pull the canoe behind the jet ski to see what would happen. James decided that his kneeboard is not only more fun, but definitely safer (I am inclined to agree). We had a lot of fun at the coffee house as usual. Galvin is planning on attending Delta State this Fall (he is transferring from ICC) so he will be in Cleveland with me! We also rescued another Blue Jay. As those of you who have known me for a length of time may remember, Carrie and I rescued a Blue Jay from the road in front of our house the summer after I graduated IAHS (Itawamba Agricultural High School). Because I am taking classes and teaching this summer I don’t really have time to feed the baby bird every two hours, so Mama and Daddy are taking care of it. It should be flying soon; it is a lot older and healthier than the one I raised. This one already has all of its feathers except for its tail and crest feathers (they hatch naked). They took him to the Coffee House and from the pictures it looked like he enjoyed it!
The third time’s the charm!
I made my second visit to my school last Friday and made a third visit yesterday. They are pretty sure that I most likely will be teaching 7th grade Language Arts. They showed me my room, which does not have a door, and informed me that they don’t use books to teach 7th grade Language Arts. It turns out that I will only have 70 kids (at the most). However, I will teach all 70 of them every day for 90 minutes! Their school day is divided into 8 periods. At 7:50 every morning every body participates in Reading Renaissance, which lasts until 8:35. Then there are eight-45-minute periods. Language Arts and Math are what they call blocked classes, which means the Math and Language Arts teachers get to teach for two periods straight through. This means I could have my first period class for 135 minutes (45 minute Reading Renaissance plus 90 minute class)! I have one 45-minute individual planning period and one 45-minute team planning period. I am on a team with a math teacher, a science teacher and a social studies teacher. We all teach the same 70 students. The team-planning period occurs when the children are either at PE/Band or Career Discovery and is when we meet with parents or plan interdisciplinary units for our 70 students. If any of this sounds confusing it is because it is!

The entrance to my classroom. 

classroom (as seen from teacher's desk) 

classroom (as seen from back row of student seats) 

Driving and Crying...

I don’t like being alone. I guess I have never really been alone before. When I was little Mum was always around and Carrie was only 18 months younger than me—so I don’t remember her not being there. When we moved to Fulton, I felt lonely at first, but Carrie and I just became closer and then eventually I made new friends—but Carrie was always my best friend. When I left for college that was the hardest part—leaving Carrie. I wasn’t scared of leaving Fulton, I had already moved once; I knew I could find more friends. Enter Meredith, Kelley, Marshall, Corey, Zach, Anna, Gordon, and a host of others. In college I was rarely lonely! There was always someone new to meet. Then Carrie came to college with me and I thought life couldn’t possible get better. Most of my friends all lived in the same house with me—officially just Miranda, Meredith and Carrie (plus an unofficial Kelley). People were always dropping in to visit us (Marshall and friends). We baked cookies and drank tea (just ask Meredith). Then just when I thought life couldn’t get any better, I met James. James and I have been best friends even before Carrie died, but he never would and never will replace her. In the past year I have been alone a lot. When you loose someone I think you need a lot of time to yourself and perhaps other people where just afraid to approach me. Now, I am constantly around people again and it is really comforting. I have missed being around people. I am not reclusive by nature. Sometimes I think the only times I am by myself now are when I am driving. I guess that is why I just burst into tears every other time I am alone in my car. I don’t like crying in front of people but there is a sense of anonymity about high way driving and crying. You probably don’t know the other drivers and they probably don’t know you. When I am by myself for more than 20-30 minutes I start feeling lonely. The loneliness reminds me that Carrie is gone and she is never coming back. I miss her so much all the time. But at those moments it seems unbearable and I just start crying. I was in the teachers’ lounge at Lafayette HS on Thursday making copies during lunch and this other teacher who was there for some Technology Discovery seminar asks me about my degrees—did I go to Ole Miss and who did I have as professors. It turned out that she and I had a professor in common. She then just randomly starts talking about how she lost her father during her last semester of college and she went on to say that she actually lost him fathers’ day weekend (the same weekend we lost Carrie). She then volunteered that she had decided to write about it and get it published. She said that it really helped her. It was strange because even though I hadn’t told her anything about my loss she was sitting there giving me suggestions about how to deal with my loss. We didn’t even exchange names! I thanked her, briefly explained my difficulties in dealing with loosing Carrie and she was very helpful and empathetic. All in all it was a very strange conversation, but it is probably why I am writing about driving and crying…

