Meet K-12 Vocal & 5/6 Band Director Mrs. Halsey

Greetings! I am excited to start my fifth year in the Wolsey-Wessington School District as the K-12 Vocal and 5/6 Band Director. I greatly enjoyed getting to know the students and community member during my past four years as a Warbird, and I am looking forward to meeting many more of you in the coming days. This year I get the privileged of teaching K-6 General Music. I am excited to meet each student and parent as we get into the school year.  

A little about myself. I grew up in Huron and I am a sixth generation resident of Beadle County. After high school I attended the University of Sioux Falls for Instrumental/Vocal Music Education. I student taught in the Huron Middle School with Julie Berger and Larry Petersen and at Buchanan Elementary with Barbara Nicholas. After student teaching, I was hired as a Kindergarten Para at Buchanan School for a semester before I accepted my position with the Wolsey-Wessington School District. 

I have been married to Travis Halsey for five years and I love my summers off to spend time with him and our 1 year old daughter Lydia. We love our life as parents and enjoy each moment with our daughter. We are excited to announce that we are expecting a new addition to our family at the end of November. We are not finding out the gender of our baby before it is born so we will let you know if it is a boy or girl sometime in December! :)

Other things we enjoy are: visiting our family and friends, playing card games, target and trap shooting, going for walks, and working in our garden. Much of our time is spent at Living Hope Alliance Church were I lead worship and Travis is the youth director.  In my spare time I love to bake and decorate cakes. I have enjoy culinary for years and cake decorating has been a love of mine since I was eleven. 

Personal Education Philosophy: 
I believe that every student is unique and has the ability to learn and excel in music if they are given the opportunities needed to develop their skills. I believe that a positive and motivated teacher is vital to encouraging students in their learning. I know each student brings their own learning styles to my classroom and that I must understand how they learn in order to teach effectively. I will motivate students through goal setting, weekly formative assessment, rewards, and positive reinforcement. I vow to daily involve students in the music learning process. My desire is to create well developed musicians that can perform with confidence.
"Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn." Benjamin Franklin
"If your dreams don't scare you, they aren't big enough." - Ellen Johnson Sirleaf