Classroom culture is a defining factor in student engagement, trust, and excellence. This session explores how educators can cultivate a classroom environment where students feel valued, connected, and empowered to contribute. By emphasizing communication, collaboration, and shared leadership, educators can foster a space where students not only learn but also take ownership of their community.
Jonathan Glawe
- Biographical Information
Jonathan Glawe (from Waterloo, Iowa) is currently the Director of Orchestras at Pioneer High School in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He holds a Bachelor of Music Education from the University of Kansas and a Masters Degree in Music Education from the University of Oregon. Currently in his 16th year at Pioneer High School, Glawe has played an important role in Pioneer's presence on the GRAMMY Signature School list, performances with the Pioneer Symphony Orchestra at the Midwest Music Clinic (2017), participation in the National Orchestra Festival (2013)-- winning top honors, and has traveled with his students internationally to seek enrichment and to diverse cultural experiences.
In his time at Pioneer, Glawe has coached the Pioneer orchestras to a wide variety of successes in technique and performance in the classical setting while enhancing the orchestra curriculum with his championing for under-appreciated composers. Glawe was recognized as MSBOA District 12 Orchestra Director of the Year in 2011, 2013 and 2015. He was a finalist for the Michigan Orchestra Director of the Year in 2012 and was selected as the Michigan String Teacher of the Year from the American String Teachers Association in 2021. Most recently, Glawe won the Elizabeth A. H. Green School Educator Award in 2024, also presented by ASTA.
Glawe is also a board member for the Servant Leadership Association For Music, an organization founded in the Fall of 2021. He currently resides in Ann Arbor, Michigan with his wife Rebecca Hunter, DMA, and their 3 spirited children.
Amanda Zall is originally from Wakefield, Massachusetts, where she began learning cello at the age of seven. In high school, she additionally learned trombone, which she still plays today as both a jazz and classical musician. Ms. Zall continued her studies of cello at Syracuse University, where she received her Bachelors of Music Education. Post-graduation, she immediately began working at Community High School District 99 in Downers Grove, Illinois as the Director of Orchestras, Assistant Marching Band Director, and Tri-M Sponsor. As a teacher, Ms. Zall’s orchestras have performed in the Boston Instrumental Festival, maintained a culture centered around co-constructive learning, and accomplished performing advanced orchestral literature.
Currently, Ms. Zall is pursuing her Masters in Educational Leadership and Policy with a concentration in the Fine Arts at the University of Michigan. In partnership with Pioneer High School's Orchestra Program, she works as a Directing Intern for Mr. Jonathan Glawe. Ms. Zall also conducts active qualitative research on the impacts of co-constructive learning style on music classrooms and curriculum development based around classroom culture.