Music Educator
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Teaching
3rd-8th Grade Music in the Bradford Area School District
I am currently the 3rd-8th grade music teacher at School Street Elementary School and Fretz Middle School in the Bradford Area School District. I have the privilege of teaching 3rd, 4th, 7th, and 8th grade general music as well as 4th, 6th, 7th/8th, and Select Chorus. I have been so lucky to have an excellent mentor teacher, Mr. Michael Grady, as a first year teacher.
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The Bradford Area School District receives Title I funds, and, therefore, I have been working with students from a variety of ages, abilities, and socioeconomic statuses. I have learned so much about teaching, students, and participating in a professional community throughout my time here in Bradford, PA. These have been incredibly enriching experiences that will inform my future teaching practices. My skills in classroom management have been especially affected - I have learned how to set up a successful, consistent, and positive behavior management system.
Curriculum Frameworks
Student Teaching: Choir
I had the privilege of student teaching with Mr. Eric Brinser in the Bellefonte Area School District from January 4, 2022 until February 18, 2022. During this time, I taught lessons in high school choir, middle school choir and small group lessons, and high school theatre classes (Introduction to Theatre, Theatre Production, and Dramatic Arts I). I also had the opportunity to help cast and rehearse the Bellefonte Area High School Production of Bye Bye Birdie.
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During this time, my confidence as an educator grew quickly! I was very lucky to have such lovely students be my first, and I learned a lot about choral pedagogy while being their teacher. Coming from an instrumental background, I was never very confident about my singing abilities or my prowess as a choral musician. However, my experiences in this placement proved to me that I do have the skills to both be a great vocalist and choral instructor. My strengths in task analysis and scaffolding proved to be very valuable when planning instruction for students of varying ages and abilities. My greatest area of growth was learning to use proximity effectively in a wide variety of ways: both for classroom management and pedagogy!
Choir Lessons
Theatre Lessons
These photos were taken and edited by one of my high school students at Bellefonte!
Student Teaching: Elementary General Music
My second student teaching placement was with Mrs. Jennifer DeRemer at Wingate Elementary School in the Bald Eagle Area School District from February 21, 2022 until April 29, 2022. I worked with all general music classes in Kindergarten through 5th grade. Wingate Elementary School serves many students with disabilities, and, therefore, I had the opportunity to practice delivering lessons to students of varying levels of ability.
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I grew as a teacher in many ways throughout this placement. Mrs. DeRemer's classroom is stocked full of myriad teaching materials. Having so many instruments and manipulatives at my disposal allowed me to be very creative in all of my planning and inspired many new lesson ideas. In addition, I made great strides in my classroom management skills. I employed my own classroom management system which was successful, as well as learned many new techniques to keep my students safe and engaged. The activities that I developed throughout this placement will be useful to use with my future elementary music students.
Elementary General Music Lessons
Hear 2nd Grade sing our daily hello song!
Musical story time with kindergarten!
Xylophones all ready for kindergarten!
Echo patterns with Josephine, the puppet!
Musical story time with kindergarten!
Other Teaching Experiences
Private Music Instructor
Teaching private music lessons has been a very rewarding way for me to gain more teaching experience. I have enjoyed cultivating individual students' strengths on multiple instruments.
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During Spring 2021, I taught private clarinet and guitar lessons to multiple students in the Delta Program in the State College Area School District. We worked virtually together on music literacy and instrument technique. Those students made quite a lot of progress in a short period of time.
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I currently teach piano lessons to an elementary age student with a visual impairment. While this does pose some issues for learning instrument technique, we have been working very hard to develop advanced audiation skills as well as melodic dictation. See some of my student's work in the videos below. These are melodic segments that she has learned by ear!
Child Care Teacher's Assistant
During Summer 2021, I had the privilege to work at Ages and Stages Child Care Center in Waymart, PA as a Teacher's Assistant. This facility is Keystone STARS certified, and I worked mainly with children in the preschool room (ages 3-5). Throughout this position, I taught short lessons on the alphabet, counting, musical instruments and songs, and children's literature. I also designed creative seasonal activities for both inside and outside use. I facilitated each child's daily care which included feeding and napping.