James and I 

Shout outs and whispers

Blogitis?
I started this blog partially because the Mississippi Teacher Corps thought they might decide to require it (but then they changed their mind and made it optional), but mostly because my college roommate M who lives in DC (www.MindCity.blogspot.com) started one and was starting to apply peer pressure. A few days after spelling my blog address for my mother she told me that she and my father both had started one each (www.AliSign.blogspot.com and www.mikeschuchs.blogspot.com). Who is next? Gran McLean? Shona? Granny Schuchs? Marianne? Mrs. Ann? Ruth? Emma? Iain? Jared? Kati? Granpa McLean? Aunt Ruthie? James? Only time will tell where this dreaded disease strikes next. I am not sure who I would place my money on. I would be surprised if James does it. As much as likes reading mine (to see what I say about him) and looking at the Coffee House website (to see if Mum has posted any new pictures of him) he is pretty good at resisting peer pressure (if it involves writing).
Queen of Procrastination for Life
Tonight they are crowning the new Miss. Mississippi. She (who probably also went to Ole Miss and either majored in Education or Journalism) will get to keep her title and crown for one year, my title lasts for life and can never be revoked, even if my roots start to show! I am staring a 15-page paper (a reflective journal on my experience this summer as a student teacher) in the face. I know if doesn’t sound that bad since it is supposed to be based on my experiences, but since it is for a grade, that means there are right and wrong answers. So as self-appointed Queen of Procrastination for Life, I am sitting here writing a blog (that is no longer required for my program), drinking a sugar free mocha frappuccino, and listening to music (so I don’t feel like I am by myself). It is funny how even something as simple as a cup of coffee can make me miss Carrie so much. James is wiring up a pool for one of his bosses today. Today is the 2-year anniversary of our first date and so he is taking me out to eat tonight. It is amazing how much can change in just two years.
Withdrawal symptoms
This is the first weekend James and I have not made the trek to the Coffee House in almost a month (since Kati’s graduation). It feels funny not rushing off to anywhere. I sort of feel like I am on vacation (but then this 15 page paper bites me on the leg and reminds me I am not). I hope the jet ski, the fat cat, Bosco and the fish don’t miss us too much this weekend. I am looking forward to spending the 4th of July on the lake! I just hope the rain stops by then, I am starting to get paler than Mum! I can’t wait to see what the food nazi is going to cook! I like going home. It is one of the few places you can go where people cook for you and clean up after you, well besides a hotel, but you have to pay for that! Just kidding, I also miss seeing my parents, pets and collection of stuff ever so lovingly stacked in about 10 huge plastic boxes sitting in my bedroom.
Places to go, people to meet
Well as much fun as this has been I now have to go e-mail y’all the link so you can’t complain about how bad I am at keeping in touch! Then I have a list of other things I need to do (before starting on my homework). The coffee has finally kicked in so I might actually get it all done before my date tonight.

Just another day in paradise.

Run Forest Run!
Okay! This is a new low for me—today I chased a kid down the hall to give him his rough copy, which I spent well over half an hour practically rewriting for him. The paper is the same one that I proofread for everyone else (the three-fourths that turned theirs in) yesterday, the one that is worth a test grade. He turned it in during first period, but after a quick glance at it I told him to come back after second period (he was only next door) on his way to the buses because it was obvious that his paper was going to take a lot of time to edit. I even told his second period teacher to please remind him to come see me after they dismissed class. My class got out a few seconds earlier than the class next door, so I waited near their door. I heard the teacher remind the kid to come see me as the class was dismissed. I called the kids’ name as he walked past me, but he either ignored me or didn’t hear me. As I followed him down the hall occasionally calling his name, I heard other students turn to him and say, “Hey Richard, Mrs. Carr is talking to you.” I finally caught up to him when he stopped to wait for the buses (I was wearing heels—he wasn’t) and he acted embarrassed that I had stopped him. This kid asked me three or four times during first period if I was through editing his paper yet. Now, when I chase after him to give him something that I spent more than half and hour of my life on, he acts like I am putting him out. I am not really sure what I am supposed to do when I give a kid every chance in the world and he doesn’t seem to want to take advantage of any of them!

To pass, or not to pass.

Should they stay or should they go...
I am torn over the kids we are teaching in summer school. I want to help them all, but that is impossible, especially since some of them don't want help. Around a fourth of the kids seem to have real difficulty mastering the concepts we discuss. The other three-fourths are just lazy--they failed during the school year because they had too many absences or they did not do any of their homework assignments. The lazy kids I have little sympathy for, but the kids that try very hard but just can't seem to get it are the ones that really tug at my heartstrings. It is hard for me to identify with them, so I am not really sure how to relate to them. It has become obvious that repeating the material over and over does not work. I have tried explaining the objectives from as many different angles as I can but I am still not reaching everyone. When asked to identify the verb in a given sentence the kids will guess every single word (if you let them) rather than thinking about the question and analyzing the sentence. Today I had to grade their persuasive writing papers. It was possibly the most frustrating experience of my life. It actually gave me a headache. You know it's bad when you have more writing on a student's paper than they do! The kids knew this assignment, which they have been working on for two class periods (and are supposed to be working on at home) is worth the same as a test grade, yet only a little over half of them turned in the assignment today. It just seems like they don’t care! It will be interesting to see how many of them end up passing. I am pretty sure the teacher I am working with will pass more of them than she should. Apparently, a lot of their previous teachers passed them on when they really shouldn’t have. However, if a kid fails does that not mean that I have failed that kid in some way? I do not want to fail any of my kids (both meanings of fail as used in the previous sentence) but what do I do when they just don’t care. How can I make them care? Or even worse how can I tell when they are just pretending to care but then they don’t put any thought into their assignments or don’t do their homework.

