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NAME:
Mr. Ruggiero (Mr. 'R)
SCHOOL:
Memorial / Dale Street Schools
CLASS:
Music / PreK, K & One & Orchestra & Lessons / 4 & 5
SCHOOL PHONE:
508-359-5135
Mr. Ruggiero is a staff member at the Memorial School and Dale Street School
in Medfield, MA. At Memorial, he teaches classroom music to Pre-school,
Kindergarten and Grade One. At Dale Street, he teaches Grade four violin
and co-teaches and when necessary, accompanies Fourth and Fifth Grade
Orchestra.
Mr. Ruggiero has previously taught K-5 classroom music and fourth and
fifth grade chorus at the Memorial Spaulding Elementary School in Newton and
at the Heights Elementary School in Sharon.
Mr. Ruggiero was a Music Education Major at Rhode Island College. He has
earned his Masters Degree in Education from Lesley University, where the
focus of study was integration of the Arts. He has also taken several
masters level courses in Music and Music Education at Central Connecticut
State University and at the University of Las Vegas. Mr. Ruggiero's main
instrument is voice, but he also plays violin and piano. He is currently
licensed to teach music in both Massachusetts and Rhode Island and is
certified in Orff Schulwerk, which is an approach to teaching Music.
In other areas, Mr. Ruggiero has served as a clinician at the Massachusetts
Music Educators Association (MMEA) Conference in 2002, 2007 and 2008 and at
the 2007 and 2008 Massachusetts General Music Festivals (Southeast
District). In addition, Mr. Ruggiero is on the Board of Directors
for both the New England Chapter of the American Orff Schulwerk Association
(NEAOSA) and the Society for General Music of Massachusetts (SGMM).
Music has validity as its own subject. It is necessary for teaching the
whole child. It can also be used to help teach other curricula subjects and
other life skills that are important to a child’s development. Students that
benefit, here, are those in grades Pre-K to One and fall in the four to seven
age range. For these children, Music opens other instructional avenues.
Since each child is different and learns differently, Music can help reach
those children who respond best to the musical elements, and in turn, give
educators a greater degree of success as they strive to transfer valuable
knowledge to their students.
Learning Music should be an extremely active, participatory process. On any
given day, children should continually be engaged in a combination of
singing, playing instruments, moving or dancing, creating, and improvising.
Moreover, there should be a place for every child in each music-making
experience.
All children possess varied musical abilities; however, in spite of their
inherent abilities, everyone can contribute to the music-making experience
and grow as a musician. In addition, children should be given the
opportunity to make music in a non-threatening and non-competitive
atmosphere, where they are provided with structure and at the same time,
given the freedom to create. Futhermore, children should always feel a sense
of pride at whatever musical level that they have attained, and therefore,
should always leave a musical experience feeling successful.
In the end, not all students will leave the Medfield Public Schools and seek
a career in Music, but all will leave with valuable life skills. They will
also possess a life-long love of music that they will hopefully pass on to
future generations.
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