Back in the Saddle Again

We are back on campus and glad to have a break from our internships.  It was great to get back together and bounce our ideas about our sites around.  We jumped into the semester head first with new text books ready to learn a bit more about how we as future administrators need to act, think, and respond.

We presented Fish and our findings in a story board presentation.

We did what we do best...socialized and ate at one of the Oxford restaurants, the South Depot Taco Shop.

Kim even brought her book to dinner.  It was so great to be back together the Elite Eight? The Fab Five? The Fuddy Duddies!

Ben’s Blog #2

The summer of 2011 will long be remembered in the Jackson Barlow’s household as “The Long, Broiling Summer Before Bryson.”  Our son Bryson Wyatt is due in one month, and the heat is never abating.  The instant I step out the back door to let the dogs out at five A.M., the heat slides over me like a warm, wet tongue – it is oppressive and stifling, and I wish that my very pregnant wife could get one moment of respite.  The two weeks following summer term were blurs of activity: new house, baby showers, family visits, unpacking, settling in.  On a steamy, sultry Sunday afternoon, Jeannie and I stood exhausted on the front porch, waving goodbye to the last of some visiting family as they departed for Kentucky. 

  The next day – one full week early, unbeknownst to me until later on – I walked into the dusty, box- and furniture-filled main hallway of the otherwise very empty Brandon Middle School, and I began a new role, in a new school, within a new student age range, amongst new faculty.  As I sit typing in my small office above the library, the floors are a shiny and stately gray, the boxes and furniture are replaced in their respective classrooms, and the hallways are filled with human activity of the teaching sort.  My first weeks have been about change vast and specific, immediate and gradual.  

My evolving role in the two schools in which the internship places me is a complex matrix where I am a subordinate, yet a superior, an outsider, yet a school leader.  My mentor provides me with many opportunities to grow and learn, teaches me policy as he shapes it, includes me in managerial decisions as he disseminates authority to his APs, and shares his critical views on personnel issues as they arise.  I have asked question upon question each day, pouring through the reasoning behind decisions made, scrutinizing the rationale for decisions to be made.  I have teased questions from assessment data, spying glimmers of opportunity for the elusive “growth piece.”  Transitioning from the classroom to the administration team has been challenging for me in terms of viewpoint – I am unaccustomed to the crucial interplay that occurs between administration team members concerning the daily goings-on in schools. 

My relationship with the staff at BMS is changing already.  In the first weeks, a few teachers came by, straightened up desks and tables, placed posters on walls, readied lessons and materials for the first few days – but there was hardly interaction.  On Convocation Day (district-wide faculty meeting), we met as a staff in the afternoon, and I was able to meet and chat with many of them.  The English staff enlisted me to aid in the creation of an updated technology permission letter; the ICT teachers asked me to help them instruct teachers in our new grading and attendance software operations.  I am becoming known as a source of information and as a solution-seeker. 

I think the most noticeable change has occurred in the scope of my power to affect necessary change.  For instance, I helped a recommended student enroll in the Academic Intervention Program, and his mother called me personally to thank me for my efforts.  The simple act of completing this paperwork and moving this boy into a situation in which he could succeed was a powerful reminder to me of the control administrators possess in their schools.  In another instance, I joined a Language Arts meeting to help adjust the direction of lessons as teachers aligned with Common Core Standards.  Fortunately, our administrator has his eyes on the road ahead, planning for next year’s results with adjustments this year.  Going through the process of directing policy while accounting for culture is a delicate operation, and I am thoroughly enjoying this rare opportunity to learn within a culture built upon effective teaching and learning.  Tomorrow is Open House, and the kids come Monday.  PC11 part two has begun in earnest. 

 Rankin County Convocation at the Hinds Community College Muse Center – the bands greeted teachers as they walked in like a Pep Rally setting.

 

Patrick's Guest Blog

            Well, I just finished my interview paper and believe that I can now close the digital folder that encompassed my contributions to the conversation that was EDLD 671.  I watered my herb garden and went in search of my remote and that perfectly broken-in spot on the couch.  I never got there, though, I just couldn’t shake the sense that I’d forgotten something . . . which brings me to this, and you.

            Rest assured, it was never my intention to be the anchorman in this relay of thought.  I spent enough time running track to know that that position goes to the strongest runner on the relay team; these days I only run if I need to break up a fight between students!  You can be certain that the level of prowess I’m about to demonstrate will be no greater.  Then again, sometimes an exemplary team develops such a massive lead that the anchorman only needs to not blow it!  So here I go.

