A once-upon-a-time homeschooling mom of three, Julia has been studying and teaching piano to children and adults in the Ajax area since 1998. She is certified in the Bigler-Lloyd-Watts piano pedagogy approach and is currently working on her Piano Pedagogy Associateship with the Royal Conservatory of Music, Toronto.
In 2006 she became a licenced Kindermusik educator, teaching this fantastic curriculum until 2011 when she decided to "go to the source" and take her Level 1 Kodaly and Orff training. Julia is also Music Teacher at a local private school and hopes to expand her group music-teaching services to other area schools and daycares.
In 2010, Julia achieved an amazing 94% on her Elementary Piano Pedagogy exam (teaching beginners to RCM grade 2) and won the RCM's 2010 Regional Silver Medal for highest Elementary Pedagogy examination mark in Ontario and Quebec, and the Frederick Harris Scholarship for highest Elementary Pedagogy viva voce mark in North America. In 2010 she completed her Intermediate Piano Pedagogy certification (teaching RCM grades 3-6) and currently has her teeth firmly sunk into the final Advanced level.
Julia also regularly attends professional development seminars and conferences held by the Royal Conservatory of Music and various other music organizations as well as doing ongoing upgrading through trade publications and regular teacher brainstorming get-togethers. "The music-teaching profession is changing and evolving so quickly because of advances in technology and discoveries in how the brain learns, if you don't stay on top of it, you're doing your students a disservice!" Her most recent accomplishment is an Orff Level 1 certification.
In addition to her passion for continuous learning, her quirky sense of humour has also been a huge plus to students. "If a student - adult or child - is laughing and engaged, they're learning. Frightened and intimidated students don't learn well, and I don't teach that way. It's not exactly stand-up-comedy pedagogy, but sometimes it's close! "
Other interests...
Writing, online chess games, languages & etymology (where words came from), Don Martin cartoons, bad jokes... the list goes on....
**A few fundamental Conscious Discipline beliefs for teachers (also good for adult relationships, too!) :
* Changing ourselves is possible. It is our choice to decide whether or not to change
* By choosing to control ourselves instead of others, we feel empowered.
* When things don’t go our way, we will seek solutions.
* In order for children (people) to behave properly, they must be taught.
* Conflict is an essential part of life. It presents us with the opportunity to learn a missing skill or let go of a limiting belief.
* Love is the best motivator for learning and growth. (Love is more powerful than fear. Cooperation is more effective than coercion)
