Skip to main content

About Me/Sobre Mi


I'm a general music educator, choir director/singer, and clinician. A native of the Dominican Republic currently living in Colorado, I graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in Music Education from the Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo, the first University in the American Continent, and a Master's Degree in Music Education with an emphasis on choral music from the University of Northern Colorado. Currently, I am the general music teacher at the Escuela Bilingüe Pioneer in Lafayette, Colorado, and the children and youth choir director at First Congregational Church of Greeley, Colorado. As a K-5 music educator, she believes music is a very effective way to learn about cultures. She is passionate about the importance of increasing diversity and representation in music education, in ways that are culturally responsive, fun, meaningful, and inclusive in order to embrace each other with respect, tolerance, and a sense of belonging. I have presented clinics and reading sessions promoting multicultural music and music technology in the elementary classroom at Colorado ACDA, CMEA, and Little Kids Rock Modern Band Summit.

Yo soy nativa de la República Dominicana. Recibí una Licenciatura en Educación Musical de la Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo, primera universidad del continente americano y una maestría en Educación Musical con un énfasis en música coral de la Universidad de Colorado del Norte en el 2013. Como profesora K-5 pienso que la música es una vía muy efectiva para aprender sobre diferentes culturas y es muy importante explorar nuestra diversidad de forma divertida, enriquecedora e inclusiva de manera que nos ayude a aceptar nuestras diferencias con respeto y tolerancia. Otras de mis responsabilidades profesionales incluye dirigir un coro infantil y uno juvenil en mi comunidad religiosa. En mi tiempo libre imparto sesiones sobre música multicultural y tecnología musical en el aula elemental. También canto en un coro comunitario, y creo música con mi familia. Desde que vivo en Colorado he aprendido a disfrutar del alpinismo en las montañas rocosas. Actualmente soy la maestra de música en la Escuela Bilingüe Pioneer en Lafayette, Colorado y la directora del coro infantil y el coro juvenil de la Primera Iglesia congregacional de Greeley, Colorado.



Labels:
Location: Colorado, USA

Comments

  1. UnknownMay 25, 2020 at 6:30 PM

    Excelente!. Que alegria es leerte y saber que estas apoyando de tan linda forma a tantos niños atraves de la musica. Exitos siempre. Un abrazo!

    Virginia

    ReplyDelete
  2. Creating a Cultural Responsive Music ClassroomMay 25, 2020 at 6:38 PM

    Muchas gracias Virginia!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Be an Anti-racist Music Teacher

The current challenges of our society are forcing us, in a good way, to reflect on our teaching philosophy and practices. We are asked to revise our curriculum and our own intercultural competence in order to foster a more culturally responsive classroom. Here is an essential question: How do I become an Anti-Racist teacher? Here is a great definition: Anti-Racist Pedagogy: 1.“It is a pedagogy that is grounded in deep self-interrogation of your role in upholding White Supremacy and internalizations that come from being socialized in a racist society. It evaluates areas of racist thought that result in behaviors that cause students to have to navigate, suppress, and ignore moments or environments where racism is apparent. 2.It is a pedagogy that is undergirded by efforts outside of the classroom that focuses on antiracist engagement. It focuses on changing “policy instead of groups of people.” A Pedagogy for Living by Jason A Dungee. Choral Journal Volume 61 Number 4, 2020 Being more in...
3 comments
Read more

Los Palos. A Dominican Musical Expression.

As a culturally responsive, relevant, and ABAR (Anti-Biased Anti-Racist) teacher, my praxis is always evolving. One of my goals is to guide my students through the discovery of their cultural identity. This guided process is aligned with the two SEL Standards of Self-Awareness and Social Awareness, as well as our 2014 Musical Standard of Connecting specifically.  I find that some of my students mistakenly suggest that they “do not have a culture." This misconception is due to their limited view of what culture entails. To them, culture is colorful dresses, beautiful songs, energetic dances, yummy foods, and interesting celebrations. However, this is what we consider to be Surface Culture. As I consider implementing culturally responsive strategies in my teaching, one of the challenges that I typically encounter is how limiting the musical curriculums available to us can be. To address this, I am always asking questions and consulting cultural bearers, community stakeholders, and s...
Post a Comment
Read more

Planning for our choirs in reaction to the BLM movement

I grew up singing in choirs and I consider my choir experience an intrinsic part of my formation into the human that I am today. What first attracted me to be part of a choir was the social aspect, but what I got was so much more. I am sure many of you can relate. As I reflect on my own choir experience growing up and how I interacted with the music then, I realized there were so many missed opportunities to learn more in-depth about the music we were singing.  Lack of time to go beyond the score was always and still is, our biggest challenge.  But, music takes a whole different meaning after a traumatic event like the one we are experiencing. As a result of the current civil rights movement, many of us have started to talk about how we are going to approach planning and teaching for our programs from now on. We are all developing an acute awareness of the music we present to our students and a deep desire to allow more equitable opportunities to sing underrepresented composer...
6 comments
Read more