Christina Jordan’s blog

A Letter to the Incoming First Year MTCers

Apr 23, 2009
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To Whom it May Concern:

Welcome to one of the most enlightening, fulfilling, and controversial service careers in the U.S. Teaching can be a very rewarding experience, and it will be even more rewarding to teach in disadvantaged areas of Mississippi. Though you may be unsure of your decision to join the Mississippi Teacher Corps at the moment, I challenge you to give this opportunity a chance to make a difference in your life, as well as the lives of your future students.

By becoming a teacher, you are apart of a group of people who shape the minds of younger generations. And though situations may not be ideal at your selected school, you have the opportunity to be a living example to your students of the benefits of achieving an adequate education. Additionally, by working for MTC, you have the opportunity to provide and implement more effective teaching methods than those offered by your school. I am a firm believer that if you have faith in your own power as a teacher, then you will be a successful teacher. So congratulations on your decision to become that catalyst for intellectual success that your students need. I look forward to seeing you in June!

Yours truly,

Mrs. Jordan

Human Development Index Maps for Mississippi

Mar 26, 2009
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Ben's Blog Requests for 10/30/08

Oct 19, 2008
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Topic #1: In response to how I feel about the second-years, I can honestly say that I haven't spent much time around all of them to make such a generalization. This summer was about the only time I was in close contact with all of the second-years; beyond that, any contact I have had with them has been limited to a few hellos in between class and the constant contact I've had with my mentor/twin sister, Crystal. Based off that, though, I can say that the second-years appear to be a very knowledgeable, responsible group of teachers. There is a noticeable difference in the way that our first-year group acts in comparison to the second-year's, but the gap in that difference is gradually closing. I think we've matured a lot as a whole, and we owe a lot of that maturity to the second years because of their guidance throughout summer school, and their continued guidance through our first year of teaching. And if there is ANYTHING to be grateful for, having a full-support staff of teachers who've just experienced the things we're experiencing is something to be grateful for. So, I am thankful and grateful for the support of our talented second-year group at MTC.

Topic #2: The last thing that I did that was not school-related was decorate my house for Halloween. I know that sounds crazy, but I've been so preoccupied the last couple of weeks with MTC, school, paperwork for school, and meetings that I've only had enough time to come home and crash. So, when I had the first opportunity to do so, I took out my newly bought Halloween decorations and started decorating. I enjoyed it so much, because it was the first time since I've started teaching that I wasn't thinking about school, the kids, or that paperwork that had a deadline on it. For once, I wasn't thinking about anything. I had a pure moment of bliss, with no distractions or stress or anxiety. I enjoyed myself so much that I've made a vow to myself to do some decorating for every holiday, just for the stress reliever. And I recommend that every teacher, new or not, find something that they enjoy doing and do it on a regular basis. It's the perfect supplement to taking a mental health day, so you feel fully functional and unnerved between your days off. This is one of my prescriptions for maintaining a healthy mind amid the madness (that's free of charge).

Free-Spirited Writing

Jul 22, 2008
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First, I would like to give a disclosure: The feelings expressed here are not representative of the beliefs of MTC, its administrators, or affiliates. These are my own thoughts, representative of my own beliefs and opinions, being expressed in the form of free (spirited) writing.

You want to know what scares me most? I used to be afraid that I'd be alone for the rest of my life. Then, I accepted that "fact" for a year, before meeting the love of my life and marrying him a year later. Before that, I was afraid that I wouldn't amount to anything, having wasted four years' education in an expensive financial institution/college ($30,000 annually) to be left with what I considered to be nothing: no job options, no connections, and student loans to repay. (Depressing, huh? It gets worse...) And before that, I was afraid that I wouldn't get to leave Mississippi and attend my first college of choice in Atlanta; thus, being trapped in Mississippi and forced to deal with its backwards ways of thinking for the rest of my life (Currently, my husband and I live in Ridgeland, MS).

God has not given us the spirit of fear, but I've noticed that fear has had an important impact in my decision-making over the past four years. And, of course, it was not fear alone that influenced my decisions. It was usually coupled with it's best friends: anxiety, stress, and depression.

