ETM's annual Teachers Institute expanded to two sites this year – P.S. 102 in East Harlem and P.S. 68 in the Bronx – and welcomed more than 150 academic teachers for a day of professional development on Saturday, September 29th. Participants learned about ETM's programming, reviewed some of ETM's newest resources materials, and had the opportunity to be music students themselves. Director of Programs Stephen Herx ran two sessions at the Bronx site, and Field Supervisor Chris Marolf ran sessions at the Manhattan site.
All teachers attended a 1.5-hour session on grade-specific integration techniques, where they saw examples of how music instruction incorporates and reinforces the same skills they seek to teach in their own classrooms. The teachers also reviewed and gave feedback on the resource materials ETM has been developing as part of its multi-year grant from the U.S. Department of Education.
Each teacher also got to choose between a wide variety of hands-on instrumental lessons taught by ETM teaching artists, including keyboard, singing, recorder, strings, and drums, with participants concluding the day by performing for one another.
Mr. Marolf started off his integration workshop by stating that "If you learn only one thing from today, I hope it is the understanding that music class is so much more than just singing songs." Judging from the feedback, teachers took that message to heart and came away with a lot of knowledge. After experiencing many musical activities firsthand, the teachers better grasped the variety of skills and concepts that can be taught through music.
ETM thanks Cheryl Coles and Sandra Gittens, principals of P.S. 68 and P.S. 102, for hosting the Institutes, the teaching artists who facilitated workshops, and all the teachers for taking time on a Saturday to learn more about ETM.
