Casey Collins
Casey Collins is a clinical assistant professor of music education at Purdue University Fort Wayne. She teaches undergraduate courses in elementary and secondary general music methods, introduction to music education, freshman success seminar in music education, elementary music for the elementary educator, and is the student teaching coordinator for the School of Music. Prior to PFW, Dr. Collins taught PK-5 elementary general music in North Carolina where she was awarded Teacher of the Year and honored as an Excellence in Education district finalist. In 2018, Collins was awarded the Global Teacher of the Year from Participate Learning. Though elementary general music is her main passion, Dr. Collins has a love for playing the flute and can often be found jumping in on university flute ensemble rehearsals when she can, and spends her summers working with high school marching bands as a woodwind tech.
Dr. Collins holds a Bachelor of Science in Music Education from Elon University, a Master of Music in Music Education from East Carolina University, and a Ph.D. in Music Education from the University of Michigan. Her research interests are on topics such as teaching general music in high-poverty schools, trauma-informed pedagogy practices for the music educator, vocal health and hygiene for music teachers, positive psychology applications for music education spaces, and improvisation in the general music classroom. Her dissertation research was centered on elementary music teachers in high-poverty schools, aiming to shift the deficit paradigm surrounding these spaces. She has presented on these topics internationally, nationally, and regionally at various research and practitioner conferences. When she is not teaching, Dr. Collins can be found reading, cooking, or snuggling up with her two cats, Opa and Anabelle.
eBooks by Casey Collins
Posts by Casey Collins
Why we tell the story
Last night, our music department premiered a virtual concert on YouTube. It consisted of virtual performances, testimonials from students, and individual performances. When the show ended, I received an email from one of my administrators. He [...]
Music Service Learning Update: Week 4
YouTube Clean-Up - written by Lea Wehnau This week, we are highlighting the work of Lea Wehnau and Mae Prasch. Together, they took on a project request from Kelly Rocchi, the choral director at Nazareth Area [...]
The sum of the parts: My experience creating a virtual ensemble
I've never had a "traditional" view of my orchestra classroom. Perhaps this is due in part to the fact that I am a non-traditional orchestral director. While that may be a story for another time, it's [...]
Music Service Learning Update: Week 3
Kindergarten Home-School Help - written by Lea Wehnau This week, we are featuring a project for the younger students! This project called “Kindergarten Home-School Help” was requested by a mother named Ms. Rippley. Ms. Rippley reached [...]
May we remember
We texted, we called, we made jokes, we became angry and defiant, and then we paused and realized it wasn’t a game. It was real. The classroom and traditional education as we knew it, was stopping [...]
Music Service Learning Update: Week 2
Elementary Honors Choir Alternative - written by Theresa Sharp Like so many of us, Aubree Windish, a student teaching supervisor at West Chester University, had to face events being cancelled this past month. She was supposed [...]