The next blog post in the Professional Practice series asks us where we would like to be in five years. All of my blog posts have felt personal, due to their reflective nature, but this one really gets into where I’m headed next in my career.

#1 Finish the Provincial Instructors Diploma Program!

This is more of a short-term goal, as I’m trying to finish the program within the next six months. However, all the work I’m doing in these courses is having an impact on my work as an instructor and an assistant department head. Having greater understanding of curriculum design, instructional strategies, feedback mechanisms, and reflective practices not only feeds into my own courses, but also administrative work for my department, like program and systems renewal. I feel I will come away from this experience with greater depth, breadth, and professionalism in post-secondary adult education.

#2 Writing and Publishing

While I am employed at a teaching institution that does not require me to publish, I love writing and it has long been a goal of mine to publish both academically and creatively. I’d like to have a couple of books published within the next five years. One is already in progress; I currently have a book under contract with Routledge, co-written with my colleague Owen Coggins, entitled Jew’s Harps and Metal Music: Folk Traditions in Global Modernity. I’m also considering writing a book specifically about jew’s harp, possibly for a trade publisher rather than an academic one, to broaden the audience for my research and make it more accessible to the general public. Finally, I’m planning on doing some personal writing over the next five years, resulting in either a non-fiction book, memoir, or a volume of poetry.

#3 Research Fellowship

As this is my eighth year of teaching, I’d like to take at least one leave in the next five years to refresh myself in my field. I’d like to apply for a one-year post-doctoral fellowship to conduct a research project of some sort, linked to one of the publication outcomes above. Before my teaching career, much of my time and identity was wrapped up in research and ethnographic fieldwork, which I love. I was travelling, going to festivals, and spending time with musicians and artists, and I miss being in that environment of constant discovery. I get a lot of mental stimulation from teaching as well, but there’s something about fieldwork and going out there to get answers that motivates me in a different way. I miss meeting people, conducting interviews, examining objects in museums, speaking with archivists and curators—the works. And the more I renew my energy in my field, the better my teaching will be.

All these goals are interconnected, and none really stands alone. Everything that I do to develop my teaching practice furthers my professionalism, and everything I do to develop my research and writing enhances my work, perspective, and resources as an instructor.