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