Teacher Appreciation Week: An Interview With Elementary Educator Erica Doran
**A condensed version of this interview appeared as part of our May print issue**
Photos by Kiki Vassilakis
“I want to set the foundation for them to be great musicians, great listeners, great audience members, and just to appreciate the music around them. For me, that's the most important part.”
Today marks the start of Teacher Appreciation Week, a friendly reminder to show your local teachers some well-deserved love and support. To coincide with this, I recently had the pleasure of interviewing a handful of our area’s many incredible arts educators for our May issue’s cover story. Each day this week, we will be highlighting these interviews individually, offering the additional space for their stories that print could not allow. Consider these the Extended Cut versions.
To all our educators – thank you for instilling a love of the arts into the next generation.
Erica Doran has been a music teacher in the South Colonie Central School District for over 20 years. She, like most arts educators, bounces between the various elementary schools in the district teaching kindergarten through fourth grade the fundamentals of music. Her passion for doing so is radiant; I could actually hear her smiling through the phone.
“Elementary is so wonderful,” she beams. “The kids are amazing. I have fun every day. I love sharing with them and I love all the activities we do together in our concerts. My job is the best.”
For many kids, elementary school is their first experience with being away from home for an extended period of time. Intimidating at first, but soon thrilling. The days are carefree, with the only source of drama being a fall on the playground or getting caught eating paste during craft time. Most importantly, the foundation for social-emotional development and core values is built right in these rooms. Kids learn language, cognitive strategies and social skills. And with the arts, they learn patience, respect and unique ways of viewing the world.
“Music is a language,” Erica says. “They say you learn a language quicker when you're younger. So if we can get them started earlier, they have more access to it later.”
Erica’s journey to her career as a music teacher began at a young age while in her church’s children’s choir. She then began playing piano in second grade, soaking up her appreciation for music thanks to a keyboard from her mother.
“My grandmother had a keyboard and these keyboard books,” she recalls. “Don't ask me how, but I figured out which note belonged to which key. And I remember one day, I sat down for maybe two hours and figured out every single song in her piano book. I begged for a piano and begged for lessons, and for my eighth birthday, my parents got me a piano.”
Growing up, she found herself naturally teaching the younger kids how to read music. This continued as she attended SUNY Fredonia, double majoring in music education and theatre.
These days, she has the pleasure of utilizing both parts of her degree; not only is she an educator, she is also heavily involved in the Capital Region’s theatre scene as the education leader for Schenectady Light Opera Company.
“I organize and run all of our free workshops for the community,” Erica tells me. “We get teachers—sometimes they’re well known actors or actresses from Broadway or television—to come and teach workshops for members of the community.”
The focus of these free workshops runs the gamut, covering everything from costuming to designing sets to reading music. For Erica, it’s just another way to apply her love for education.
“I love our theatre community so much. I wanted to be able to give back to that, and I felt like this was the best way, because of my education experience. So often, arts and theatre and music can be just for the people who can afford it.”
This ‘art is for everyone’ mentality is something Erica aims to instill in her elementary students. If the kids have that understanding, she’s convinced it will foster an enjoyment of music as they progress through the later grades.
“My goal is to get the kids to love music, and I like to be their first person that is exposing them to music education. I want to set the foundation for them to be great musicians, great listeners, great audience members, and just to appreciate the music around them. For me, that's the most important part.”
With younger kids, the approach to teaching is as important as the content being taught; staying focused is not always a foregone conclusion. Erica’s vast experience in a variety of different classrooms has allowed her to develop impactful ways of connecting with her students to bring out the best in them, all while ensuring the kids are having fun.
“One of my favorite parts is tricking them into learning,” she says. “When we're reading notes and rhythms, or when we're singing, it's more of a game. I love trying to make it fun and seeing that light bulb go on when they realize they’re actually learning.”
Like all levels of arts education, elementary school is not without its challenges. Erica’s many years of teaching experience allow her a unique perspective on identifying those challenges and advocating for solutions to keep the arts thriving in our schools.
“I've been lucky that I've been able to teach in all the buildings in our district, and I've worked with really great administrators,” Erica admits. “The challenge, though, is advocating for the arts and making sure that our programs are seen as important and valuable and don't get cut. I think there are some places that don't value the arts and arts education as much as we would like them to, and we're lucky when we work for people and we're in a community that sees music and art as important as math and science and reading, because there are students who don't succeed in those other classes but really flourish in our classrooms—I was one of those kids.”
In order to support those students and those classes, Erica leans on parents and community members. This is especially important when a class in this field might be on the curriculum’s chopping block. It’s one of many reasons that she is quick to note the immense value in keeping the lines of communication open between home and school.
“I think just showing up is one of the best things that you can do,” she admits. “Making sure you’re there when your child has a concert or an art show, and reaching out to your kids’ arts teachers and asking, ‘How can I be of support when there’s events?’ That way we know that we have advocates we can go to in case something happens, that can talk about how important [arts education] is for them and their children.”
Thank you, Erica, for over two decades of spreading joy through music in our kids’ classrooms.
For some great ideas and materials you can use to thank a teacher this week, visit https://www.pta.org/home/events/PTA-Teacher-Appreciation-Week
