Lockport music teacher engages students with dynamic activities

A Lockport teacher said the education of music has come a long way from the time she started teaching more than 20 years.

The students in Joanne Moan’s classroom are learning music through playful and creative activities. Moan said as education has progressed, teachers have learned “so much how children learn with exploration.”

“We’re able to be more dynamic,” Moan said.

Moan said she’s been teaching for 22 years and she’s been a teacher for six of those years at Will County District 92’s Walsh Elementary School, 514 MacGregor Road, Lockport.

She said when she first started teaching, the classrooms would have chairs, textbooks and music stands.

But students are now able to learn in a more “dynamic setting,” although some students can still benefit from a more structured setting, Moan said.

“We create and we can present something and [students] can take it and create something brand new but you need to have that hands-on experience. I think education has really changed in the fact that’s not always sitting down at your desk anymore,” Moan said.

Moan said when she was in college, she was majoring in music and nursing but she wasn’t sure if she wanted to teach music.

When she began her graduate work in education, she said that “sealed the deal.”

“I’ve always credited my aunts and my mom, who are all teachers, who all have an education background, and I’ve always loved schools and education,” Moan said.

She said when she was studying music she loved the “performance aspect” and using that “creativity on stage.”

“To a certain extent, education is part performance, to be engaging, to hook someone into wanting to learn something and if you can engage, it does feel a lot like an audience,” Moan said.

Some of the activities Moan’s students engage them help them understand different aspects of music. She said it’s a “cumulative process.”

“Music is really awesome because you rely on what you’ve learned on previously to build,” she said.

Moan said she loves working with her students and it is “never a dull day.”

She said her students keeps her a “kid at heart.”

“I just love to see them learn something and to find the meaning in it and they are forever changed. It’s amazing,”