The first regional fall workshop for JAM teachers held Saturday, November 9 at Heartwood in Abingdon, VA was very successful! There were 15 total teachers representing seven different JAM programs from Southwest Virginia and Northwest North Carolina. JAM, Inc staff person Brett Morris Martin facilitated throughout the afternoon; however, the workshop was set up for teacher sharing, as most Regional JAM workshops are, which means an open forum for all instructors to discuss their challenges, successes and ideas for passing along traditional music to children throughout Appalachia. On Saturday, the topics focused on differentiating instruction for different types of learners, as well as ways to monitor student progress. After the participants took a quiz about their own learning style, we found out that none of the great musicians in the room were overwhelmingly auditory learners!

This workshop will be repeated this Saturday at the Black Mountain Center for the Arts in Black Mountain, NC from 1 – 4 p.m. Other teachers of traditional music or musicians are welcome to attend, but only instructors in a JAM, Inc affiliated program will be able to receive a stipend for participating.

If you want to attend this Saturday, Nov. 16 and have not yet RSVP’ed or would like additional information, please contact Brett at (276) 773-0573 or [email protected]

Thanks to everyone for coming out to Heartwood on Saturday and those who are planning on Black Mountain!