Cotton Land

Sleeping students

2006-12-03T15:50:00.000-08:00

On friday during my 6th period class, half of students slept through my lesson. I didn't bother trying to wake them up because they were all consistent trouble makers in that class. The kids that were awake got a lot more out of the class becuase their were no disruptions. I've come to realization that I have to try my best to help the kids that really want it as opposed to wasting valuable time trying to get my class under control. I guess I'll go with that strategy. Give demerits to sleeping students and keep teaching the kids that really care.

Plans for next year???

2006-12-03T15:26:00.000-08:00

At this point I'm not to sure what I plan to do next year. Law school, teaching, Law school part-time and teaching, or maybe I might stay in Mississippi? Who knows... I'm really interested in teaching in a school for incarcerated teens. I think those kids would take their education a lot more seriously than some of the kids I currently teach. All of those kids have already hit rock bottom and really want to get an education so that they can assimilate themselves back into society as a productive citizen. At least I hope so.. I'm extremely frustrated with the lack of effort from my students. I've tried everything I can think of to motivate them, however, this generation of kids, in my opinion, have no respect or sense of urgency in regards to education. They aspire to be lawyers, doctors and business owners etc, but they think that it's just going to happen. It actually pisses me off the way they are so arrogant and cocky about what there going to become when they don't even realize that their illiterate and that there is no possible chance of them becoming a professional doctor or lawyer when they can barely read and write!

Memory

2006-09-03T09:30:00.000-07:00

A few days ago, I glanced out the window of our house and saw two girls playing football with two boys. The two boys live directly across the street and the two girls live adjacent to me. It was awesome to see them having so much fun! I was tempted to go out and play with them, but decided to watch TV instead. I definitely should have gone out their and asked them if I could play. That moment reminded me of the first time I went outside to play football. I was about 8 years old at the time, and there were a dozen kids playing on our street. I begged my grandmother persistently for about an hour to let me go play. She finally let me go, but warned me to stay on our block. I knew why she was so overprotective of me. Some of those kids were 5 or six years older than me. The main reason she wanted me to stay clear of them is because some of them sold crack in the neighborhood. “You’ll see what ends up happening to them,” she said. “It may take you many years to understand, but you will.” She was right. I was so fortunate to have a guardian that realized that keeping me away from my environment would protect me. Most of my students don’t have those types of parents or guardians. Being poor and uneducated doesn’t mean or shouldn’t be an excuse for allowing your kids to get into trouble. It also shouldn’t be an excuse for them not to get an education! My grandma wanted me to do much better than the eleventh grade education she had. Sometimes I think that some of the parents of the children I teach don’t want their kids to succeed. To be continued……

First Few Weeks

2006-09-03T09:25:00.001-07:00

Things were a lot different the first few weeks of school this year as opposed to last year. First, I decided not to coach. This has allowed me to have time to be a more efficient and creative teacher. I have been able to really prepare and review my lessons each day. I will also be able to participate in some after school tutoring which will begin this week. Don’t get me wrong! I really miss coaching, but teaching English and coaching is just suicide. The amount of work you have to put in unparallel with other subjects. Let’s see. My principal came into my room during the first week of school which I thought was amazing. Last year, I didn’t see an administrator in my room until several months into the school year. The kids at Chambers are the same as the students I taught at Murrah. There is one difference though. The students at Chambers are treated like young adults and not like dogs in a kennel. My classroom management is pretty much the same. The kids are trying to see if I really care about them or not. In a way, I’m testing them as well. I told them the first day that the door of trust swings both ways.

First Few Weeks

2006-09-03T09:25:00.000-07:00

Unit/Book that worked

2006-06-27T14:48:00.000-07:00

One book in particular that my students loved was "Nigger", which is the autobiogragphy of Dick Gregory. I was a little scared of how the principal might respond to this book, therefore I decided not to include it in any of my lesson plans. Let me tell you it was well worth the gamble. My students absolutely fell in love with this book. Parents went out to buy the book for most of my students even though I had a class set and didn't require my students to buy the book. Anyway. My students related to many of the struggles that Mr. Gregory endured throughout his childhood. I completely took advantage of this. I had my students write an autobiography about themselves. As we were reading through the book I had them thinking about how their lives were similar to Mr. Gregory's. This sort of took the place of a pre-writing activity becuas ethey would use the information for an essay I would have them write after completing the book. I decided to teach what and how to write a compare and contrast essay. Since they had jotted down notes about Mr. Gregory's struggles it was easy for them to understand what comparing and contrasting is. After reading the drafts, I could tell that my students were extremely engaged in this assignment. They also told me that it was tough talking about their personal lives, but enjoyed writing about something important. There is no doubt that I will have my students read this book next year.

