Michael Medvinsky is a K-12 general music teacher in the Brandon School District in Michigan and lecturer in music education at Oakland University. He uses technology to support learners in composing music in styles most familiar to them and then engages them in exploring the less familiar. He has engaged in cross-disciplinary teaching that connects music learning experiences to aspects of the general curriculum to support preparation of learners for state testing. He has taught choral music, instrumental music, and drumming ensemble and regularly incorporates a variety of world music experiences into his teaching.
Mr. Medvinsky has written for the Michigan Music Educators Journal on his approach to cross-disciplinary teaching and on bringing popular music into the classroom. He has co-authored a chapter, with Jackie Wiggins, on “Scaffolding Student Composers” for the upcoming Composing Our Future: Preparing Music Educators to Teach Composition (Kaschub & Smith, Eds., Oxford University Press). He has been an invited presenter for Michigan school districts, countywide inservice programs, and the Michigan Music Conference and has regularly hosted both inservice and preservice music teachers as observers in his classroom. He is president of a professional development organization affiliated with Oakland University that offers workshops in inquiry-based music education practice aiming to foster independent musicianship and learner agency among music learners. He is a region representative to the Michigan Music Educators Association (MMEA), serving as a member of the Executive Board in that capacity and is also a member of the Oakland Schools Fine Arts Council.