Activate! Asks: Erik Whitehill

Fun Facts

      My favorite dessert is butterscotch pudding

      My favorite musical is “The Last Five Years” by Jason Robert Brown

       I am half Swedish and I love to bake pepperkaker

       I can’t live without coffee and Diet Dr. Pepper

      My work is published by four different publishing companies

How many years have you been teaching?

10 years teaching, 11 years in music ministry.

How many students do you see in a typical week?

About 600.

What inspired you to become an elementary music educator?

When I student taught, general music surprised me with how much I liked it. During my church music years, I got to know a lot of great general music teachers and I wanted to emulate them.

Tell us about your funniest teaching moment.

At the end of the year, I let the students request activities and songs from earlier in the year. A little boy shouted out his request, “Dirty old man! Dirty old man!” It took me a moment to realize that he meant “Old Dan Tucker.”

If you could have only one item in your teaching bag, what it would it be and why?

My monkey puppet, Larry. He is tried and true and effective! The kids love him and he makes them feel immediately comfortable in my room.

What is your favorite teaching resource?

I really like "GamePlan" by Jeff Kriske and Randy DeLelles.

What music do you listen to in your free time?

Mostly, I listen to classical piano (Argerich, Rubenstein, Biss) and theater music (Sondheim, Brown, Flaherty)

Tell us about your favorite lesson/unit to teach?

I do a Broadway unit at the end of the year with my fourth graders. I created an interactive whiteboard experience with maps of New York City, pictures and videos from the various theaters to which I have been, etc. It ends with role-playing all the various theater jobs from producing, to being a part of the creative team, to tech crew, to performing. 

What is one piece of advice you would suggest for folks who are new to the elementary music classroom?

Talk to your students like they are humans. Be exacting in your standards, but make sure you don’t forget to show them your personality. Also… in everything you do, remember to be a positive and caring presence in your students’ lives. They need you.

What educator(s) most influenced your teaching style or your life?

Phyllis Whitney, my middle school choir director, who suggested I might play the piano for the choir. Gary Fiscus, my high school choir director, who inspired me to be a music teacher for my career. Weston Noble, my collegiate choir director, who taught me that music feeds the soul.

If there was one instrument you could ban from all elementary music classrooms what would it be and why?

The discount store recorder (I love recorder, but any store with “dollar” in its name is selling a party toy, not an acceptable classroom instrument.)

Tell us about your most memorable performance moment (when you were directing).

Performing “Rhythm of the Rain” by Jerry Estes with 25 kids playing Orff and percussion instruments and 50 children singing. When we were done, someone in the audience shouted, “Do it again!” So we did!

What is your go-to strategy to rein in an unruly class?

If they are lower elementary, Larry the Monkey is an effective behavior management tool. If they are upper elementary, I make them aware that I will treat them like the age of their behavior. If they are focused, I can talk to them like humans. If they are not focused, then I have to become their baby sitter. When this happens, no one is happy.

What excites you most about the future of music education?

Using multi-media and interactive technologies. Also, the research that continues to show music education is beneficial to the “whole child.”

What do you enjoy doing in your free time?

My first response is...free what? What is this "free time" you speak of? Actually, I am an avid Netflix and Hulu viewer. I love to cook and read, and spending time with friends and colleagues is also very important to me.

Would you like to share your story?

We are looking for Activate! subscribers to share their teaching advice and anecdotes. You can complete the interview at www.bit.ly/1T4ikVp. We will share as many responses as we can on our blog, and one lucky subscriber will win a free subscription to Activate! and be featured in an upcoming issue.

 

Activate! Asks: Mark Shelton

How many years have you been teaching? 
Over 30 years

If you could have only one item in your teaching bag, what it would it be and why? 
Sense of humor. Enough said.

What is your favorite teaching resource? 
Sense of humor

What music do you listen to in your free time? 
Classical/Art music, Electronica, Contemporary Worship, Oldies Rock

What is one piece of advice you would suggest for folks who are new to the elementary music classroom? 
Get an understanding of what is age-appropriate material. It is very easy to teach over the heads of elementary students.

