Curriculum and Project
Examples
Initial COVID Curriculum
April - May 2020
New Albany High School closed and shifted to alternative elearning during the spring of 2020. After insuring that students could pick up an instrument and dropping off several to students homes, I then developed this curriculum with two daily options - paper/pencil or online technology use. While students had 1-1 devices, a high population of the student body did not have reliable internet access. I also offered optional virtual interaction through a weekly "check-in" google meet and also scheduled individual private sessions per request via google calendar.
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Google Classroom Sample Orchestra Post
Google Classroom Sample Piano Post
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Online Organizational Platform
mymusicoffice.com
This online platform helped to streamline organizational efforts for the New Albany High School orchestra classroom. Over the past 7 years, I have updated the music library from 600 titles on a spreadsheet to 2500 titles and have now entered them into the system along with details such as recordings, previous performance dates, curriculum elements present, and difficulty level. Additionally the program has allowed me to link students to instrument rentals, locker assignments, attire sizing, and financial statements.
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Classroom Memo
Students participate in multiple events a month, fundraising, and community/virtual opportunities for enrichment. I try to keep things as simple as possible for parents, so I combine most current/upcoming events for the week/month into a memo. I also try to include student shout outs as well as links to recordings of concerts/performances.
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Piano Lab Live Stream Recital
May 2021
New Albany High School was on a hybrid/asynchronous schedule for the 2020-2021 school year. The piano lab classes usually perform their final pieces in a live setting, but given the unique guidelines at the time, I adjusted the performance to have a virtual option instead. This also allowed for students who opted to be completely virtual for the semester to perform on their pianos at home and we projected their screen onto the smartboard and classroom speakers so that they could also participate.
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Summer Orchestra
Every year we host a one-week intensive string camp to start beginners and to get returning students back into shape for the upcoming school year. I advocated to have the program hosted closer to our high poverty students to help alleviate transportation barriers. We also provide full scholarships for students with financial need. I designed the beginners week-long curriculum.
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Senior Recognition
Most seniors in our music department have been in orchestra for 4 to 8 years. I am the department representative for the high school "Honor's and Awards" committee. Additionally, I have been the lead for several senior recognition efforts including:
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1) designed the senior award certificates
2) organized/order medallions seniors wear to graduation and trophies for special recognitions. awards script
3) implemented a senior slide show
4) event plan/host a year end banquet
5) created guidelines for students to letter
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*Note - With school shut down in 2020 and our final concert for the school year canceled, I had to get creative! I put together a senior gift bag and created a virtual senior award reveal to help students have some closure and to celebrate during a time of so much loss.
Talent Shows
I have hosted talent shows in all of my teaching positions, and love to see the creativity and artistry that students bring to their performances! Additionally, I'm very involved in the annual "teachers got talent" show that dear friend and colleagues, Matt Jacobi, started 6 years ago. Both our student and teacher talent shows help to raise money for a senior scholarship fund.
Virtual Student Talent Show 2020
Talent Show Audition Flyer 2019
Talent Show Audition Flyer 2018
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Chamber Music
Chamber music is a small group setting usually consisting of 2 to 5 students. This setting teaches students leadership, collaboration, critical thinking, constructive criticism, and fellowship. I have developed opportunities for students to participate in this unique educational experience by 1) collecting repertoire through research, donations, and grant applications so that students have music free of charge, 2) connecting professional musicians to mentor student groups, 3) establishing an annual recital, 4) providing time in class and after school for rehearsals
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Chamber Music Recital Flyer 2019
LiveStream Chamber Music Recital 2021
Violins and Elephants
The Carnival of the Animals by Saint Seans has always been a favorite of mine for music education. Each movement of the music was written to sound like a different animal - lions, turtles, swans, and more! Younger audiences learn active listening and are easily engaged while older performers face challenging techniques and expressive playing.
The education outreach leader from classical WUIOLL 90.5 radio (Sara Soltau) and I had already been collaborating for a few years, and we decided to work together to bring a reinvent this classic curriculum. Our new curriculum focused around animal reactions to music. We surveyed students on how they thought animals might react, incorporated scientific studies, and even did a little experiment of our own! My students from the Floyd County Youth Symphony performed for the animals at the Louisville Zoo! After the experience, students performed and shared our unique curriculum for local elementary school students as well as in a children's recital at the NAFC public library.
