Arts Presenter Bios
Session 1
Visual Arts & SEL
Hillary Douglas
Hillary Douglas lives in Tucson. She works teaches elementary level visual arts for Tucson Unified School District and attends graduate school through the department of Art & Visual Art Education at the University of Arizona. |
KellyAnn Bonnell
A former arts education consultant for the West Valley Arts Council, Bonnell has extensive experience providing training and technical assistance to west valley LEAs. She is an active member of the Round Table Advisory Committee and is currently working on the Arts/SEL Crosswalk. KellyAnn’s work will focus on the Arizona Arts Education Data Project, ESSA outreach and education, and assessing LEA supports for arts educators. |
Linda Brett
Linda Brett studied art at the University of Arizona and receiving a BFA. She turned her attention to education after receiving an MA from the University of New Mexico and a PhD from Arizona State University. She is currently teaching art in a small inner city charter school in Phoenix and making her own art. |
Theatre & SEL
Taylor Moschetti
Taylor Moschetti is an alternative training drama therapy student through the Northern American Drama Therapy Association. She is also currently working on her Masters in Clinical Mental Health Counseling. She has been a teaching artist for over ten years and has trained with the Kennedy Center on arts integration. She has used this training to develop programs using SEL and theatre throughout the community. She has led a variety of workshops and classes using this method at different organizations, such as, ASU Gammage, AZ Dept. of Education, BASIS education, AZ Commission on the Arts, and the Mesa Arts Center. She is the artistic director of Laughing Pig Theatre, and she is a committee member of the Arts & SEL Xrossing Guard committee for the AZ Dept. of Education. She has a passion for helping students find their own unique voice and is incredibly grateful for the opportunity to share her findings at the Title IV-A Arts & Physical Education Digital Summit. |
Music & SEL
David Simmons
An honors graduate of the University of Montana School of Music with additional study in Vienna, Austria; David’s diverse career has taken him to all 50 states, 19 countries and 3 continents. His work with youth as an educator, director, writer, composer and performer includes serving as Education Director & Teaching Artist for The Arizona Broadway Theater, Desert Foothills Theater, and The Fort Peck Area Fine Arts Council. Additional teaching experience includes Scottsdale Desert Stages Theater, Alice Cooper’s Solid Rock Teen Center, The Missoula Children’s Theater, Estrella Mountain Community College, Casper College (Casper WY), The University of Montana, Child’s Play Theater, The Children’s Theater Company, and Steppingstone Youth Theater. As Executive Director and Teaching Artist for The UBU Project David specializes in SEL and DEI Arts Integration residencies. With UBU David has worked with thousands of students, families, educators, and behavioral health professionals at the K-12, higher education and continuing ed levels. David has one adult son, Niko (an aspiring opera singer in Minneapolis, MN) and currently makes his home in the Phoenix West Valley. |
Anna Backstrom
Mrs Backstrom earned a degree of Bachelor of Music Education, College of Education from Mississippi State University and a Master of Education degree in Educational Leadership from Northern Arizona University. Her certifications and endorsements include Standard Professional Secondary Education: 6-12 Music, Music: PreK-12, and Structured English Immersion: PreK-12. She currently serves Deer Valley Unified School District as the K-12 Fine Arts and Health Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment Specialist. Teaching in Arizona since 2005, she began at Foothills Elementary in the Peoria Unified School District where she worked and grew the music program for five years. Next she joined her husband, who is also a P.E. and Health teacher, in teaching for Deer Valley USD at Stetson Hills as the Music Specialist for K-8 in 2010. She spent eight years building music skills in early music education while growing the before and after school music programs to be competitive in the district’s performance assessments and state festivals. From 2018-2020, Anna led as the choral director and piano lab teacher for Sandra Day O'Connor High School. Now she shares her vast knowledge with the entire district as she serves as the K-12 Health and Fine Arts Specialist, in charge of all curriculum, instruction, and assessment. Anna is a passionate educator who wants to ensure the best opportunities for the teachers and communities she serves. She is humbled to be able to lend her expertise and passion to her school district. She is always looking for ways to increase professional development in the areas of curriculum, instruction, and assessment. |
