2022 Colorado Music Educators Association Conference 2022 Colorado Music Educators Association Conference

He Said, She Said, They Said: Gender Neutrality in the Music Room

- MST
Colorado Hall A/B
DEIA Day 2 General Music Council Sessions
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Amy Abbott
Red Hawk Elementary School, Music Teacher - Kodály specialist

Amy Abbott is in her 24 th year of teaching elementary music. She received her undergraduate degree in music education from the University of Colorado at Boulder and obtained her masters in music education with a Kodály emphasis from Colorado State University. She has Kodály certifications from PSU and from CSU. She has presented sessions at the CMEA State Conference, Oregon Arts Alliance State Conference, multiple OAKE conferences and was the featured clinician for the 2021 Texas Music Educators Conference. She has presented all-day workshops for multiple OAKE chapters, and the Amarillo School District. She is also the level 2 pedagogy, folksong and analysis Kodály teacher at Colorado State University. Additionally, she has served on the ROCKE board for over 7 years as President, Secretary and Member-at-Large. In addition to teaching general music at Red Hawk Elementary in Erie she also teaches a 4/5 choir and musical theatre. In the spring of 2013 she was honored with a Jared Polis Foundation Teacher Award. When not teaching she loves spending time with her husband, son and daughter, cross-stitching, working on her Teachers Pay Teachers store and blogging.

Our ultimate goal, as teachers, is to ensure that our students feel safe, respected and valued members of the class community. Therefore, it’s important to look at various aspects of our classrooms, ensuring that ALL students are seen and respected for who they are as an individual. One prime example of this is gender neutrality. In this session we will explore the importance of gender neutrality in various ways. Participants will discuss the “what, who, where, when” of gender neutrality. The session will have a “hands-on,” or demonstration, approach, focusing on the importance of neutral pronouns and non-gender specific roles in singing games, play parties and other musical repertoire. Attendees will have a chance to explore using gender neutrality within various classroom situations and to discuss how this will make music education more inclusive for all students.

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