Dr. Taurus Hines is the dedicated principal of Rozelle Elementary School in Memphis, Tennessee. He is committed to fostering a nurturing and dynamic educational environment.
Leading an arts integration program in kindergarten through fifth grade settings requires dedication, strategic planning, and a commitment to fostering creativity and innovation in education. The leadership and support of principals and administrators are crucial in creating a vibrant and dynamic learning environment where the arts thrive and students excel. By embracing the principles, strategies, and best practices outlined in this discussion, leaders can successfully implement and sustain an arts integration program that benefits students, teachers, and the entire school community.
Jaclyn Rudderow is the senior director of school programs for Save The Music Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping students, schools, and communities reach their full potential through the power of making music. Rudderow leads the foundation's programmatic work in communities across the country.
Save The Music Foundation’s grassroots approach in communities across the United States encourages partnership and connection with the school arts program at the center. This interlude session will share a community-centered model, and will include resources for arts educators that will uplift and strengthen their programs.
Jim Holcomb spent twenty-four years in the classroom, both in Tennessee and Mississippi, as an instrumental and vocal music teacher. For twenty-one years he served as supervisor of music and dance programs for Memphis City Schools. In retirement, Holcomb has remained an active professional musician and performer, as well as a brass instructor at the Bellevue School of Performing Arts in Memphis. Holcomb is the secretary for the Tennessee Arts Academy Foundation Board of Directors.
The TAA Arts Rich Schools Program and Awards seeks to celebrate and recognize innovative and resourceful schools that provide arts-rich educational curricula and programming for their students and communities. TAA Foundation board member Jim Holcomb will moderate a panel discussion featuring the 2025 TAA Arts Rich Schools of the Year winners. Audience questions will be encouraged.
After thirty years of teaching, David Chambers recently retired from his position as a pre-kindergarten through eighth grade elementary music specialist for Fentress County Schools. He is also the choir director for Allardt Presbyterian Church and the founding director of the Fentress County Community Choir. Chambers has served as a TAA elementary music facilitator since 2005.
Some lessons and activities are repeated every year because they meet the state of Tennessee standards and students enjoy them! This session will offer the opportunity for teachers to network with other elementary music teachers across the state and share their own successful lessons and activities, along with examples from the presenter. This interlude will be excellent for teachers early in their careers, so that they can add new “tools” to their music tool kit!
Julissa Chapa taught elementary music in the Houston area for twenty years. She earned her master’s degree in music education, received her Kodály Certification from the Kodály Institute of Houston, and trained in Music Learning Theory. She is currently a lecturer and supervisor for student teachers at the University of Houston, teaches summer courses at the Fort Bend Kodály Institute, and regularly presents staff development sessions for districts and conferences across the country. She is a doctoral candidate at the University of Houston, and her research areas are emergent bilinguals in the music classroom and music education accessibility in under-resourced areas. Her ultimate goal is to promote quality music education for all children, upholding Kodály's belief that music is every child’s birthright.
Discover how to unlock every student's potential by applying the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework in a fine arts classroom. This session will explore the UDL guidelines through engaging examples and collaborative discussions which will equip educators with practical strategies. Learn how to meet the diverse needs of all learners while fostering creativity and accessibility in teaching.
David Dockan is an assistant professor of music education at Louisiana State University where he teaches elementary music methods, courses in teaching music in diverse settings, and where he champions the integration of popular music in the curriculum. His goal is to help teachers design a curriculum that mirrors the diverse musical landscape of their students’ lives. His research has been published in leading journals, including the Bulletin for the Council of Research in Music Education, the Music Educators Journal, and The Orff Echo, focusing on democratic music education, popular music pedagogies, and inclusive music classrooms. In 2022, he collaborated with Dr. Martina Vasil to develop a masterclass on Orff Schulwerk and popular music education. Dockan envisions classrooms where students create music that reflects their diverse experiences and cultural backgrounds.
Explore how contemporary artists and trends, including TikTok dances, can engage students and make learning relevant. The session will include creative strategies for incorporating these elements into the curriculum to foster student expression and connection. Participants in this session will discover new ways to captivate learners and celebrate student interest in the arts.
For more than forty years, Joan Eckroth-Riley has been sharing her passion for music education. She currently serves at Murray State University in Kentucky as associate professor and coordinator of music education. She is the author of Everyday Improvisation: Interactive Lessons for the Music Classroom and Everyday Composition: Interactive Lessons for the Music Classroom, and a contributing author to Kaleidoscope, which contains lessons on the new core music standards. Eckroth-Riley is a certified recorder and movement instructor for Orff Schulwerk teacher training courses, frequent workshop presenter on standards and assessments for elementary music, and musical clinician around the country. She holds a master’s degree in music education with an emphasis in Orff Schulwerk from the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota, and was honored to be named the North Dakota Music Educator of the Year in 2016.
