HELLO,
I'm Meghan!
I am the music teacher at The Deron School in Montclair, New Jersey. Deron II is a high school and adult transition program serving students with disabilities through the age of 21 years old. At Deron I primarily teach general music, but I also run music electives such as the choir, music club, world percussion and teach instrumental lessons on guitar, drum set, and piano.
In addition to my teaching position at Deron, I work with the Parsippany High School Marching Band as an assistant band director. I am a woodwind technician, front ensemble technician, the inclusive marching coordinator, and marching band student leader advisor. I also work for the organization USBands as a field/gate coordinator for marching band competitions. Click here to see more about my current work.
In May of 2023 I received a my master's degree in Special Music Education from Wichita State University. While completing my studies in Kansas I worked at Envision Child Development Center and at the Cerebral Palsy Research Foundation's Adult Day Program teaching music classes for individuals with disabilities. I was also the band director at Blessed Sacrament Catholic School and I taught private music lessons at Garten's Music in Wichita, Kansas. Click here to see examples of materials created for these positions.
In addition to my studies I was a graduate teaching assistant in music education, primarily in elementary, general, and special music education. My supervisor for this position was Dr. Elaine Bernstorf. At WSU I continued my studies on saxophone with professor Jim Pisano. I was named a finalist for the Graduate Student of the Year award by Wichita State during the Spring 2022 semester. This award is a competitive and prestigious award with more than 150 applicants and several rounds of interviews to determine the finalists. I am honored to have been recognized as one of the top 5 Graduate Students. Click here to see more about my graduate work.
I graduated from Kutztown University in May of 2021 with a major in music education and a minor in autism spectrum disorders. completing my undergraduate degree at Kutztown University I primarily focused on alto saxophone which i studied with Dr. Jeremy Justeson. I also studied flute with Dr.Susanna Loewy, bassoon with Dr. Valerie Trollinger, and organ with Dr. Ina Grapenthin. Additionally, I performed with many of the ensembles at KU including the Kutztown University Wind Ensemble, Jazz Ensemble II, Rock Ensemble II, Kutztown University Orchestra (and studio orchestra), Saxophone Ensemble, Choir, Flute Choir and KUMU. In my final semester at Kutztown, I was honored to receive the student excellence award in music education. Click here to see my music education portfolio. Click here to see my resume, or here to see my awards and scholarly work.
For my minor in autism spectrum disorders I completed a field experience which consisted of creating and implementing a behavior intervention plan. This teaching experience was completed in the Summer of 2019. Please see the page titled "Autism Spectrum Disorders Minor" for more information.
I completed my student teaching practicum in music education during the Spring 2021 semester. My first placement was at Fleetwood Middle School teaching the middle school bands and world percussion with Mr. Kristian Nygard. My second placement was at Catasauqua High School where I taught band, digital music composition, and guitar class with Mr. Robert Arnold. This experience was all during the Covid-19 pandemic. Click here to see pictures and videos from my student teaching experiences. Click here to see recent performance videos.