A subject of great debate, the MTC coursework has, upon reflection, been valuable to me in a variety of unexpected ways.  From folding paper, to designing fantasy technology lessons for classrooms whose technology is folded paper, the MTC coursework never failed to prompt lively discussions and interesting outcomes.

There were three projects that stand out as having proven valuable in one way or another.

EDSE 642: Advanced Methods of Teaching English

Aside from learning about unconscious delight, I learned, despite my best efforts to circumvent it, the value of organizing my teaching resources into thematic and unit-based systems. Although Ann Cook’s system was paper based and used a file box, the basic concept was one that has helped me a great deal as I round out my second year (and third set of new students). I spend far less time now reinventing the wheel, and have a place to put all those great resources I gather along the way but am not quite ready to put into practice yet.

I’ve since supplemented the file box with a digital archive and my del.icio.us account, but still use the same filing and cross-referencing systems.

By far the most valuable aspect of the methods class was the chance to collaborate and commiserate with other English and language arts teachers. Ideally, I'd like to see specific methods courses for teachers in state-tested subjects. For better or worse, the reality is that our schools are driven by these scores and the pressure is intense. It's taken me two years to really feel like I've got my head wrapped around how to prepare students without sacrificing the curriculum.

EDLD 501: Educational Leadership

As a component of the assigned profile of my community, I interviewed my principal, Charles Brady. While most of the assignment either duplicated inquiries I’d done in preparation to move to Mississippi, or confirmed various statistics that have worked their way into popular knowledge, the chance to sit down with Brady and listen to him gave me valuable insight into how his leadership style affects my teaching experience.

In my interview with Brady, it was very clear that he believes strongly in the service leader model, (clip at right) and that while an inclination to leadership is innate, refinement of leadership skills can be taught. In assessing his own shortfalls as a leader, he cites patience and the ability to be a follower as primary characteristics of effective leadership.

He acknowledges the differences between educational and corporate leadership, citing mainly the difficulty of recruiting. He is realistic about the need for consistency and patience in leading others toward change.

This chance to sit down with Coach Brady helped make the work we were doing on leadership more real. Not a fan of the leadership genre of current pop-psych books, I was grateful for the opportunity to engage a real leader on the ground.

EDSE 610: Innovations in Education

The culminating project for Innovations in Education was to design a school district from the ground up, using prescribed budgetary and student population parameters. Even though I'd spent years surrounded by education policy, and had sent my own child through a public school system, this project forced me to realize how interconnected all the various aspects of a school district are. As a teacher, it helped me see the complexity of the conflicting priorities and needs of budgets, curriculum, scheduling, personnel, and (lest we forget) students.

I focused on an integrated, interdisciplinary curriculum, and grouping students into smaller two- or three-grade facilities. Based on my experience with my students in the Delta, I also included a 2+2 program that accommodates a meaningful vocational program.

In the college-prep program, students work with an advisory teacher to develop and implement a final senior project that incorporates at least 2 subject areas. Core curriculum teachers are given advisory periods during the day, and students are expected to present a portfolio. Elective courses in the senior year are expected to support the project. An internship can be incorporated into the project, but cannot be the only component.

The 2+2 program allows students who are not planning to attend a four-year college an opportunity to get a jump-start on their careers by taking some classes at a community college. There are four strands in the 2+2 program: Health Care; Business and Trade; Agriculture; Technology. The district reimburses the community college at a cost of $1500 per student each year.

EDRS 605: Educational Research (The Action Research Project)

Student apathy about the district-mandated curriculum is a chronic problem in the English II class at Greenville-Weston High School. In informal class discussions, students cite a variety of reasons for their lack of interest and involvement such as general boredom, repetitiveness, and lack of sufficient background information. The most common complaint, however, is that the students see no relevance in the work to their current or future lives. They realize they must do the work to fulfill graduation requirements, but do not understand how the curriculum, and its

competencies and objectives, will be applicable to their lives. It is a challenge to nearly all high school teachers to relate academics to their teenage students' lives, but in rural critical-needs and high-poverty schools, this challenge is heightened by lack of community and parent involvement, scarce community resources, and limited exposure to successful professional role models.

The topic of my action research proposal was determining the change in students' attitudes about the relevance of their coursework in an English II classroom. While attitudes about classwork are a perennial problem among many high school students, those in critical-needs and high-poverty schools are likely to feel especially disconnected from their work due to a lack of real-life role models and low community involvement in the school.

Schools in some rural areas have implemented place-based curriculum programs in an effort to connect the curriculum to real life and to the community itself. When successful, these programs improve not only student attitudes about their work, but also result in increased achievement. Criticism of place-based programs includes a lack of standardization (and its possible effect on standardized testing); portability to multiple school systems; individual teacher accountability; and the increased effort required in the design and implementation of local community-based curriculum. Considering the positive and negative aspects of place-based curriculum, it is crucial to know whether the effect on student attitudes is sufficient to warrant the systemic changes they require. Research on the attitudes of other students in similar school systems could help establish a rationale for or against implementation of place-based curriculum programs.

There is evidence (Curtis & Seymour, 2004; Powers, 2004; and SEER, 2000) that the implementation of place-based curriculum programs improves student attitudes about their communities and that these attitudes translate into improved involvement and connection to their academic work. I would like to model research on the Curtis & Seymour model of introducing curricular objectives in the context of their connection to local heritage. In addition, I would like to explore how students' exposure to real-life situational implementation of the learning objectives affects their interest in the material. The audiences for this study are English teachers, students, and high school curriculum administrative staff.

Potentially, the results of this research could be used to develop curriculum programs that encourage meaningful learning.

YR DOIN IT WRONG!