Here we go again! Season 4, Episode 1

So, I know I said there would be more installments of the end of semester wrap up.  But, I made a new friend over break which kept me from being as productive as I should have been.  Let me introduce you to him.





Everyone, meet salmonella; salmonella meet everyone.  Yes, that's right, folks.  I was down with a pretty bad case of food poisoning over break.  As best I can determine, I got it from my obligatory Jewish dining experience of eating Chinese food on Christmas.  I wonder, does this count as a hate crime?

Anyway, let me catch you up on winter break.  First, here are the numbers from last semester:

Yes, that is an A- in Seminar.  That is a whole story unto itself, which I don't have time to dive into at this point.

So, over break, I applied to present at a few conferences.  I sent in my application to present at the fall NAfME conference.  I had such an incredible learning experience presenting at that conference this past fall; I am so hopeful that I will be able to present at this conference again.  I was accepted to present my research poster, "What about the 2nd Violins," at the Indiana Music Educators Association conference poster session.  That is happening this Friday, so you will get a full report next week on how that went.  I also have two pending session proposals for the Connecticut Music Educators Association conference.  We were supposed to hear back about that conference last month, but I got an email from them last week assuring me that they had just fallen behind and acceptances would be sent out soon.  So, lets keep our fingers crossed for that one!  Dr. C. had submitted a proposal for us to present at the spring NAfME conference, but I found out today that it was not accepted.  We are going to try to resubmit that one for another conference.  So, in short, there are tons of conferences in my future, it seems!

This semester is going to be an interesting one.  I am taking:

• Graduate Seminar in Music Education
• Night Owls
• Wind Symphony
• The History and Philosophy of Music Education
• Wind Repertory
• Supervised University Music Teaching
• Independent Study
• Preliminary Exam Prep

I am trying to transfer my Villanova summer music ed credits into Temple.  If they are accepted, this will be my final semester of classes.  That means that I could potentially be starting my dissertation in the fall, which means I have a lot to do in preparation this semester.  I have to write my IRB proposal and get started on the first three chapters of the dissertation, as well as studying for and passing the preliminary exam.  Yikes!

In other exciting news, I have officially gotten my first university job.  I am an instructor at a Pennsylvania university, where I will be supervising student teachers.  This semester, I only have one student teacher to supervise, but I imagine there will be others in the future.

In a deliberate effort to ensure I keep up with this blog, I have scheduled time every Monday to write my weekly entries.  So, you can look forward to regular posts again.

Until next week, Future Dr. Mitch, out!