Nancy Dunkin has worked in schools for decades. She has taught at all levels—elementary, secondary, and college—as well as spending several years in administration. Though she has taught classroom, most of her teaching career was in music education. With a hiatus when her children were growing up, Nancy also taught piano and is still teaching.Nancy did her undergraduate work at what is now the University of Northern Colorado and her graduate work at the University of Colorado where she earned a Master’s degree in Music Education.
She found a doctoral program too repetitive and chose, instead, to attend workshops and conferences throughout the country in a variety of topics of interest. These included both Orff and Kodaly Certification, Dalcroze, composition, dance, mime, theater, handbells, choral conducting, and “Music and the Brain.” Learning “how children learn” by way of classes, workshops, reading, and observing has been a life-long endeavor.
Her experience is extensive. She has taught in rural, inner city and suburban schools in upscale, depressed and middle class neighborhoods; she has taught profoundly deaf, hard of hearing, blind, learning disabled, gifted, and thousands of students who had no labels at all.
Nancy has also been active in professional organizations, both in general education and music education. She not only belonged to, but held offices in organizations such as MENC (Music Educators National Conference), CMEA (Colorado Music Educators Association), Pi Lambda Theta, PEO, and MTNA (Music Teachers National Association).
She did teacher inservice in Jefferson County where she spent most of her career and taught workshops throughout an 8-state area. Most of the workshops were in some facet of music education, but she was also invited to teach movement workshops at AAHPER (American Association of Health, Physical Education and Recreation) conventions.
Nancy lives in Colorado and has two children, two grandchildren and a dog, all of whom live in Colorado also.
Publications
Joy Of Music
In addition, Nancy was responsible for three major curricula, two in Jefferson County and a third for a national grant in Career Education
Articles
Essays
In addition to articles written for publications, Nancy has written many essays, some of which were handouts for classes, inservice programs, or conference sessions she gave.
Speaking and Appearances
Honors and Awards
PEO Club Band Scholarship
Rotary Club books and tuition
Performance Credits
Pas de Deux Pour le Piano - solo piano recital
Accompaniments and ensembles galore
Pit orchestras for musicals
Chorale accompanist
Recital for Piano and Violincello
She found a doctoral program too repetitive and chose, instead, to attend workshops and conferences throughout the country in a variety of topics of interest. These included both Orff and Kodaly Certification, Dalcroze, composition, dance, mime, theater, handbells, choral conducting, and “Music and the Brain.” Learning “how children learn” by way of classes, workshops, reading, and observing has been a life-long endeavor.
Her experience is extensive. She has taught in rural, inner city and suburban schools in upscale, depressed and middle class neighborhoods; she has taught profoundly deaf, hard of hearing, blind, learning disabled, gifted, and thousands of students who had no labels at all.
Nancy has also been active in professional organizations, both in general education and music education. She not only belonged to, but held offices in organizations such as MENC (Music Educators National Conference), CMEA (Colorado Music Educators Association), Pi Lambda Theta, PEO, and MTNA (Music Teachers National Association).
She did teacher inservice in Jefferson County where she spent most of her career and taught workshops throughout an 8-state area. Most of the workshops were in some facet of music education, but she was also invited to teach movement workshops at AAHPER (American Association of Health, Physical Education and Recreation) conventions.
Nancy lives in Colorado and has two children, two grandchildren and a dog, all of whom live in Colorado also.
Publications
Joy Of Music
- Joy of Folksong - a collection of more than 200 annotated folksongs in an easy to use organized into categories from simple to complex for use in the elementary music classroom
- Joy of Masterwork - Listening lessons with step-by-step lesson plans which move from folksong to masterwork. These are accompanied by notated examples to watch while listening. Lessons include works by 50 of the world’s greatest composers from Back to Brubeck. These plans have been used by elementary teachers but also by high school AP teachers as well as college and adult education teachers for “appreciation” classes.
- Joy to Teach - lesson plans coordinated with Joy of Folksong and Joy of Masterwork to provide teachers with step-by-step plans to teach elementary music.
- Joy of Sight Singing - A collection of three sight singing books coordinated with Joy of Folksong and Joy to Teach to teach students to read music. These books are designed for elementary students, but have been used by college professors for freshman sight singing classes.
In addition, Nancy was responsible for three major curricula, two in Jefferson County and a third for a national grant in Career Education
- Jefferson County Music Curriculum Chairman
- Revision of above
- Chairman of Arts portion of a National Curriculum for Career Education
Articles
- Opera By Children For Children in “Soundings” Magazine
- Using Cuisenaire Rods to Teach Rhythm - “Music Teachers Workshop” Parker Publishing Co
- Using Movement to Teach Music - “CMEA Journal”
- Can Little Kids Really Compose Music? - “CMEA Journal”
- Another Way of Knowing - Rockefeller Committee on Integrated Education
- A Look at an Elementary Music Classroom - Solicited by a Wyoming Educator, this was a chapter in a book on Elementary Education.
- Zoltan Kodaly (I was asked to write this, but I have no idea where it wound up.)
Essays
In addition to articles written for publications, Nancy has written many essays, some of which were handouts for classes, inservice programs, or conference sessions she gave.
- Fixed or Moveable Do?
- How to Work in Groups within the Classroom
- Which Came First, the Chicken or the Egg? (This one asks the question: are students good students because they are in music or are they in music because they are good students?)
- Great Expectations
- Ethnicity in the Music Classroom
- Three Fs
- How to Teach Tone Matching
- How to Teach Sight Singing
- How to Teach Recorder
Speaking and Appearances
- Continuous piano teaching for decades and still going
- Piano/cello recital - Highlands Ranch
- Colorado Christian University - Lakewood, CO - undergraduate music method class (coming soon)
- Metro State College - Denver, CO - semester undergraduate music methods class
- Western State College - Gunnison, CO - all day week-long graduate class
- University of Northern Colorado - Greeley, CO - week-long class on individualization
- Chadron State Teachers College - Chadron, NE - 2-day graduate workshop in Kodaly methodology
- Western Washington State - 2-day workshop on movement
- University of Colorado - Boulder, CO - 1-hr undergraduate methods class
- Western State College - Gunnison, CO - 1-hr undergraduate methods class
- Metro State College - Denver, CO - 3-hr undergraduate methods class
- Western State College - part of a 6-member panel for a seminar in music education
- Provo City School District - 2-day graduate workshop on movement
- Thermopolis Public School System - workshop on learning modalities
- Cheyenne Public Schools - Saturday workshop on Kodaly methods
- Casper Public Schools - Saturday workshop on Kodaly methods
- Wyoming Music Educators Convention - Rawlins, WY - 2 sessions on movement and composition for children
- Montana AAHPER (physical education teachers) Convention - Billings, MT - 2 sessions on movement - with a physical education teacher
- Colorado AAHPER Convention - Denver, CO - 2 sessions movement - with a physical education teacher
- AAHPER National Convention - Seattle, WA - 4 sessions on movement - with a physical education teachers
- Presentation to administrators on An Integrated Curriculum as part of a Rockefeller Foundation Grant.
Honors and Awards
- CMEA Hall of Fame
- CMEA Pacesetter
- Elementary Choir selected for CMEA Performance
- Outstanding Piano Major - University of Northern Colorado
- Wheat Ridge Teacher of the Year
- Outstanding High School Scholar State of South Dakota
- Girl’s State
- Valedictorian
- Scholarships:
PEO Club Band Scholarship
Rotary Club books and tuition
Performance Credits
Pas de Deux Pour le Piano - solo piano recital
Accompaniments and ensembles galore
Pit orchestras for musicals
Chorale accompanist
Recital for Piano and Violincello