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Jane Ortner Education Award

The Jane Ortner Education Award celebrates K-12 educators who integrate music into English, social studies, math, science, and foreign language instruction. Applicants submit one original unit of lessons that incorporates music and are then eligible for prizes and unique professional opportunities. In addition to our annual award, the program offers free professional development webinars, workshops in Los Angeles and across the country, and an online library of music-integrated lessons for use in the classroom.

The Jane Ortner Artist Award recognizes an artist who embodies the Museum’s educational mission and shows passion and dedication to education through the arts.

The Jane Ortner Award is not currently accepting applications. Please check back at a later date for updates on this program.

FAQ

WHAT ARE THE REQUIREMENTS?

  • Complete the application
  • Submit an original unit of lessons for your English Language Arts, Social Studies, Science, Math, or Foreign Language Class. It must incorporate music as a tool for teaching course content.
  • A unit can focus on foreign language instruction (e.g. lessons for Spanish Class) but the submission itself must be in English.
  • Each teacher must complete his/her own application. There are no team submissions and there is no nomination process for the Jane Ortner Education Award.

WHO CAN PARTICIPATE?

  • Elementary, Middle, and High School educators who teach English Language Arts, Social Studies, Science, Math, or a Foreign Language.
  • Previous recipients of the Jane Ortner Education Award are ineligible.

DO I HAVE TO SING OR PLAY AN INSTRUMENT?

  • No. Educators don’t have to sing or play an instrument, although we encourage the exploration of artistic abilities.

WHAT ARE THE PRIZES?

  • A $3,000 Honorarium
  • A $1,000 Grant awarded to their school
  • Two tickets to the 62nd GRAMMY Awards® in Los Angeles, plus travel and accommodations
  • …And will be honored at a special GRAMMY Museum event in Los Angeles!

HOW DO I APPLY?

  • Applications are currently closed for the 2020 Jane Ortner Education Award.

THE ADJUDICATION PROCESS

Submissions will be reviewed and evaluated by a panel of teachers and education administrators.
Our judges recommend that you keep all criteria in mind when preparing your curriculum:

CREATIVITY
TEACHABILITY – Can the curriculum be implemented successfully and with ease?
TRANSFERABILITY – Can the general design of the lesson(s) be modified for students of different ages/grade levels?
LEVEL OF ENGAGEMENT – Will students be actively engaged in a number of ways? (e.g. writing, discussing, working in a group/individually, and so on).

WHAT IF I STILL HAVE QUESTIONS?

Please write to us at education@grammymuseum.org.

JANE ORTNER

EDUCATION

AWARD

RECIPIENTS

2021

Bennett VanOudenallen

Social Studies
Notre Damme High School – Cincinnati, OH

Bennett VanOudenallen majored in management at Miami University (Ohio). He taught as an AmeriCorps Volunteer in rural Massachusetts, a Peace Corps Volunteer in Guatemala, and a National Park Service Volunteer in Arizona before obtaining a Master’s degree in Educational Design from Plymouth State University. He has been teaching Social Studies courses at Mount Notre Dame High School in Cincinnati, Ohio for the past 13 years. VanOudenallen is also the Academic Team Coach, Province Leader, and member of the Professional Development team.

VanOudenallen loves guiding students through the deconstruction of music’s, specifically his personal passion – the banjo’s – current stereotypes to build a deeper understanding of all the complex and blended elements that lead us to the depth of variety that music offers today. He states that the Jane Ortner Award is a meaningful acknowledgment and true celebration of the importance of music to education and our shared history.

He resides in Cincinnati with his wife and two young daughters. In his free time, he enjoys playing the banjo in the family band.

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PAST
RECIPIENTS

ISABELLA PUAPUAGA BARRETT

9th Grade English Language Arts
WR Farrington High School – Honolulu, HI

“Who Am I?”

Isabella Puapuaga Barrett’s love for her students shines through her use of music in the classroom. Like a mistro, she carefully weaves together music and literature to conduct her lessons, inspiring her students to discover themselves and their dreams. Moreover, her eclectic use of music in her curriculum encourages students to build community through studying a variety of musical genres to grow empathy and commonality with a diversity of people and their cultures.

Isabella earned a Bachelor in Philosophy and Theology and a Master of Education both from Point Loma Nazarene University. Her 10 years of teaching includes both private and public schools with teaching credentials in California, Oklahoma, and Hawaii. Her range of teaching experience expands from elementary to high school aged students. She currently teaches 9th grade English at her high school alma mater, Wallace Rider Farrington, located in Honolulu, Hawaii.

When Isabella is not teaching, she enjoys spending quality time with her husband Troy and their five children hanging out at home or relaxing on the beautiful shores of Hawaii.

