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.