ISTA Bulletin Board

Please see the calendar page for information and application form for Iowa String Teachers Association Solo Competition - October 9, 2010

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Newly Elected Officers

President Elect: Erin Gaherty

Erin Gaherty is a native of Dubuque, Iowa and 2001 graduate of Dubuque Senior High School. She has a degree in Music Education from Iowa State University. As an orchestra teacher Erin is finishing her fourth year at Waterloo West High School. For the 09-10 school year she is also the orchestra teacher at East High School. While in Waterloo Erin has formed the Waterloo High Schools Chamber Orchestra; this ensemble offers students from the entire community an opportunity to collaborate musically and to serve as ambassadors for the city’s string program. She is also in the second year of building a summer program that offers all students affordable lessons with a teacher on their primary instrument and with scholarships available to students in need. Erin is a member of the Waterloo Cedar Falls Symphony cello section.

New Member at Large East: Kendra Milder

Kendra Milder teaches 5^th grade and high school orchestra for the Muscatine Community School District. Ms. Milder holds a Bachelor of Music Education Degree from the University of Northern Iowa where she studied viola with Dr. Julia Bullard. During college Ms. Milder was a teaching assistant for the Northern Iowa Children’s Choir, worked with the orchestra at Malcolm Price Laboratory School, volunteered for the Gallagher Bluedorn Performing Art Center in education and community outreach, and worked at Interlochen Arts Camp. In her spare time Ms. Milder teaches private lessons and continues to perform on local concert.

New Secretary: Mary Bellone Grey

Mary has been a string teacher in Cedar Falls since 1990.For 12 years she worked with the UNI Suzuki School not only as a violin & viola teacher but as interim director. She stopped private teaching after the birth of her second child. While at the Suzuki School she established & directed the Heartland Suzuki Institute at the University of Northern Iowa, which was in existence for 2 years.

She received her bachelor’s in Violin performance from North Texas State University and her Master’s of Music in Violin performance/pedagogy from the University of Colorado, Boulder under the tutelage of William Starr. In 1995 she completed an MA in Mental Health Counseling from the University of Northern Iowa. (She refers to this as her early mid-life crisis.)

She has played with orchestras such as the Ft Worth Opera Orchestra, & Hartford Symphony. Currently she is principle second violinist of the Waterloo/Cedar Falls Symphony Orchestra. For the past 3 years she has been the orchestra director at Price Laboratory School/Northern University High School. She lives in Cedar Falls with her husband & two daughters.

Chairs for ISTA Conference Orchestras:

Andrew Steffen will be the chair of the Middle School Honors Orchestra for next year taking over for Marty Clancey, and that Tabitha Rasmussen will be the chair of the High School Honors group taking over as chair from Ted Halberg.

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The purpose of this program is to continue to improve the quality of arts education in Iowa through mentoring assistance of first-year arts teachers. The program was first piloted in the 2005 -2006 school year.

The Iowa Arts Educators Mentor Program is designed to enhance, not supplant the established local/district/AEA/State mentoring programs. The mentoring program is discipline-specific. The information that is made available to the first-year teacher through this program ranges from survival to mastery skills needed to be successful in the arts classroom. The information is tailored specifically to the individual teacher and teaching situation. This information can also be accessed immediately (through emails/phone calls) or after observation and reflection (mentor visits). It also provides for networking with other first-year and veteran teachers throughout the state.

IAAE, collaborating with the Iowa Department of Education, has been a leader in the development of statewide arts programs in the areas of assessment, standards and benchmarks, integration, advocacy, and leadership development.
The mentoring project is a natural outgrowth of the IAAE mission statement, which is to "increase the support of policies, practices, and partnerships that ensure quality arts education for all Iowans."

Please submit the following information to be enrolled in the mentor program and receive information about mentor contacts, scholarships (up to $250) for professional organization membership and attendance at conferences, and specific opportunities for first year arts teachers.

Would you like to be connected with an active mentor? This is someone who is an active teacher and can serve as a life-line for everyday questions and needs.

I am interested in attending the Fall Symposium. This is an event with specific topics of interest for first year teachers held on Saturday October 31st at Iowa State University in Ames.

I am interested in participating in the observation mentor program. This allows retired or active teachers to visit with you at your school (up to 4 visits). Each visit is tailored specifically to the needs of the first year teacher.