From The D3 President

Hello, D3!

I have to say that the past year, and specifically the past 5 months, have been a blast! The whirlwind of activity that is our PMEA festival system has renewed my faith in young people and strengthened my passion for music education. I have greatly enjoyed meeting directors from all grade levels and subject areas. It is clear that we all share a common love for our students and for the subject that we have devoted our lives to - Music Education!

Advocacy- This year we have implemented our Music Department of the Month recognition. At a few of the Fest and Festival meetings this year I used the term ABA - Always Be Advocating! I cannot stress this enough. When it comes to your student and classroom achievements - do NOT be modest! If we do not recognize our own hard work, who will? I was able to attend an advocacy workshop at the PMEA All-State In-Service last month and I would love to share some very simple things that you can do NOW to advocate for your classroom:

-When you receive a recognition like Music Department of the Month or any other recognition - make a big deal out of it! I send letters to all of the superintendents of each recognized school. If they don't make a big deal about it - you should. Take that opportunity to highlight the strengths of your program. Contact me and ask for a quote. I would be happy to write on the subject of YOU and the great things that your music program is achieving! We all have great things happening, we just need to recognize them for ourselves first.

-Have a visible program - Do you have strong website, with photos of students making music, easily viewable for parents and administrators? How often is your music department featured in your local paper? These are easy ways to highlight your music departments accomplishments. Even if you have a hard time getting the paper to print your pics./stories - a website is 100% something that you can do on your own. worried no one will view it? Have a comments section and make it an assignment for all students to visit the site and leave a comment, bonus points if their parents leave a comment! As a parent, I always try a teacher webpage first, whenever looking for information for concerts and upcoming events. Google Sites (what I used to make this newsletter page) is an exceptionally easy way to create a website. If you need help, there are tutorials on-line, or I would be happy to help you myself!

-Advocacy can and should be done at every level, Kindergarten - College (and beyond!). Do not feel like your accomplishments are less just because you don't have students attending HS festivals. Pictures of our youngest students making music are just as powerful as listing the accomplishments of our HS and College students. After all, getting the students hooked and in-love with music in elementary school is the key to success in older classrooms.

Thank you for being an amazing group of educators. I look forward to continuing this journey with you all next year!

-Becky

School Email: rsensor@dasd.k12.pa.us

Personal Email: mrssensor@gmail.com

Website: https://tinyurl.com/mrssensormusic

****Please read all the way to the bottom of this newsletter! There is information on our D3 Mini-Grant, College Scholarship, and a director and student Festival survey from our Festival and Fest Task Force!****

From the Secretary/Treasurer

I would like to take a moment to thank all of the various festival and fest hosts for the 2016-2017 school year. Your help and understanding in the budgetary process is greatly appreciated. I hope that I was able to provide whatever assistance was needed with the various issues that arise when hosting. As a District, we are in a good position financially. Thanks to the help of responsible hosts and dedicated leadership, we have been able to provide for the needs of our members in many ways.

Please do not forget that District 3 offers mini-grants up to $500.00 for a wide range of educational goals. Applications are available on the D3 website and are due to me by May 15^th each year. If you miss the deadline, try to get an application out anyway. If nothing else, it will be in for the following school year. In addition, we offer scholarships for graduating seniors who are pursuing a music degree. More information on the scholarships is also available on the D3 website.

Let me know if there is anything you may need. I appreciate serving you all as your Treasurer and Secretary and once again thank you for making our District one of the best in the state!

-Tom

***Update! The Mini-Grant deadline has been extended to MAY 30th!!!***

Professional Development:

Just a reminder to check your Act 48 hours to be sure they have been reported for Festivals and Chorus Fest (State conference and Band Fest have not been posted yet please check those hours by end of June). If the hours are not posted, you can forward your confirmation emails showing you completed the follow-up surveys and I can work on getting your hours reported. ****IMPORTANT you can not get hours from this school year posted after August 31 so please be sure to double check hours.****

Professional Development day for 2017-2018 school year planning is in the works. If you are interested in possibly hosting the day for us in the school year, please contact me before May 31. We would like to get the day in the works before the school year begins to work on building our attendance as well as reputation with our district Superintendents of providing high quality in services to you.

Martha Heise

Professional Development chair

District 3