Register as a Community Participant to be able to join the Early Career Educator or the Student Community. Once approved, you then go to your profile and click on Join Community.Announcements
Register to Join a Peer Discussion
One of the ways that ACDA has helped me expand my knowledge as a Student member is giving me access to Lodestar, the mentoring program. I was able to connect with a wonderful director near me who is a specialist in programming. This was immensely helpful as I just started my own chamber choir and had a program in mind; but he helped me refine it, make connections between pieces, streamline it so that it worked for my ensemble, and allows my singers to be the best performers they can. The Lodestar platform is something that I can see growing into a necessary tool for students like me in the near future. Working with Dr. Billingham has truly been an invaluable experience. Our discussions of pedagogical strategies, gesture, Laban, developing choral tone, and job hunting strategies have been so beneficial as I look forward to beginning my student teaching experience. Dr. Billingham has helped me develop the confidence that I need to be successful in the classroom, and I am so thankful for her mentorship and this program. The monthly meetings empowered me to try new things, refreshed my optimism for my relatively new assignment, and I was able to glean a good body of tools, resources, research, and best practices to apply to my assignment. I'm so, so grateful that I found Susan. She's such a wonderful teacher and she's already helped me so much. I feel more confident in my conducting and she's just a wonderful human being. I love our time together and feel like I found the perfect match for me. Thank you so much for offering this program. It's really invaluable for someone like me. User Stories
My singers are now better performers
Coaching on everything from gesture to job hunting strategies
I was empowered to try new things
In my first church choir conducting position