Dance & SEL
Helen Buck-Pavlick
Helen serves as the Title IV-A Arts Education Specialist for ADE. She holds an MFA in Dance from Arizona State University and BA in Theatre Performance from North Central College. She is a Certified STEAM Educator (Innovation Collaborative) Registered Somatic Dance Educator (ISMETA), Registered Yoga Teacher 200hr (Himalayan Yoga Institute: Kathmandu, Nepal), a Level 2 Reiki Practitioner (Usui Reiki Ryoho Nepal and Kali Wasi Peru), a Mat Pilates Instructor (Pilates Institute of America), and a certified Irish Dance teacher (CLRG). Helen holds a PK-12 endorsement in dance and secondary 6-12 certification (dance, drama, middle grade science). Her publications include “Using Empathy and Somatics in Dance Class to Engage Early Adolescent Learners From Low Socioeconomic Communities”, DEiP (2020), “The Superhero in Me: Connectivity Between the Dual Identities of Inner Superhero and Outer Alter-Ego”, JDSP (2020), and “Examining ‘The Book’: How perception, power, and practice altered memory of Irish Ceili dances” JMD (2021). Helen has presented her research and practice for professional conferences and workshops including: National Dance Education Organization, International Somatic Movement Education and Therapy Association, American College Dance Association West, Dance Science and Somatic Educators, and Dance Research Forum Ireland. She has choreographed for companies such as Metropolis Performing Arts, Southwest Shakespeare, and Northwestern University Opera. Her research interests include dance pedagogy and standards, somatic epistemology, increasing access to arts education, and cultivating social emotional learning through dance. |
Session 2
Arts & CTE
Jack Mitchell
Jack Mitchell has been involved in Arts, Media and Entertainment and Education for the past 35 years. After earning a B.A. from the University of Washington in 1972, Jack continued his theater studies at California Institute of the Arts earning an MFA in Theater in 1974. Jack worked in the television industry as an actor for the next 12 years appearing in over 40 productions in both guest star and recurring roles. He began his teaching career at Manual Arts High School where he taught Theater, Stagecraft, and was the Drop-out Prevention Counselor. In 1996 Jack moved to University High in Los Angeles where he was instrumental in creating one of LAUSD’s first Performing Arts Departments, founding the cross-curricular Bilingual Theater Program, and directing 35 productions in both English and Spanish. In July of 2007 Jack moved to the California Department of Education as the Arts, Media, and Entertainment Consultant where he worked to support programs which prepare students for jobs the rapidly growing Arts, Media, and Entertainment industry sector. His work at the CDE has helped expand access and student enrollment in AME programs from 22,000 in 2008 to over 231,000 in 2019. He has worked to develop programs around the state supporting high quality training for students interested in careers in the Arts. Jack was a member of the National Core Arts Standards writing team for Theatre. He led the 2013 revision of the CTE Model Curriculum Standards for the AME sector, which integrate the VAPA Standards into areas of Career Technical Education. Jack is currently working to establish a professional teacher organization for the states 1,500+ Arts, media, and Entertainment teachers. Among his priorities are strengthening access to professional entertainment opportunities for under-represented populations, engaging diverse industry professionals in AME education, and supporting educators and creative industry to strengthen the “school to work”pipeline for emerging professionals. Jack believes in the Arts not only as an artistic pursuit and means of personal development but also as a powerful tool to affect deep, rich learning across curricular content, especially among educationally “at-risk” populations. He is excited to continue his career in Sacramento supporting and developing Programs and opportunities in the creative industries. |
Music & CTE
Richard Maxwell
Richard Maxwell’s musical journey has been anything but ordinary, taking him from the podium of Classical symphony orchestras to the heart of modern day recording studios. Maxwell created the Arcadia High School (Phoenix, AZ) Creative Musical Arts and Sciences (CMAS) program – considered a model for creativity-based music programs across much of the United States. Frequently a featured speaker at Education conferences, Maxwell received a Masters’ in Music from The University of Arizona in Conducting, and was the first ever recipient of a Music Composition degree from Bradley University. He was also recognized in 2014 as the Music Educator Mentor of the Year from Arizona State University, and was a 2015 top 10 finalist for the GRAMMY® Music Educator award. Known for his ability to bridge Arts with real world skills, as well as being a coveted mentor to other teachers, Richard has developed and written curriculum for several national organizations, and has even been cited as a primary reference in documentation for the US Congress. Most recently, asked by e4SUA (Engineering For Us All - in partnership with the National Science Foundation) to bring his innovative approach to helping to develop and pilot new curriculum for connecting Music and Engineering Education across the US, Richard continues to explore the power of the Creative process, and the elements of Music that are universal to all fields of study and content areas. |
