I am not sure I know what day of the week it is. Or the date. I know it is day five of the residency, and for most readers (on the outside of residency) that means very little. This is how we gauge our time away from our familiar environment we call home.
We have been going full speed ahead for six days, and I am ready to catch my breath and find out what is going on in the world around me. Being so consumed in your work/research for days is exciting, but you sometimes have to know when to step away and reflect.
Here it is 3:28 in the afternoon (I am in my 1-5PM Free Afternoon/Study Time/Reflection Time) when Donovan Myrie calls me to see if I want to venture out for a “Skyline” Chili Dog. I can’t say no….
What a great use of my reflection time…
-j-
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
Guest Blogger: Jonathan Eskridge
The second of the guest bloggers is someone who really has his act together. I have learned a lot from Johnathan and had the opportunity to travel with him to Vancouver in the fall. Dedication and patience are the two words that come to mind when describing Jonathan. I think that this is something many of my colleagues would agree with. I look forward to many more residencies put together with his attention to detail and architecture.
Here are Jonathan’s thoughts on what a residency is:
As the Cohort Ph.D. Program Director, I spend a great deal of my time and effort during the academic terms building and shaping each residency experience. I work five months and 22 days preparing, scheduling, re-scheduling, and creating activities and workshops for learners to experience while with us. I have no personal experience here, but it’s as close as I can imagine to the experience of having a child (if you are a parent, please disregard my obvious simple notion of “having a child”). After much work, effort, sweat, and tears, the residency is born.
Once the residency begins, my favorite part happens, though. I get to watch. I get to watch faculty offer advice to learners. I get to watch learners offer advice to faculty. I get to watch learners share in ups and downs. I watch people call home to check on their husbands, their wives, their children. I watch people articulating their viewpoints at an intellectual level that no other can compare to. Most importantly though, I get to watch people grow. They grow emotionally, academically, and intellectually. But most importantly, they grow as human beings. Wherever they’ve come from, whatever background they possess, good or bad, they’re here to make their world a better place. The best part in that whole process, though, is that the world they’re trying to make a better place is my world, too.
I count it a blessing be a small part in helping to guide learners down this path of growth.
Jonathan Eskridge
Cohort Ph.D. Program Director
Here are Jonathan’s thoughts on what a residency is:
As the Cohort Ph.D. Program Director, I spend a great deal of my time and effort during the academic terms building and shaping each residency experience. I work five months and 22 days preparing, scheduling, re-scheduling, and creating activities and workshops for learners to experience while with us. I have no personal experience here, but it’s as close as I can imagine to the experience of having a child (if you are a parent, please disregard my obvious simple notion of “having a child”). After much work, effort, sweat, and tears, the residency is born.
Once the residency begins, my favorite part happens, though. I get to watch. I get to watch faculty offer advice to learners. I get to watch learners offer advice to faculty. I get to watch learners share in ups and downs. I watch people call home to check on their husbands, their wives, their children. I watch people articulating their viewpoints at an intellectual level that no other can compare to. Most importantly though, I get to watch people grow. They grow emotionally, academically, and intellectually. But most importantly, they grow as human beings. Wherever they’ve come from, whatever background they possess, good or bad, they’re here to make their world a better place. The best part in that whole process, though, is that the world they’re trying to make a better place is my world, too.
I count it a blessing be a small part in helping to guide learners down this path of growth.
Jonathan Eskridge
Cohort Ph.D. Program Director
Monday, January 7, 2008
The Blogger
I had a really interesting experience last night at the Faculty Open House that I have to share.
Several people approached me and asked if I was “The Blogger”?
I really didn’t know what to say at first. This blog was never designed to be about me or create this image but more about “life” as a PhD student/learner and my experiences at Union. As time has gone on, I have never felt that people were reading it and thinking about my posts.
The two comments that I got were interesting to me. First both individuals stated that it was good to hear that “it can be done” even though life would change a bit (they felt this encouraging). The second comment was that learners hoped to comment on my posts in a forum. In the next day, that feature will be open and will enrich the experience for me by getting feedback or questions that might perhaps stimulate more dialogue.
So today I look back at the first year and a half of my PhD program and wonder what I would have wrote if I had blogged the entire time. What would it say about my journey? What would it say about the transition of the person that I have become?
Today we move forward to a new place, the journey continues…
-j-
Several people approached me and asked if I was “The Blogger”?
I really didn’t know what to say at first. This blog was never designed to be about me or create this image but more about “life” as a PhD student/learner and my experiences at Union. As time has gone on, I have never felt that people were reading it and thinking about my posts.
The two comments that I got were interesting to me. First both individuals stated that it was good to hear that “it can be done” even though life would change a bit (they felt this encouraging). The second comment was that learners hoped to comment on my posts in a forum. In the next day, that feature will be open and will enrich the experience for me by getting feedback or questions that might perhaps stimulate more dialogue.
So today I look back at the first year and a half of my PhD program and wonder what I would have wrote if I had blogged the entire time. What would it say about my journey? What would it say about the transition of the person that I have become?
Today we move forward to a new place, the journey continues…
-j-
Sunday, January 6, 2008
Some Time to Think
The leadership cohort had the opportunity to have a great conversation led by Peter Block. It was a great time to think. Think about where we are, and where we need to go. Peter is leading our class on leadership, and I am choosing to use this opportunity with Peter to talk about community development and how I might be able to take his ideas and meld them into my dissertation project. It is all starting to make sense to me.
