Another great Kansas In-Service Workshop is in the books. As always, it was a great time of sharing, fellowship, encouragement, and growth for our state's music teachers, both young and old. That's what KMEA is all about. The stated mission of KMEA is "to support music educators by fostering leadership, providing professional development, and promoting the advocacy of music learning in schools and communities.¹" Our annual conference is one way in which we reach our mission, as "speakers, performers, and vendors gather together to represent the best of music education throughout the state.²" Participation in the ISW provides attendees with a unique professional development opportunity that we cannot get elsewhere. Once each year in Wichita, we have the opportunity to attend clinics in our field of education rather than those related to other subjects. We have the opportunity to clean our ears out as we listen to some of the best ensembles in the state and to watch expert conductors rehearsing the all-state ensembles. Most important, we have the opportunity to fellowship with other music teachers and learn from each other. Through this fellowship, we are allowed to commiserate together, laugh together, and learn from each other.

In this issue of the Kansas Music Review, Marion Roberts shares some of his experiences as he took this opportunity in nearly 50 years of attendance at the ISW in Reflections of a Retired Kansas Music Teacher. His article lists the numerous benefits he gained from his participation, especially the camaraderie he felt as he developed relationships with some of the great music teachers in Kansas history. He also describes a special feeling of linking his mentor teachers to the present teachers he is now mentoring.

The next article, Music Assessment in the Elementary Classroom, written by Kara Sparks-Old focuses on the contemporary issue of assessment as she shares the results of her graduate project relating to teacher's feelings toward and use of assessment. In her study, she asked teachers about the type and the number of assessments they use as well as what they liked and didn't like about performing assessments in their classrooms. Her findings show that teachers were concerned about having enough time to provide meaningful assessments to so many students though they did understand the value of assessment. Results of her study also indicated that composing and improvising standards were the least implemented in classrooms.

Doreen Fryling's article, Keeping the Boys Singing: How You Can Make a Difference is aimed at the continual problem of retaining boys in choir. Fryling describes her approach as one that focuses simultaneously on building vocal technique and building self-efficacy beliefs. Numerous practical strategies are provided in the article that are specifically aimed at the needs of boys.

Finally, What Every Instrumental Teacher Already Knows About Singing! by Chuck Norris (no, not THAT Chuck Norris) is written for those of us who are teaching outside of their area of expertise. Norris uses his past experience as a choral teacher assigned to a band class to remind the reader that basic principles of sound are the same for all areas of music. He thought about teaching instrumental music through the processes and lenses of the four phases of vocal tone production: respiration, phonation, resonance and articulation. The intent of the article is for those who are "faced" with teaching vocal music to realize how similar approaches can make your teaching more effective and even rewarding.

Like the ISW, the Kansas Music Review is intended to be another avenue through which KMEA can reach its mission of providing professional development and music advocacy for Kansas music teachers. It is also an opportunity for fostering leadership as teachers share their ideas and experiences with others. We each have something to offer to our profession and I would like to encourage you to consider writing for the KMR and offering a clinic at a future ISW. Serving other teachers in this way is a double bonus: others learn from your experience and you deepen your knowledge as you organize and present your thoughts.

Please consider sharing your knowledge and skill with the rest of us. If you have an idea for an article or a video and need a little help, please contact me. I would be glad to help you get started.

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¹ http://ksmea.org/isw/

² http://ksmea.org/isw/