Wauwatosa School District: Wauwatosa East Orchestra Teacher Michael Hayden has been awarded the Melvin F. Pontious Creative Sparks in Music Education Award from the Wisconsin Music Educators Association (WMEA).
Hayden, who is in his first year at Tosa East, was honored at the WMEA state conference in Madison on Thursday, Oct. 27, 2016.
The award recognizes “imaginative, creative, and innovative teaching practices in a music education setting”. Hayden was nominated in 2015 by another music teacher in the state for his efforts in the area of music technology and popular music education, specifically the development of a commercial music program at his previous high school.
“This program grew from an idea of mine to two different courses in music industry, two in rock music, and establishing the school music technology lab,” explained Hayden. “East and West High School have also started offering digital music courses (new this year) and are great examples of ways that schools, district, and communities are supportive in finding ways to encourage all students to be creative and help them make music.”