Profile of the Month - April 2005

Carmen Jones

Carmen Jones , Mississippi Teacher Corps Class of 2004 , is originally from Memphis , TN. She graduated from Lane College in 2002 with a degree in English. Carmen currently teaches English at Gentry High School in Indianola.

“It hasn't really been that hard,” says Carmen of her first year teaching. “My classroom runs like an office. I let them know this is how it is, it's not going to change.”

Carmen says that her fellow classmates in the Teacher Corps have been great. “I like coming to class. It is like a support group.”

As for the summer training Carmen says, “The most helpful was the summer school experience and also all the work we did on our classroom management plans.”

The Mississippi Teacher Corps is a two-year program that recruits recent college graduates to teach in critical-shortage areas in the Mississippi Delta, in exchange for a full scholarship for a masters' degree in curriculum and instruction from the University of Mississippi . The program was founded in 1989 by Amy Gutman, a Harvard University graduate and Dr. Andy Mullins , current Special Assistant to the Chancellor of Ole Miss. Since 1989 more than 300 participants, reaching an estimated 60,000 students, have taught in critical-needs school districts as part of the Mississippi Teacher Corps.