Professional Development

Aimee and her Teaching Artists offer a range of Professional Development opportunities for teachers and parents.

Professional Development Offerings:
– The Building Blocks of Music”  – a K-5 workshop for classroom teachers emphasizing pitch, rhythm, tempo and dynamics
– Cinderella Stories from Around the World – using the Waltz pattern and musical concepts such as melody, rhythm and music notation
– Native Americans – creating a song and dance, using Rhythm and Tempo
– Mozart and Math – composing a Rondo in the pattern of Mozart’s using symbols, sounds and rhythms
– Down by the Riverside – based on Maya Angelou’s poem “On the Pulse of Morning” – songs, chants and rhythms inspired by her poem
– A Joyful Noise – traditional folk songs from around the world to life through interactive musical activities, games, fingerplays and more

These workshops have been offered since 2003 all over Los Angeles community, in schools, colleges and at conferences, collaborating with some of the following organizations:
Education Through Music-LA
The Music Center of Los Angeles
The DaCamera Society at Mount St. Mary’s
LA Harbor College
Southern California Kindergarten Conference
Core Knowledge Foundation
via LA County Arts Commission

Please see also the LA County Arts Commission website of Professional Development providers, which lists Aimee Hopkins as a provider, at: http://pd.laartsed.org. Type in ‘Music’ or “Aimee Art Productions” in the Search box to find Aimee Young Hopkins’ PD, The Building Blocks of Music.

We also do PD’s linking Music, Theatre, Dance and Art to Literature appropriate for each grade level and showing teachers and families how to utilize the arts to enrich and enhance their curriculum.

We offer the same type of workshops for parents, but we can focus on a school-wide or community-based theme such as Respect, Our Multicultural Community, or Nutrition, and link it with literature, art, theatre games, movement, folk dances, and more.  We have offered Arts and Literacy Nights at our local schools and would be happy to bring it to your school, preschool, or non-profit!

Background

Aimee Art Productions: Building Self-Esteem and Literacy Through the Arts is a company of teaching artists and teachers who are passionate about learning and arts, and who strive to bring quality arts instruction to schools, preschools, homes and studios throughout Los Angeles through enriching, multicultural, esteem-building and team-building experiences in Theatre, Music, Dance and Visual Art. Founded in 1998, AAP has offered Professional Development via the DaCamera Society of Mt. St. Mary’s College, Education Through Music-LA, LA Opera, the Music Center of LA, LA Harbor College, So Cal Kinder Conference, and more. PD’s are led by Founder and Artistic Director Aimee Young Hopkins, for classroom teachers, administrators and artists.

Program Objectives

Teachers will build confidence and capacity for using music in their classroom. Through games, songs, puppet-play, use of scarves and edible manipulatives, educators will experience a series of condensed mini-lessons in music appropriate to their grade level. Even those with no musical experience will have low-risk opportunities to be involved with musical strategies which can easily be transferred to students and applied to curriculum.

Teachers will understand how to integrate grade-level standards with music and VAPA standards. Each mini-lesson makes connections to several core curriculum standards as well as addressing VAPA standards for Music and Dance which span across grade levels. Teachers will access prior knowledge, will “get smarter” in the specific skills (tempo, rhythm, melodic direction, dynamics) and then have a chance to become experts using clear task and criteria. Finally, educators reflect on the lessons and how they can apply to their grade-level curricula.

Prices for Professional Development workshops range from $150 for a one-hour PD to up to $500 for a day-long workshop.

Type in ‘Music’ in the Search box to find Aimee Young Hopkins’ PD, The Building Blocks of Music.

The Building Blocks of Music: A Professional Development Workshop for K-5 Educators on the Use of Music in the Classroom to Enhance Curriculum