‘Music is healing.’ How one CMS teacher is building an award-winning, inclusive classroom
Margaret Maurice has hundreds of stories to tell.
And after listening to her students’ “soundtracks of life” at Hidden Valley Elementary School, hundreds of lessons to learn.
“I believe in listening to children and letting them tell their story,” said Maurice, the school’s music teacher. “My students have so much to teach me. Self-expression through the arts is powerful.”
Maurice’s assignment to some of the 988 students at Hidden Valley during the 2021-22 school year directed them to imagine their life as a documentary, where four songs best represented major events of their lives. Students studied their song’s tempo and other aspects. The students also created a piece of artwork, wrote a poem or journal entry to describe a memory related to the song and presented the projects in class.
“These presentations moved and humbled me more than I can say,” she said. “Although my students are young, they have been through more experiences and emotions than many adults.”
Hidden Valley has a high concentration of students who fall under the McKinney-Vento Act, which provides rights and services to children who experience a wide range of unstable housing situations, including homelessness.
Challenging her students to show others who they are through music is one reason the CMA Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the Country Music Association, honored Maurice as a Music Teacher of Excellence last month. She was one of 30 honored across the country and the only one in North Carolina.
“Music education is essential to the well-being of students everywhere,” said Tiffany Kerns, the executive director of the CMA Foundation. “We believe that without excellent teachers, a high-quality education for our students wouldn’t be possible.”
One of Maurice’s students shared the song “Invisible” from the movie “Klaus” during her presentation. The song symbolized living with the pain of not seeing her mother for two years after the student crossed the United States-Mexico border without her. The student, who spoke in Spanish and English during the presentation, drew a picture “saying one last goodbye and asking for one last hug.”
“Music is healing. Music is the journey we all walk on through our personal celebrations and sorrows,” Maurice said. “Many times adults forget that children can feel these deep feelings.”
Helping students find ownership
Maurice’s own story is compelling. She’s a first generation Filipino-American and attended Title I schools growing up, which means she went to schools bolstered by the federal education program that supports low-income students. She’s also focused the majority of her two-decade teaching career in the K-8, Title I schools setting.
Many students and families at Hidden Valley speak Spanish. Some speak French. So, she’s incorporated English as a second language teaching techniques and bolstered her own Spanish and French language skills. She’s passionate about students feeling seen and represented in her music classroom. Last year, she started a fundraiser and book collection drive to begin a diverse and inclusive hands-on music library.
“I did not see any representative images or text in my classrooms for myself or other minority groups growing up,” she said. “When a student feels included in a classroom through representative text, stories and song, they find ownership in the content and pride in their own sense of self. A student who feels they belong is a student who can be impacted to learn.”
She started her career in her hometown of Burlington, Vermont, and taught in Atlanta. She’s taught in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools since January 2020. Her mom, who also teaches in CMS, inspired her to become a teacher and previously worked for the state of Vermont refugee resettlement program.
“I remember as a 4-year-old, she would bring me and my brother to see her in action with these families,” Maurice said. “She would take them to the grocery store and show them how to buy vegetables. Or bring them and teach them how to use an indoor oven. She gave these families the tools and confidence. It was the most meaningful experience for us, as a family, and where my whole philosophy for teaching began.”
Mixing music and core academics
Maurice is highly spirited and almost giddy when she begins teaching a music class. She gets every child involved and integrates music with core academics.
During the 2020-21 pandemic school year, she created a guest teaching partnership with UNC Charlotte dance professor Marissa Nesbit to prepare the college students for working with her elementary students.
“The ups and downs of the COVID pandemic and associated schedule changes proved quite challenging for all of us, yet I remained focused in my desire to give the best possible musical and creative experience to the students each day,” Maurice said.
She also collaborated with Beth Murray, a UNC Charlotte theater education professor, to teach test-taking skills through theater games, music and social-emotional learning with all of the fourth graders.
“She approaches her obligations as a teacher to know and support students and their families in their real lives knowing that is inextricably bound with their artistic selves, and their stories,” Murray said. “(She) is committed to making this world better in every forum she finds herself. She takes this obligation seriously, yet fosters a sense of play in her students as she does so.”
A North Carolina Symphony honor
Maurice volunteers as a music and yoga storytime guest artist at the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library. She also creates read-aloud videos for families, especially those with younger siblings preparing to come to school.
She teaches yoga on Sunday Fun Days at the Mint Museum Uptown.
“I have a precious personal life that I treasure and share with my partner and children,” she said. “My mother lives close by. We all enjoy hiking and exploring the beauty of North Carolina together.”
This school year, Maurice also was honored with the Maxine Swalin Award for Outstanding Music Educator, which the North Carolina Symphony awards. The most important lesson she teachers her students through music is to allow harmony to heal.
“I incorporate social-emotional learning strategies by helping students self-regulate and use music as a therapeutic tool,” she said.
This story was originally published June 14, 2022 at 6:30 AM.