Make connections between music, folk dance, and cultures by experiencing easy folk dances from several continents. Participants will experience the richness of cultures and geography by exploring songs and dances from around the world. Come ready to dance and have fun as participants in this session build community through cultural connections.
Michele Henry is a professor of choral music education and the director of music education at Baylor University. Henry teaches undergraduate music education courses, supervises student teachers, and oversees the music education program. She specializes in vocal sight-reading instruction and assessment. Henry is the co-author of the Level Up! sight-reading series which focuses on a systematic approach to individualized sight-reading instruction and assessment. Her research appears in many top journals, as well as Oxford and GIA presses. Henry is on the editorial boards for the Journal of Music Teacher Education, the Southwestern Musician, and Texas Music Education Research. She is also heavily involved with certification policies for music teachers. She holds a doctorate from the University of Minnesota and a master’s degree from the University of North Texas.
Please come and join other participants as the Academy Chorale prepares a program of music to be performed at the TAA Finale Luncheon on Friday. The Academy Chorale performs under the direction of Michele Henry, the academy’s secondary choral instructor.
Jann Knighten received degrees in music education from East Carolina University, then attended the University of Texas at Austin. She began her career as a teacher of middle school band in Jacksonville, North Carolina, and completed thirty years of public school teaching in 2009. Knighten represented North Carolina as an educational ambassador for the U.S.-Japan Foundation’s Global Schools Initiative at Hiroshima University and Mihara Junior High School. She is currently the coordinator of the graduate certificate in music education for students with differences and disabilities, and a candidate for a doctorate in curriculum and instruction in special education at the University of Arkansas. Knighten has presented at national and international conferences and professional development sessions in many states. She is the president of the Arkansas Music Educators Association and the president-elect for the Council of Exceptional Children’s Division of Visual and Performing Arts.
Imagine that you have arranged for a clinician or guest artist to work with your students, and when your guest asks questions, the students stare like a deer in headlights. How do you know if a student has actually learned what you are teaching? In this session, the presenter will share ideas about how students learn, as well as activities you can do with students to spark creativity and measure knowledge in as little as fifteen minutes.
Alfred Watkins retired as director of bands at Lassiter High School in Marietta, Georgia, where he spent thirty-one of his thirty-seven years in the profession. He is currently musical director and conductor of the Cobb Wind Symphony. He is a graduate of Florida A&M University (FAMU) and received an honorary doctorate from the VanderCook College of Music. Concert bands under Watkins’s leadership have performed at thirty-two invitational concert band events, and he has conducted All-State High School Bands in thirty-four states. His concert bands have performed at the Midwest Clinic, Music for All National Festival, and at the Georgia Music Educators Association conventions. Watkins is a member of the American Bandmasters Association, the FAMU Gallery of Distinguished Alumni, and has been named to the Hall of Fame for the Bands of America, Conn Selmer, and the Minority Band Directors National Association. The $1.5 million band building at Lassiter High School bears his name.
This session is designed to assist the young band director in avoiding some of the pitfalls so many educators experience during the first few years in the profession. Although this session is designed for the young teacher, many veteran educators often find the reminders to be quite helpful.
Valerie Branch is the founder and artistic director of VB Dance Ensemble, a professional, contemporary dance company focused on bringing cultural awareness and social change into schools around the nation. Her mission is to use the power of dance as a catalyst to empower children to find value in the impact that their voice can have on their life and the lives of others. Branch graduated magna cum laude from the University of Maryland, College Park with a degree in dance. She has experience touring as a performing artist and dance educator both nationally and internationally and has brought dance into schools throughout the United States, South Africa, India, Singapore, and Grenada. Branch is a Master Teaching Artist with the Wolf Trap Institute for Early Learning Through the Arts and holds a National Teaching Artist Credential with Young Audiences Arts for Learning. She advocates for teaching artist representation while creating and promoting innovative strategies that will increase the visibility of teaching artists around the nation.
This workshop invites educators to explore the integration of mindfulness practices with creative expression to enhance personal well-being in the classroom. Through a blend of hands-on activities and reflective exercises, participants will learn mindfulness techniques that can be seamlessly woven into creative lessons, helping students and educators alike to remain grounded, focused, and resilient. This session emphasizes the development of mindful awareness, emotional balance, and creative release, equipping educators with strategies to foster a calm, centered environment that supports both academic growth and personal well-being.
