“The only thing that you absolutely have to know, is the location of the library.”
– Albert Einstein
Music Teacher Turned to the “Light Side”
My career has been a strange adventure, and if you would have told me that I would be working as a library media specialist at some point in my life I would have probably not even know what that was. Alas, here I am, enjoying this new journey I am on.
I live in Mandan North Dakota, and have been born in raised in the state. I studied Instrumental Music Education at Dickinson State University, on the western edge of North Dakota and taught music in public school and in juvenile corrections for 14 years. My experiences working with juveniles in corrections were unique and wonderful and taught me to think outside the box and really think about how music and other subject areas are really tied together. My students and I created some great work together. Check out one of our original songs. Though I no longer teach music, I still enjoy creating, performing and writing music. My 12 year old daughter and I also published a fantasy novel a year ago called “Book of Quilia”, which we started writing together when she was 7. We enjoy writing together and are working on a sequel!
I am currently a Library Media Specialist for the largest school district in the state of North Dakota at one of the largest schools called Solheim Elementary School. I teach grades K-5, and am very grateful to work in a district that has 1-1 devices. I am looking forward to gaining new skills and ideas of how I can use digital media to improve experiences and learning for my students and for myself. I look forward to learning from everyone in the class!
Hi Megan, it is nice to meet you! I am very impressed with the work that you and your students did on that original song. It sounds professional and I’m sure they had a good time recording it. What equipment and software did your class use? What instruments can you play? It honestly seems like you were doing quite well on the “Dark Side”, but it will be exciting to see what you end up doing in the future! That is wonderful that you were able to publish a novel with your daughter who is almost now the same age as the protagonist of your story. I look forward to working with you this semester.
Hi Bremen, Nice to meet you too! Thank you for the nice compliments. I tried to use equipment that my students would have accessible to them in life, so I used relatively inexpensive tech: blue yeti usb microphones, iPads, GarageBand, Mac computers, simple stuff like that. I’m able to play quite a few instruments just because I had to learn a lot of them as a music major 🙂