            I don’t know about the rest of the cohort, but I’ve never seen three weeks pass by so quickly.  I haven’t even recovered from the shoulder injury I got on the challenge course and our summer session is already over.  Although I must admit, when the computer in room 313 started trying to restart itself on the last day of class exactly as it had on the first day of class and at no point in between I began to wonder if actually no time had passed at all.  I love and fear that kind of symmetry, but that’s a different topic all together. 

I gained a huge amount of knowledge in that room and loved the opportunity to learn from Dr. Davis and solve leadership dilemmas with PC 2011.  Living in Oxford, however, was less exciting than I imagined it would be.  Some of the best times took place outside of town, at Dr. Davis’s farm, Dr. McClelland’s pool, and, of course, back home in Marks.

            Needless to say, it’s nice to be home.  I’ve been at work each of the past three days, supposedly to avoid the distractions offered by Netflix and my DVR in a desperate effort to finish all the coursework.  Now is the time to laugh . . .  all you educators know that school is no place to avoid distractions.  The staff has acclimatized to my return and over the past three days I’ve gotten more and more referrals and less and less accomplished.  But the course work is done now.  Tomorrow I can sleep in.  Or maybe I’ll go to school to avoid doing dishes.  Or because there’s coffee there.  Or because just it’s great to be back!  I already find myself analyzing things differently through the lenses of shared decision-making or informal organizations.  PC has been a wonderful opportunity, and I can’t wait until the next course.

      And with that I’ve finally crossed the finish line.  My thanks to anyone who persevered through these preceding 498 words and got there with me!

Patrick is the Dean of Students for Quitman County Schools

  

            

Lessons from PC3

1.Sometimes you need a swimming pool.  After kicking some midterm behind, Dr. Mac sent us swimming.  On that day, poolside relaxation was just about the perfect reward for a job well done.  We felt valued…and just a little bit special.  The same will be true of the rewards we offer our students, teachers, parents, and community members.  As we all know, a sticker or smile goes a long way.  On that day, it may just be someone else’s swimming pool.

             2.    Some common sense rules are pretty self-explanatory.  Thanks to Cody’s pain-staking notes, I was able to copy this gem from Dr. Davis.  As our case studies have shown, educational administration will offer few right answers. Easy decisions will be even harder to find.  So when a right answer or easy decision actually presents itself, take a skeptical moment, and then thank ya Jesus (or Buddha, or God, or some amorphous sense of religious obligation) that you finally found one! 

            3.     When life gives you lemons, love your llamas.  There have been a few tense moments, differing opinions, and competing voices in PC3.  Could you really expect less of a small group of highly effective, occasionally neurotic, and generally exhausted teacher-leaders?  Hopefully not.  These very moments offer invaluable insight into our chosen career.  As administrators, we will encounter practices we don’t understand, beliefs we don’t share, and mindsets we can’t even fathom.  Nonetheless, we will have to love those llamas…if only long enough to learn from them.    

           4.    We are elite?  True, we eight were selected out of approx. eighty applicants.  True, we were accepted into a flagship program for educational leadership and administration. True, Dr. Davis thinks we may be the best cohort yet—although we think he probably said the same thing to PC2.   BUT mistakes will happen.  We’ll laugh about some as we get caught in turnstiles, become lost in Guyton, and acquire false Patricks.   However, some mistakes aren’t funny.  Those ones are called bad decisions—or “bad things,” depending on the Kimism.  And when (not if) we make those bad decisions, that’s when we’ll really need each other…to listen, learn, and maybe even laugh.

          5.     Educate. Learn. Coach. Collaborate.  We’ll be talking about this one for the next twelve months, so I’ll summarize.  Basically, it forms the “much is required” element of our “much is given” education.  But if you have any lingering questions, feel free.  Just please not now, after midnight, when I still need to finish this ELCC standards reflection…

Written by Courtney Van Cleve former teacher in the MS Delta

The Question is

This morning I went for a run with Ben.  We ran up University Avenue and around the Square and over to the cemetery.  It was 5:45 a.m. on the first day of summer, and the pale pinks, and yellows and reds kissed the tops of the oak and pecan and pine.  The rolling hills carried on their backs the marks of all the years that had come before today.  I found myself thinking about all of those markers that stand above the hopes and dust of hundreds of years . . . the old exhausted dreams, the young and barely realized. 