Rebecca Pogue Fields serves as head of elementary school programs at the Alliance Theatre at the Woodruff Arts Center in Atlanta, Georgia, where she facilitates the design, administration, and delivery of arts integrated, in-school residency programs in more than three hundred classrooms each year. She also facilitates theatre education programs and teacher training utilizing the STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics) education model. STEAM learning integrates the arts into the traditional STEM curriculum to enhance creativity and critical thinking skills. Fields enjoys training educators at various levels to introduce best practices in arts integration, transform teacher practices, and establish strategic partnerships. She graduated from the University of Georgia with a fine arts degree in dance and received a master’s degree from the University of Kentucky. Fields has previously worked with Young Audiences Arts for Learning and the Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta.
Dust off your dancing shoes, and bring your jazz hands! In this session, participants will complete a short warm-up and learn musical theatre choreography. No prior dance experience is required.
Raymond McAnally, a native of Franklin, Tennessee, is an award-winning actor, producer writer, and lecturer. Some of his television credits include Black Mirror: San Junipero, which won an Emmy in 2017. He has had guest starring roles on Better Call Saul, Modern Family, Chicago Fire, and 30 Rock, and his feature film credits include Paradise Highway, The Revival, and Compliance. Theatre credits of note include God's Ear; Casa Valentina; One Man, Two Guvnors; Mrs. Mannerly, and The Foreigner, among many others. McAnally’s solo show, Size Matters, received its world premiere at Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati, was filmed before a live audience at the Franklin Theatre, and now streams on Amazon Prime. His full-length play, The Cruelty of Children, was a semi-finalist at the O’Neill Center in 2019. McAnally has been a lecturer for Rutgers Arts Online since 2013 and guest lectured at colleges and conservatories since 2009. He holds a degree in acting from Mason Gross School of the Arts and a degree from Sewanee.
Raymond McAnally will lead participants in an exploration of the acting choices, subtext, and even stage directions found in the sounds Shakespeare very intentionally chose. Participants will come away with tools to share with students in the classroom and in productions to help them unlock the creativity of the text by speaking it aloud.
Drew Richardson, known as Drew the Dramatic Fool, is the first person in the 21st century to have new, short, silent films shown in major motion picture theaters. In addition to being a silent film star in the wrong century, he has toured his solo shows at art centers, theatres, and festivals nationally and internationally, including the International Comedy Festival in China. Richardson played with Squonk Opera in the Broadway touring production of Bigsmorgasbordwunderwerk and has devised and directed for theatre companies across the United States. He has a degree from Ohio University, and a degree in theatre performance pedagogy from Virginia Commonwealth University. Richardson studied with Jacques Lecoq in Paris, is a certified Essential Somatics exercise coach, and has a teacher’s certificate from the Michael Chekhov Association. He teaches many varieties of physical acting and comedy for theatre companies, colleges, and universities, both in-person and online, around the world.
Drew Richardson offers simple exercises to increase awareness of accumulated body stress that is experienced before or after entering a rehearsal, class, studio, or performance. Participants will develop the freedom to embrace or leave behind habitual tightness. The movements used in this session can help to make strong and quick artistic choices on and offstage.
Sara Simons is an associate professor of instruction at University of Texas at Austin, where she is the head of the bachelor of fine arts theatre education program. Her teaching interests include theatre for social change, process drama, multicultural education, and curriculum design. She teaches classes for pre-service theatre educators, which include designs for instruction and creative drama I and II. Simons received a grant to develop a signature course called Art and the Epidemic, where students examine art created in response to both the AIDS crisis and COVID-19. The University of Texas honored her with the 2020-21 College of Fine Arts Distinguished Teaching Award. Simons has a degree in theatre and women’s studies from Wellesley College, a master’s in theatre education from Emerson College, and a PhD in educational theatre from New York University. Her research has been published in Youth Theatre Journal, TYA Today, The Journal of Applied Arts & Health, and Annals of Behavioral Medicine.
Sara Simons will lead participants in quick activities designed to generate original material as part of the devising process. Participants will engage with writing and performance, and will learn several fun prompts to bring back to their own classroom.