Now, I see my fears as blessings in disguise. You see, I have a profound belief that everything happens for a reason. And I am convinced that my then defense mechanism: fear, has began to manifest itself as faith. Going back to those things that frightened me. It's okay to be afraid. Fear is a normal emotion, but one that should be dealt with with special attention; otherwise, that fear would manifest itself as one or all of its other allies. As I look back on those times, I realize that being afraid took more work and more energy than having faith. In essence, I came to the same result (as was meant to happen), but being afraid made the journey miserable instead of exciting. I did not realize my blessings, and was afraid because they were not in line with what I wanted for myself.

My fear is on another level: now I "fear" that I will not recognize God's blessings and use them to show His light, not only for myself but for others as well. I'm afraid that I will continue with this vicious cycle of fear, instead of continuing to believe in myself and having faith. I'm afraid of continuing to live in fear.

God gives us just what we need. And for that reason, I try using every moment of every day to see what His plan is for me, knowing that it is better than my plan for myself. That's why I'm here: to do God's will by educating and enlightening His people to want a better life for themselves and to use those blessings they reap to help others.

This may sound easy, but it's definitely a challenge; however, I'm ready to reap the benefits that faith provides and fear deprives.

Are you ready for that challenge?

This Summer...

Jul 22, 2008
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This summer, I worked as a summer school teacher for Holly Springs High School, teaching Biology I to five students. At first thought, I did not believe working with such a small classroom size during a two-month period (where the students & teachers are overwhelmed with work) would be representative of the regular school year. I did, however, believe that the experience would be a great precursor to the regular school year, giving myself and other teachers the opportunity to deal with classroom situations on a small scale, before having to deal with those same problems with a much larger classroom size. So, I believe that being a summer school teacher in itself was very helpful in ironing out those "wrinkles" before the Fall.

Another aspect of this summer that I found helpful was having 2nd and 3rd year teachers, who have been where we've been, helping us to make the same transitions to teaching as they have. They have been readily available for any and all questions relating to the classroom. They even give advice on how to maintain one's sanity outside of the classroom, so that one's work and personal life will be manageable and exciting. If there's order in your life, there's order in how you teach your students about life; if there's chaos in your life, there's most likely chaos in your classroom. I am very grateful for being able to learn these lessons.

That was the good. Now, here's the bad and the ugly. What I found most displeasing about my experience this summer had more to do with an obvious disorganization within MTC itself. I understand that there are constant changes being made for the betterment of the program, but sometimes I strongly felt that the needs of the teachers were lost in translation. My suggestions for improvement with MTC are as follows:

1. The teachers should be mailed all of the information they need to know about the program, as well as all the information they need to know about applying for acceptance into and financial aid from Ole Miss. Teachers who have been out of college for over a year should be especially advised about how to complete their application processes, considering it may be slightly different from teachers entering the program right out of college.

2. MTC should be as punctual with its deadlines (Ex: administering stipends) as the teachers are expected to be with their deadlines.

These are the problems that I personally experienced with MTC (and am currently recovering from). I dedicated a lot of time and energy- that I rarely had- trying to deal with the aforementioned problems. MTC itself is challenging and time consuming; with the other problems combined, I had a headache for a full month and a half (I stopped caring after that).

Now, these are just suggestions! But I guarantee that if solved, the next incoming teachers would be able to focus on the thing that really matters: teaching effectively.

This Summer...

Jul 22, 2008
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This summer, I worked as a summer school teacher for Holly Springs High School, teaching Biology I to five students. At first thought, I did not believe working with such a small classroom size during a two-month period (where the students & teachers are overwhelmed with work) would be representative of the regular school year. I did, however, believe that the experience would be a great precursor to the regular school year, giving myself and other teachers the opportunity to deal with classroom situations on a small scale, before having to deal with those same problems with a much larger classroom size. So, I believe that being a summer school teacher in itself was very helpful in ironing out those "wrinkles" before the Fall.

Another aspect of this summer that I found helpful where having 2nd and 3rd year teachers, who have been where we've been, helping us to make the same transitions to teaching as they have. They have been readily available for any and all questions relating to the classroom. They even give advice on how to maintain one's sanity outside of the classroom, so that one's work and personal life will be manageable and exciting. If there's order in your life, there's order in how you teach your students about life; if there's chaos in your life, there's most likely chaos in your classroom. I am very grateful for being able to learn these lessons.

That was the good. Now, here's the bad and the ugly. What I found most displeasing about my experience this summer had more to do with an obvious disorganization within MTC itself. I understand that there are constant changes being made for the betterment of the program, but sometimes I strongly felt that the needs of the teachers were lost in translation. My suggestions for improvement with MTC are as follows:

1. The teachers should be mailed all of the information they need to know about the program, as well as all the information they need to know about applying for acceptance into and financial aid from Ole Miss. Teachers who have been out of college for over a year should be especially advised about how to complete their application processes, considering it may be slightly different from teachers entering the program right out of college.

