Turtle Tunes Music Outreach Program at Todd Elementary School
Sponsored by Beloit College
What We're About
Mission Statement: Turtle Tunes Music Outreach Program is committed to making extra-curricular music lessons inclusive, accessible and affordable to local 3rd graders while creating a community engagement project for Beloit College students to develop skills and make meaningful connections. Lessons and instrument rental are completely free to participants. This creative outlet provides all students a safe space to build self-esteem, practice responsibility and develop a love for music.
More Info: Lessons in violin, viola, cello, guitar, piano & percussion (instrument options vary) are taught by Beloit College students who work weekly with instructors Chris Wagoner and Mary Gaines. Students participating receive two lessons per week for eight weeks culminating in a recital. 3rd graders have the option to continue in the spring semester if they started in the fall. (Stringed instruments are generously provided by Voigt Music in Janesville, WI. Thank you, Voigt!)
How to Get Involved
As a participant: Parents of 3rd grade students at Todd Elementary should be in touch with their child's classroom teacher and/or Mary Ellen Fuentes at the beginning of a new school year.
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As a teacher: Beloit College students may enroll in this special projects course (.5 credit that fulfills the LAP 1 credit) by contacting Chris Wagoner (wagonerjc@beloit.edu). Preparations, discussions and reflections occur during a semester-long class on Tuesdays from 6:15-7:00pm.
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These student teachers then also participate in teaching group and partner lessons at Todd Elementary 2 times a week based on TT teachers' schedules. Currently TT teachers work with students at Todd Elementary on Mondays and Thursdays from 4-5:00 pm, 8 weeks total.
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Students may continue to teach for Turtle Tunes after their first semester for as long as they'd like. Such continuing teachers register for a .25 credit course. They do not retake the initial course but do continue to participate in discussions and reflections with their peer teachers.
Spring 2019 Teachers & Mary Ellen
Reflections
Life lessons from Turtle Tunes teachers
"I have learned to be patient when dealing with others. Sometimes we might think that what we are saying makes sense to the next person because it makes perfect sense to us but it might be pure gibberish to them. It is important to be aware of the context. I had to simplify a lot of musical concepts as I tried to explain them to the third graders."
"Make things fun, because that is more important than getting every little thing right. If you don't know how to make it fun, ask someone for help. People have lots of good ideas and they like when you give them an opportunity to share their thoughts."
"There’s a lot that changes from semester and the most important thing I’ve learned is to have a bit of a plan, to be willing to have fun, and also be willing to shake up your original plan. A lot of plans that I have made for my life have not gone the way I expect them to (not in a negative way necessarily), but this has been great because it’s in these moments that I change my plan that I often have the most fun or get the most out of the experience."
