Saturday, November 23, 2013

AOSA 2013 Conference Highlights - Part 3

I fondly remember driving from Detroit, MI to Rochester, NY with my colleague to attend my first AOSA national conference. The three days of music-making and workshops was a key to my success in the elementary classroom, and even now as an editor for Heritage Music Press, I will occasionally find myself revisiting those well-worn session notes.

It is no secret that attendees see the conference like a family reunion. Just spend a good half hour and watch the joyous meeting and greeting in the lobby of the hotel, and you’ll know exactly what I mean. And, like a strong family, the AOSA members are there for each other to ask questions, lend an ear, and offer help. It truly is a wonderful network of passionate music educators coming together in pursuit of reinvigorating their teaching, refreshing their souls, and furthering their quest to be the best music educators they can.


One of the highlights for me of every AOSA conference is getting to meet music educators from around the country and listen to what they need and want in terms of resources to improve their teaching or expand their repertoire. I absolutely love seeing someone’s eyes light up when I introduce them to a resource that they know will add that special something to their classroom (even if it is just a collection of worksheets to help out with sub planning). It’s hard to find music education resources anywhere other than online, so having the ability to peruse the print products and interact with the software in the exhibit hall is a really unique opportunity. I really enjoy being able to help music educators in any capacity. Having both past experience in the classroom and an in depth knowledge of the products we offer puts me in a unique situation to be at your service, and I hope you took advantage of it at this conference or will plan to in the future. I’m already looking forward to reconnecting with my music education family next year in Nashville!
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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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