113. Ashley Culley discusses strategies for program growth, student engagement, and community building, along with insights from her upcoming invitation to perform at The Midwest Clinic.

Episode 113 – Building a Thriving Middle School Orchestra
with Ashley Culley





In this episode of The Orchestra Teacher Podcast, Charles talks
with Ashley Culley, director of orchestras at
Dodgen Middle School in Cobb County, Georgia. Over her 25-year
career — 19 of them at Dodgen — Ashley has grown her program from
190 to over 380 students while serving as a leader, performer,
clinician, and adjudicator.





She shares strategies for program growth, student engagement, and
community building, along with insights from her upcoming
invitation to perform at The Midwest Clinic.





— BIOGRAPHY —


Ashley Culley is the director of orchestras at Dodgen Middle
School in Cobb County, Georgia. She has been an orchestra
director for 25 years with the last 19 years at Dodgen. While at
Dodgen, the orchestra program has grown from 190 students to 380
students. She is a Cobb County Teacher Leader for middle school
orchestras. Her prior teaching experiences include Kell High
School in Cobb County, Georgia and Milton High School,
Northwestern Middle School and several elementary schools in
Fulton County, Georgia. 





Mrs.Culley earned a Bachelor of Music Education with Performance
Certificate from the University of South Carolina. While at USC,
she worked in the USC String Project. She earned a Master of
Music in Cello Performance and a Master of Arts in String
Pedagogy from the Ohio State University. Mrs.Culley is an active
performer, clinician and adjudicator. As an adjudicator and
clinician, she has worked with orchestras in Georgia, Ohio and
South Carolina.





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