On Monday, March 9th, Dr. Scott Edgar led our Teaching Artists in a professional development session on “Building Identity, Belonging, and Agency Through Musical Social Emotional Learning.” He serves as Chair of Music at Lake Forest University, the Co-Director of Practice for Learning and Research, ArtsEdSEL, and the Editor of Portraits of Music Education and Social Emotional Learning.

Dr. Edgar shared how classrooms can be a space for rich social and emotional growth through music. Teachers explored methods to foster a culture of learning, developed routines and mindsets to organically build Social Emotional Learning (SEL) competencies for their students, and created strategies to support student empowerment through the SEL Pillars of Identity, Belonging, and Agency.

“Harmony Program epitomizes what it means to use music as a catalyst to help students be the best they can be. They center the students and help build wonderful environments for students to thrive musically, socially, and emotionally.” – Dr. Scott Edgar