What was left?

Were those dreams lived out, or were new dreams settled for?

The old toppled and sunken headstones spoke through the moss and lichen that clung tenaciously to the granite.  They spoke of life and those old dreams.  And, as the sun reached its cool hand under the limbs of the cypress, I thought of my dreams.  The early ones I had as a child of being Batman, the more recent of being a teacher, and the most recent of being a school leader.  The one that brought me here.  I realized that they were all the same.  My dreams and the ones that lay under those stones.  They were all more a part of the sun than of the earth in which they lay.  The dreams of something better.  The dreams of what could be.  Some were lived out, and some, for whatever reason, were discarded long before time ran out. 

I am reminded of something an old farm hand, Asalon, told me when I was a boy in Panther Burn.  He said, “Morgan, days are funny things.  The more you get the more you want.  Which works out for most people. Until the end anyway.”   

* Written by Morgan Dean, former English Teacher in the MS Delta.

Ode to the Residential College

Ode to the Residential College

Excited to move in?  I’ll say we were not.

But since we must, we gave it a shot.

A room to ourselves was a nice surprise,

As we spent our time becoming more wise.

Vanities- private baths, much different now,

‘Hardwood floors, fridges, a definite wow!

Back in the dorm one more time.

A do over of college- how sublime.

The rooms stay muggy and humid all day,

At night still damp and cold they stay.

Surprised we were when the laptops were given,

This college life is one worth relivin’

Nights filled with laughs in to the late,

We laugh because our studies can wait,

Wait for us -to have dinner talks together,

Talks about life, love, and even the weather.

The Fab Four or Five were always ready to go,

The FuddyDuddies kept things on the down low,

Our group is a mix from all walks of life,

Rich districts and even some filled with strife,

We’ve collaborated together night after night,

In study rooms equipped with energy efficient light,

We were given a challenge within the first day,

To stay focused-stay fit- keep our weight at bay.

It seems the stressed have a tendency to eat,

We can’t fall fat- we are the elite.

The mornings began early with runs, jogs, and walks.

And as educators do we talked, talked, and talked.

Our classes were spent learning the theory,

Powerpoints were watched till eyes were bleary

Our home away from home welcomed our naps,

Each night we read until we collapsed.

To our cars we went when the fire drill sounded,

As workloads increased and even mounded.

The faces have changed since freshman year,

I’ll cry nonetheless I’ll shed a tear.

When the day comes to say our goodbyes,

And laugh and remember that time really flies.

The Barksdales-thank you for all you have done,

Tuition, books, opportunity- we really have won

Our challenge is great as we are sent out,

Will we succeed? There is no doubt.

Our professors have faith in what we can do,

We are the brave, the proud, the few.

This cohort of teachers- friends we have made

These ties to each other will never fade

Our year is planned and placements set,

A dorm stay a month is what we will get,

We’ll come back to campus for class time and again,

Kim, Courtney, Matt, Felicia, Patrick, Morgan, Cody and Ben

The coursework will change and even get rough,

Balancing life can sometimes be tough,

Our Mission-To take Mississippi Leadership by storm,

And remember our days and nights we spent in the dorm.

Felicia Pollard

Ben's Guest Blog

As we begin the long slog toward the end of “PC Camp Week Three,” I look back on what was: the first awkward exchanges, the flashes of brilliance, and the sheer weight of the expectations that we all felt.  I recall our first visit with superiors – Drs. Mullins, Bartee, McClelland, Davis, and Bunch – and the beautiful room in which we sat.  Surrounded by John J. Audubon prints and overlooking the lovely wooded Circle, I listened intently to our leadership as they shared with us their unique vision of our future: quite literally, to change profoundly the climate of public education in this state.  Looking about the room, I think all of us were in awe of our surroundings, of the pomp and circumstance with which we were ushered into our new lives as PC Cohorts.

As I write tonight, I am reminded of the great task in front of us.  Mississippi is first in all the wrong categories; Mississippi is often the butt of jokes.  However, as I become more deeply vested in the educational future (or plight, depending on your perspective or on the tint of your specs) of my home state, my own vision is forming, and it is a vision of hope, and of courage, and of fearless forays into that which scares so many Mississippians: fundamental change.  Mississippi needs it, our kids crave it, and our long-term viability depends on it.

