With over a decade of K-12 public school teaching experience and close to a decade in higher education teaching beginner instrumental pedagogy, I specialize in: 

• Developing musical literacy through sound before sight pedagogies, 

  • With a focus on teaching instrumental music kinesthetically, aurally, and visually through movement, chanting/singing, and playing to help students develop strong aural, rhythmic, melodic, and reading skills and foster musical growth, autonomy, independence, and transfer.

• Incorporating improvisation and creativity activities 

  • In ways that provide flexibility and create a safe environment for students to explore musical ideas as they develop improvisation skills.

  • To help develop strong fundamentals, improve musicianship, and have fun making music in the ensemble and by themselves.

• Effective modeling 

  • Because telling isn’t teaching. Telling teaches students to be musical followers—to simply respond to a command—rather than active participants in the music making process. Demonstrating is far more productive than explaining. Modeling can effectively and efficiently teach and reinforce musical concepts while actively engaging students in the learning process, guiding them to strengthen musical decision-making skills, improve creativity, and develop as independent musicians. 

  • This can also include cognitive modeling. This focuses on demonstrating cognitive thought processes, or making thought processes visible, which helps students understand the critical thinking that guides musical decision making.

• Classroom engagement, organization, and structure

  • Goals are fantastic, but in order to achieve goals it’s important to have systems in place. Creating, implementing, and reinforcing effective classroom systems to help reach classroom goals can help students take ownership and leadership of themselves and their classroom, promoting a positive and productive space for music making and learning.

  • Organizing and cultivating a classroom space based on principles of Universal Design for Learning with multiple means of representation, action and expression, and engagement increases accessibility and inclusion and promotes agency. 

  • Centering lessons around engaging content and offering students opportunities for collaboration and choice may help increase motivation and enhance learning.

• Developing effective practice strategies

  • Productive practice is intentional, mindful, purposeful, and guided by clear auditory and physical imagery of what is to be accomplished. However, student practice may typically be inconsistent and unstructured.

  • I focus on practice strategies that center on beliefs in quality over quantity, guiding students to independent musicianship, facilitating life-long music making, and incorporating elements of choice and creativity.

My interest in music teacher mentoring and professional development started with my own experiences as a novice teacher and has expanded through research and practice over the years. I am happy to collaborate and help facilitate:

• Designing and implementing or revising novice teacher induction and mentoring programs and networks.

• Developing and supporting mentor preparation and ongoing development practices.

• One-on-one or small group mentoring teacher mentoring 

• Creating professional opportunities best suited for individual teacher needs, identity, teaching style and context.

Maintaining wellness is crucial; when we are well we have more capacity and energy for ourselves and our students. However, as teachers and humans with busy schedules managing day-to-day tasks and balancing multiple professional and personal responsibilities, striving for balance and wellness can be overwhelming and often add to stress and fatigue, rather than help it.

Learning how to prioritize and incorporate wellness practices and strategies is necessary. They can empower you and help reduce stress and increase efficiency, effectiveness, productivity, and positivity. My own wellness practices and exploration for resources have given me tools and materials to share as you navigate your own wellness journey. I can help you create structures and systems for order and clarity, aligning energy and focus, and shifting from reactivity to proactivity. I can support you with: 

• Organization and Balance

• Self-Management Techniques

• Mindfulness Practices

  • Meditation, visualizations, breathing exercises, etc.

• Presence  and Intentionality 

• Goal-Setting Strategies

• Creating Mindful Learning Environments