Maine Motif Issue 2, Vol. II (Winter, 2018) | Page 18

A Conversation with Kaitlin Young:
MUSIC TEACHER & MAINE’S 2018 TEACHER OF THE
YEAR (PART ONE)
By Catherine Newell,General Music VP PK-5
Kaitlin Young has recently been selected as Maine’s Teacher of the Year. She is a
graduate of the Hartt School (MA Music Education with a Concentration in Kodály
Pedagogy, 2017) and the University of Maine (Vocal Music Education, 2010). She
currently teaches General Music to students in PreKindergarten through Grade 4, and
Choral Music to students in Grades 5-8 at SeDoMoCha Elementary School in Dover
Foxcroft.
Discussing education with Kaitlin is nothing short of delightful. Her enthusiasm for the
minutiae of teaching is as boundless as her energy for philosophical discussion of the
why’s and how’s of inspiring and leading the next generation of students and teachers.
For many educators, elementary music remains a bit of an enigma. We know what
excellence in high school ensembles should sound like, but what does quality teaching
look like at the elementary level?
In the case of Kaitlin Young, it looks like research-
driven, child-focused, sequential music instruction
delivered with exquisite attention to detail and, to
borrow a term from Benjamin Zander, “shining eyes”.
I recently had the opportunity to spend a day
observing Kaitlin in action. At the end of a day that
included Kindergarten and first grade music classes,
and a dress rehearsal for an informance for students
in grades two through four, we sat and chatted about
music education. This is the first half of a two-part
conversation with Kaitlin.
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