Alumni Spotlight: Andréa Wood

We are thrilled to speak with ETM Alumna, Andréa Wood. Andréa started with ETM in 2018 and has had an accomplished career as a musician, composer, and educator. Andréa shares with us how she got involved with music education, her approach to integrating her musicianship into the classroom, and the impact ETM has had on her career.

Tell us your story and how you came to ETM.

I came to New York City to attend the Manhattan School of Music. I graduated in 2013 with my Masters in Music, focusing on vocal jazz performance. I had a singing and performing career – which I still do – and alongside this I spent many years working as a teaching artist at places such as Jazz @ Lincoln Center and The New York Pops.  I started out teaching early childhood music education and private lessons, but didn’t have experience in a formal classroom setting. Along the way, I was ready to have a teaching role that was more stable, so I went to Teacher’s College at Columbia University to complete my Master’s degree in Music Education.

Upon graduating, although I was certified, I found it quite challenging to secure a teaching job within the New York City Department of Education (NYC DOE). It was difficult to break-in. So, initially, I took a job and taught music at a charter middle school, which turned out to be a very tough experience. As I continued to look for other teaching opportunities, I learned about ETM. At the time, it seemed like the perfect situation because it had this ability to connect teachers with a NYC DOE school and support their placement and getting hired at a school in need of a qualified music teacher. What I didn’t know at the time was how much coaching I would get while I was at ETM. I already had years of experience teaching, mostly with early childhood, but the added level of support was unexpected and so helpful. I started with ETM in 2018 and was placed at P.S. 24 in the Bronx. In December 2019, I was hired by the school, and am still teaching there today. 

What & where is your current position and what do you love most about teaching music? 

I currently teach general music at P.S. 24 in the Bronx, serving as the only music teacher at the school. I also lead a 4th-5th grade after-school choir. I love teaching elementary students. Having started my teaching career in early childhood, the ability now to work with students across the grade levels provides me such a wide variety of opportunities to connect and inspire kids of all ages. I also really like the choir and am amazed by their progress and by what we can accomplish together. They are now singing two and three part harmonies, and we recently performed at the Community District 10 Arts Festival, which was such a rewarding experience for everyone. This was the first time I was able to bring a group to perform off-site since my time with ETM, so I’d love to find more ways to do this with the choir. 

What skills or experiences did you gain at ETM that you found most useful and helpful in your career as a music educator?

My Master’s program at Teachers College was incredible informative and, upon graduating, I was eager to identify and apply specific lessons that I could immediately implement in the classroom. ETM, through both its professional development sessions and its curriculum catalogs, provided just the tools I needed. At Teachers College they taught us about Kodály and Dalcroze methodologies, and it was through my time at ETM that I learned of the successful ways of applying these approaches to teach students, especially in how to read music. I received so many incredible, tangible, and immediately applicable lesson plans and resources that I could use and tweak to my needs, and which I still use today. I also still use ETM’s repertoire catalog when looking for songs to teach, which I access as being a part of ETM’s alumni network. It all goes back to the practical – I would have had to do a lot of homework and have needed to seek out resources and professional development on my own if I didn’t have ETM. It was also so great to reconnect with the community at the recent professional development session I led this past January!

How do you integrate your life and experiences as a musician with your career as an educator?

My kids actually love knowing that I’m a real working musician. I let them figure it out throughout the year and when they do discover that Ms. Wood is on Spotify, it’s so cool for them to see that their teacher is actually a musician. It’s something that they can look up to. And this applies in the classroom as well from my own vantage point. I very much still feel like a musician when I’m teaching – I play the piano, I sing for them, I free play for them when we need a moment to relax. I think it’s really important to bring quality musicianship to the classroom setting so that the students are hearing quality music. Also, with the repertoire I select, I’m choosing music that I like and which I’ll rearrange so that it works for all of us.

What advice would you give to an early career music educator or someone interested in pursuing this career?

My main piece of advice would be to have fun with the kids. It’s very easy to get caught up and fixated on how to do particular things and scrutinize over what my lesson plans will look like. Yes, it can be very complicated to iron out a lesson, but once you have that done, it’s so important to remember to have a good time with the kids and build those relationships because that is what makes your classroom management a lot easier and more successful.