BREAK NEEDED

Thanksgiving break is on the horizon, and I am giving thanks!! Even though I am not coaching this year, I am just as tired (if not more), and am in dire need of a break. At least this year I will actually get a chance to take a break instead of having to practice on Sunday, go to games on Monday and Tuesday, and practice the following weekend. I will get a chance to spend some time with my family members that I have not seen in some time, so I am excited.

Although, my "break" will not be much of a break, being that I will be spending quite a bit of time working on projects for MTC and grading papers. What I have realized is that although teachers get a lot of days off from work, they're not really days where we don't do work. The only time where there is nothing on our plate to do is summer vacation, and even then we're asked to attend workshops and professional development.

Regardless, at least I'll get to sleep late and do my work when I get ready to. I'll get a little break from the wining of my students and hopefully be refreshed when we get back. We'll see.

IF I COULD CHANGE ONE THING ABOUT MTC, WHAT WOULD IT BE?

I think it would be great if MTC held classes at least once or twice a semester at a remote location - perhaps Jackson. If not Jackson, some place in between Oxford and Jackson. There are so many MTCers that live in and around Jackson that it makes a lot of sense to me. One of my problems with MTC is the danger involved in us working full-time jobs (some even coaching in addition to teaching), and then having to drive such a distance to Oxford on the weekends with little to no rest.

Last year, it was a regular occurrence for me to almost fall asleep on the road, only being jarred back to alertness by the sound of my tire hitting the side of the highway. While I had gotten used to it, my friends and family were afraid for me every time I had to drive to class. I finally also got to the point where I was afraid that I would not make it safely. It did not help that so many people were involved in accidents on the way to or from Oxford.

I understand that we are given an hotel room to help out with this problem, but many people's schedules do not allow them to leave early enough such that the dangers of late night/early morning driving can be avoided. Last year, rather than ride the bus to some of our away games, I often had to drive from Jackson to a Delta town for our basketball game, and then leave the game to drive to Oxford. I usually did not make it there until rather late.

I guess this is what I signed up for when I chose to attend graduate school 2.5 hours away, but I must say, at the time I did not think about the danger involved.