Courtney Munn

While we are in school, I will be utilizing seesaw for all grades.  This will allow for assignments to be sent home easily if your child is symptomatic. It will also be a great way for you to send me a message and see your child's work. 

I understand that music is not always at the forefront of concerns but during dark times we often turn to the arts for comfort.  TV, music, visual arts and reading are all types of art we consume daily.  However we don't always delve into conversations about them. Music class helps guide conversations about these media's and simulate creativity and expression. 

​Just listening to music been proven to be effective in:

• reducing stress
• improves memory
• helps patients heal faster
• improves the quality of a workout
• improve your mood

Those who create music (Musicians) are often:

• self disciplined
• have a better memory (storing information and faster recall)
• great with tasks that require dexterity
• better at multitasking,strategizing and creating
• more creative in finding solutions
• Doctors ( 66% of music majors who applied to med school were admitted, the highest percentage of any group.)

Check out this video for more information about how music benefits the brain:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0JKCYZ8hng

Now if you really did just want to know a bit about myself here it is:

I was raised here in Fort McMurray.  As a student I thought I would leave and never come back.  But during university I realized how much I missed our icebox of a city because of the people here. What I did I know was that I wanted to be a teacher since I was 13. It was at this point that I  started teaching classes through the air cadet program (Amazing program by the way).  I found that I was enjoying being the person who could help others make learning more fun. I ended up becoming one of the people who taught cadets how to teach outside normal hours.  I know.  What a nerd.

Even at that age I started building my teaching philosophy around the idea of bring the known to the unknown.  Simply put, using things kids understand to relate to the things they don't.  For this reason, I have always been one to diversify myself as much as possible.  I started taking up hobbies and reading through wiki articles just to better understanding of things. As the often misquoted saying goes "A jack of all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one"

After High School I went to University of Lethbridge for my degrees in Dramatic Arts and Education.  I took random courses as part of my general liberal educational requirements (a way of diversifying our knowledge).  Archeology, Anthropology, Psychology, French, Japanese, Math Theory and many others during my Drama degree.  I also took the curricular study of Math, Physical Education and Science during my education degree to better understand the view point of those teachers and just in case I ended up teaching it.

It was a good thing I did because my first full time position was grade 5 Math/Science/Health and Music, Yep that was right here at Dr. Clark.  In that same year I ended up becoming the PE and Music teacher and eventually transitioning to full time Music by my third year. 

Dr. Clark has become my second home, and I look forward to seeing the students every day.  My mission is to provide them with the spark to ignite a curiosity and eventually a passion for music.  As I showed above, it has many benefits but it's also fun. So even through these tough times, I will continue to do my best to provide fun games to the students.

If you are still reading and are curious outside of school some of my hobbies include:

• cosplay (weapon and costume building)
• drawing/painting
• binging netflix series
• reading manga/watching anime
• dancing
• community theatre productions
• singing way too much
• video games
• crafts 
• lolita fashion
• tiktok