Random School Moments #1.

One day a girl got in trouble and had to come to the office. I'm gonna call her "girl 1." The story was that the night before she sent another girl a threatening text message. The text message said that girl 2 better be ready because not only was girl 1 going to fight her, but that was the day both of them were gonna get kicked out of summer school. Girl 2 brought this to the attention of the school. Girl 1claimed the other girl threatened her and it was girl 2's fault. The administration had read the text messages and knew exactly what was said. There were no threats from girl 2, but there were blatant and obvious threats from girl 1 who already had a past history of getting in trouble. The summer school program is more strict then the regular year and she was going to be removed from the program.

When her mother arrived, she was upset, which is understandable. She argued against the decision, but the rules were clear on the situation. The mother brought up a point which only made the situation worse. She asked how the school even knew it was really girl 1. The number that the threatening texts came from was the emergency contact number listed in the school information. The texts actually came from the mothers cell phone. At that point there was not much to argue against that. The girl was removed from the program and the school found out that girl 2 was not the only girl to receive threatening messages that night. The school avoided multiple problems by reacting the way they did.

That is a picture of some of the teachers messing around at the Ole Miss golf course driving range after work one day. I enjoy sometimes hanging out with the teachers, who are only a couple of years older then me. One day I sat in on a "role play" which is one method of preparing teachers in the Mississippi Teachers Corps (MTC) for extreme situations. A "role play" is when after school a bunch of teachers sit in a room pretending to be students while one of them plays the teacher. Teachers who graduated MTC and are involved in training them or "Team Teachers" plan disturbances that the teacher in front has no idea about. While the teacher is teaching, something happens and the teacher is graded on their reaction in a couple of categories afterwards.

This was an interesting, less formal, and even fun exercise. A couple of situations was brought up during the role play I sat in on. There was a girl fight, immature noise making, a rowdy parent coming to the class, and more. I even got involved in one where we were going to the cafeteria for lunch and I was hit in the head by, and ended up chasing after one of the Team teachers down the hallway. It gives the teachers pretending to be students a chance to loosen up after classes are over and learn how to deal with situations that may come up later. It was very interesting.

These were some random school moments that caught my attention. Ill be sure to add more on here later. I decided to end this blog post with my favorite picture done by a student so far.

Memphis A.K.A. Civil Rights & BBQ Sauce.

I had never been to Memphis before. My fellow interns and I (minus Kalina who went home for the weekend and plus Andre, an in intern from the Mississippi Innocence Project, which fights for the freedom of people who have been wrongly incarcerated) heeded the words of Mr. Ben Guest (the boss man) and packed up and went to Memphis for a Saturday.

 

First stop? Ribs. Blues City Cafe on Beale Street was supposed to be top tier so we headed that way. In the end I felt they were good but didnt live up to all the hype around them. Next we looked around Beale Street, the most famous street in Memphis. Its a long strip of bars, restaurants, clubs, and shops that is closed off to cars. It looked interesting and we made a note to come back later. Onto the next stop and the main focus of our trip.

This is the Lorraine Motel, the motel that Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in. But wait... whats this?

The National Civil Rights Museum is built into the motel! The idea was surprising at first but makes a lot of sense. The museum was a comprehensive look into the struggle from the slave ships to the end of the Civil Rights Movement and into the future of civil rights. You walk though and see pictures, documents, and videos documenting the struggle. It is a great experience that I highly recommend. I even got my father a book from the gift shop. They directly banned the taking of pictures so I only took a couple.

I found the burnt carcass of the bus to be visually striking. The second, less clear picture is a look into room 306, the room Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King was staying in before his assassination. The picture came out badly due to a glare off of the protective glass, but I figured it was still worth adding. The museum also has a second part across the street.

The window that James Earl Ray allegedly fired the shot that killed the unofficial leader of the Civil Rights Movement from. A powerful view. In this part of the museum system there is information about the detective work on, the actual mechanics of, the chase after, and the court case following the assassination. There is also information on and even some evidence pointing towards other theories on the assassination. They do not say for sure what happened, but leave it up to the museum goers to decide themselves. You have to go and see for yourself.

