I remember the day so clearly. You’d think it was a major
life event like the day I first laid eyes on my future husband or the day we
found out we were expecting. No, it wasn't one of those life events, but it did
end up eventually changing my life in a very unexpected way. It was the day a
friend and fellow music teacher introduced me to Activate!
We had just finished a department meeting in my classroom
when she pulled out a couple issues of the music education magazine exclaiming how
unique and useful this new publication was. She was clearly impressed, and I
valued her opinion. I asked to see a copy and quickly thumbed through it,
noting the diversity of contributors. I loved that it actually included lesson
plans and had a CD with choral accompaniments. Being a stickler for copyright,
I was also excited to see that the magazine included lots of reproducible pages
including student vocal scores and lyrics pages for the choral selections, as
well as some clever pencil-to-paper worksheets. I asked my friend how she found
the magazine and within 24 hours had signed up for a subscription. This is
noteworthy because I am one of those people who tend to take their time in
purchasing anything. Not only did I make the purchase quickly, but I used my own
money because I wanted to make sure that this resource was mine to keep no
matter where my future would take me.
Over the next few years, I looked forward to each and every
issue arriving in my mailbox. Sure, there were some issues that were terrific
and a few that were not so great for me, but overall I was impressed, and my
students were reaping the benefits of a lot of new lessons, music, teaching
strategies, and activities without me spending a lot of time and money to attend
workshops or search the internet for new lesson plans. Activate! became a huge time-saver for me. In fact, a large chunk
of my master’s work referenced the lessons and information on Carnival and the
music of Brazil published in the February/March 2007 issue.
Not too long after completing my master’s degree, we were
informed that my husband’s job was being transferred, and that we would be
moving. I was excited for the change, but devastated to lose the almost
nine-years of work I had done in my district, not to mention the terrific
students, parents, and colleagues. I would be starting over, completely.
The move came up fast, and before I knew it, I was looking
for jobs in the middle of the school year. Thankfully, I found a wonderful
long-term sub position. I brought my copies of Activate! with me to my new district and enthusiastically shared
them with all my new music teacher friends. My sub position was very unique and
left me with some pretty big chunks of time, which I used to search for a
permanent position closer to my new home. I was sitting in the music office, (which
was actually a converted practice room off what should have been one of the
most awesome music classrooms every constructed, but, of course, it had been
taken over by a fourth grade class when the school exceeded anticipated
occupancy) when another life-changing moment hit me; I saw the posting for an
editorial position with the publishers of Activate!,
Heritage Music Press. I loved the product and the job description was exciting.
I quickly dashed off an email to my husband with a link to the posting, and
asking him if he thought I should go for it (since it would require some travel
and a change of careers). He responded quickly, and I started filling out the
application.
About three months later, I found myself sitting in Kris
Kropff’s office, the first editor and brain behind Activate!, learning how to publish a magazine. It was so
overwhelming and so much fun! I got to cherry-pick my favorite choral works and
lessons and piece them together to help other music teachers bring the joy of
music to children across the country. I wanted to create the ultimate resource
for new and experienced teachers, and I had so many resources at my fingertips
and an assignment to go out and seek the best and brightest music educators in
the country and get them to write for us.
I've been doing that ever since, and every issue of Activate! is a labor of love. (And let
me tell you, there is a lot of labor and love there!) I strive to make every
issue of Activate! as user-friendly,
comprehensive, and useful as possible. Our lesson plans cover most of the major
pedagogical approaches out there and we are always bringing in new contributors
with new ideas (including assessment indicators and more clearly-stated
objectives).
We still have a choral piece in every issue to help you plan
for those concerts and keep costs down by allowing you to reproduce the scores,
as well as including the performance and accompaniment tracks. Truly, if you
were to purchase the octavos and audio tracks alone, it would be far more than
a subscription. I also try to save you some precious time by typing out those
lyric sheets and including all the visuals and manipulatives the teachers use
in their lesson plans. (I know what it’s like, I was there once, too!)
With the birth of the interactive whiteboard, we now include
interactive technology-based lessons in every issue along with articles to help
you make the most of technology in the music room. These lessons have opened a
whole new avenue for reaching our students. I hope you are enjoying them as
much as I enjoy working with the team to bring them to you!
And, I can’t say enough about our wonderful lesson plans. I
am so blessed to be able to work with so many outstanding educators. There are
many times I find myself wishing I was still in a classroom so that I could
teach these lessons to my students. They are just so much fun! Every lesson in Activate! is developed by a music
educator, and almost all of them are right there with you in the trenches. (I’m
one of the few exceptions, though I do get out and sub every now and again!)
I think it’s very rare to find a product that literally
changes your life. And while Activate!
has changed my life in far more dramatic ways than I suspect it may impact
yours, I do hope that every issue brings you some new ideas and at least a
little bit of the joy we hope to convey. I am always open for subscriber
suggestions, and would love to hear from you!
Have there been any music-education products that have
changed the way you plan or teach? Please, share your stories! You never know,
it might just change someone’s life!
____________________________________________________________
Jeanette attended Ithaca College, majoring in Music
Education with voice as her primary instrument. While at Ithaca, she performed
with the Women's Chorale under the direction of Janet Galván and was a founding
member of the college's first women's a cappella group. She completed her
Master of Education degree from Wayne State University while teaching
elementary music in L'Anse Creuse Public Schools. In her more than eight years
of teaching elementary music education, Jeanette was the writer and recipient
of several educational grants, director of after school music clubs, and one of
the directors in a district-wide choir. She has also taught Elementary Music
Education: Methods and Assessments as an adjunct professor at Rochester
Community College in Rochester Hills, Michigan. In 2008, Jeanette became editor
of Activate!, a magazine for music
educators, and in 2009, she accepted the position of Classroom Resources Editor
for Heritage Music Press.
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