New!
Kodály Monthly Chats
Every third weekend of the month
Sign up for our email list to be included in our monthly Kodály Chats the third weekend of the month!
Signed up and not seeing emails from NWKE? Be sure to check your junk folder!
Next Kodály Chat – Join us for Cocktails and Kodály!
Saturday January 16th at 8:00-9:30 pm PST
Hoping to start the new year off right with your students? Save the date for our next Kodály and Cocktails: Cheers to a Joyful Second Semester!
January’s event will be hosted by NWKE Member-at-Large Kelly Larson on Saturday, January 16th, 8-9:30 PM.
Bring your own beverage, and come visit with other music educators to share ideas and to encourage one another. Our question for discussion is: How do you persist in finding joy in teaching and bringing joy to students in an online setting?
Come for as much or as little time as you can to get some new ideas and enjoy chatting with your local colleagues! Also feel free to bring your own topics of interest for conversation.
To access this chat, please sign up for our emails and you will receive a zoom invite.
Save the Date: Culturally Responsive Teaching for Music Teachers
Mark your calendars! On Saturday, March 13 from 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM we will have the privilege of learning about culturally responsive teaching from several local music educators who are experts in this field: Melyssa Stone, Kaity Igari, Kassey Castro, Ursula Sahagian and Drew Olsen. You will not want to miss out on this amazing learning opportunity!
OAKE Conference
Early registration now open here!
An Apology To Our Members
July 9, 2020
Dear NWKE Community,
A few years ago, NWKE was asked by some of our members and colleagues to have a conversation about race. We handled it poorly, and as a result, we lost several valuable Black & Brown members, board members, members within the LGBTQ+ community, and those speaking up for them. We’re sorry. They deserved better from us as colleagues and friends. Their voices are needed and we weren’t listening. We are seeking to hear them now and make it right. Our membership, if not a diverse community, is not a whole one, and we are committing to rebuilding relationships.
NWKE hosted an event at which language was used that caused people of color, people with disabilities, and LGBTQ+ people in our community to feel marginalized. The response of the NWKE board to the people who were hurt by this workshop failed to address the concerns of our community and caused further damage to the educators who raised these concerns. We acknowledge that we made mistakes in how we tried to repair the harm. Our attempts were not enough, and we hope to do better in the future.
Beyond our actions as a board or a professional organization, we are also all music educators who work every day with incredibly diverse populations of students. We need to hear the voices of diverse educators in order for us to offer the kind of responsive music education that our students deserve. We feel the absence of these leaders and recognize their contribution to our organization. By speaking up and speaking out, they have helped us realize how much work we must do in order to make all identities and voices feel equally valued in NWKE.
Music education can be transformative in the hearts, minds, and lives of teachers and students alike: we seek to understand and implement culturally responsive teaching practices, anti-racist pedagogy, and practices aligned with decolonizing the music classroom within the framework of our Kodály teaching.
This is the call of Kodály in the 21st century.
We invite you to join us.
Recent News
New Teacher Discount for workshops –
Are you a first year teacher? We are excited to announce a new discount for first-year teachers. If you are in your first year of teaching, you can preregister for $15, or pay $20 the day of. This will show up as one of the checkout options on the main registration page.
Looking for a discount? – Want to help make these workshops happen and attend for a lower cost? Volunteering is a great way to become more involved in NWKE! Click here to sign up to volunteer at a workshop!
About NWKE
Northwest Kodály Educators is a chapter of the Organization of American Kodály Educators.
