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.