My Fall So Far...

What a crazy semester it has been! After a wonderful sabbatical, it has been a busy and hectic return to full-time duties at CWRU. This fall I:

• Have taken over as Director of Music Education.
  
• Am chairing a search for a choral music education faculty member.
  
• Attended, along with other CWRU faculty and staff, a 2-day training session in Philadelphia for the Teacher Education Accreditation Council (TEAC). We are going through TEAC accreditation, with a major report called the Inquiry Brief due this spring and an onsite visit next fall.
  
• Started rehearsals for the Wadsworth Community Band in preparation for our December 7th concert.
  
• Chaperoned the Wadsworth High School Marching Band (my senior daughter and freshman son are members) to several events. (I'm also the webmaster of the WHS Band Booster web site.)
  
• Went on college visits with my senior daughter to Miami University and The Ohio State University.
  
• Am working to get an issue of Contributions to Music Education edited and in print.
  
• Reviewed proposals for the 2009 AERA Conference and the The Second International Symposium on Assessment in Music Education
  
• Am teaching Technology-Assisted Music Teaching and Learning (for undergraduates and graduate students) and Music Cognition and Learning (graduate class). Because I haven't taught either of these for over a year, and due to the fact I've reconfigured both courses, it has been a little more work to prepare for these than normal.
  
• Have submitted a final revision of a manuscript that's been accepted for publication in the book series Advances in Music Education Research, to be published in 2009.
  
• Received notice that a proposal I submitted for an ISTE Special Interest Group (SIG) for music teachers was approved. I'm now coordinating the ISTE Music & Technology Special Interest Group.
  
• Prepared and submitted proposals for a couple of upcoming conferences.
  
• Registered and made travel arrangements for a trip to Seattle, WA to attend my first National Association of Schools of Music (NASM) annual meeting.
  
• Visited my oldest daughter in Sarasota, FL where she is majoring in computer animation at the Ringling College of Art and Design. It was Ringling's Parents' Weekend and my fall break.
  
• Received an invitation to participate in the upcoming Google Teacher Academy in New York City, after which I'll be a Google Certified Teacher.
  
  And we're only halfway through the semester...
  
  More about many of these things in future posts.