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HEATHER MOORE

11th Grade History
Arcadia High School – Arcadia, CA

“Getting Happy – Life in the Great Depression”

Heather Moore majored in history at Occidental College in 2003 and earned her master’s in teaching the following year. She has been teaching US History at Arcadia High School for 15 years, including Advanced Placement, college prep, and US History courses for English Learners. At Arcadia, Heather is also the faculty adviser to the Student Council Apache Commission and the subject lead for US History. She married her high school sweetheart, Michael, and together they have two children, April, 8, and David, 4. Heather is active in her church, particularly with children’s ministries and music, enjoys reading, is an avid Los Angeles Dodgers fan, and is trying to train her puppy not to destroy the house.

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LOIS MACMILLAN

8th Grade U.S. History
South Middle School – Grants Pass, Ore.

Rappin’ History: Composing Historical Raps in the Classroom (with Lessons Integrating Historical Raps from “Hamilton”)

Lois MacMillan’s unit contains numerous lessons linking the Founding Era to the GRAMMY®-winning Broadway musical “Hamilton.” Aiming to harness the excitement of her students, MacMillan tasked students with creating original rap songs as an extension of primary and secondary source analysis and annotation. The unit also provides a stand-alone framework for creating original rap pieces in non-music subject classrooms.

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NATHAN STRAYHORN

10th Grade English
Fayetteville High School – Fayetteville, AR

The Ballad of the American Dream: Songs of The Great Gatsby

Nathan’s own love for listening to and making music led to his creation of a songwriting-centered curriculum used to bolster students’ understanding of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic American novel The Great Gatsby. ​After reading The Great Gatsby, students learned about the poetic and musical origins of the ballad and how it became an American narrative song tradition. The class studied different approaches to ballads by artists such as Joan Baez, Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, and Warren G. Students were ultimately tasked with writing their own ballads in groups, utilizing both the musical talents of their peers and digital music resources. Each composition adhered to a class rubric, relayed the individual narrative of one of the characters, and communicated a major theme from the novel: the gain and loss of the American Dream. The project culminated in a live performance and recorded album of Gatsby ballads.

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JONATHAN BERNAL

8th Grade English
Topaz Preparatory Academy – Hesperia, CA

The Outsiders: A “Tuff” Study of the Novel Through Music

Jonathan’s curriculum is built around the exploration of identity—specifically group identity versus individuality—using S. E. Hinton’s coming-of-age novel The Outsiders as the central component. In this unit students unpack the novel, study the role of identity in key movements of the 1960s, and analyze notable songs, poetry, and other supplemental written works. For their final project, students work in groups to create and record a radio show.

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KYLIE KO

5th Grade Science (Dual-Language Korean/English)
Mark Keppel Elementary School – Glendale, CA

Broadway Stars

Kylie’s “Broadway Stars” theme-based curriculum was developed to teach her students about plant structures and life science, incorporating both Korean and English. Together with their teacher, students create a mini-musical consisting of songs, dialogue, movement, and technology.

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SUNSHINE CAVALLUZZI

11th and 12th Grade Economics
El Dorado High School – Placentia, CA

Money, Money, Money: Musiconomics!

Sunshine’s curriculum teaches concepts in economics through activities that explore the music industry and its financial relationships. Students also study songs that focus on socio-economic conditions and work in groups to create an original song that incorporates course content.

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ERICA AMANN and SUNSHINE CAVALLUZZI

11th and 12th Grade Social Sciences
El Dorado High School – Placentia, CA

Give Peace – or Amazing Grace! – a Chance

In this team-created project, students collaborate in groups to analyze protest songs and sacred songs. They explore the meaning and context of songs, the effectiveness of expression through music, and seek out similarities and differences between songs from a wide variety of cultures, faiths, movements, and religions. (*Note: this activity is undertaken as a collaborative exercise between two elective classes—Contemporary World Affairs and Comparative Religions—but the structure would work in any class.)

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BIANCA WILCON COLE

9th and 10th Grade English
Washington Preparatory High School – Los Angeles, CA

Fences: An Odyssey Through Music

Bianca’s curriculum is built around August Wilson’s Fences. Students analyze how song lyrics from a variety of genres reflect the conflicts (either internal or external) characters from the play endure. They are also tasked with writing an essay that demonstrates the evolution of a dynamic character in Fences, using specific examples and textual evidence.

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NICOLE NADITZ

High School French
Bella Vista High School – Fair Oaks, CA

Noteworthy Language: Using Music to Build Second Language Knowledge and Cultural Proficiency

Nicole’s curriculum contains activities and ideas for teachers of world languages and English language development. The class activities, broken down into six sections, are described in English but are intended to be done in the target language. As a result, the curriculum is designed to work with music in any language.

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JANE ORTNER

ARTIST

AWARD

RECIPIENTS

2016

LADY GAGA

2014

JANELLE MONÁE

2015

JACKSON BROWNE

INAUGURAL RECIPIENT

JOHN LEGEND