Corporal Punishment

2006-06-27T14:24:00.000-07:00

When I first arrived in Mississippi I was strongly against the use of corporal punishment in public schools. Luckily, I was placed in Jackson where corporal punishment is illegal, but this is not to say that it doesn't occur because it does. I always knew that football coaches were aggressive towards players and occasionally a coach will grab your face mask or shove you, but I wasn't prepared for the physical abuse that I saw as a football coach. The first incident (The only incident I will discuss) occured when one of our players failed a class for the first term. This player was called into the football office by our head coach and was infomred that he would have to face some sort of punishment for failing to pass this particular class. The coach closed our office door and told the player to place both his hands on the wall. The coach preceded to whip him with a leather weight lifting belt. I thought to myself "Ths isn't legal". I didn't say anything to the coaches or the principal about it. I probably should have considering the trouble that lied ahead for me. The player didn't tell anyone about it. The entire team heard him get whipped and no one protested it. I guess it was just excepted. I find it hard to believe that the principals didn't know anything about it since they speak and know each other pretty well. This upcoming year, I will be teaching in the Delta where corporal punishment is permissible. I am still strongly against corporal punishment and will have to be very careful on expressing my opinions on it. My principal is very progressive and will hopefully repsect my views on it. I do believe in a child getting spanked by their parent, probably because I was spanked, but I still believe that giving a principal the power to paddle a kid is to excessive and gives to much room for abuse to occur. I am hoping that I don't have to witness a child get paddled. I also plan on completely changing around my classroom management plan so that I can at least attempt to discipline kids without sending them to the office. If they are sent to the office, they will most likely get paddled.

If I could go back to last June!!!

2006-06-19T15:28:00.000-07:00

If I had the opportunity to go back in time and do something different during my first year, I would have opted to not coach football. Coaching affected a myriad of things both inside and outside of school for me. An English teacher has a much greater paperwork load than any other teacher. It was almost impossible to grade papers in a timely fashion and get them back to my students with good feedback. I could have done a much better job at that if I had time after school. In addition to not being able to edit papers the way I wanted to, I also couldn’t hold any after school tutoring. This was frustrating for me because I knew that many of my kids needed more instruction.
My sleeping patterns were inconsistent during the week due to coaching. Sometimes I wouldn’t get home until 8:30 P.M. This leaves very little time to eat, shower and get ready for the next day. I did it, but it almost killed me. Overall, I had a pretty rough first year, it would have been so much easier if I had that additional time after school. And by the way, practices were on average lasted about 3 hours and could sometimes go even longer.
There were also a lot of ethical concerns that I had to deal with. I was asked several times to talk to teachers about grade changes and was even asked to change grades. I managed to avoid accepting those requests, but at a price. I slowly disconnected myself to the coaching staff which I’m glad I did. I had to fail one of the star players on our football team. He’ll have to take the class over during the summer and I really hope he passes. If not, the head coach we’ll probably go to the principal for a grade change since I’m no longer at the school. All of these factors that I’ve discussed have made it very easy for me to decline the coaching job I was offered at Simmons for the upcoming year.