On a side note, the weather is great in Cincinnati. Being able to walk outside without a winter coat is something that I enjoy doing in the month of January. Being stuck in classrooms all day, I am looking forward to taking a jog this afternoon and getting some fresh air.
In the days to come, I will have some guest bloggers. I am looking forward to reading others’ feelings about this week, and the experiences that we are having.
-j-
On a side note, the weather is great in Cincinnati. Being able to walk outside without a winter coat is something that I enjoy doing in the month of January. Being stuck in classrooms all day, I am looking forward to taking a jog this afternoon and getting some fresh air.
In the days to come, I will have some guest bloggers. I am looking forward to reading others’ feelings about this week, and the experiences that we are having.
-j-
"The Real McCoy"--Guest Blogger
I am happy to say that I have the ability to pass the blog along to someone I admire. When I first came to Union in June of 2006, next to me sat Peyton McCoy (Peyton similar to Walter Payton, or Peyton Manning, McCoy like “The Real One”).
Listening to Peyton’s ability to tell a story and speak in public is amazing. She is a one of a kind, a real natural, and I admire her dearly.
-j-
Here is what she has to share:
My colleague Jeffrey Shepard approached me about penning this blog submission. I beamed with pride. You see, Jeffrey Shepard is an innovator par excellent. Not only that; one cannot help but beam at the distance traveled as a cohort in this parade of progress, which is evidenced in our inventions. What a marvelous family, the Union family. I kept thinking about my friend Roland, a new band director at an urban high school. I went to their football game a few weeks ago.
Round silver tubs started tapping a rhythm that converted even the non rhythmic. It could not be denied–the drum line was tight. The half-time show evangelized the audience. The drum major led 200 novice marching musicians into a frenzied exciting energy surpassed only by executed precision. It seemed that some invisible compass was navigating chaos into constructive tension. Effortless exactitude. First we sat on the edge of our seats wondering what was about to come. Then we were on our feet infused with exhilaration, invigoration. Next we were cheering and applauding with fierce urgency. But things are not always as they seem. That which appeared effortless was the result of extraordinary effort. Those novices—moving 200 strong–transformed the field, the fans, and themselves. From the player’s bench to the sky booth it became evident—there was a transformation coming on.
Simultaneously, five hundred miles west in Cincinnati, Ohio, there was another half-time going on. Admission tickets were high and expectations higher—there’s another transformation coming on:
It can be downloaded or uploaded
It’s for the information generation
It’s for the rough road and the heavy load
It’s a soulful rejuvenation
It recycles sorrow’s dump truck load, oppression’s dirty load,
And the weary blues overload
It’s a great migration towards an overdue celebration prior to a consummate transformation
It’s for the lost, the found, and the almost found
The bound, level to the ground, and the underground
There’s a transformation that’s yours (and mine) for the asking
So we’ll work longer—and care stronger—towards our transformation Union Institute style
If there’s a high road to take, take it
If there’s forgiveness to give give it
If there’s a thank you to say, say it
Then we can have a transformation, real inter disciplinary transformation–Union Institute style.
Peyton McCoy
Union Institute & University
Cohort 1
Listening to Peyton’s ability to tell a story and speak in public is amazing. She is a one of a kind, a real natural, and I admire her dearly.
-j-
Here is what she has to share:
My colleague Jeffrey Shepard approached me about penning this blog submission. I beamed with pride. You see, Jeffrey Shepard is an innovator par excellent. Not only that; one cannot help but beam at the distance traveled as a cohort in this parade of progress, which is evidenced in our inventions. What a marvelous family, the Union family. I kept thinking about my friend Roland, a new band director at an urban high school. I went to their football game a few weeks ago.
Round silver tubs started tapping a rhythm that converted even the non rhythmic. It could not be denied–the drum line was tight. The half-time show evangelized the audience. The drum major led 200 novice marching musicians into a frenzied exciting energy surpassed only by executed precision. It seemed that some invisible compass was navigating chaos into constructive tension. Effortless exactitude. First we sat on the edge of our seats wondering what was about to come. Then we were on our feet infused with exhilaration, invigoration. Next we were cheering and applauding with fierce urgency. But things are not always as they seem. That which appeared effortless was the result of extraordinary effort. Those novices—moving 200 strong–transformed the field, the fans, and themselves. From the player’s bench to the sky booth it became evident—there was a transformation coming on.
Simultaneously, five hundred miles west in Cincinnati, Ohio, there was another half-time going on. Admission tickets were high and expectations higher—there’s another transformation coming on:
It can be downloaded or uploaded
It’s for the information generation
It’s for the rough road and the heavy load
It’s a soulful rejuvenation
It recycles sorrow’s dump truck load, oppression’s dirty load,
And the weary blues overload
It’s a great migration towards an overdue celebration prior to a consummate transformation
It’s for the lost, the found, and the almost found
The bound, level to the ground, and the underground
There’s a transformation that’s yours (and mine) for the asking
So we’ll work longer—and care stronger—towards our transformation Union Institute style
If there’s a high road to take, take it
If there’s forgiveness to give give it
If there’s a thank you to say, say it
Then we can have a transformation, real inter disciplinary transformation–Union Institute style.
Peyton McCoy
Union Institute & University
Cohort 1
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