Riverside Elementary's Lehmberg chosen Sioux City Teacher of Year
By Jenny Welp, Journal staff writer | Posted: Wednesday, October 06, 2004
Riverside Elementary School music teacher Lisa Lehmberg works with second-graders on Tuesday, helping them learn a Mexican folk dance that is performed after harvest. (Staff photo by Jerry Mennenga)
Students, teachers and professional musicians are raving about Lisa Lehmberg, the Riverside Elementary School music teacher recently named Sioux City Teacher of the Year.
"I've worked for the Nebraska Arts Council for 25 years now, and she is always one of the people I think of as one of the best elementary music teachers I've ever had contact with," said Joey Gulizia, a professional percussionist who has worked with the Omaha Symphony and done residencies in Nebraska, Colorado and Iowa -- including regular stops at Riverside Elementary School.
Though Lehmberg always knew she wanted to be a teacher, she got her bachelor's and master's degrees in piano performance from the University of Illinois in Champaign. Before getting her education certificate, Lehmberg worked at Mount Senario College in Ladysmith, Wis., teaching music history, ear training, sight singing and flute lessons and doing some piano accompanying.
Lehmberg started teaching in Sioux City in 1987 as an assistant band director at West High School and a music teacher at Clark Elementary School. She moved from Clark to what is now Riverside Elementary School a year later -- working there and at West High School until she began teaching full time at Riverside in the mid-1990s.
Lehmberg said she prefers teaching at the elementary level where there is more time for creativity and no pressure to get ready for competitions.
"I like being their first music teacher," she said. "I hope when they leave here they're going to love music for the rest of their lives because of their experiences."
This could be the case for Sara Henning, a fifth grader at Riverside.
"Music is just how I express my feelings," she said. "It's the best thing that's ever happened to me."
Henning is fond of Lehmberg as well.
"She keeps her promise," Henning said. "Like if someone asks her, 'Can I sing for the spring concert?' She'll say, 'I'll think about it and get back to you,' and she will get back to you. She's really honest and kind."
Another student who worked with Lehmberg is Christopher Miller, a senior music education major at Briar Cliff University. He student taught with Lehmberg this fall.
Miller said he learned from Lehmberg the importance of multiculturalism in the classroom. He said it makes students feel validated when teachers involve their cultures in the lessons.
There are students who cannot read or speak English who excel in the music class, according to Miller. While they may not be able to sing a song, they could play instruments and dance to it.
"Sometimes students feel very overwhelmed in their other classrooms because somebody who's mastered the language is going to do better than somebody who hasn't," he said. "In music class, we can help bring everybody up to the same level."
Riverside reading teacher Jody Graham said Lehmberg goes beyond the call of duty; if she wants something for her students, she finds a way to get it done.
For example, Lehmberg videotaped her students and entered them in the Oscar Mayer Talent Search School House Jam -- winning $20,000 in the last two years for her music program. She has used that money to purchase musical instruments and bring professional musicians like Gulizia into the school to work with her students.
About five years ago, she received a grant to purchase steel drums. Now students can audition for steel drum bands. One group allows 50 children to participate in groups of 10 for a portion of the year, and the other allows 11 students to participate all year long.
Some of the children Lehmberg picks for the steel drum bands are at-risk students who would not get this kind of opportunity otherwise, according to Graham.
"She just gives them the opportunity to be a star," Graham said.
Fourth-grader Adylene Gutierrez said she wanted to audition for a steel drum band because she heard that band members performed for other elementary schools in the area, and that was something she wanted to do.
"I would feel proud of myself," she said.
Lehmberg received national board certification last fall. The process required her to reflect on her processes as a teacher, write papers, prepare an extensive portfolio and take rigorous exams. Of the teachers who apply for board certification, only a minority of them pass.
"It's a big enough deal that the governor invites those teachers to Terrace Hill for recognition," said Larry Williams, superintendent.