I find it fitting that this class of leaders, and that the classes of existing PC leaders already installed in districts statewide, should be tasked with such an arduous enterprise.  After all, we have fantastic instructors, gracious financial backing from the Barksdale family, and most of all, we have each other.  We each have such enormous potential to affect change, and we each desire to be the change we desire to create.

In close, I am grateful for this opportunity to learn to lead the PC way.  I am surrounded by the most vibrant people, and I hope to lend my own verse to the poem we create together.

* Ben is a former teacher/coach with Rankin County Schools.  In the fall he will welcome his first child into the world.

Oasis

 God Bless Dr. Mac!  She allowed us to use her backyard oasis as a place of relaxation after our midterm.  She has a beautiful home and was so kind to open it up for a few test-tired students.  

 It was just what we needed, an afternoon away from the dorm.  We swam, tanned, and listened to music.

 When it sprinkled we came found refuge in porch rocking and swinging.

It was greatly needed and greatly appreciated.  In the words of Cody "Thank ya, Jesus!"

Matt's Guest Blog

As the Principal Corps class of 2011 embarked on our 13 month journey just over two weeks ago, I noticed one apparent idea: Every member of this class is unique and each brings a different aspect of education to the forefront which will benefit all. Each of us wants to be the best administrator he or she can be. It came as a great shock to me that the faculty and staff at UM will not allow us to be mediocre because if we are the children of Mississippi fail due to our lack of training. They have demanded, and continue to demand, much from us. It is my belief that they will get every bit that they demand from us and more. We will be successful with our journey. I am so thankful that I have seven other people to help with this incredible task that has been bestowed upon us. I wish us all the luck today and in the future. Congratulations on our accomplishments thus far and strive for higher accomplishments as we go forward.

Submitted by Matt Buchanan, former teacher at Rankin County Schools

Guest Blogger- Dr. Davis

I have midterm exams to assess this weekend marking a passage into the second half of the course; but, we just started. I have come to really enjoy summer teaching and it just seems to be getting better and better. Four years ago I wondered how I would keep a class engaged for four-five hours a day for three weeks in a row; now, I wonder where does the time go? Many of the students I work with, and this PC group as a whole, teach me, inspire me, and give me hope for the future of public education in Mississippi. The reality of poverty and corresponding pockets of inadequate education in Mississippi is at times overwhelming. The work I do, the work we do, is often discouraging. When confronting and working to change deep economic, social, and political inequities through improved education, efficacy is hard to maintain. When I reflect on what the past two weeks has meant to me, I feel blessed and extremely fortunate to be able to do the work that I do. It is an honor to work with interesting, creative, and well-educated individuals who dedicate their professional lives to a greater good. In a nutshell, groups like this increase my self-efficacy and the shared-efficacy of the program faculty. Almost exactly one year from now, each student in this cohort will be sitting in front of a faculty panel responding to oral comprehensive exam questions designed to assess knowledge and understanding of a set of standards. You will be nervous (regardless of any actions the faculty takes to reduce the level of anxiety). We will see red skin, perspiring foreheads, dry mouths, and shaking pens. We will say “How are you doing?” and you will likely respond with “Could you please repeat the question?” But the faculty will also see something else. We will see individuals that we would hire to transform a low performing school. We will see individuals that we would trust with the education of our own children. We will see individuals that we know will make a tremendous positive difference in the lives of thousands of young people for many years to come. We will see these things even if in the moment you forget that a school’s goals and objectives should flow from the vision. We will see these things even if you say three sentences, pause, and then say “I forgot what point I was going to make.” We will see these things and be extremely proud that we have had the opportunity to come together and learn and grow with one another as a group. There is much to be done over the next twelve months but each of you is well prepared, qualified, and up to the challenge; of this I am certain.      

The Day before Midterm

Hoy and Miskel, 1-5,

Blase' and Blase', 1,4, and 9

Only one day a way...

not enough time.

Reflections, presentations, workshops, class;

Muhammad, Buddha...

God, help me pass!

The Ninja, BB, Courtneyculty, Delta Dust,

Buck (Fake Patrick), the Filter, the Girlfriend, and the Klutz

A nickname is a must.

Runners and walkers,

techno-cyber stalkers...

#elitequestionmark

The differences are stark.

Heated tours, sunset walks,

ropes in the middle of nowhere,

orientation, side-bar talks

a sprained ankle and emergency care

CHIGGERS, and dehydration

insomnia and sunburn...

have been added to this occupation

more than I intended to learn

Fun nonetheless,

and exciting, it's true.

