Congratulations!
to our 2021-22 Lesson Plan Competition winners:
Andrew Geocaris
Rocky Mount Elementary School, Marietta, GA
Lesson Plan Title: "1st Grade General Music - Call and Response - 'Brown Bear, Brown Bear…'"
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Morgan LaFave
Memorial Middle School, Conyers, GA
Lesson Plan Title: “Grade 6 Beginning Band… Virtual Plans for Teaching - Facilitating How to Hold, Play, and Practice Instruments Virtually"
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Dr. Kathleen Melago
Slippery Rock University, Slippery Rock, PA
Lesson Plan Title: “Using Technology while Creating, Performing, and Sharing Original Duets on Secondary Instruments"
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Andrew Geocaris teaches general music and choir in the Cobb County School District at Rocky Mount Elementary School in Marietta, Georgia. He provides comprehensive music education to 600 students via a hybrid classroom that combines face-to-face instruction with synchronous virtual instruction. His students study performance, composition, improvisation, musical literacy, and interdisciplinary connections.
Mr. Geocaris holds a Bachelor of Arts, magne cum laude, in music education from Carthage College in Wisconsin. He received his Masters of Music in Euphonium Performance, summa cum laude, from Georgia State University.
In 2017, Mr. Geocaris was recognized as the Rocky Mount Elementary School Teacher of the Year. Mr. Geocaris loves spending time with his wife, Alanna, three children, Soraya, Charlotte and Zeke, and their dog, Shadow. He also enjoys running, weight- lifting, building scale models, and is a life-long Star Trek fan!
Morgan LaFave is the band director at Memorial Middle School in
Rockdale County, Georgia. This is her first year at Memorial and her
second year as a band director. Ms. LaFave received her Bachelor of
Music Education from Georgia State University in 2018. While
studying she taught private saxophone lessons, woodwind sectionals,
and elementary music with Community Music Centers of Atlanta. In
her free time, Ms. LaFave enjoys spending time at home baking and
hanging out with her three rabbits: Bert, Enzo, and Riccardo.
Dr. Kathleen Melago serves as Associate Professor of Music Education at
Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania and has been division head of the
music education program since she joined the faculty at SRU in August 2009. In
addition to teaching numerous courses in music education, she supervises music
student teachers and field students. Dr. Melago teaches Introduction to Music
Education, Woodwind Methods, Guitar Methods for Music Education,
Instrumental Methods, Instrumental Rehearsal Techniques, and Introduction to
Music courses and supervises music student teachers and field students. Kathy
received her Bachelor of Science in Music Education from Slippery Rock
University, her Master of Music in flute performance from the University of
Northern Iowa, and her Doctor of Musical Arts from The Ohio State University.
She has taught music in Pennsylvania, Iowa, and Ohio, both in schools and
privately.