Aline Shader (1936-2002) was a prolific composer of children’s songs with a portfolio of over 200 compositions. Her most well known work, Here in My House, written in 1970 and published by Coronet Press in 1982, is a winter holiday song about Christmas and Hanukkah which is sung by thousands of school children across the United States each year.
- I’ve been teaching since doing my B.Ed in 2004, also at UBC, with the exception of a year off to have my son, now 5, and another year now with my 3 month old daughter. Before that, I was in the restaurant business which I left to complete my undergrad (B.A. In Psych and English) and teach.
- Simply put: Teaching a class full of motivated students is enjoyable for teachers and students alike. Some students are self-motivated, with a natural love of learning. But even with the students who do not have this natural drive, a great teacher can make learning fun and inspire them to reach their full potential.
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Aline graduated from Bard College in 1958 with a bachelor’s degree in dance. After graduation she performed in cabaret and off-Broadway reviews and in the national touring company of The Boy Friend. In the mid-1960’s Aline and her family settled in Newton MA where she started teaching drama at Bowen Elementary School. She began writing incidental music to the plays she directed and developed musical productions of her own based on children’s literature, American history, mythology and the Bible. A life long learner, Aline earned a master’s degree in education from Cambridge College in 1983.
In 1993 Here in My House was orchestrated by Eric Benjamin with its debut by the Akron Symphony Orchestra and Chorus followed by performances in Memphis TN and Newton MA.
In 1998, a selection of Aline’s songs were recorded at Berklee College of Music in Boston MA with singers from Newton elementary and middle school honors choruses, conducted by Charlotte Brumit and Sara Weiss with special guest singers Nancy Armstrong, Vance Gilbert, Kemp Harris and Julie Silver, accompanied by Ruth Ross, friends and family and engineered by Carl Beatty. The CD Singing To Benefit Children, won an “Audio Recommendation” award from the Parents’ Choice Foundation and was used to raise funds for non-profit organizations dedicated to supporting the health, welfare and education of children.
To Aline’s delight, a 10 song collection was published by E. C. Schirmer Music Company.
Aline was a composer-in-residence at elementary and middle schools throughout the Northeast. While working in Chelsea, MA she composed Una luna brilla (One moon shines) to give her students, most of whom were bilingual, the opportunity to sing in both English and Spanish. Selected by the National Association for Music Education as part of the 19th annual “World’s Largest Concert” Una luna brilla was performed by the Children’s Chorus of Washington, accompanied by the American Youth Philharmonic, on March 13, 2003. The event was broadcast on PBS from Washington DC to an international audience of 6 million people from 175 countries.
A special trio including Lily Bayrock, Sami Greenberg and Elana Rome (and quartet when Aline’s granddaughter Anna Zonderman joined the group) spent countless hours with Aline singing songs and performing in benefit concerts.
In 2001 Aline’s music was featured in the Newton New Philharmonia’s holiday concert.
In 2005 Julie Silver, a dear friend and one of Aline’s former students, recorded For Love To Grow, another collection of her songs. The CD is a Parent’s Choice 2006 “Recommended Award” winner.
For over 50 years, Aline’s songs have been a source of joy and inspiration for singers and audiences alike.
It done!! I think. No, it’s not, I’ve logged back in to tweak. There. Now. I think.
Is it ever really done? Are teachers ever really done?
Building my Moodle site has been a laborious process, long and drawn-out. Reflecting on it now feels like quite the challenge as I mentally re-navigate the ins and outs of visiting and revisiting what a splash page is – or a GUI – and how I could possibly build one. And what does it mean to create a web page? What do I need this for? After a month and some of scrolling through my typed-in labels I had composed for instructions, I learned: I could create a web page and keep the front page clean. Still small voices with organizational concerns in the back of my cerebral cortex quieted.
Building the content has been a mostly joyful experience. It has been fun to walk through and build the online elements that I would – will – gladly have accompany my face-to-face (f2f) course; it has been challenging to devise a splash page with a GUI (graphic user interface) that allows students to navigate via hyperspace rather than the scroll bar, creating a class web page that actually works like web pages that “other people” build. Even as I write this though, I am trying to calm the still small voice that says I really need to create a “back to top” button. I probably will. I think I know how. Now.
I didn’t know how before, that’s for sure. Using Moodle has been a big help, as have colleagues in the Moodle discussion forum (and some via email) in ETEC 565. I did not use the Moodle forums from Moodle.org so much, though ultimately that was where the GUI finally started to click. I was very happy to have the Wimba experiences from class. It was comforting to feel a bit more in touch and be walked through some Moodle possibilities. Ultimately, I found a lot I could figure out via trial and error, similar to how my dad will just keep driving when I think he’s lost and then lo and behold he pops out just where he always intended to go – except I really do think he knew all along. With Moodle, I didn’t.
I used a lot more gas to get to my destination than my wily dad would ever need, and a lot of that in idle as I contemplated and mulled. Even still, I am popping back and forth evaluating my “groups” forums. Sometimes they seem to display right, but not consistently, so Using Moodle is currently opening – again – behind this page as I write. Time to comb through with a finer tooth and see what I missed. This is where trial and error fails me. I try to fly solo, but I just don’t have the background yet. Using Moodle is my under-appreciated co-pilot, but even then, as I see now having combed through, I need an updated version… or a personal moodle expert. Luckily, I have something akin, in Vista Blackboard, in our discussions (so here I go)… oh no! I just learned something new. Blessings and curses. Thanks be to John, it was at the moment of writing this, bouncing between my open tabs, that I solved my endless scrolling page issue: create a web page for my instructions for each module! No worries. Time is an issue, but with investment comes pay-off.
Speechms. Schrader's Teaching Portfolio Assessment
And so it is clean. Cartoon icons set with titles locked in place via an invisible table. Titles and ‘toons anchored to appropriate units, instructions transferred to web pages linked back to appropriate anchor on home page, wikis fixed, selected items programmed for date-specific release, others hidden for manual selective release, grading options selected for journals forum, selected blocks set on side for handy and helpful links without overwhelming second language students, and my own postings posted and relevant self-created media embedded or linked to enhance and scaffold learning. Reflections on my own personal learning underway. I think we’re there.
Speechms. Schrader's Teaching Portfolio Allocation
Some trial and error was on purpose, some was not. I enjoyed – am enjoying – playing merely for the purpose of seeing how it changed – changes – the site or the presentation of an element on the site. Some elements though … this has been exhausting, albeit in a satisfying way. I am going to enjoy a month off of obligatory computer work.
References
Speechms. Schrader's Teaching Portfolio Organizer
Cole, J. and Foster, H. (2007). Using Moodle – Teaching with the popular open source course management system. 2nd ed. Retrieved from http://download.moodle.org/download.php/docs/en/using_moodle_2e.zip
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