Keynote Address
"Everybody Started Out Small"
Stuart Stotts
Music, story and community all work together to create strong environments, strong children and strong child care providers. Each element fosters an atmosphere of learning, trust and celebration.
We'll begin by acknowledging and exploring the importance of community. Connection is essential for deep learning, and we create that community connection in big and small ways throughout our days. Stories, songs, movement and play are pillars of community building.
Next, we will look at our early experiences with music. By reflecting on our own past and process of music, we can appreciate the unique and powerful position we have when working with young children. We'll include songs that teach, connect and celebrate. We'll explore how songs can be adapted to teach and celebrate, with examples of both.
Our use of music and story is informed by what brain research tells us about deep learning. Multiple intelligences and differentiated instruction are a natural part of classrooms that use music, art and story on a regular basis.
We'll make musical connections to literacy. Most of all, we'll move, sing, tell stories and become better acquainted as we explore ways to celebrate, connect and learn with our children.
Meet Stuart Stotts
Stuart Stotts is a songwriter, storyteller and author from the Madison area. He's worked as a full-time performer since 1986, and he gives over 200 shows a year for kids, families and adults around the Midwest, and sometimes farther. He's a frequent presenter at conferences and workshops for teachers, parents and librarians. He has released several award-winning recordings and is also the author of "The Bookcase Ghost: A Collection of Wisconsin Ghost Stories," "Books in a Box: Lutie Stearns and the Traveling Libraries of Wisconsin," and "Curly Lambeau: Building the Green Bay Packers." He's married, lives in DeForest, Wisconsin, and has four children. His two oldest daughters, Cerisa and Calli, are in middle and high school, and they still like him most of the time. You can find out more than you want to know about him at www.Stuart.Stotts.com.