After we went to Gus's World Famous Fried Chicken for dinner. Below you can see the difference Beale Street at noon and in the evening when people are beginning to head there for the night.

Waxing Philosopic.

I had another day of panels after two days at the school. We met with Mr. Germain McConnell in the first, Mr. Richard Boyd in the second, and Mr. Austin Walker, Mr. Hunter Taylor, and Ms. Golda Sharpe, who are teachers who have recently graduated from the Mississippi Teachers Corps (MTC) in the last. This was not as intense as the days of panels back in Atlanta (panels from 8am to 9pm with dinner, lunch, and miscellaneous 15 minute breaks between) but was also eye opening.

The panel I enjoyed most was the teachers, of course. They spoke of the trials, tribulations, and joys of the program. It was kind of funny to me because I met two of the teachers before around the school. They graduated from the program but are still involved in different ways. Having a panel with people I interact with on the daily was more amusing then with people I had never actually met before. I found myself asking more abstract questions. Questions like "If you had to pick the one most important aspect in a person that creates a great teacher, what would it be?" Thought provoking questions without actual concrete objective answers.

I enjoyed waxing philosophic (it means talking philosophically, the term came to mind so I used it) about different methods of education, positively influencing kids, and life in general. There was of course different answers to the "most important aspect" question. However there was a common theme that one has to care. If the kids can tell that you dont give a damn, then they have no motivation to either. It somewhat had the feel of an open, philosophical discussion. I enjoyed it and I didnt really have more questions for them at the end of the session, I just wanted to see more of the MTC program.

Also I decided that Im going to hold back on specifics on the actual summer school and the goings on there as of now, because I currently spend most of my time behind the scenes helping things to run smoothly. I have yet to sit in on enough classes and clubs to fairly evaluate the situation. Im settling down into the specifics of my position and beginning to figure time to get into every aspect of the school, so it would not be fair to me or my readers (if they exist) to voice opinions I know are going to change very soon. Basically the MTC internship has me waxing philosophic in general. Theres going to be a lot of school information in next weeks blogs, however. Also cinnamon raisin bread was made (see post #1), time for a more difficult goal.... Banana nut bread.

My Favorite SEF Orientation Panel.

I found about about the Mississippi Teachers Corps (MTC) through the Southern Education Foundation (SEF). The Southern Education Foundation is a not-for-profit foundation created in 1937 with the main goal of promoting quality education for traditionally disadvantaged students, including the poor and African Americans. SEF has a Southern Education Leadership Initiative (SELI) in which college students from Southern states have an opportunity to learn about the historical and contemporary issues of Brown and to become involved in effective efforts to reform and improve Southern education.

What the SELI program actually does is bring interns to Atlanta for an orientation on issues in education, past and present, then send the interns out for a summer internship with other not-for-profit organizations. During the orientation many speakers come and talk with the interns in panels of three people with a similar topic. From 8am until roughly 9pm for a little less then a work week with breaks for lunch and 15 minutes between each panel we are in a professional setting, learning and asking questions. I drank coffee for the first time in years in order to keep up.

The panels are very informative, and with issues from philanthropy to the role of courts and policy makers in achieving equity being discussed there is something of interest for everyone. This blog is on my favorite panel of the orientation. My favorite panel was the MTC panel, which was entitled "Insights into Rural Education in Mississippi."

It may seem cheesy now that I'm interning here, but its true. A movie named Lalee's Kin was shown first. It showed the struggle of one matriarchal family to survive, and one school to do the same. It was powerful, beautiful, and depressing in different combinations throughout. I highly recommend the movie. Afterwards the personal stories started.

Mr. Ben Guest who was mentioned in my first post, along with two MTC alumni, Ms. Ashley Johnson and Ms. Danielle Hall all told stories about their favorite students. There was a presentation with pictures of the students and classes. The stories were even more poignant because there were people telling their own stories right there, directly to us. All had sad parts, some had semi sad endings, all were inspirational. One of the presenters began to cry while telling her story. Stories that inspire the mind and break the heart.

I found the MTC session to be the most moving and affecting panel during the orientation, and since it affected me the most personally, It became my favorite. See? No bias there. The next day I headed out to Mississippi.

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.