My First Post/My First Day/The Road to Mississippi.

How did I end up going from being a New York City kid to a intern in the Mississippi Teachers Corps? Let me start at the beginning. My full name is Malik Ali Mandela Sanders. Very few people actually know the whole thing, welcome to the club. I was born and raised in Far Rockaway in Queens, NY. I lived in New Jersey for a little bit, which was different than what I was used to but still close to Manhattan, so i survived (that's really how i felt at the time). I decided that although I love New York, I also love adventuring and going new places.

When college time came, I decided to make a change and move to a new region. Largely based on the influence of my loving and supportive aunt and uncle who met and fell in love there, I attend Hampton University, a Historically Black University in Virginia. I visited family in the south but Hampton was definitely the most time I have ever spent in the region. I thought that was going to be difficult because i was a "Manhattanite", I lived for the city life.

My time at Hampton has been enjoyable so far. I made some friends, got used to the area and enjoyed life in general. While out in Virginia I got wind of the Southern Education Foundation (SEF) summer internship program. As I am a psychology major interested in creating a mentoring program in the future to help bring positive influences into the lives of children with few, any hands-on time with a non-profit organization could greatly help me to sharpen my vision. Also around 75% of my aunts and uncles are teachers or principals, which always gave me a healthy interest in education. I applied and was accepted. I had hopes of being placed in Atlanta, where I have some family and some friends. Instead I was placed in Mississippi.

My original reaction was concern because I knew next to nothing about Mississippi and had never been there. After talking things over with Ms. Vanessa Elkan of SEF and Mr. Ben Guest of the Mississippi Teachers Corps (MTC) and being convinced that I wouldnt be trapped in the middle of nowhere, I realized that this could be a great chance to have yet another different life experience. I accepted the placement.

Summer came and after a couple of days of orientation in Atlanta, where SEF is located (more on that in the next post) I headed to Mississippi for the first time ever. The University Of Mississippi (Ole Miss)  is a gorgeous school. The campus is huge and they have everything. There's even a school run hotel on campus and a small school owned airport (!) a couple of minutes away. I arrived on a Friday, met people, saw BB King sing the blues live on the Mississippi Delta Saturday, and hung out for the weekend in general.

Monday was the first day of school for me. The summer school program had already begun the week before, the interns and teachers already met each other, and a routine was being eased into. I was late. I did not really know what to expect, as the summer school program is for several different grades from several different schools in Sunflower County, Mississippi. The students range from middle school to 12th grade. Some of the students are 19. What do I look like ordering someone to do something, when they are basically the same age as me and the only real difference between us is that I'm not from around here and I'm wearing a tie? That was a large concern of mine.

The first day wasnt very dramatic. I am an intern, not a teacher. I learned how to handle my duties as a sort of runaround between teachers and administration. I finally got to see first hand the secret world of how teachers and administrators live (I remember watching a episode of "Recess" when I was younger, in which the kids attempted to learn what was really going on in the teachers lounge.) Its not as glamorous as I imagined it to be when I was a kid, even though im not sure why i felt that way. Apparently the teachers have a bread machine which im learning how to use. My goal for that is to make cinnamon raisin bread. Not the most exciting thing, but its now another thing I intend to learn this summer.

I sat in on my first class and got to see the teachers in action however, which was the most interesting part. The teachers in MTC are themselves being taught and learning about the process is very interesting. As the teachers progress through the program and even after they graduate, they observe the newer teachers in classroom settings and they progress with help from their peers. I'm still learning the details but it is a sight to see a teacher (lets call them "Teacher A") teaching students and teachers B, C, and D with handouts of their own participating somewhat and taking notes on the class and on Teacher A themselves. Its an intriguing program that I'm only beginning to see the inner workings of and there's a lot more to it than that.

I'm looking forward to learning about it.