Lehmberg is at the National Multicultural Music Symposium at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville today through Saturday. She is doing a presentation about her Riverside Multicultural Music Company of steel drum bands. She gave a similar presentation in July to the International Society for Music Education at the Canary Islands in Spain.
Jenny Welp can be reached at (712)-293-4228 or at jennywelp@siouxcityjournal.com
"I've worked for the Nebraska Arts Council for 25 years now, and she is always one of the people I think of as one of the best elementary music teachers I've ever had contact with," said Joey Gulizia, a professional percussionist who has worked with the Omaha Symphony and done residencies in Nebraska, Colorado and Iowa -- including regular stops at Riverside Elementary School.
Though Lehmberg always knew she wanted to be a teacher, she got her bachelor's and master's degrees in piano performance from the University of Illinois in Champaign. Before getting her education certificate, Lehmberg worked at Mount Senario College in Ladysmith, Wis., teaching music history, ear training, sight singing and flute lessons and doing some piano accompanying.
Lehmberg started teaching in Sioux City in 1987 as an assistant band director at West High School and a music teacher at Clark Elementary School. She moved from Clark to what is now Riverside Elementary School a year later -- working there and at West High School until she began teaching full time at Riverside in the mid-1990s.
Lehmberg said she prefers teaching at the elementary level where there is more time for creativity and no pressure to get ready for competitions.
"I like being their first music teacher," she said. "I hope when they leave here they're going to love music for the rest of their lives because of their experiences."
This could be the case for Sara Henning, a fifth grader at Riverside.
"Music is just how I express my feelings," she said. "It's the best thing that's ever happened to me."
Henning is fond of Lehmberg as well.
"She keeps her promise," Henning said. "Like if someone asks her, 'Can I sing for the spring concert?' She'll say, 'I'll think about it and get back to you,' and she will get back to you. She's really honest and kind."
Another student who worked with Lehmberg is Christopher Miller, a senior music education major at Briar Cliff University. He student taught with Lehmberg this fall.
Miller said he learned from Lehmberg the importance of multiculturalism in the classroom. He said it makes students feel validated when teachers involve their cultures in the lessons.
There are students who cannot read or speak English who excel in the music class, according to Miller. While they may not be able to sing a song, they could play instruments and dance to it.
"Sometimes students feel very overwhelmed in their other classrooms because somebody who's mastered the language is going to do better than somebody who hasn't," he said. "In music class, we can help bring everybody up to the same level."
Riverside reading teacher Jody Graham said Lehmberg goes beyond the call of duty; if she wants something for her students, she finds a way to get it done.
For example, Lehmberg videotaped her students and entered them in the Oscar Mayer Talent Search School House Jam -- winning $20,000 in the last two years for her music program. She has used that money to purchase musical instruments and bring professional musicians like Gulizia into the school to work with her students.
About five years ago, she received a grant to purchase steel drums. Now students can audition for steel drum bands. One group allows 50 children to participate in groups of 10 for a portion of the year, and the other allows 11 students to participate all year long.
Some of the children Lehmberg picks for the steel drum bands are at-risk students who would not get this kind of opportunity otherwise, according to Graham.
"She just gives them the opportunity to be a star," Graham said.
Fourth-grader Adylene Gutierrez said she wanted to audition for a steel drum band because she heard that band members performed for other elementary schools in the area, and that was something she wanted to do.
"I would feel proud of myself," she said.
Lehmberg received national board certification last fall. The process required her to reflect on her processes as a teacher, write papers, prepare an extensive portfolio and take rigorous exams. Of the teachers who apply for board certification, only a minority of them pass.
"It's a big enough deal that the governor invites those teachers to Terrace Hill for recognition," said Larry Williams, superintendent.
Lehmberg is at the National Multicultural Music Symposium at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville today through Saturday. She is doing a presentation about her Riverside Multicultural Music Company of steel drum bands. She gave a similar presentation in July to the International Society for Music Education at the Canary Islands in Spain.
Jenny Welp can be reached at (712)-293-4228 or at jennywelp@siouxcityjournal.com
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