MIENC Music Learning Leadership Institute
2008-2009 Team Certificate Program

written by alyson swihart, eric swihart, sallyann tomlin, and wesley j. watkins, iv, ph.d. with sidebar features by eric swihart

story: Isolated school with limited music-teaching capacity forms partnerships (with MILE and MIENC LLSN Network) that led to ever-deeper and richer music-integrated curriculum implementation, professional development, community building, and assessment practices. Early products are visible community-wide, and school faculty comes alive. School commits to pre- and post assessment rubrics, forms useful professional development exchange with local school, and is now on its way to becoming a scale-out hub in the area.

key elements:

• Gold Rush Musical: An important visible beginning for music-integration at the school—continues the following year and extends to other grades
• School Sing-A-Long: An important visible attempt to build community and social-emotional development through music
• Professional Development Exchange with El Dorado: Schools host site visits and share successes and challenges
• In-School scale-out: Backwards-mapping State Music standards through Grades 1-5
• The Jazz and Democracy Project: Effective use of music to teach social studies curriculum that students were having difficulty with
• Student and Teacher transformation: Several extended sidebar stories by Eric Swihart, especially as relevant to the Gold Rush and Sing-A-Long
• Increased commitment to pre- and post- assessments

Download Thorhill’s LLSN report (PDF)

written by hector armienta with contributions from meg madden (executive director of music in schools today), laura spiering, (second grade classroom teacher), and tai schoeman (principal of el dorado elementary)

story: Underserved and economically disadvantaged school community with little district supported arts instruction and no comprehensive arts education strategy forms partnership with MILE program and MuST and MIENC LLSN Network and creates viable music integration program.

Description of the LLSN Online Digital Portfolio System

The MIENC Online Digital Portfolio System is an Internet-based technology designed for the creation, display, and storage of user-designed “mini websites” that function as school and student portfolios. The System has two installations: one on the MIENC webserver (http://digitalportfolios.music-in-education.org) that is used for school portfolios from Learning Laboratory School Network projects; and one on the CMIE webserver (http://portfolios.mieatnec.org/digital/), used for course, Guided Internship, and cumulative portfolios by New England Conservatory Music-In-Education Concentration candidate students.