COURSES TAUGHT AND EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES
Courses Taught
❖ College
Chorus
Conducting
Music Appreciation
Music History
Music Theory
❖ Upper School
AP Music
Chorus
Music Appreciation
❖ Middle School
Chorus
Drama
Handbells
❖ Lower School
Chorus
General Music
Recorder
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Extracurricular
❖ Upper School:
Faculty Advisor:
Ballroom Dancing
The Versatones (a cappella enemble)
Vocal Director: Annual Musical
SAT Proctor
Assisted with: Battle of the Brains
Coach: Ultimate Frisbee
❖ Middle School:
Faculty Advisor:
The Claris Chorus (select 8th grade choir)
NCIS Fan Club
Yearbook
Director: Annual Play/Musical
Assisted with: Mock Trial
❖ Lower School:
Ballroom Dancing
Piano Lessons
Voice Lessons
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Interdisciplinary
❖ Developing a Learning Community course on the Indigenous
Musics in the Roman Catholic Church.
❖ Developed a unit on the use of music as a propaganda tool
in conjunction with a 9th grade World History course.
❖ Developed and taught a unit on the rise of Rock and Roll
within the context of post-World War II America in conjunction
with a 7th grade American History course.
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Classroom Management
My class sizes range from 12 up to 40 students (chorus). I have
found two techniques very useful in managing a classroom: Marvin
Marshall’s Raise Responsibility System and a system I have devised
based on the hierarchical system of a British man-of-war.
The Raise Responsibility System is built on the premise that the
key to effective classroom management is teaching and practicing
procedures. This is the teacher’s responsibility. Discipline, on
the other hand, has to do with behavior and is the student’s responsibility.
In this system, [t]eachers practice changing negatives into positives.
“No running” becomes “We walk in the hallways.” “Stop talking”
becomes “This is quiet time.” Choice-response thinking is taught—as
well as impulse control—so students are not victims of their own
impulses. Since a person can only control another person temporarily
and because no one can actually change another person, asking REFLECTIVE
questions is the most effective approach to actuate change in others.
The system’s hierarchy engenders a desire to behave responsibly
and a desire to put forth effort to learn. Students differentiate
between internal and external motivation—and learn to rise above
inappropriate peer influence. Students reflect on their chosen
LEVEL. This approach SEPARATES THE PERSON FROM THE BEHAVIOR, thereby
negating the usual tendency to defend one's actions. It is often
this natural tendency to self-defend that leads to confrontations.
If disruptions continue, a consequence or procedure is ELICITED
to redirect the inappropriate behavior. This approach is in contrast
to the usual coercive approach of having a consequence IMPOSED.
My system based on the man-of-war, is to appoint Lieutenants who
are responsible for the general order of the Chorus. The students
report to them and they report to me. The Lieutenants maintain
quiet during rehearsals and perform librarian duties as well as
checking for posture.