Mark Hodge
Mr. Hodge has taught at Ironwood Ridge since it opened in 2001. He is the former Band and Orchestra Director at Ironwood Ridge High School. Mr. Hodge has grown the Music and Audio Production class from a semester course to a 3 level audio and production curriculum. The school has full sized recording studio and seperate classroom. Mr. Hodge is continuing to grow the curriculum and looks forward to having interns next year that will work in the music and audio industry in the Tucson area. |
Michelle Irvin
Mrs. Michelle Irvin is the Coordinator for Fine Arts and Physical Education for the Scottsdale Unified School District. Formally the Director of Bands and Orchestras at Desert Mountain High School since its opening in 1995. Mrs. Irvin has been an educator in Scottsdale since 1992 and is excited to take on the new role as Coordinator of Fine Arts and PE. She was born and raised in Arizona, graduating from Moon Valley High School in the Glendale Union School District. After High School, Mrs. Irvin traveled north to Northern Arizona University, where she received her Bachelor’s degree in Music Education and pursued graduate coursework in Instrumental Music Conducting. Mrs. Irvin was awarded the Outstanding Fine Arts Teacher for the Scottsdale Unified School District in 2006. She has served as guest clinician for local honor bands and adjudicated several concert band, marching, and jazz festivals in Arizona and Europe. She was actively involved in the local Music Educators Association serving as the Tri-M Music Honor Society Chair, also as the Vice President of Jazz Activities for the Arizona Band and Orchestra Association. She is an active member of the Arizona Percussive Arts Society, Jazz Education Network, Arizona Band and Orchestra Directors Association, National Association for Music Educators presenting clinics at the Arizona Music Educators Conference. Mrs. Irvin served the National Association of Music Educators as an editor for the core arts standards for music theory. Mrs. Irvin’s ensembles have performed throughout the United States, London, Paris, Rome, Ireland, and Italy. |
Arts Integration
Miranda Debretto
Miranda DeBretto became an Arts Integration Specialist (AIS) for Tucson Unified School District's "Opening Minds through the Arts (OMA)" program in 2018. Originally from Negaunee, Michigan, Miranda earned her bachelor's degree in Music Education from Illinois State University and went on to complete a Masters in Flute Performance at the University of Arizona. Since joining the fine arts department in TUSD, she has served as the chair for curriculum integration projects and has led multiple sessions on developing integrated lesson plans that suit both online and in-person learning. You can hear Miranda speak about her experiences in the Title IV-A podcast Reimagine Education, episode 1.09. She was also a panelist for the live season finale podcast "1.13 The One about Season One" at the 2021 Title IV-A & B Expanding Horizons Symposium. As an AIS, Miranda feels privileged to serve in a role that encourages students to think more creatively about the world around them. Her time as part of Opening Minds through the Arts (OMA) family has only solidified her belief that the arts are an essential, valuable part of life and education. |
STEAM
KellyAnn Bonnell
A former arts education consultant for the West Valley Arts Council, Bonnell has extensive experience providing training and technical assistance to west valley LEAs. She is an active member of the Round Table Advisory Committee and is currently working on the Arts/SEL Crosswalk. KellyAnn’s work will focus on the Arizona Arts Education Data Project, ESSA outreach and education, and assessing LEA supports for arts educators. |
Session 3
Performance Based Assessment
Tiffany White
