Erika Knapp is assistant professor of music education at Texas Woman’s University, specializing in elementary and choral music education. She received her doctorate at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan, and taught elementary and secondary general music and middle school choir for thirteen years. Knapp has presented for many national and international venues, where she focuses on inclusive practice and empowering educators to create joyful musical experiences. She is an Orff pedagogy teacher-trainer for the American Orff Schulwerk Association and teaches level I and II courses across the United States. Her research interests include music for students with ability differences, teacher professional development, and equity in music education. She has published research in the Journal of Music Teacher Education, Music Education Research, The International Journal of Music Education, Psychology of Music, Music Educators Journal, and The Orff Echo.
What happens when teachers trust the process and their students? These sessions will explore Orff Schulwerk-inspired approaches that are active and playful, and will focus on student voice and choice in the elementary music room. Through movement, singing, speech, and instrumental play, participants will experience and reflect on pedagogical strategies that build genuine student agency. Leave with renewed inspiration, practical tools, and a deeper understanding of what it means to let children truly lead their own musical learning.
Ashley Laverty is the founding artistic director of Kerfuffle, a theatre and dance company that creates original performances for children up to age six. Under her leadership, Kerfuffle has partnered with many arts and non-arts organizations to bring aesthetically exciting, engaging, and accessible theatre experiences to children around the country in museums, libraries, parks, and community centers. She has more than twelve years of teaching artist experience, specializing in early childhood drama. In Chicago, Laverty is proud to be a teaching artist with Lifeline Theatre, Writers Theater, Imagine Theatre, and the Stage School. She has led professional development workshops focusing on integrating drama in early childhood with educators across the country. Laverty holds a degree in theatre for youth from Arizona State University and a degree in theatre arts from Point Park University's Conservatory of Performing Arts.
Educators in this session will jump into devising while using a picture book as source material. Participants will use their bodies, voices, and imaginations to explore book adaptation, physical devising techniques, and writing activities to use with students in the elementary grades.
Terlene D. Terry-Todd is a dancer, actor, choreographer, and professional teaching artist with more than forty years of experience. A leading movement arts integration specialist, she presents nationally and internationally. Terry-Todd currently serves as a master teaching artist with Wolf Trap Education and has received numerous awards for her choreography, arts contributions, and work with children with special needs. She holds a degree in physical education from Hampton University, a master’s in curriculum and instruction from the University of Northern Colorado and a master’s in dance history and choreography from American University. Terry-Todd has taught at both Howard University and American University and has been a guest choreographer for the University of Delaware’s Sharing Our Legacy Dance project. She also served Fairfax County Public Schools as a certified dance and adapted physical education specialist. A strong advocate for wellness, Terry-Todd created the Healthy Choice series for children, beginning with Sweetie’s Healthy Start.
Participants will explore how to use creative movement and gesture to teach students to tell a story, enhance understanding of concepts, and provide an opportunity for creative exploration, collaboration, and application. Throughout the workshop basic movement fundamentals will be utilized that help to create and enhance STEM lessons throughout the entire curriculum.
Thomas Sturgill is a conceptually driven interdisciplinary artist and educator. He was born and raised in Pound, Virginia, a small company town whose heyday had long passed. Sturgill earned his undergraduate degree in sculpture from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, in 2002, and went on to receive a master’s degree in interdisciplinary arts from Carnegie Mellon University in 2006. His work has been shown both nationally and internationally, and he creates both solo and collaborative projects. Sturgill is a founding member of the artist collective Pulled Resources. In his personal practice, he has been exploring object and human relationships, creating surprising and sometimes confusing experiences that reflect his everyday entanglement with things. He currently lives and works in Nashville, Tennessee, where he serves as assistant professor of sculpture and chair of fine arts at the Watkins College of Art at Belmont University.
Participants will explore strategies for helping students understand creative work as shaped by cultural, historical, social, and material conditions. This workshop introduces approaches that connect studio practice to real-world contexts, encouraging students to think critically about meaning, audience, and purpose while developing their own artistic voice.
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David H. Knapp is assistant professor of music education at Florida State University, where he also earned his doctorate. His research and teaching focus on removing barriers to participation in music education. He teaches courses in digital music making and modern band, with a focus on diverse and accessible teaching practices. Knapp’s research has been published in the International Journal of Community Music, Music Education Research, Research Studies in Music Education, and the Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education. Prior to his teaching at Florida State University, he served on the music education faculty at Syracuse University. While there he began the Music in the Community program, a collaboration with community partners to establish lab spaces throughout the community. This work helped him to earn the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Unsung Heroes Award in 2022, presented by Martin Luther King III.
This course is intended to help teachers implement a curriculum for digital music making in their classrooms. It does so by giving teachers the tools to create music digitally using the web-based platform Soundtrap. It also will give teachers the opportunity to imagine what their digital music lab might be. Participants will be asked to reflect on their experiences as a learner and make transfers to the classroom. An important thread throughout is the joy of music making. At the end of this course the presenter hopes that everyone has experienced this joy and will want to create the same experience for their students.
Alan Hawkins is an improviser, educator, and author with more than twenty years of experience in teaching and directing. He has trained at many of the nation’s leading improv institutions, including the Second City Conservatory and Musical Conservatory in Los Angeles, the iO West program, the Chicago ComedySportz Training Center, and the Annoyance Theatre. Since 2004 he has taught improv and theatre, developed curriculum for high school instruction, and served as a teacher and director at the Chicago Teen Comedy Fest. Hawkins is an ensemble member and instructor at Unexpected Productions in Seattle, where he teaches improvisation, including his signature “Improvising in the Style of Shakespeare” workshop series. He is the author of You Can’t Learn Improv From a Book, a resource designed to help drama teachers introduce and strengthen student improvisation. Hawkins’s teaching emphasizes emotional honesty, active listening, and expressive storytelling, assisting educators to empower students to create bold, connected, and imaginative work.
Participants will explore the core tools of improvised Shakespeare using language, emotion, and physical storytelling to build rich scene work. Through hands-on exercises, participants will learn techniques they can apply directly in their own classrooms.
Thomas Sturgill is a conceptually driven interdisciplinary artist and educator. He was born and raised in Pound, Virginia, a small company town whose heyday had long passed. Sturgill earned his undergraduate degree in sculpture from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, in 2002, and went on to receive a master’s degree in interdisciplinary arts from Carnegie Mellon University in 2006. His work has been shown both nationally and internationally, and he creates both solo and collaborative projects. Sturgill is a founding member of the artist collective Pulled Resources. In his personal practice, he has been exploring object and human relationships, creating surprising and sometimes confusing experiences that reflect his everyday entanglement with things. He currently lives and works in Nashville, Tennessee, where he serves as assistant professor of sculpture and chair of fine arts at the Watkins College of Art at Belmont University.
Participants will explore strategies for helping students understand creative work as shaped by cultural, historical, social, and material conditions. This workshop introduces approaches that connect studio practice to real-world contexts, encouraging students to think critically about meaning, audience, and purpose while developing their own artistic voice.
