ELEM/GEN: I Wish You More

 

I Wish You More

I was in the bookstore last week and I found a delightful children’s book entitled, I Wish You More by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and Tom Lichtenheld (Chronicle Books, 2015). After reading a few of the pages, I bought the book as a gift for my student intern. It also made me think of you. Here are a few lines:

“I wish you more ups than downs,
I wish you more give than take,
I wish you more tippy-toes than deep (illustration of a pool)
I wish you more we than me
I wish you more hugs than ughs.. (skipping ahead…)
I wish you more treasures than pockets
I wish you more stories than stars,
I wish all of this for you, because you are everything I could wish for….. and more.”

Elementary AMEA, you are everything I could wish for and more. When the pandemic hit, you stepped up to the plate with lessons and materials to share with others. You participated in numerous Zoom and Google meets to plan how to teach and what to teach for the upcoming school year. Your colleagues reached out for help and you were there. Maybe you reached out too and found help through our organization or a colleague. You attended the 1st ever, virtual AMEA conference, making it one of the most successful conferences ever. You fill in the gap every day even though it has been hard and sometimes seemed impossible. You are amazing and I wish you more!

As we move forward into 2021, I am excited for music education in Alabama. As you know, my two-year term as Elementary Division President is coming to an end. It has been a pleasure serving you. You have elected a wonderful slate of officers who stand poised and ready to take the helm in June. Your newly elected Elementary Board is as follows:

President: Sarah McLendon President Elect: Alicia Luttrell Secretary: Melissa Galanopolous Treasurer: Devin Lacy

Past President: Betty Wilson Festival Director: Melissa McIntyre Hospitality: Erica Lutz

Please reach out to any of these educators or your district chairs if you have any questions about our upcoming workshops and conferences. We look forward to hearing from you about conference sessions, possible inservices, and/or clinicians you would like to have.

Remember, we have many excellent music education opportunities at our disposal this summer including Orff levels I and III at Samford University and Kodaly levels I, II, and III at the University of Montevallo. Also, registration for the Elementary Music Festival is open until May 7th. The festival will be held on October 15th at Eastmont Baptist Church in Montgomery. Details are below. Lastly, we have started planning our annual AMEA Professional Development Conference. This year our 2022 conference will be in Birmingham, on January 20-22, 2022. Please consider applying for your choral or instrumental group to perform at the conference or to be a presenter. Some of our best interest sessions have come from our fellow Alabama music teachers. Please consider sharing your wonderful

ideas with us. Both conference applications can be found on the myamea.org webpage https://myamea.org/conference-apply/. The deadline to apply is June 1st. These are just a few of the amazing opportunities we have for professional and personal development and I hope you will take advantage of as many as you can.

In closing, I know it has been a challenging year. I thank you for hanging in there and for doing your best during this unprecedented time. One day we will tell our grandkids the most amazing tales of when everything closed for months, including schools, there was no toilet paper to be found, and how we had to teach music over the computers. In fact, we may go down as the first generation of digital music educators. The next generation may laugh and tell us we are spinning a yarn. Won’t that be wonderful? I wish you all the best! I wish you more. More drums than desks, more smiles than masks, more hugs than waves. I wish you more sunshine than rain and more joy than sadness. “I wish all of this for you, because you are everything I could wish for….and more.”

For questions or updates, please contact us at elementaryamea@gmail.com.

Have a Great Summer,

Betty R. Wilson, President Elementary/General Division

 

Workshops and Other Professional Development Opportunities Alabama AOSA

Orff Levels I, and III Summer of 2021, June 21-July 2, 2021 Samford University: contact Dr. Soja msoja@samford.edu

Orff-Schulwerk Level One Workshop: https://eve.samford.edu/index.php?formid=3423&he=no Orff-Schulwerk Level Three Workshop: https://eve.samford.edu/index.php?formid=3424&he=no

AOSA Spring Workshop
March 5, 2022, Jennifer Donovan, Clinician

Sweet Home Alabama Kodaly Educators (S.H.A.K.E.)Workshop https://sites.google.com/view/alabamakodaly/home
Kodaly Levels I, II, III, July 12-23, 2021
University of Montevallo: Contact Becky Halliday ahalliday@montevallo.edu S.H.A.K.E. Workshops

Fall (August/Sept) 2021: Lea Hoppe, Clinician April 2022: Rachel Gibson, Clinician

East Alabama Music Educators

August 28th, 2021, Auburn, Alabama
Contact Dr. Rob Lyda for details lydarob@me.com

AMEA Music Festival
October 15, Eastmont Baptist Church
Clinicians: Rhonda Tucker and Jeremy Howard
For details email: ameafestival@gmail.com
The sign-up deadline is Friday, May 7, 2021, and all sign-ups must be completed online using this link: https://forms.gle/bb5syP2Y9Ci8UQfTA

AMEA Fall Workshop
October 16, Eastmont Baptist Church, TBA

AMEA Professional Development Conference January 20-22, 2022, Birmingham, Al