Five Pieces of Advice for the 1st years

2006-06-19T15:24:00.000-07:00

Five Pieces of Advice

Implement your classroom management plan immediately!! Your classroom management will set the tone for the entire year. If you don’t establish order and discipline, your students will think that they can do whatever they want. Keep in mind that most of your kids will come from homes that are unstructured. In addition to this, you must also make sure that you are consistent and objective when it comes to disciplining students. In other words, don’t show favoritism toward particular students.
Stay organized!! Get a filing cabinet and lots of manila folders. Every worksheet and lesson plan that you create should be filed. This makes it a lot easier to look and see what you taught on particular day and how you assessed the objectives taught etc etc. Keep your grade book organized and neat. This will avoid any hassles when entering grades at the end of the term or semester. I would suggest keeping your grades on some type of software that can calculate percentages for you. If you do decide to do this, make sure you keep a hard copy in case your computer crashes!
Develop relationships with your students. Don’t be impersonal. Ask your kids how their weekend was and if they did anything interesting. You don’t have to be their best friend, but just show some interest in them. Doing this will make your classroom management more effective. Kids will respect you more if you have a relationship with them. Another way you can develop relationships is by attending events that students participate in or attend such as sporting events, church, school plays etc etc.
Don’t coach a sport during your first year! The first year of teaching is very stressful. You are trying to adjust to the everyday functions of the school your in. You don’t have a years worth of lesson plans etc etc. Coaching a sport is rewarding, but will consume a lot of your time. You will probably be getting home at 7 or 8 in the evening!! It can be done, but I’d advise against it.
Sleep!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We have all heard that adults need at least 7 or 8 hours of sleep each night. However, most adults get less than 7 hours of sleep. Get your rest. Don’t stay up late doing work. If you organize your time, there is no reason to not get enough rest. You’ll burn out pretty quickly if you consistently get minimal sleep. This is what happens to most of your students. They don’t get enough rest and as a result, don’t have the energy to focus on learning.

Trip to Hollandale

2006-06-12T19:12:00.000-07:00

Last friday I went to Hollandale to sign my contract and speak to my principle about the upcoming year. I can see that Mrs. Johnson is an excellent principle that is organized, intelligent and has high expectations for both her teachers and students. As soon as I sat down to sign my contract she asked me what I wanted in my classroom for the upcoming year. I immediately had a number of things on my mind.

* 30 dry erase boards for students to use during class
* 30 Dictionaries
* 30 Thesaurus's
* Portable Smartboard

She immediately told me that everything I requested would be in my room by the end of the month. One of her requirements of me was that I keep my self updated with current discussions regarding education. She encouraged me to challenge her with any ideas that I may have about instruction and any other issues within the school. I said to myself "This is my kind of principle." I am really excited about working at Chambers. I still have a bad taste in my mouth because of my experiences at Murrah. I spent so much time dealing with those idiots that call themselves principles. I learned alot though. Especially the fact that its really easy to act like you know what your doing as an administrator. Until I see otherwise, I have lost faith in principals. There jobs seem pointless to me, however, Mrs. Johnson may prove otherwise. I've decided that I'm most likely not going to coach, due to the fact that I want to focus on helping out kids academically.

"What a difference individual attention makes"

2006-06-12T18:51:00.000-07:00

Last week while Aaron Thompson was teaching, I decided to take one of our students down to the library to review some material. Since we are teaching one class of Spanish each day I decided to use that time to work one on one with students. It was so beneficial working with Darcel. We all had preconceptions about her being a potentially weak student with learning disabilities, however, I was surprised at how incredibly bright she was. I had her read aloud to me and answer some reading comprehension and context clue questions. She read pretty fluently, but could use some more practice. I preceeded to go through each question that Darcel got wrong. In addition, I also had her edit an autobiography she wrote. I was amazed to see that she really understood the mistakes she had make after reading over her work (I made her read it aloud!). She admitted that she doesn't read over anything that she writes. We all initially thought that Darcel was one of those students that was lazy and didn't care. Her problem is that she stays up late on the phone and doesn't really get discipline at home. I decided that our group would take turns working with students on reading and writing. So far, the first years say that it makes a tremendous difference.

Classroom Managment Blog

2006-02-26T15:32:00.000-08:00

Morning detention has been an effective tool to deter my students from misbehaving in class. Since I have to coach after school, I can't assign detention at the end of the school day. My students hate getting to school at 7:45 A.M. when they normally could arrive at 8:15 A.M. If a student doesn't show up to detention, they will be assigned to I.S.S. (In-school suspension), which they hate even more. In addition to assigning detention, talking to a student one on one also works. This allows me the oppurtunity to try and find out why a student is misbehaving and what can be done about it. For the most part, I've discovered that my trouble makers are generally good kids that certainly know how to behave. Sometimes these methods don't work, but they've been consistently effective.

Class Discussion

2006-02-26T15:28:00.000-08:00

Toward the end of one of my English classes, I decided to have an open discussion about things my students didn’t like at school (Murrah High School). A couple of girls openly told the entire class that they had been harassed by a security guard at the school. They specifically said that this security guard has made inappropriate comments toward them and many other female students. One 14-year-old student said, “I just don’t feel comfortable around him. He looks and talks to me in a weird way.” The girls also stated that they felt that the security guard used his authority inappropriately to enforce the dress code. “He asks me to open up my jacket to see what kind of shirt I’m wearing,” said one student. “He stairs at my chest to see how far down my shirt goes.”

