Speckman has been attending CASMEC and similar panels since she was an undergrad. “It was always nice to hear from people who were just a few years ahead of me in my career field. I’m excited to be able to give back some of that perspective that was shared with me,” she said. Expected topics for the panel include working with budgets, managing relationships with different groups (students, parents, boosters, administrators, and the athletic community), how to find music, and, what Speckman is most passionate about, selecting diverse music and music outside of the western culture.
Left: Speckman shows students to draw a pair of eyes or glasses on their sheet music to remind them to look up for instruction. Right: Speckman guides students during marching practice for the WRHS Holiday Parade.
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S p ec k m an t r
Speckman wants to impart to other teachers the importance of diversifying music selections to get students interested. “I hope to be able to discuss with others how our programs can better reflect the communities and cultures we serve as music educators.” In addition, she wants to talk about classroom management strategies and grade level transitions. “Once I was in charge of my own classroom and program, it was a lot of trial and error and figuring things out as I went,” Speckman said. Last year, she not only switched schools, but grade level (elementary to high school). She feels she can offer perspective from that experience and hopes to hear from other CASMEC attendees and speakers at the same time. She credits having a good relationship with the administration, in particular Principal Troy Fast, with easing the transition. Speckman didn’t realize she wanted to be a music teacher until she was in the second year of her business degree. “I realized I didn’t love what I was studying and realized how influential and important my music education was growing up, and how much I missed being entrenched in that world,” she said. After
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Speckman was invited to speak on the panel by Dr. Karen Koner, her mentor during undergrad and the credential program at Stanislaus State University. While Koner is now the assistant professor and coordinator of music education at San Diego State University, she and Speckman still keep in touch. Koner created the “What They Didn’t Teach you in Undergrad”
panel with the idea of featuring young teachers “who are doing great things, but also still learning themselves” and she immediately thought of Speckman. “She is doing such amazing things in music education, she has already had experience teaching different age groups and levels, and she will be an amazing resource and inspiration for undergraduate college students attending the presentation,” Koner said.
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Elyce Speckman is in her second year of teaching music at Weston Ranch High School after two years of teaching at Brock Elliott and McParland Elementary schools. While Speckman is a relatively new teacher herself, she is already doing what she can to give back to the music education community. She has been invited to speak on the “What They Didn’t Teach you in Undergrad” panel at the 2022 California All-State Music Education Conference (CASMEC).
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Weston Ranch music teacher is invited to speak at state-conference where she will use the great things she is doing in the classroom to help other new teachers.
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Hitting the Right Notes in Music Education
According to Speckman, her college courses confiding in her high school band director, o d l y e d m u focused almost exclusively on western, Speckman switched her major to music i ring h ap riac a European music. The one World rof education and “never looked back.” am es t u Music course only offered brief Now in addition to educating her overviews of music from other students, she is doing what she cultures. She feels that diversity can to give back to the music of the music presented to the education community that was students impacts interest and so important during her own enrollment in music classes. To formative years. learn more about non-western music, she takes advantage Speckman is an extraordinary of professional development representation of MUSD’s opportunities, such as the thriving music program and we Mariachi Workshop recently are very proud of her impact she offered by the MUSD music is making locally and statewide. department. She promises to send us photos and updates from her conference in “Weston Ranch is a very diverse campus and February. We are so excited for the future of there is a strong tradition of mariachi in the community,” music in Manteca Unified School District. Speckman observed. “I feel like kids could really connect with music if there was a space for that.” She feels that school music programs can struggle to attract students who are not interested in the traditional music classes offered and is excited to see the District expand their music programs with offerings like mariachi band clubs.
“I hope to be able to discuss with others how our programs can better reflect the communities and cultures we serve as music educators.”
