Biographical Information About the Author
I started my involvement in the field of education, informally, as an older sister to four siblings, and, formally, as a student of music, receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music at the University of Massachusetts in Boston (Boston, Massachusetts, 1983); a Master’s of Education in Counselor Training from the University of Massachusetts in Boston (Boston, Massachusetts, (1988) and licenses in music (K-12), and school counseling (K-12). After several years as a stay-at-home mother, I ventured back into the counseling field as an assistant to the head counselor in a large suburban high school in Weymouth, Massachusetts. I also worked in a preschool setting as an assistant in Hingham, Massachusetts, where I worked with 4- and 5-year- old children.
My first experience as a music educator came in 2002, when I accepted a position as a choral teacher for the Norwell Public School System at the middle and high schools. Each year we presented two concerts at the middle and end of the school year, along with the middle and high school band for both schools, and other performances for the community. At the end of the school year, the middle school band and chorus took part in the New England Music Festival, which included performing a program of choral music in front of a panel of judges, culminating in a trip to Six Flags in the mid-western part of Massachusetts.
I plan on using my Certificate of Advanced Graduate Degree in Reading to continue working in the field of literacy. My focus is yet to be determined, but I am interested in working with students and teachers at the elementary level, with family literacy projects, and perhaps at the university level in the future. This research, and particularly my experience in this 4th-grade classroom, has inspired me to continue to find effective ways to provide instruction based on authentic learning experiences for students. Providing students with process-oriented instruction in literacy is exciting to me, as it is the type of learning that is most meaningful and practical, and requires the kind of flexibility and insight into student learning that I am capable of. As a music teacher, counseling student, mother and now a CAGS student, I have been called upon to be innovative in delivering information and providing instruction that is best suited to the needs of a particular group of people. Motivating and engaging students to learn based on their interests is fulfilling to me as well as the student. Taking a story that was written 50 years ago and making the topics relatable to students through discourse on current issues is a creative and authentic way to interact with texts. I have always been a creative person, musically, artistically, and instructionally. I hope to bring this kind of instruction to the field of literacy and help other educators find ways in which they can optimize their talents in their teaching and learning experiences by modeling the spirit of the lifelong learner.