I asked the girls if they had told anyone about this. They responded by telling me that no one would believe them and that they were afraid of getting into trouble. I was hesitant to give them any guidance as far as what to do. In fact, I’m not to sure what I should do.

Battle with administration

2005-12-02T14:50:00.000-08:00

This week I broke up one of the worst fights I’ve ever seen. One of my students was cut above they eye and will have to get stitches. I was extremely angry and upset about how the administration and security handled the situation. As the student was bleeding, the first thing that the assistant principle asked him for was his name. He didn’t even have the decency to ask if the young man was ok. No wonder these kids don’t respect the principals at our school. The administration is to busy focusing on what punishment the students should get as opposed to being concerned with their safety. In my opinion, the assistant principal should have been more concerned with Keavin’s physical injury. I handled the situation in that matter. The only thing I was concerned with was stopping the bleeding and making sure Keavin calmed down. The next day, I sat down with the assistant and head principal to vent my anger. I can’t say that I was impressed on their comments involving the incident. This incident has undermined my respect toward the principals. To be continued

Deductive vs. Inductive

2005-09-29T17:38:00.000-07:00

Since the start of the school year I have used both deductive and inductive instruction. My school is on a block schedule so each of my classes last about 90 minutes. I quickly found out that I must use both of these instructional strategies in every class. I tried to use direct instruction for most of the class period and it was absolutely killed me. 15 or 20 minutes of direct instruction is the maximum that I can do for a few reasons. First, the kids begin to lose focus after about 12-15 minutes. I take notes everyday on when my students begin to lose focus and it is consistently around the same that they become restless. If I am really boring them, it takes about 10 minutes. I constantly have to think of ideas to keep them engaged and excited about the material that they are being taught. This has helped me come to the conclusion that sometimes I am going to have bad days.
Inductive instruction has helped me supplement my direct instruction. I use this instruction to connect the kids to the material that we’re learning. I ask questions about how the material relates to their life so they can feel some connection to the material. I do this by asking questions that extract their prior knowledge of certain material. For example, we are reading the autobiography of Dick Gregory, which tells the story of a black male that had to overcome incredible odds to attend college and become one of the most influential civil rights activists in the 1960s. In conclusion, I know I will have to use both of these strategies to make my lessons interesting for my students

Stressed

2005-09-28T18:00:00.000-07:00

I am so busy. I barely have time to do anything. Getting home at 8 p.m. every night is taking its toll on me. I love coaching football, but I really can't wait until the season is over and I have some free time for myself. I try to have at least one night during the weekend that I reserve for myself in order to keep my sanity. There are so many kids that use some extra help after school. Because of coaching I can't give them the time. Uhhhh. That really upsets me. I do have some good news to cheer about. Millsaps will be providing some reading tutors for my high school in a few weeks. That will be so beneficial to alot of my kids. With Belhaven College and Milsaps a few minutes, I think that my high school should try and get some college students to volunteer for after-school tutoring. It would help out our teachers a great deal and give some college students an opportunity to help out the community.

Evaluation of Classroom Managment Plan

2005-09-10T10:20:00.000-07:00

So far my classroom manaement plan has been very effective. Miraculously, I have not sent a single student to the principal or called any parents because of misbehavior. I think this is due to the fact that al of my students repsect me and realize that I care about their achievement in the classroom. I don't know why this has been so easy. Some of my colleagues have told me that being a male and a football coach definitely has an affect on classroom management. I agree with them to a certain extent, however, I think the control I have over my class has alot to do with how I treat my students. The first day of class I told all of my students that I would treat them as young adults. This wasy very effective because I think students have this preconceived perception that their teachers are dictators. I felt that it was very important to to have what I call a "Learning Democracy". This means that the students wil aid in their own learning which includes the management of the classroom. Overall, I will keep my classroom mangement the same. I have had a few problems with students coming in late to class and need to create some rules and consequences for tardiness.