If there was one instrument you could ban from all elementary music classrooms what would it be and why? 
None whatsoever. I once performed for a festival that actually had a list of banned instruments. That is just weird.

Tell us about your most memorable performance moment (when you were directing). 
Facilitating a drum circle at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention comes to mind. Many percussionists, from children to adults, were playing percussion instruments and creating music in the moment (with a few cues from me every now and then.) It was quite a thrill. 

What is your go-to strategy to rein in an unruly class? 
Always start out with positive and/or subtle methods. I have the ability to actually correct undesired behavior with a “look.”

What excites you most about the future of music education? 
Technology will play a larger role in education. Educators must embrace technology while remembering that nothing will replace human-to-human real-time interaction.

Would you like to share your story?

We are looking for Activate! subscribers to share their teaching advice and anecdotes. You can complete the interview at www.bit.ly/1T4ikVp. We will share as many responses as we can on our blog, and one lucky subscriber will win a free subscription to Activate! and be featured in the April/May 2017 issue.

Activate! Asks: Mari Schay

What inspired you to become an elementary music educator?  
After graduate school, I moved to Austin, TX, to play in a new music ensemble. With crowds of two or three people at our performances, it was clear the rent was not going to be paid, so I got a job teaching middle school band. It was a bad fit and I barely made it through that first year. The next year, I got a job teaching elementary school and got hooked right away.  

If you could have only one item in your teaching bag, what it would it be, and why?

My classroom is very well stocked, but as long as I could bring my guitar, I think I could find enough sound sources and songs to make everything else work out. The guitar is great for reinforcing melody, chords, and beat and I have come to rely on it pretty heavily when the kids are singing.

What is your favorite teaching resource?

My absolute favorite resource is Paul Corbiere’s "From BAGS to Riches." I think by the end of this year, we will have played all the ensembles.

What is your favorite publication (that you’ve authored), and why?

"Listen, Sing, Rattle, Ding" is the resource I like the best because the process of writing the book made me focus on using one song for multiple lessons and teaching with great depth and purpose. I find that following the process from the book leads my students to be able to play more sophisticated music at a younger age, in a way that keeps them totally focused and engaged.

What music do you listen to in your free time?

I mostly listen to jazz, but I tend to prefer silence after a day in a sound-filled classroom.

When did you realize that you wanted to be an elementary music educator?

I came to it by accident (or desperation), but I love the job. There is always something new to learn and something new to teach.

What educator most influenced your teaching style or your life?

I have two main influences. First, taking World Music Drumming workshops changed how I thought about teaching elementary music. The entire staff is great, but I especially count on Patty Bourne to answer questions and help me think through new strategies and ideas. She is intelligent and thoughtful about curriculum and music education and I always learn something when I talk to her. 

My other influence is my current principal, Ericka Guynes. I know so many people who feel like their principal is an adversary, but Ericka is an advocate for both teachers and students. She is dedicated to helping every student and realizes that supporting the student means supporting the family and supporting the staff. She is equally dedicated to supporting staff to become the best they can be. Every meeting with her is a positive learning opportunity. She is truly an inspiring person.

What excites you most about the future of music education?

With the ESSA, music is now considered a core subject! Hopefully, colleges that offer music education will take their responsibility more seriously. There are some programs out there that are really doing a great job of preparing students. I hope their best practices are shared with others. (Check out the program at Western Washington University under Patty Bourne for a great example!)

What do you enjoy doing in your free time?

Hanging out with family is the most important thing in my life.

 

Would you like to share your story?

We are looking for Activate! subscribers to share their teaching advice and anecdotes. You can complete the interview at www.bit.ly/1T4ikVp. We will share as many responses as we can on our blog, and one lucky subscriber will win a free subscription to Activate! and be featured in the April/May 2017 issue.