It’s officially official now.
I passed my dissertation defense today, so my degree is complete!
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In under twenty-four hours, on 15 May 2009 at 8:30 AM, I have my final defense of my doctoral dissertation. In other words, I must sit in a small room with five professors whilst they attack me from all fronts. Yikes! No, I doubt it will be that bad, but I admit that I’m [...] I have another announcement, but this time, it’s not about a book deal: In August 2009 I will join the faculty at The University of Texas, Tyler. My duties will include teaching Music Theory, Aural Skills, Composition lessons, and a rotation of upper-level courses including Counterpoint and Arranging. Believe me, I’m excited to take [...] I’m pleased to announce that I just landed my first book deal. Believe me, it sounds strange to say that. I wish I could say that I’ve been planning this book for years and that I submitted the idea to an eager publisher, who snapped it right up. Actually, the complete opposite is true. [...] This week begins my final semester at KU. Believe it or not, KU actually hired me as adjunct faculty to teach music theory. Believe it or not (again), I’m posting this update from my mobile phone. Amazing, huh? My apologies for not posting much these days. I’ve been busy working on a number of different tasks, and it’s difficult to keep a running commentary on them. First of all, Tu Qui Consortem had its world premiere last Friday evening at Trinity Lutheran Church here in Lawrence, KS. The Men’s Chorus sang well, [...] In what seemed like a blink of an eye, summer came and went. What happened during those few, short months? The main event was that I studied for (and passed!) my doctoral comprehensive exams. Yay! I still have many tasks left to complete at KU, but this major hurdle is now crossed, and it [...] I have been a Graduate Teaching Assistant (GTA) now for four years. My fifth and final year is starting this August, and by the end I will have taught a total of seven different university classes. Over this time I have learnt a thing or two, and have had such far-ranging experiences as a death threat from a student (which is a felony offense, for the record) to having a student run away from home at the end of a semester (bizarre, but everything turned out ok). Here are a few pieces of advice for new GTAs. Of course, I cannot comment specifically on particular courses and areas of study, but in general:
Easier said than done, I know. If you have never taught a class before, you will quickly realize that there is a HUGE difference between sitting in a desk taking notes and generating material while standing in front of a class. While you do not have to be the world’s foremost expert on a given topic, you simply must prepare more material than you plan to teach that day. In other words, don’t wing it, especially not the first time teaching a particular course. I can now easily tell whether or not a professor has prepared a lecture or is flying by the seat of his/her pants, which happens more often than you might think. Don’t get me wrong: there is always an element of improvisation in teaching, but you do not want the bulk of your lecture to be improvised. Continue reading Advice for New Graduate Teaching Assistants |
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