Last Week

2005-07-25T06:07:00.000-07:00

It's Monday and we only have 4 more days left till game time. I say that because the entire summer we've just been practicing. All the practice in the world can't simulate an actual game There are still alot of things that I still have to take care of (License, teacher Orientation, etc.). Just when you think you have a little break something else is due or needs to be taken care of. I can't even imagine how hectic and stressful the school year is going to be. But thats what I'm accustomed to. Stress and chaos. The best way to deal with it is to be organized. Each day I'm going to have to mange my time because there is going to be little of it. Coaching is going defintely be a time consumer. As long as I get 2 hours of personal time working out I'll be fine

Sunflower County Freedom Project "Five Feet Four Inches Forward"

2005-07-24T09:35:00.000-07:00

I loved the play on Fannie Lou Hamer. It was incredible. The kids put so much effort and pride into their performaces. Most importantly, the kids showed a great deal of respect and understanding toward the sacrifices that Mrs. Hamer made in order for African-Americans to gain the right to vote. I think it is very important for these kids to learn about African-American history because it provides them with a sense of appreciation and respect for people who made sacrifices that would directly affect future generations. Maybe MTC corps should be more involved with the freedom project during the 2 weeks that they are at Ole Miss. I think it would be beneficial to both the kids and the MTC corps. I don't know how we could get involved, but I do think we could provide some support to the program.

Video Taped Lesson 7/18/2005

2005-07-18T21:00:00.000-07:00

I think I did a much better job during my first videotaped lesson compared to this one. Its just not the same teaching your peers compared to actual students. During my first taped lesson, I was more engaged with my students and vice-versa. It's difficult pretending that your teaching 25-30 ninth graders compared to graduate students. Anyway. Let me get to what I thought went well during the taped lesson. The first thing I noticed was that I am very confident when I'm teaching. I have an intimidating presence but not that intimidating that my students will be afraid of me. I am almost overconfident at this point. I fell 100 percent sure that I will have no problems with classroom mangement. The second thing I noticed was that I speak very clearly and with a strong voice. Ms. Cornelius told me that I have to watch my "street language". She said that I will be able to relate well with my students, however, I have to watch my slang. Let's see. I think I have to work on my assessment. That seems to be one of my weak points. Checking for understanding with certain English topics is something I find pretty difficult. Mrs. Youngblood and Mrs. Cornelius gave me some good ideas with lesson planning and content delivery. Hmm. My set went well. I compared a well structured house(drawn on the chalkboard) with a well structured persuasive essay. At first, I thought the set would be to corny, but my peers loved it. I was surprised by that. I need to walk around the room more. I lose points on my evaluations for not walking by each student. In my opinion, I don't think this is necessary. But may be I'm wrong. I'm really going to try-out all of the advice that people have given me over the past two months and I'll use whatever works

Cold Calling

2005-07-04T21:39:00.000-07:00

During the last week of student teaching I tried cold calling during one of my lessons. I think it worked really well and I will definitely consider using it during the school year. Before using it I would tend to call on the same students everyday. Using this method made calling on students random. In addition, it also kept the students attention because they new that there was a possibilty that they wouldbe called on to answer a question.

Student Teaching Experience

2005-07-04T11:18:00.000-07:00

Overall, I think my student teaching experience went well. I was fortunate enough to have an excellent teacher who provided me with some valuable advice. Mrs. Barnes told me that I have to draw a line between the students and myself, and to make sure students don't cross that line. She emphasized that this is the first thing I have to establish in the classroom. My students were great. Everyday I could see them getting more and more comfortable with me. I know that the first few weeks are going to be difficult. It is going to take some time for my students to trust me, which is what happens in any relationship. I'm just going to have to be patient.
Student teaching also taught me that teachers have to be prepared. Your lessons have to be thought out and organized. You can't just come in and teach. It takes preparation. As a teacher, you are trying to convey information to your students in a way that they can both understand and enjoy. Will this always happen? No. But if you use your creative mind and prepare, there is a high likelihood that your students will understand and enjoy your lesson. I also learned that if you relate your material to the real world, your students will be more interested in their subject. You always have to let your students know why they are learning something and how they can use the material in the real world.

