Throughout the EMDT program I’ve found myself thinking a lot about how the post-Full Sail me will be different from the pre-Full Sail me. Though most of these thoughts relate to me the teacher, some things aren’t specific to my teaching career. I hope that I can have a better appreciation of time, friends, and family. As they say, you never know how much you appreciate something until it’s gone, and these three things have been pretty much absent from my life over the past 10.5 months.
But on to me as a teacher. One of the frustrations of this program is that I’ve learned so many cool things that I want to try with my students, but I haven’t had the time to do that. As we start to plan for next school year, I’m already thinking about how I can use the things I’ve learned with my students. I’ll be teaching a new class next year that I’ve never taught before, and it’s a perfect opportunity to design the course essentially from the ground up using a blended mode of content delivery.
As stressful as this month has been so far, it is a great relief to have most of our work in MAC devoted to our action research projects. In previous months, AR was always the thing that kept getting bumped lower on the priority list as all the other projects and assignments were due. It’s refreshing to be able to spend the limited time I have in my schedule to take everything I’ve collected and work on compiling it and planning how to present it.
Several summers ago I participated in a conducting workshop at Northwestern University taught by two of the most legendary Wind Band conductors alive today, Mallory Thompson and H, Robert Reynolds. It was a grueling week, and they were very upfront with their approach of “break you down, then build you back up again”. Though I don’t necessarily advocate that approach to teaching, it was a week that I’ll never forget and a week that taught me a lot about what it is to be a conductor.
In many ways, I feel like this year of EMDT has been the same way, and that this month is truly the start of the process of building us back up. I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel, see the forest for the trees, and all the other cliche expressions. Reading the next chapters in The Art of Possibility has become the highlight of my week -- an oasis of inspiration in a desert of stress and exhaustion. Reading Benjamin Zander’s thoughts on conducting and teaching have made me eager to be able to devote all of my time to teaching again, but with the new tools, knowledge, and experience I’ve gained this past year.
I still consider myself a runner, even though I haven’t had much time for running this year. It’s one of the other things I’m looking forward to having more time for after July 2nd. I’ve run two marathons (Portland in 2005 and Chicago in 2008) and this sure feels like about mile 23!
Eric, having run some marathons myself, this feels like mile 25 to me. It’s that last haul to the finish when you are dead tired, can’t believe you have actually made it this far, and know it is still going to take your last ounce of energy to finish. I believe this will be a memorable race. Yes there is a finish line and it’s approaching quickly. It will all be worth it in the end.
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