Joining MTC

The Mississippi Teacher Corps offers many great life experiences. First, it provides an opportunity to network. What you will notice on the very first day is that when people are introducing themselves and saying which college or university they went to, there will most likely be several prestigious schools named. So, right off the bat you will come into contact with a whole room of motivated and intelligent people. Also, and the program director will most likely tell you this, the people willing to take on the challenges provided by the Mississippi Teacher Corps are unlikely to be ass holes, which makes making friends with the people you meet fairly easy. Second, the Mississippi Teacher Corps offers a chance to garner some very valuable work experience, especially for recent college grads. You will wake up at 5:30 every weekday morning, teach at your school from around 7 AM to around 4 PM (all while trying to remain sane, but that’s another story!), and plan for the next day/grade papers/do your MTC work/coach your team/tutor until you go to sleep anywhere from 10 (if you’re lucky) to midnight. Sure, the work isn’t exactly glorious. However, after two years of busting your butt not only will you have greatly strengthened your resume with work in a critical-needs school and a brand new masters degree, you will have also gained invaluable leadership experience. Lastly, and it might seem a bit cliche, but the Mississippi Teacher Corps truly offers the chance for some incredible memories that you will cherish for a lifetime. Whether those memories are painful (such as having a student curse at you for writing them up), comforting (such as going to a Halloween party with other MTC’ers to blow off some steam), or just downright hilarious (such as a student saying, and I quote, “Mane, your momma’s so fat, she squirt mayonnaise out her nurples”) you will remember them for a long time.

Since we’re being honest, there are also some reasons not to join MTC. If you are suffering from some delusion that teaching will be easy, especially in the types of school districts MTC places it participants, then you should not apply. If you are not willing to work hard almost every single day for at least two years, then you should not apply. And finally, if you are not willing to take advice, change things that experienced teachers tell you that you do wrong, and accept that you will not be very good at first, then you should not apply.