Songs of Hope

While I love teaching music in and of itself, it's even more fun and interesting when you combine it with other subjects, like Suffragette Songs which featuring music that highlights how women got the right to vote; or This Land Is Your Land...Really? giving the historical background of that much-loved Woody Guthrie song.

In order to engage the broadest spectrum of students, I've always made a point of teaching towards every learning modality possible, auditory, visual, kinesthetic, etc. For example, instead of only listening to a song, they'll see it on the page, tap the melody on their body (on their heads for high notes and on their toes for low notes), clap or march the rhythm, etc.

I have a BA in Music Education, an MA in Theater Direction, and k-12 music teaching certificates in California, Oregon and Washington. I've taught in public and private schools, home-school groups and resource centers, refugee camp schools; in summer drama camps and after school clubs in the U.S., London, South Africa, and Malawi.

I believe that singing and dancing are integral for educating the whole person, that preparing a young person for life as an adult is more than teaching them job skills, but Human skills; and the arts are essential for the social/emotional learning that fosters empathy.

In the past few years, I've begun composing children's musical theater and my first musical, Truth About Trolls, has been produced in several Seattle area schools. I wrote an accompanying curriculum guide, which facilitates classroom teachers and home-school parents in unpacking themes of equity, bullying, and reaching across boundary lines to befriend people different from you. In August 2019, I co-presented about the development process at The American Alliance For Theater and Education national conference in New York City. My next composing project is a children’s musical on the life of Beatrix Potter, for which I will also co-author a curriculum, focusing on Ms. Potter’s groundbreaking life and work.

I home-school my 13-year-old son and enjoy the freedom and autonomy to experiment with a plethora of educational approaches, tailoring his learning to his interests and talents. I also bring the empowerment of the child and their parent crafting their own educational experience to my teaching.