Back at Acadia

      It has been a while since I posted here. Looking back at previous posts is like opening a picture album: I discover things I put in the album to save and share.

      I started this blog while in my first course, and now I am finishing my last two courses this summer. During the course of the journey, it is hard to see if I have actually made any progress. Now that I am getting to the end of the Masters program, I can see that I have come much further than I thought. The intensity of the summer courses makes me wish I was 22 again; it has been physically and mentally challenging, and even though I have committed time, money and energy to the degree program, there have been many moments I wanted to bail out of it. The value of being in a cohort is that I trust these travelling companions, and I want to finish the program with them. We have made some pretty special bonds and we have learned to collaborate in such a deep way that when we go back to our schools, the ripple effect of our increasing skills will make a difference.

       The first few days of classes were tough for me this summer. Exhaustion, heat, confusion about my expectations of the courses and getting oriented to the delivery model of instruction, the academic expectations, unknown hurdles in technology: by the third and fourth day of classes I was just hanging on by my teeth. Today was different. I got my feet under me again. I was able to get in the “flow” of the class activities, able to lose myself in the music making in the improvisation class, and in the design challenge in the afternoon. There are still pieces which I find distasteful and probably will not use much, but I think I can get through it now.

       I am reminded of my observation of students at music camps over many years: there is excitement and energy at the beginning, and on the third or fourth day, there is a real slump for most students. The slump hits as the adrenalin wears off the newness of the first few days, and the realization hits that there is still a week or more left of hard work before the final performances. After a day or so of adjusting, the energy level picks up and students ride to the end on a wave of learning and achievement which is shared and celebrated by all participants.

       It is amusing to see myself as a “camper”, and recognize my cohort as my tribe. I feel more in tune with the Creatives than the MusEd tribe this summer, although the elementary MusEd folks are almost silly enough to qualify as Creatives.