Amy Abbott at Music a la Abbott

I've been teaching elementary music since 1998. I taught for three years in the Salem-Keizer School district before returning home to Colorado. I have been teaching in the St. Vrain Valley School district since 2001. I am currently teaching at Red Hawk Elementary where I teach preschool-5th grade general music, 4/5 choir, 4/5 drum ensemble, a 4th grade tone-chime choir and a 5th grade tone-chime choir. During the summer I teach level 2 Pedagogy, Folk song and Analysis at the Colorado Kodály Institute at Colorado State University. I present sessions for other Kodály chapters, including SWOKE (South Washington and Oregon Kodály Educators), KET (Kodály Educators of Texas) in Denton and Lubbock, KMEK (Kodály Music Educators of Kansas) and I have presented for the Amarillo School district.

I am a Kodály teacher and I teach in a Core-Knowledge focus school. I took 4 levels of Kodály at Portland State University with Susan Brumfield, Jill Trinka, Sean Diebler and Carol Brown. I took two more levels when working on my masters with a Kodály emphasis at Colorado State University with Sue Liethold-Bowcock and Ann Eisen. I believe that all children should be given the opportunity to be music makers and I believe in the power of music literacy. I try to meet the needs of all my students by presenting musical concepts through varying modalities as to meet their multiple strengths and needs. I think variety, differentiation and building trust & student relationships is key to student success. At the end of the day, I want my students to be lifelong music-lovers!

I have presented at various conferences and workshops including the Colorado Music Educator's Conference, the Oregon Arts Alliance Conference, ROCKE workshops and at SVVSD music teacher work sessions. I served on the ROCKE (Regional Organization of Colorado Kodály Educators) for 7 years, as member-at-large, secretary and president. In 2013 I was one of 10 Colorado teachers awarded a Jared Polis Educator award. I am also the current Pedagogy and Folk Song teacher at the Colorado Kodály Institute at Colorado State University.

I have my undergraduate in music education from the University of Colorado at Boulder. My masters in music education with a Kodály emphasis from Colorado State University and two Kodály certifications from Portland State University and Colorado State University. At Portland State University I studied with Jill Trinka and Susan Brumfield. During my time at CSU, I studied with Sue Bowcock and Ann Eisen.

Aside from teaching, I love spending time with my husband, son and daughter. And as the mother of two young kids (5 and 2), it's important for me to work "smarter not harder." I love that we can easily share resources and teaching tools on Teachers pay Teachers!!! :)