Adam Yankowy is a native of Louisville, Kentucky, and is currently an assistant professor of musical theatre at Michigan State University. He holds degrees in musical theatre and music education and has taught in theatre departments at several universities. Selected performance credits include Babes in Toyland (Lincoln Center), The Pirates of Penzance (New York City Center), Swingin’ Christmas (Carnegie Hall), and Broadway’s Rising Stars (Town Hall). He has earned numerous regional theatre awards for both directing and music direction. Yankowy is the current artistic program director for the New Musical Laboratory at Michigan State University, a program that helps shape and support new musicals in their development process. He also is the host of a musical theatre radio program in East Lansing, Michigan. His research centers on the creation of new musicals and the revision of older musicals as new ones. He continues to work as a director, music director, and performer.
Participants in this session will look at musical theatre through the years and explore various style tags to apply physical and vocal choices to different types of genres. Participants should come ready to sing and learn!
Sr. Genemarie Beegan is a Sister of Mercy who teaches art and ceramics at an inner city high school near downtown Chicago. She has taught nearly every grade level across thirty years in the classroom and has spent fifteen years as a graphic designer. She loves seeing the light go on in someone’s eyes when they realize they can create something beautiful.
To experience the use of contour line, participants in this session will draw the individual letters that make up their names using American Sign Language. Students love using their own hands as models and their names as the subject. Each person will draw their hand in the shape of their ASL letters on scratch paper, then trace them in order (and close together) on long paper. Light boxes and windows will provide back lighting for tracing.
Summer Brown is a graduate of Howard University in Washington, D.C., where she majored in drawing and painting in the College of Fine Arts. She received her master's degree in museum exhibition planning and design at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Brown has worked at Staples & Charles, Ltd. as an exhibit designer; Hargrove Inc. as a special events and exhibit designer; the United States Center of Military History as a curatorial assistant; the National Library of Medicine as an exhibition coordinator; and the Washington Latin Public Charter School and the Children's Guild as an art teacher. She is an adjunct lecturer at Prince George’s Community College and teaches classes at Howard University as master instructor. Brown is still a very active practitioner in her craft as she paints, draws, and exhibits her work frequently. She received a regional Emmy Award for art direction for the short film Vote.
Summer Brown will share knowledge of various painting techniques that will help educators understand and interpret art by exploring how an artist achieved a particular effect or finish. It is essential to understand some fundamental painting techniques so that painters can experiment with different styles and find their voice as an artist.
Jonathan Juravich began teaching art to students in elementary grades near Columbus, Ohio, in 2005, and continues to teach art to young students. His personal and professional focus is the importance of social and emotional learning in the daily lives of young children. This is his topic for research and presentation, including his PhD dissertation, his TED Talk How Do We Teach Empathy?, the limited series podcast The Art of SEL, and his Emmy award-winning drawing program Drawing with Mr. J. In 2018, Juravich was named Ohio Teacher of the Year, and was one of four finalists for National Teacher of the Year. In 2023, he was named the National Elementary Art Teacher of the Year by the National Art Education Association and the 2024 Ohio Art Educator of the Year. He lives with his family in Columbus, Ohio.
This presentation draws on Jonathan Juravich’s dissertation research exploring how ten art educators have intentionally integrated Social Emotional Learning (SEL) into their art instruction. Participants will be provided with practical and actionable strategies, resources, and discussion prompts to support students’ social and emotional growth. Though the research is rooted in the experiences of elementary art educators, the lessons learned can apply to all levels and arts content areas.
Janet Laws is a TAA visual art facilitator. She teaches at Brentwood Academy in Brentwood, Tennessee. Laws was named as the Middle Tennessee Art Educator of the Year by the Tennessee Art Education Association in 2022.
TAA visual arts facilitator, Janet Laws, has served as an Advanced Placement (AP) reader for the past five years. She will share her experience, understanding, and knowledge of the rubrics and the grading structure used by AP to score the three art and design portfolios. She will also share ideas she’s gained from the amazing AP readers and teachers she has met through this process. Join this exciting conversation to learn more about the AP art programs. The AP process is a great way for art teachers at all levels to encourage experimentation, revision, and idea building in their students.
Clara Lieu is the founder of Art Prof Projects LLC, an online educational platform for learning about the visual arts. She spent sixteen years in academia as an adjunct instructor, teaching at the Rhode Island School of Design, Wellesley College, the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, and Lesley University. For seven years she taught at the Rhode Island School of Design's Project Open Door, an art program for under-served teens in Providence public schools. Lieu has written for the New York Times, lectures widely, and provided expertise on articles for National Public Radio's Weekend Edition and for the Washington Post. Recently she appeared on an episode of The Nature of Things, a Canadian television series of documentary programs. Lieu has been awarded grants from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, the Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation, and the Puffin Foundation. Her work has been exhibited at the International Print Center New York, the Danforth Museum of Art, the Currier Museum of Art, and the Davis Museum and Cultural Center.
