Texas Bandmasters Association
Bandmasters Review • June 2013
18
The Berkner Area of Richardson
ISD has faced and continues to face
many changes and challenges. This
is the case for a great number of
schools in Texas and throughout
the country. The clinic “All Kids
Can Learn and We Can Teach
Them...Together!” intends to show
how Team Berkner has strived to
turn adversity into opportunity.
Part 1 is entitled “Wrapping
Our Brains Around It.” As a
result of “wrapping our brains”
around change and challenges,
we have created better classroom
management, smarter teaching
and greater retention. It begins
by identifying and implementing
philosophies and attitudes which
allow us to become more powerful
and effective teachers. By creatively
and thoughtfully collaborating
through vertical and lateral
teaching, our teachers are able to use
their talents and fortes to better
meet the needs of each student.
Our credo has become “teach the
individual in the classroom setting.”
Part 2 is entitled “Pedagogy and
Curriculum.” The most highly
valued aspect of our band program
takes place in the beginner band
classroom. Every teacher in the
Berkner Area teaches at least one
beginning band class. (Our 6
th
graders are in eleven elementary
schools. There are a total of
nineteen different, heterogeneous
classes to be taught. Talk about
wrapping your brain around it!)
The beginning band curriculum
includes four distinct components:
Pedagogy, Vocabulary, Theory
and Learning to Use Our Voices.
All classes beyond the first year
are simply an extension and an
expansion of these four essential
areas.
Andrew Weak, Chris Pineda
and Lynne Jackson intend to
demonstrate and illustrate how
collaborative dedication and
teaching has yielded some very
uniquely positive results for the
students and teachers of the Berkner
Area in their clinic presentation
at the TBA Convention/Clinic this
summer.
All Kids Can Learn and
We Can Teach Them . . . Together
!
Lynne Jackson, Chris Pineda and Andrew Weak
The authors will
present “All Kids
Can Learn and We
Can Teach Them. . .
Together!” on
Tuesday, July 23.
Part 1 “Let’s Wrap
Our Brains Around
That” at 8:15 a.m.
and Part 2 Pedagogy
and Curriculum at
5:15 p.m. Part 2
will be repeated on
Wednesday, July 24
at 8:15 a.m.