PC 2011-2012

the proud, the brave, the few!

Poem by Kim

The Literacy Workshop

The absolute highlight of my week last week was the literacy conference...being an elementary teacher...I know about literacy.  After three days from 9-2 in the same classroom with the same people...it was nice to be in a more open space discussing different material.  I almost had enough of theory.  I loved loved loved this presenter.  I appreciated her ability to engage us and make the studies, theories, and reports seem valuable.  It was also nice that breakfast and lunch were provided and we could come and go as we needed

Hey y’all! I am Cody Shumaker and I came to Mississippi from Illinois via Teach for America. I taught social studies for 3 years in Shelby, Mississippi...#ilivemyjob. I began thinking about administration at the beginning of my second year and worked with our Alumni Director to prepare to gain acceptance into the Principal Corps. The day I finally found out was AMAZING…#thankyoujesus…mainly because Courtney Van Cleve and I were waiting and waiting for an e-mail…only to find it a week later in our school e-mail that we seldom used!

Being a student at Ole Miss is a three-year dream come true…HOTTY TODDY…#iloveoxford!!! My new Southern friends who went to SEC schools did not see me as a legitimate Rebel fan. Well, look who is talking now!

Our first week has been an interesting change…back to dorm living…#freshmanagain. The amount of work has been challenging, but not overwhelming. Prioritizing has become a necessity…make time to get your work done and everything works out well.

 

I have thoroughly enjoyed meeting all of the members of my cohort and analyzing their background and experiences. There are four of us from the Delta…#believeinthedelta, one from Jackson Public, two from the Jackson suburbs, and one from NortheastMississippi..#pontotocisbetterthantupelobutnotlafeyettecounty. We have elementary, middle school, and high school experience with children of all walks of life.

This program…#mspc2011…is going to be a wonderful experience and I cannot wait to jump into our internships…#nowtherealfunbegins…and get some real experience and start putting our learning into action. The memories have already begun to be formed…#falsepatrick and #checkyouremail…and I am sure more will be formed with this crazy group of eight talented teachers…#eightisenough.

Week One

Headed to the first day of class with Dr. Davis.

A little too close up in the elevator...

The Book....

Some notes from a group project....

Day two of class

Kim and Cody after dinner out day two.

I can not deal with empty walls...I love art and have to have it around me...so I thought it was appropriate to place Rosie the Riveter right beside our door...when we leave we can get a little motivation/inspiration.

Dr. Davis treated us to lunch at Honey Bee Bakery on Wednesday.  

First Day Fellowship

At the end of the first day of class I think we all needed a time to reflect. Ben set us up to go out to dinner as a group and have a time of fellowship to discuss the day's events and to continue to get to know one another. Our three full weeks on campus will be over before we know it and we will be in our internships in the blink of an eye. Today in class was a day to be assigned a partner, work in groups, listen to our introduction to Hoy and Miskel and to obtain our first case study. Once dinner was over each of us went back to work on our first assignment.

The UM Challenge

Saturday morning we were up early to take part in The UM Challenge Course. At 8:00 a.m. I knew it would be a steamy day. We got to the course and were split into teams. Each team went through safety tips and some mind bending games. We then went to work with our team building exercises. I wish I had more photos of the low elements of the course, but when it is a team building exercise they need all the team members to be present and participating...not taking pictures.

We sweat it out through and pretended to swing across a river of lava, we acted as elephants linked together on a balance rope, and we got extremely close as we worked our way back and forth through a web of bungee cords.

It was after all of those that we took part in the trust fall, the power pole and the team wall. Finally at the end of the team building we were on our own to take on the rock wall, the zip line and the elevated ropes course....think balance beam thirty feet in the air. It was a fun morning.

Not usually being a girl that likes to sweat I was super excited I did it. I was not graceful, I was not cute, some of my video and pictures were not taken from my best side, but I really enjoyed myself and I was able to see my new classmates in a different environment

Yokna Bottoms Farm

The Farm

Twins

Carrots

Purple Potatoes

Roomies

The Farm

Dr. Davis hosted a cookout at his home last night. It was a rather hot day that turned it a pleasant evening. We had a bit of a trek to the farm, but it was a good time for cohort fellowship even though I may dehydrated for the next two days. Next year I will be better prepared.