Music educator and consultant, Ashley Cuthbertson, discusses the importance of culturally responsive teaching, building relationships with students through get-to-know-you activities, the empowering effect of vocabulary, using one song for multiple connections in music education, and promoting equity and rigor in music education.
You have GOT to check out this episode with Music Educator and Consultant: Ashley Cuthbertson! And WHEN you love it, don’t forget to subscribe, leave us a review, and to share this episode with your friends!
Ashley Cuthbertson (she/her) is the Founder, CEO & Principal Consultant of A. Cuthbertson Consulting, LLC, an educational consulting firm that partners with schools, districts, and organizations to help music educators center diverse, inclusive, equitable, and culturally responsive pedagogical practices so they can ensure all learners have access to the high quality music education they deserve.
A Nationally Board Certified Teacher, Ashley holds a Master’s in Education, as well as certifications in the Kodály approach and Arts integration. Ashley has over thirteen years of experience in education as a general music & choral educator, an band educator, a K-12 musicianship instructor, a private lessons instructor, adjunct professor, speaker, clinician, and curriculum writer.
A dedicated music educator with a track record of success working with students in a wide variety of diverse communities and contexts, Ashley consistently received highly effective teacher ratings at the district level and consistently demonstrated the ability to move students’ musicianship skills forward as evidenced by yearly assessments.
A skilled curriculum designer, Ashley has written curriculum at the district level, as well as led curriculum teams for the Virginia Department of Education resulting in over 15 new general music units for the “Go Open VA” open educational resource database.
With over 9 years of experience as a teacher educator in the professional development and university sectors, Ashley consistently received above average university departmental student evaluation ratings.
Described as an engaging and charismatic teacher educator, Ashley has created and facilitated close to 100 professional development sessions for music educators across the U.S. and internationally on a variety of topics for music classrooms, including Culturally Responsive Pedagogy, Universal Design for Learning, Assessment, Arts Integration, and Learner Centered Instruction. 95% of workshop participants report that Ashley’s sessions are engaging and highly useful to their work in their music classrooms.
A passionate advocate for music education, Ashley currently serves the National Association for Music Education as a member of the Repertoire Diversity Task Force and the Virginia Music Educators Association as chair of the DEI Council.
A regular coach and consultant for schools, districts, and organizations across the U.S., Ashley supports music educators with professional learning, coaching, curriculum development, and music program design strategy to ensure all learners have access to the high quality music education they deserve.
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