About 2 weeks ago I was at the North Carolina Music Educator's Association Annual Conference. I am grateful that I was able to attend and share my research posters as well as reconnect with teacher friends and higher ed friends. While there I overheard some very interesting comments that got me thinking. "The whole point of technology is to make our lives easier." I love technology. I love teaching with it. I do typically think it makes my life easier. But is this the primary point of technology? I'm not convinced the main point is to make our lives easier. I think technology has many, many aims including: access to information, new ways of doing things, new ways of learning, more efficient ways of doing things, more efficient ways to handle multiple things at a time, and yes, hopefully to make our lives easier.

This has been a really cool day as a teacher of all levels! First, in my Quantitative Design class we made introductions and it was really cool to hear/see how many young people are pursuing PhDs. I realize I'm fairly young, but for some reason in my head people with PhDs are usually older and have years and years of experience in their field. Instead it seems more and more of us are realizing the good we can do by working in higher ed and are jumping on the chance to pursue that early in our careers. How cool!

Wow to another powerful week of conducting & learning at the Bard College Conservatory of Music Conductors Institute. I am grateful not only for the conducting experience but also for the conversations and thought-provoking discussions. As I mentioned in my last post, there is some tension between the world of professional conductors and the world of music teacher conductors. I'm glad to know more about how "the other side" thinks and get to play a small part in meshing the worlds.

It has been a very powerful week here at the Bard College Conservatory of Music Conductors Institute. This is the first time I've done any kind of Conducting Institute/Workshop/Seminar. I've taken a variety of conducting classes and lessons at BW and Penn State but now that I've exhausted the classes I can take as a non-conducting-major it's time for new opportunities.

My previous post on "String Camp" gives some of the backstory of how I got involved with BW Summer Camps. This year I worked a week as a guest conductor during String Camp and then during Band Camp I became "Chief of Staff/LIT Teacher." My good friend Jared Rawlings was Chief of Staff during String Camp and somehow we started the trend of saluting him whenever his title was mentioned. That trend continued with me (mixed in with some creative salutes... including a Hunger Games 3-finger kiss) and I must say I can't help but think of saluting every time I hear "Chief of Staff." :-)