2013 PMEA Summer Conference

Schedule at a Glance:

Monday, 7/22

8 - 10 a.m. - Registration

10 a.m. - Welcome

10:15 a.m. - Opening Keynote with John Benham

Noon - Lunch

1 - 5 p.m. - Afternoon Breakouts

5:30 p.m. - Dinner

6:45 p.m. - Evening Session featuring State Rep. Eddie Day Pashinski

7:15 p.m. - Evening Session Continued with Chris Woodside, NAfME

Tuesday, 7/23

7:00-8:15 a.m. - Breakfast

8:30 a.m. - PDE Update

9:45 - 11:45 a.m. - Morning Breakouts

Noon - 12:30 p.m. - Closing Remarks

End of Summer Conference

Music Advocacy: Moving from Survival to Vision

The four key elements of music advocacy. Basic principles and case studies will be used to demonstrate principles of success, and how to avoid failure.

*Advocacy - John Benham will take his keynote message into further detail during this time which will include Q and A, case studies and deal with individual issues.

*Assessment - PDE Consultant Dave Deitz will offer details on PA's developing Student Learning Objectives, specific to subjects: 1 - 1:30 p.m. - Choral focus; 4 - 4:30 p.m. - General Music focus; 4:30 - 5:00 p.m. - Instrumental Focus

*Band Block- Great Stuff That We Used to Play! with Jason Worzbyt, Indiana Univ. of Pennsylvania, will include a reading session of classic works from the repertoire as well as a discussion focusing on literature selection and innovative programming. **Please bring your instrument!

*Choral Block - I.Designing Choral Warm-ups to Fit Your Learning Objectives. II. Free Music Reading Session III. Composition in the Choral Classroom with Bryan Helsel, Butler Senior HS/Kent State University. The three sessions listed will be integrated into the large block of time with breaks and practice. *Sponsored In-part by ACDA-PA

*Classroom Music (grades 3-8): Start with a Story with Sharon Potter will explore how the integration of stories, music and other art forms lead to an understanding of different cultures while developing the 21st century skills of critical thinking and problem solving, creativity, collaboration, and communication. **Participants should bring a soprano or alto recorder, one or two favorite non-pitched percussion instruments, and be ready to sing, dance, play and create.

*Orchestra/Strings with Martin Norgaard, Georgia State University, will feature Yes, Improvisation Can Be Taught..., Fiddlin' Fun & a String Reading Session. *Sponsored In-part by Menchey Music and Yamaha Inc.

*Special Learners - Alice Hammel, Virginia Commonwealth/James Madison Universities will share Teaching Students with Special Needs in an Active Classroom. Participants can expect to be led through a variety of active songs, games and dances developed to increase their abilities to include students with special needs in general music classrooms. They will also become more aware of strategies (morality, size, color, pacing) to include when teaching all students.

*Technology - Ben Holste, MakeMusic, Inc., will share the session Effectively Using SmartMusic in your Band, Orchestra & Choir. Select appropriate literature. Introduce your students to SmartMusic's many instructive features. Creating your own grade book & making assignments to your entire ensemble in just minutes; Tips for getting started. Bring your computer, instrument & questions. If you already have a SmartMusic subscription great; if not, a one-day SmartMusic subscription for your use during the clinic will be provided. *Sponsored by MakeMusic, Inc.

Featuring Pennsylvania Representative Eddie Day Pashinski who will share tips on the legislative process and advocating in Harrisburg.

In recent months, a startling number of stories have crossed the news wire calling attention to the problems of cheating scandal-plagued schools, teacher and student assessment burnout, and the stifling of creativity in the classroom. All of these issues can be categorized as unintended consequences of the high-stakes testing-driven environment born out of the current education reform movement. Chris Woodside, NAfME, takes a deeper look at the fallout from the No Child Left Behind-era of education reform, and examines what must change in order to protect the future of learners in America.

Assessing student learning of important content as it applies to developing PA's required Student Learning Objectives process with PDE Consultant, O David Deitz.

*Assessment - OMG! Are My Student Assessments OMD? with Scott Sheehan, Hollidaysburg Area SD and Linda Thornton, Penn State University. In this session, basic principles to guide assessment processes and create effective rubrics will be presented. Participants will work on developing authentic assessment tools aligned with SLOs and state mandates. Participants are encouraged to bring practical ideas they want to develop for use with their students in the fall, and feel free to bring tools that might help (laptop, tablet, course outlines, curriculum, ideas, etc.).

*Classroom Music - Teaching in the Key of Collaboration with Patti Begg and Lisa Bevan, State College Area SD. Participants will have an active session, brainstorming ideas that increase student achievement. Using the concepts of lesson study as well as our collective wisdom, we will collaborate to create new ideas for a new year. We will lead activities that guide us to be better music teachers, make the load lighter, and grow professionally by being part of a community of learners.

*How Was My Solo? - Methods for Evaluating Improvisation, with Martin Norgaard, we will learn how to adapt advanced "story-telling" devices as evaluation criteria for the middle and high school improvising soloist. Participants will analyze a classic Miles Davis solo then incorporate observed "story-telling" devices into their own solo. These include range, speed, length of phrases, diatonic to non-diatonic, call and response and more. Finally these parameters are applied as evaluation criteria applicable to the beginning improviser.

*Special Learners - Alice Hammel, will continue to share on Teaching Students with Special Needs in an Active Classroom.

*Understanding How the Music Products Industry Can Better Help Music Educators - Five music products industry veterans from around Pennsylvania will talk about some key ways the music products industry can help music educators do their job faster and easier. Mark Despotakis, Ben Holste, Cindy McAllister, Joel Menchey and Peter Sides will talk about the industry's role in advocacy, budgeting, ways to streamline rental processes and so much more. We'll give you some simple take home tips that will help you do your job as a music educator better.

*Vocal Options: What’s Going On in There? Vocal Techniques for Authentic Choral & GM Performance with Rachel Pollard, Fox Chapel Area SD. In this hands-on session, teachers will:•Identify the parts of the voice •Begin to learn to control those voice parts independently• Consider the acoustic and color ramifications of that control •Practice vocal technique with regard to building color “recipes” •Explore kid-friendly strategies to build vocal technique and recipes •Use those recipes to achieve authentic performances of varied styles of repertoire •Identify some high-quality repertoire options for your ensemble.