eeny, meeny, miney, mo

Never ever have I... (all you Ole Miss grads know what I am talking about)
I have never lived in an apartment before. Then again, I have never lived in the Delta before either. One of my biggest fears since finding out I was going to be placed in Cleveland was where James and I were going to live. James has a few more classes to take at Ole Miss in Oxford and he has a good job in Batesville, but Cleveland is about two hours away from Oxford and about an hour and a half away from Cleveland. It was hard to find a town that was appropriate distances and times away from work and school for both of us. I thought (for a nanosecond) about rooming with some of the other teacher corps members that will be teaching in Cleveland, and seeing James on weekends. However, I like seeing James everyday (duh! I married him!). So anyway, I have looked at rental property in four different towns, measured distances, timed times, and worried about where we could continue to live together (hence marriage-legal license to live together) but still not have to drive over and hour to work or school.
And the winner is....
Clarksdale is only about a 45-minute drive away from Cleveland and Batesville. It is around an hour and 15 minutes away from Oxford, but we don't have to go to classes as often (or as early) as we have to go to work. Everyone recommended to Country Club Apartments in Clarksdale. James and I settled on a two-bedroom townhouse type apartment. The complex has a decent pool and they are going to completely redo the inside of our apartment before we move in the last week of July. For those of you familiar with Oxford the townhouse is similar to One Anderson Place (the two floor townhouse things off of West Jackson Ave). So anyway, that is one less thing to worry about.
The self-proclaimed Queen (for life) of Procrastination has returned!
Tons of things to do and too tired to think. Teach class. Go to class. Do homework. Grade class work. Dream about being in class. Teach class. Go to class... you get the picture. I have to be at Oxford Middle School by 7:30 am, which means I have to leave my house (Water Valley, MS) at 7 am. We generally get done there by noon. I eat in my car on my way across town to my graduate school class that starts at one. We get out of class sometime between 3:30 and 5:00 pm. After class I try and workout if I am not exhausted, do any necessary grocery-shopping, bill paying, etc. Then I go home try and figure out what to eat (and what to feed James), attempt some cleaning, and then try to focus on my homework and reading assignments for class the next day while grading or preparing stuff for my mornings at Oxford Middle School. Here lately I have also been driving to my parents' every weekend to try and help out with the coffee house they started in memory of my sister (www.cchouse.us). This weekend James and I are planning on staying in Oxford so that we can relax a little bit (driving so much is very draining). I am really enjoying all of my classes, but I am definitely looking forward to a weekend off.

New Beginings

It's my Mississippi!
I was born July, 12 1981 at Jefferson Davis Memorial Hospital in Natchez, Mississippi. My mother is originaly from Scotland (hence my unusual first name) and my father was born and raised in Mississippi (some of his ancestors founded Mississippi). When I was in 8th grade my family moved to Fulton, MS in the northeast part of the state. Four and half years later I started my first semester as a freshman at the University of Mississippi in Oxford. I met my husband James in June of 2002 in Oxford, MS (he is from Water Valley, MS) and we were married in Natchez on March 8th, 2003. This summer I will move to the infamous Mississippi Delta to teach at a critical need school through the Mississippi Teacher Corps program. I have been placed at Eastwood Junior High in Cleveland, Mississippi. This summer I am student teaching at Oxford Middle School with Ms. Barnes's 7th and 8th grade summer school class. I am also taking classes towards my masters degree.

me An englandish taechr?
So, Friday I went and visited the school I will teach at this Fall. It is open plan! The school recently had short partition type walls put up to give a little bit more of a distinction between classrooms, and to give the teachers a little more privacy. However, the principal warned me that noise is still an issue. Yeah! I am not only supposed to keep control of my students, but I am also supposed to conduct my classes using my "library voice". Speaking of libraries, the principal would not let me see theirs, but told me it is very small. On a happier note, the principal was pleased to hear I had journalism experience. It seems she is interested in starting a school newspaper (it is a junior high school: 7th and 8th grades). No one knows whether I will teach 7th grade English or 8th grade English. Not that is matters right now because I can't pick my books up until July--they are otherwise in use right now. I am a little bit scared about teaching 7th or 8th grade English. I would feel more competent teaching Social Studies at any grade level or higher level English. I like literature a lot more than I like grammar. After so many years of trying to fine tune my journalistic English skills (English according to the Associated Press handbook) I have purposely erased all my understanding of traditional English grammar. Now, I am working on relearning it so that I can teach it correctly... ...lets hope I don't ruin their lives (and their understanding of basic English grammar).
James and Isla sitting in a tree...
Don't worry their is no baby carriage announcement coming anytime soon. No, we are just moving--once again! I still haven't unpacked everything from when we moved last June. It looks like we might be moving to Clarksdale or Marks or someplace like that. I am now an employee of the Cleveland School District, but my husband is employeed in Batesville, Mississippi. We both are students at the University of Mississippi in Oxford. I am a graduate student working on a Masters in Arts and Education through the Mississippi Teacher Corps program. My husband, James, has a few hours left toward his Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering. He will graduate May 2005, I will graduate May 2006, and then what? Who knows? Only time will tell.