“It’s so important for the students to see themselves in their everyday life, and so much of their everyday life, at this age, is what’s happening in school" explains Anna Harris to The Washington Post. A Music Education teacher in Montgomery County, Harris developed a new curriculum by incorporating music from countries and cultures that represent the diverse body of students in her classroom.
Anna Harris speaking at a School Concert
Anna Harris speaking at a School Concert
Montgomery county, Maryland is home to the largest population of Ethiopian immigrants in the United States, therefore a significant percentage of Harris' students are of Ethiopian descent. For this reason, the elementary school teacher worked with a translator and Ethiopian community groups to create the Amharic Project— a teaching resource which aims to make traditional Ethiopian songs available to music educators across the United States. Harris also notes in The Washington Post interview that, "a lot of what we do in school is very whitewashed. . . . There isn’t any sort of a focus on the identities of the students themselves."
First graders in Ms. Harris’s music class play the Ethiopian singing game “Roza Rozeenuh.”
Read the full Washington Post story here