Amy Burns & Lisa Lepore Named Master Music Teachers Kathleen Spadafino NJRMEA President kspadeb@aol.com
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my M. Burns (http://www.amymburns.com) has been teaching general music to grades pre-kindergarten through three, directing the Far Hills Philharmonic for grades four through eight, co-directing the elementary chorus and Broadway Jr enrichment groups, and coordinating The Far Hills Conservatory at Far Hills Country Day School in Far Hills, NJ, for the past nineteen years. A widely known music educator, author, and clinician on how to effectively integrate technology into the elementary music classroom, she credits her colleagues, administration, and the members of the Technology for Music Education (TI:ME) organization and NJMEA for her success in teaching music to elementary students. She holds a Bachelor of Music in both Education and Performance from Ithaca College and a Master of Science in Music Education from Central Connecticut State University (CCSU), with her capstone research project focusing on composition with music technology at the second grade level. She also holds TI:ME levels 1 and 2 certifications as well as Orff level 1 certification and Kodály level 1 certification. A firm believer in differentiating instruction, Amy began adding technology as another tool to reach the students in her music classes in 1998. In 2005, Amy received the first-ever TI:ME Teacher of the Year Award for her innovative uses of technology in the elementary music classroom. During the summers, Amy teaches courses to music educators on ways they can integrate technology into their music classrooms. She has been an adjunct professor at CCSU, Montclair State University, and William Paterson University. In addition, she has taught several classes online and has been a guest speaker for numerous webinars. Amy has presented many workshops on integrating music technology into the elementary music classroom for district and state conferences in Connecticut, Florida, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Texas. She has also presented sessions at AOSA and the national conferences for Technology for Music Education (TI:ME) and the National Association for Music Education (NAfME). In 2014, she was a keynote speaker at the MusTec conference in Glen Waverly, Australia. In 2015, she was the keynote speaker at the Music and Technology Conference in Houston, TX. Both of her keynote addresses focused on how technology is transforming the way music educators teach elementary general music. Amy has written many articles on the topics of early childhood music education and integration of technology into the elementary music classes for publications such as NJMEA’s TEMPO and NAfME’s General Music Today. She is the lead author and editor of a book of technology-enhanced lesson plans titled, Technology Integration in the Elementary Music Classroom, published by Hal Leonard and is currently a contributing author to Online Learning Exchange™ Interactive Music powered by Silver Burdett. She recently began writing a Help Series of ebooks, with the first two resources entitled Help! I am an Elementary Music Teacher with a SMART Board! and Help! I am an Elementary Music Teacher with one or more iPads! Eager to share and give back to the professional community, Amy has served on many educational boards. In 2006, she served on the NJ TI:ME Board. In 2008, she was elected as President-Elect of TI:ME, served as President in 2010-2012, and as Past-President in 2012-2014. In 2013, she was selected to serve on the NJMEA Board as the “Early Childhood Music Educator Chair” where she produces bimonthly webinars for early childhood and elementary music educators in NJMEA can earn PD hours. Outside of school, Amy is devoted to her family, which includes her husband Chris, and her two daughters, Mikayla and Sarah. When she is not teaching, she is enjoying watching them grow and learning about life through their eyes.
TEMPO 38
JANUARY 2016
