MARIE HILL
Douglas L. Jamerson, Jr. Elementary, Center for Mathematics & Engineering
Pinellas County Schools, St. Petersburg, Florida
Music has power to change a mood, create an emotional response, motivate, and excite, break down barriers or to connect many to sing or play along. A good song, much like a good teacher, can do the same. A good song is easy to remember, fun to listen to, has a solid structure, chord progression, strong lyrics, and a riff. Marie Hill is a great song who brings students and teachers at Douglas L. Jamerson’s Center for Mathematics and Engineering together to create beautiful music.
A good song needs a solid structure is needed to shape the chords and lyrics and keep the listeners attention. Much like the mathematic and engineering theme provides a solid structure for the student experiences at Douglas L. Jamerson, Ms. Hill provides this structure with her leadership, her innovative curriculum development, and dedication to developing community and parent partnerships.
Another key part of a good song is chord progressions. The use of repetition or verses using the same chords creates a melody with the same recognizable chords. Ms. Hill uses mathematics and engineering theme to create fun, exciting and joyful learning experiences for her students. The music created in her classroom allows her students connect with the magnet theme and use music as a medium to demonstrate their learning.
Strong lyrics turn chord progressions into melody and something magical. Ms. Hill’s skilled curriculum writing allows her to take the mathematic and engineering theme and connect it with the chords she teaches in music to create innovative curriculum that stays with students and lasts a long time. Her dedication to her craft to create melodies in the form of lessons and thematic units connects to students in a way that is easily relatable- like a good song lyric. She creates dynamic curriculum and lessons that weave the theme and other content areas into a composition that connects and resonates with her students.
Finally, the last part of crafting a good song is a riff establishing catchiness within the song. Ms. Hill sparks curiosity and resiliency with her students. She is memorable, fun, and exciting. Ms. Hill pushes students to be and do their best. It is amazing to see her in action – whether it is with chorus, music, or band.
Raise the level of performance consistent throughout school districts nationwide and creates a platform from which all magnet schools can flourish. Magnet Schools of America’s national certification process is designed to recognize the hard work of the best magnet schools in the nation and to help them as they grow.