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Parent Facebook Post About the Zoo
Image - Students Play for the Elephants
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Field Trips and Travel
Field trips create great opportunities for students to travel, make cultural connections, and nurture fellowship. As a music teachers, I am also able to incorporate performing, clinic training, and attending professional musical productions. I volunteer a large amount of personal time to plan, complete paper work, handle financials, and lead these trips. In addition, we host a number of fundraisers to make the trips more affordable, and I have been able to create funds to sponsor students who wouldn't otherwise be able to afford these opportunities.
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New Albany High School Trips
Cincinnati 2022 - Itinerary
Chicago 2019 - Itinerary / Media Coverage
Louisville Orchestra Field Trips 2016, 2017, & 2019 - Writing Sample 2016 / Itinerary 2017 / Itinerary 2019 / Photo
Nashville 2016 - Itinerary / Photo
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Hazelwood Middle School Trips
Kentucky Kingdom 2018 - Note Home / Photo
Holiday World 2017 and 2019 - Program Description / Photo 2017 / Photo 2019
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Floyd County Youth Symphony Trips
Disney World 2014, 2017, 2019 - Performance Info Letter / Flyer 2014 / Photo
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Halloween Stringtacular
The New Albany Floyd County Schools orchestra program has grown from a single teacher with a high school class of 12 students in the 1980s to now having nearly 1,000 students and 5 full time staff members. While almost every middle and high school in our area have band and choir, we are the only district with an orchestra program. I wanted students to feel pride in being a part of this program (which I graduated from) and to help us create public awareness of our orchestras. This huge production has now become one of the favorite bi-annual events in our community.
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To ensure the success of this event, a huge amount of behind-the-scenes coordinating is required each year. I reserve the gym space around sport events, create and set up labeled seating with volunteers, organize instrument access, collaborate with middle school teachers, develop curriculum around a Halloween theme and make adjustments for multi-level performance, and create programs/flyers/media coverage. It's a blast seeing students come up with create costumes and last year we even added turning the lights off and using glow sticks for a piece!
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Information Letter for Parents 2019
Photo 2015 / Photo 2017 / Photo 2019
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Recruitment
Growth and retention of orchestra programs requires networking, outreach, and advocacy. Here are some of the things we do to retain and recruit students:
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Middle School - annual video, student tour to elementary schools, pen-pal program to pair older student with incoming younger students, advertise opportunities such as amusement park field trips.
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High School - annual video including student input, performing arts night (HS tour, pizza, group activities), invite 8th graders on a piece in the NAHS fall concert, I visit both middle schools, I guest conduct at middle schools, and high school students volunteer and coach middle school students, advertise opportunities such as out-of-state field trips and Tri-M Music Honors Society.
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Floyd County Youth Symphony - flyers and media posts, student tour to elementary schools, advertise opportunities such as bi-annual Disney World trip.
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Hazelwood Middle School Recruitment Video
New Albany High School Recruitment Video
Floyd County Youth Symphony Elementary School Tour Image
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T-Shirt Design Contests
T-shirts are a fun way to build morale and program investment, they create a uniform look at performances, and they make it easy to monitor students on trips. I've enjoyed creating t-shirt designs for summer orchestra, fundraisers, and field trips. Additionally, I usually host an annual t-shirt design contest. Students submit their designs and the class votes on their favorite. The winner gets a shirt for free and that is the design for that school year. We also list all students names on the back so that they have a memento from the year!
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New Albany High School Design #1
New Albany High School Design #2
Students Modeling Shirts for Recruitment
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Appreciation
I am fortunate to work with students for multiple years and in additional extracurricular settings. This makes it possible for me to truly individualize experiences for each of my students. Building rapport with my students is a huge priority for me, and I hope that my students will leave my program not just as better musicians, but as better people. On hard days I look through my "memories" box where I keep student notes, crafts, and pictures.
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Professional Development
I engage in a variety of professional development opportunities each year.
Attached are some examples of recent trainings I have completed: PD EXAMPLES
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Culturally and Linguistically Responsive Training Series - 2021
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QPR Suicide Prevention Gatekeeper Certificate - 2020
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Teaching Music in Urban Classrooms Book Study - 2019-2020
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Highly Effective Leadership Program - 2020-2021
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Additionally, I annually attend music education conferences/clinics through the state of Indiana (Indiana Music Education Association) , college programs (Ohio String Teachers Summer Workshop), or national organizations (American String Teacher Association).