This session will provide an opportunity to create a diverse set of small scale sculptures. Participants will utilize a comprehensive understanding of form with the use of negative space, mass, and surface. Three-dimensional form has an immense capacity to express personality and character through diverse types of articulation. Specific hand sculpting techniques and methods for using tools to create a range of textures and forms will be shown.
Serena Rios McRae is a native of Tucson, Arizona, who is passionate about the fine details of nature, prismatic color, and local food. McRae is a working artist, mother, and mental health advocate. She speaks openly about her experiences with postpartum depression, bipolar disorder, and ADHD, and works to break stigmas around mental illness. McRae follows her impulses to learn many mediums and create art in often unusual forms that include watercolor paintings on animal skulls, murals on taco trucks, intricate relief carvings on tiny pink erasers, and classic watercolor on paper. She is the creator of Affirmations Moms Actually Need and the Pink Eraser Art Project, for which she has written her first book, scheduled to be published this fall. McRae posts on social media @cactustcloudsart and has more than 345,000 followers across multiple platforms. Much of her work is inspired by her experiences with mental illness, and she strives to help others find healing in art.
Blank-page anxiety is real, and every artist can attest to the fact that sometimes the most difficult thing about creating art is deciding what to draw! McRae will share her two favorite art projects in which she uses her love of reading to break through the art block.
Paige Medlock teaches visual art and art education courses, and supervises student teachers at Middle Tennessee State University. She serves on the board of the Tennessee Art Education Association (TAEA) as president-elect and was awarded the TAEA 2024 Art Educator of the Year award for Middle Tennessee. Medlock holds degree in art education from Asbury University in Kentucky, a degree in visual culture from the University of Aberdeen, Scotland, and a practice-based doctorate in visual culture from the University of Stirling, Scotland. Medlock is a practicing artist with large-scale commissioned stained glass installations in three countries. She presents at regional, state, national, and international conferences on ways that visual art education can navigate trauma and provide pathways to well-being. Her research and artwork focus on visual art as a place where an inner shift can occur that transforms the way people act and interact.
Bruce Perry and Oprah Winfrey write in the book What Happened to You?, “Unfortunately, our schools are typically not trauma-aware…Schools tend to minimize powerful healing and resilience-building activities like sports, music, and art. These are often viewed as elective or enrichment activities, when in fact they can be the very bedrock of academic learning, thanks to their regulatory and relational elements”. In this session, an inventory of holistic health practices in arts education will be presented, and the group will discuss the potential of arts education to provide opportunities for building resilience.
Paige Medlock teaches visual art and art education courses, and supervises student teachers at Middle Tennessee State University. She serves on the board of the Tennessee Art Education Association (TAEA) as president-elect and was awarded the TAEA 2024 Art Educator of the Year award for Middle Tennessee. Medlock holds degree in art education from Asbury University in Kentucky, a degree in visual culture from the University of Aberdeen, Scotland, and a practice-based doctorate in visual culture from the University of Stirling, Scotland. Medlock is a practicing artist with large-scale commissioned stained glass installations in three countries. She presents at regional, state, national, and international conferences on ways that visual art education can navigate trauma and provide pathways to well-being. Her research and artwork focus on visual art as a place where an inner shift can occur that transforms the way people act and interact.
Stained glass installations will be viewed, and consideration given to why people commission works of art and how artwork affects space and the viewer’s experience. Participants will look at sample projects that can be implemented in classrooms and workshops for secondary and community arts education contexts.
Virginia Nix, TAA facilitator, teaches at Kenrose Elementary in Brentwood, Tennessee. She was recognized as the Elementary Art Educator of the Year in 2022 by the Tennessee Art Education Association (TAEA). During her time with the TAEA, she served as the exhibitions chair, and developed the STARS Elementary Exhibition, which recognizes elementary school artists from across the state.
In this session, participants will bring a successful lesson to share. At the end of the workshop, participants will leave with new lessons and ideas to bring to their own classrooms.
Janis Nunnally has previously served as president of TAEA and currently serves as middle level division director for NAEA. She is an art educator at Upperman Middle School in Baxter, Tennessee.
Janis Nunnally has previously served as president of TAEA and currently serves as middle level division director for NAEA. She is an art educator at Upperman Middle School in Baxter, Tennessee.