Access to music and arts education is one thing, but what can you do to help ensure that students have access to an equitable arts education that meets their needs and supports their desires in their own education? Going beyond the notions of music and arts education for all, this workshop centers the ideal of viewing our students as individuals, rather than as a whole. Teachers will explore strategic ways to engage learners, write effective lesson plans that deepen student experience and learning, and foster student voice and agency to create an environment that not only helps students achieve their goals, but purposefully makes space for each student’s needs as they take ownership of their own learning.

Every student in our classroom has needs. Many children learn best in a variety of ways - with multiple paths for engagement towards understanding. Through the lens of access, equity and inclusion, this experiential and interactive session focuses on the struggles that general music teachers face as they strive to ensure a quality music education for all of their students. Participants will learn about the "big four" modes of adaptations that they can implement to promote students' learning as they experience, first-hand, general music activities that promote kinesthetic, aural and visual learning. This session is highly interactive and will include opportunities for movement, exploration, and music-making while engaging in tried and true strategies for creating a more accessible general music classroom.

In this hands-on workshop, teachers engage in musical activities with children’s literature that successfully foster the various skills and domains for social and emotional learning (SEL) within their students. Learn how to address self-awareness, self-management, responsible decision-making, relationship skills, and social awareness, within the core artistic processes of Performing, Creating, Performing, Responding and Connecting. Teachers will engage in practical ideas that will meet the needs of the whole child in the music classroom.

This interactive workshop introduces novice teachers to beginning steps they can take to become more culturally responsive in the classroom. Participants will “learn by doing” as they practice using tools and strategies that will foster self-reflection on their own development and experiences as students and teachers, identify hidden curricula regularly promoted within the music classroom, and engage with each other through meaningful steps that will help them go beyond removing inappropriate repertoire from their curricula.

Looking for more "buy-in" from your students while hitting their target academic goals? In this interactive workshop, teachers will learn how to take the mystery out of teaching and learning by allowing students more agency in their music learning. Learn curricular development strategies that support how students learn best—and why they are so important to mitigate the need to "re-teach" things in your classroom. Collaboratively with your peers, come dig into re-envisioning and revising your own curriculum while receiving some instructional coaching along the way. Note: This workshop involves real-world application of relevant strategies through curriculum development, so feel free to bring a lesson plan or curricular map that you are looking to refresh.

Many early career arts teachers and students learning to teach within their teacher preparation programs lack sufficient training in culturally responsive pedagogy. Similarly, teacher educators as well as those who mentor early career teachers might also need development in this area. This interactive session, designed for arts teacher educators and arts teacher mentors, will focus on how mentors can successfully help their mentees to become more culturally responsive in the classroom. Specific topics addressed include how to facilitate reflection within early career teachers through investigating hidden curriculum commonly encountered in arts education and arts teacher education programs, as well as through providing beginning teachers what they specifically need during the various stages of teacher development. Guided by their own reflection as culturally responsive arts educators, participants will practice mentoring techniques and strategies through role play and will be given specific web-based tools that will support the facilitation of beginning teacher reflection, development and growth.

The best general music classes have our students on their feet, engaged, and moving! Come learn authentic folk dances that really inspire students to engage with each other and the cultures that they are learning about. Ways to adapt dances to meet the diverse needs of students will be addressed, as well as general tips for overall success when integrating folk dance into your classroom.

This workshop highlights the developmental stages of early career arts teachers—their characteristics and needs—while providing tools and strategies for mentors to help teachers navigate their early years of teaching. This interactive workshop allows mentors time to use strategies and tools, role play scenarios, practice giving feedback to mentees, and strategize ways they can help their specific mentees.

Calling all early career arts teachers who are in their first five years of teaching! Come get the support and resources you need as you continue to navigate your early years in the profession! Working collaboratively with each other, you will work with your peers through tried-and-true strategies as you apply them to your own teaching situation and students. Come engage in "challenge by choice" as you choose which area(s) of your teaching you wish to create an action plan for so that you can improve your skills in the classroom. Specific areas that this workshop addresses includes classroom management, student engagement, time management skills, lesson planning, adapting to meet the needs of students and teacher assessment. By the end of this workshop, beginning teachers will have developed a plan for immediate actionable steps that they use in their classroom, along with a Google drive of resources that will support their work and goals moving forward.

In the realm of music education, assessment plays a pivotal role in shaping student learning experiences and outcomes. However, traditional assessment practices often overlook the diverse needs and backgrounds of students, leading to inequities in the classroom. This interactive workshop delves into the concept of equitable assessment and its application within the context of music education. This workshop will provide practical solutions to biases and systemic barriers often encountered within traditional assessment practices and help teachers develop practical inclusive and authentic assessments that honor students’ diverse needs and varying musical abilities while allowing space for student voice and agency.

Universal Design 3.0 is the most equitable framework for educators to date! Come learn how this newly-revised framework can be applied to your own music and arts classroom setting with your own students! This interactive workshop allows teachers to dig into the new guidelines to make some realistic and practical changes that help meet the needs of their students. Whether your goals center engagement, assessment, accessible teaching and learning or creating more joy in your classroom, this session will meet you where you are and skyrocket you to the next level!

Too often, general music teachers find themselves required to put on formal performances with their general music students. This often results in teachers having to use valuable class time so that they may sufficiently prepare their students for upcoming performances. Embracing informances is one way to meet in the middle when it comes to performing requirements and the K-12 general music class curriculum. This workshop is for general music teachers who wish to highlight learning taking place in their classrooms, while emphasizing process over product, for their students. Teachers learn practical strategies for advocating for informances in their schools, how to engage students in informance planning and preparation, as well as ways to ensure that learning remains front and center throughout the entire process. Student participation, accommodations, as well as performance anxiety are also addressed.

How do we design music and arts classrooms where students are genuinely invested, curious, and motivated to learn? In this interactive workshop, teachers will explore how curiosity and student agency can be intentionally built into curriculum and instruction to strengthen engagement, deepen understanding, and support long-term musical and personal growth.

Centering teacher agency and choice, teachers will examine concrete curriculum design strategies that make space for student voice and musical exploration while still supporting clear learning goals and development. We will focus on how curiosity-centered approaches help reduce the need for re-teaching by aligning instruction with how students learn best and by supporting meaningful connections to content.

Through guided discussion, collaborative curriculum work and reflection, participants will re-envision lessons and units to better support students’ musical dreams and sense-making about themselves and the world around them. Educators are encouraged to bring a lesson plan or curriculum map they would like to refresh or revise as part of this hands-on, practice-oriented experience.

Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) is essential for student success—but what does it actually look like in a music or arts classroom? This interactive workshop provides concrete, classroom-ready strategies for embedding SEL into daily instruction without sacrificing artistic rigor.

Teachers will explore how to intentionally integrate competencies such as self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making through music and arts experiences. Using their own lessons and curriculum as a springboard, teachers will collaborate to design learning environments that foster belonging, student voice, collaboration, and emotional expression.

Like what you see here but looking for something to fit the specific goals and needs of your school, department of district? Why not build your own? Let’s connect about what it is you’re specifically looking for, and I’ll create something to make it happen in the way that best fits your needs. The sky is the limit!