My Teaching Portfolio

During my time at CSULB, I fortunate to have various opportunities to collaborate with experienced faculty and local music educators. These interactions were pivotal in shaping my background, moving beyond theory to develop a teaching philosophy that is responsive to the needs of a music classroom.

Introduction to Elementary Music

Elementary Music Education Methods was a class taught by Professor Julie Corallo. This course goes over the different general music approaches, such as the works of Orff and Gordon, and strategies to implement these concepts in the classroom. Students were also required to observe about 10 hours of general music classes in the Long Beach Unified District and teach a song to a music class at the elementary level.

 

In this video, I am teaching a fourth grade general music class at Stevenson Elementary. I coordinated with my observation teacher, Mrs. Aber, what song I would teach and the lesson related to it.

Emerging Practices in Music Education

Emerging Practices in Music Education I, taught by Dr. Tamara Thies, is a course designed to further students' knowledge of teaching strategies that promote cultural inclusion and sustainability with music. In this class, students explored the musical styles and genres of mariachi and hip hop. Towards the end of the semester, students created and performed two mini challenges that demonstrated their understanding of how to implement these teaching strategies in their future classroom.

 

Mini Challenge 2 was an assignment that challenged us to create an assignment that we could implement in our future classroom. Mini Challenge 2 included a live performance of a chosen exercise and a written plan and assessment. My group created the activity of demonstrating the students' creativity through creating a melody and accompaniment for a published poem. For our performance, we chose to compose a melody and piano, bass, guitar and drums accompaniment Edgar Allan Poe's poem, "A Dream Within A Dream". 

Assistant Conducting - Bel Canto

During my final semester at California State University, Long Beach, I served as the Assistant Conductor for the SSAA Choir under the mentorship of graduate conductor Tyler Berg. This role was instrumental in refining my ability to facilitate high-level rehearsals. I developed a strong command of rehearsal pacing and learned to balance rigorous musical standards with an efficient, supportive instructional environment.