Video Taped Lesson Plan

2005-06-29T08:52:00.000-07:00

I was a little nervous about watching myself on tape, however, I think actually seeing myself teach is an excellent way to critique my strenghts and areas for improvment. Let me start with what I thought went well. First, I noticed that I walked around the room alot and smiled. I don't think I'll have the luxury of smiling everyday when I have my own class. At least not to soon. I also noticed that when you walk around the room, it helps keep the kids attentive. At least that is how it looked on tape. As I walked, there eyes followed me. I spoke clearly and with a good tone of voice. I also sounded and looked like I was confident in front of the classroom. Overall, my classroom managment was good. All of my students raised there hands to ask a question or comment on something I said. The overall flow of my lesson went smoothly. That definitely had a lot to do with my planning. I spent a great deal of time planning out the lesson and reviewing it. Ben was right when he said that a good lesson plan will at least get you an ok lesson. If I hadn't put in the time, I don't think it would have gone as well as it did. Let's see. Another thing I noticed that worked was using my stop watch to time activities. This is a great way to keep both the teacher and students on task. When the students saw me hit my stop watch and say "you have five minutes to complete this activity", they immediately started working.
Although there were things I thought I did well, there were some things I definitely need to work on. The first thing is assessment. I wasn't to sure if the students actually understood what I was saying. It sounded great on tape, however, I have to remember that these are 7th graders. Occasionally I would see some puzzled faces. I need to work on ways to simplify concepts that students may have a hard time understanding. Another thing I need to improve on is praising my students. Dr. Rowland told me that I didn't do that enough during the lesson. When I did watched the tape, I realized she was right.
Overall, I think the lesson went well. Watching the tape helped me see things that I need to work on and would have never noticed without the use of a videocamera.In my opinion, it is the best way to thoroughly critique yourself.

Reluctant Disciplinarian

2005-06-19T16:09:00.000-07:00

I have to admit. I enjoyed reading this book. The author definitely provided me with some valuble advice that I think everyone will benefit from. There is one point in the book that I strongly agreed with. It's when the author (Gary Rubinstien) warns that a teacher should be careful when trying to convince his/her students that they can relate to them. Rubenstien talks about when he taught in a low-income area and told one of his students that he was poor. I can remember a few situations in High School that were similar to his experience. For example, my 9th grade math teacher, Mr Bellantoni, told our class that he understood the struggles that faced poor, urban youth. He told us about how hard it was to pay his rent because of his low salary etc etc. We asked him what his parents did for work and where he went to school. It turns out that they were both highly educated and held good paying jobs. We hassled him about trying to earn our respect by relating his low-income job to our struggles. Looking back on it now, I think we envied his upbringing and as a result hated him for it. It's hard to remember off the top of my head, but I think most of the kids in our math class lived in single parent homes. My closest friends, including myself, were all raised in a single-parent home where education was not a priority. My grandmother, who was my legal gaurdian, never completed high school. I think that will give me an advantage with the kids. However, poverty in Mississippi is very diffrent from poverty in New York City. Both have similar characteristics, but they also have differences. I think the important thing is to be honest about where you come from. Obviously, I'm educated now and not in the same situation I was in as a teenager and college student. I will certainly be tested about the validity of my struggles. When my students do test me (and I know they will) , I'll be given an oppurtunity to tell them a little about myself and hopefully give them some hope that they can succeed at whatever they want to do in life and that a quality education can be obtained no matter what your circumstances are.

Visit to Murrah High School

2005-06-12T07:59:00.000-07:00

On friday Dave and I went down to Jackson to meet our principal and take a look at the school we'll be teaching at. I was extremely impressed with how organized and professional the administration was. Our department chair, Tarasa Brierly, informed me that I would be teaching English I and Oral Communication. I was given the textbooks for each class and told that I would be assigned a mentor throughout the year. What I think impressed me the most was our principal. He told me that his door was always open and to contact him if I needed anything. He also told Dave and I to address him as "Major". This was his rank in the military, I think.
In addition to meeting "Major" Brookshire, we also met the assistant principals. They were very welcoming and kind and offered any support we needed. Ms. Brierly gave us a tour of the school and around the Jackson area. We ate lunch at a place called "Stamps Burgers." In short, the burger I ate at this place was the best I've ever eaten. It was so big, I needed a fork and knife.
Everyday we are meeting new people within the educational field who will certainly be a valuable resource as first-year teachers.

So far

2005-06-08T18:56:00.000-07:00

Up to this point I think everything is going pretty well. I learned right away that I have to use all of my resources in order to survive down here. For those of you that didn't here about how I arrived on campus. Listen up! I took the bus from Jackson to Batesville and realized there was no way to get to Oxford from there. I know what your thinking! I should have checked first. I guess I'm spoiled from the 24 hour transportation available in NYC. Anyway. I tried everything to find a way to Oxford. My last option was to call Ben. He found me a ride to Oxford within 15 minutes from the time I called. Some of my closest friends wouldn't have pulled that off so quickly. Thanks again to Ben, Mike and Yolanda Cox