2. MTC should be as punctual with its deadlines (Ex: administering stipends), as the teachers are expected to be with their deadlines.

These are the problems that I personally experienced with MTC (and am currently recovering from). I dedicated a lot of time and energy- that I rarely had- trying to deal with the aforementioned problems. MTC itself is challenging and time consuming; with the other problems combined, I had a headache for a full month and a half (I stopped caring after that). Now, these are just suggestions! But I guarantee that if solved, the next incoming teachers would be able to focus on the thing that really matters: teaching effectively.

Picture Me Doing More Teaching!

Jul 15, 2008
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And a great job at it, if I don't say so myself. Everyone who knows me knows that I am my worst critic. So, when I say that I've improved, I must have been motivated to say so. Need proof? I have 50 minutes and 18 seconds of footage (footage that is STILL painful to watch...read "Picture Me Teaching" for more info) to prove it!

The video recording of my lesson for July shows that not only has the delivery and break-down of my content improved, but my entire demeanor in front of the classroom has changed. I appear more comfortable and confident and I do a sort of "half-turn" when writing on the board, so my students don't even dare talk lest they want to see my evil stare (moo ha ha ha!). Also, my students appear more comfortable interacting with me when I ask questions; whereas before, I had to randomly call on students for participation.

Another improvement I noticed was in my transition from different activities during the class period. Before, I would leave too much room for classroom management problems because the students weren't working while I was getting prepared for the next topic/activity in the lesson. Now, I can notice a definite change in the flow of my lesson, where free time is a minimum and working/learning is are occurring. I'm still a little shaky in this area, but I have almost eliminated any down-time from my class periods.

All in all, I'm on my way to being what I consider an ideal teacher!

Number One Improvement Need: Questioning Techniques

Jul 14, 2008
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Okay, okay. I'll be the first to admit that I can be a beast at arguing a particular point, and a house cat when it comes to formulating the correct questions to support that point. The basis of my teaching stems from my own accounts of the relevance of the material. And I just ask my students over and over (and over & over...) again, whether or not they comprehend what I've stated. So, how do I know my students understand? Most of the time, I don't know. And most of the time, they don't understand.

For the past two weeks, I've been banging my head against the wall trying to think of what I was doing wrong. I mean they SEEM to understand, but their grades would show a definite gap in learning. I could not fathom how to bridge that gap. Finally, I realized that my problem was not how I presented the material; it wasn't even about how I explained the material. My problem arose from the fact that I did not know how to ask the right questions.

Asking leading questions - or questions that direct the responder to the answer you're trying to get to while eliminating alternative answers - was the answer to my problems! I have seen a grave improvement in my students' understanding and recollection of the material, since using this questioning technique. In seeing the effectiveness of using leading questions, I plan to integrate them throughout each of my lesson plans.

Three Important Thoughts from my Team Leaders

Jul 14, 2008
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My team leader for the second session of summer school at Holly Springs High School, Ashley Johnson (aka- AJ), is awesome! She's just as great as - if not better than - my self-proclaimed OCD team leader from the first summer session (thanks J. Fiel!). Truthfully, I have learned much of the same aspects of teaching from both teachers, which reiterate the importance of mastering these skills:

1. The majority of teaching is redundant: An effective teacher teaches a particular topic in different ways, to cater to the different learning styles of the students. So, the material must be broken down as much as possible and taught at least two different ways each class period, to ensure each student understands the material.

2. Rarely put your back to your students: This is pretty obvious, but very hard to implement when you get into the groove of teaching or when writing on the board; however, this is very important to master because it could possibly cause a classroom management issue. If you can't see your kids, you can't see what they're doing. Which, leads to numero tres!

3. Do not punish your student for a behavior you did not see him/ her do: After a while, you will develop a knack for knowing who is talking as if you've got eyes in the back of your head. However, until you grow that sixth sense, it's important not to fully rely on its accuracy (or lack thereof, in my case) in disciplining your students. Doing so will cause an uncomfortable classroom environment, and could lead to future classroom management problems.

Thanks guys! I'll continue to work on these problem areas, and hopefully I'll be just as great a teacher as Ms. Johnson and Mr. Fiel.