Tiffany White is currently the Dance Director at Chandler HS and President of AzDEO. She graduated from VCU with a BFA in Dance & Choreography and has a Master’s in Secondary Education and Master’s in School Counseling from the University of Arizona and Prescott College, respectively. Tiffany has taught at several different schools in the Phoenix area over the past 9 years while serving on the AzDEO Board, Professional Development, and Recognition Committees. She was also a member of the ADE’s Standards Revision Committee in 2015 & the SLO Committee in 2017. Tiffany has advocated for Dance Education at AZ Arts Congress, served as a Grant Panelist for the AZ Commission of the Arts, a member of the NCAAS Model Cornerstone Assessments Pilot Team, and most recently, she was a member of the ADE’s Arts and SEL Committee. In 2019, Tiffany was awarded the Kathy Lindholm Lane Dance Educator of the Year. |
Lynn Monson
Lynn completed Hartford Ballet’s Teacher Training Certificate Program, and earned a BA in Dance at ASU. She has taught dance to all ages, and is a certified Labanotation teacher. She managed an arts-based charter school, developing curriculum, training staff, writing grants, directing school accountability, and teaching dance. Lynn teaches Creative Dance for Early Childhood for the National Dance Education Organization’s (NDEO) Online Professional Development Institute. She worked on the writing team to revise the Arizona Dance Standards, and worked on a team to develop student assessments and SLOs for dance. She helped formed the Arizona Dance Education Organization, serving as Secretary, President and currently Executive Assistant. Lynn serves as the State Affiliate representative on the NDEO board. |
Anna Backstrom
Mrs Backstrom earned a degree of Bachelor of Music Education, College of Education from Mississippi State University and a Master of Education degree in Educational Leadership from Northern Arizona University. Her certifications and endorsements include Standard Professional Secondary Education: 6-12 Music, Music: PreK-12, and Structured English Immersion: PreK-12. She currently serves Deer Valley Unified School District as the K-12 Fine Arts and Health Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment Specialist. Teaching in Arizona since 2005, she began at Foothills Elementary in the Peoria Unified School District where she worked and grew the music program for five years. Next she joined her husband, who is also a P.E. and Health teacher, in teaching for Deer Valley USD at Stetson Hills as the Music Specialist for K-8 in 2010. She spent eight years building music skills in early music education while growing the before and after school music programs to be competitive in the district’s performance assessments and state festivals. From 2018-2020, Anna led as the choral director and piano lab teacher for Sandra Day O'Connor High School. Now she shares her vast knowledge with the entire district as she serves as the K-12 Health and Fine Arts Specialist, in charge of all curriculum, instruction, and assessment. Anna is a passionate educator who wants to ensure the best opportunities for the teachers and communities she serves. She is humbled to be able to lend her expertise and passion to her school district. She is always looking for ways to increase professional development in the areas of curriculum, instruction, and assessment. |
Physical Education Presenter Bios
Session 1
Physical Education & SEL
Anne Knight
Anne Knight serves the state of Arizona as the Best Practices Committee Chair for Arizona Health and Physical Education (AZHPE). She has a master’s degree in Education (with an emphasis in Adult Education) and graduated with a double major in PE and English. Anne presented Brain Research, Exercise Benefits, Fitness Levels, and Academic Achievement at both the Arizona State and the Southwestern Regional conventions. Anne has taught all grades of PE, including Adapted PE, and was an athletic director for eight years. She developed PE curriculum, served as a Curriculum Consultant for a network of schools, coached various high school sports, and mentored other PE teachers across Arizona. Further, she has provided professional development for both administrators and general education teachers. While teaching the last eleven years, she has actively promoted physical literacy and healthy living. |
Session 2
Cross Curricular Collaboration
Carrie Flint
Carrie Flint is an award-winning physical educator from California. She is known for her passion and advocacy for quality physical education for all students. Carrie draws from her vast teaching experience for she has taught all grade levels, general and special ed populations for over 20 years. Carrie is a national presenter and has given 100’s of trainings and presentations across the country sharing her Musical PE program, and teaching expertise on class management and student engagement with PE and classroom teachers. Carrie is a contributing author of the CA PE Curriculum Framework and the revision of the Adapted PE Guidelines. She is the owner of Musical PE Plus and master trainer for Peaceful Playgrounds. Carrie also has her own Brain Break CD “Get’em Up, Moving, and Learning. |
Session 3
See Arts Session 3 for information