As a new teacher, and new to W.F. George Middle School, choir director Hannah Espinoza was given a challenge to grow the music program and have them competing at UIL (University Interscholastic League).
At Dempsey Middle School, there is a vibrant performing arts program; students can elect to take band, orchestra or chorus. With 300 students in Tracy Cinereski’s choir program alone, she spent a lot of time knee-deep in weekly theory assignments. She admits to feeling “constantly bogged down” trying to keep up with all the grading, which could be up to 10 hours a week.
How Albuquerque Academy Uses Technology to Help Kids Learn Music.
The sixth-grade general music class is the foundational course for all the performing arts. “It can be an intense first year introduction for the students. What’s tricky about it, is that some students enter the class with years of music lessons and others may have absolutely no experience with music training at all.”
When Thunder Mountain M.S. adopted a 1-to-1 technology initiative to better prepare students for the digital world, music director Sarah van Vegten started to explore how these Web-enabled devices might enhance student learning and shed some of the paperwork. At the same time, she was facing a challenge that many music teachers know all too well — her sixth-grade music elective enrolment numbers were declining. “It’s a real commitment to be in music.”