Amy--Academic Coach

Multiply certified teacher and adult educator

Many subjects and grade levels

Free initial consultations

All services are confidential and individualized

"Strategies for success"

Hello, from Amy and Bill


Amy Chapin works with a student

Bill Chapin plays piano
Amy Chapin works with a client at the office of Academic Coaching Services Bill Chapin comps with the College of Lake County Jazz Ensemble

Bill--Jazz Pianist & Teacher

Jazz piano and improvisation instruction

Jazz piano performer

Grayslake Jazz Combo Workshop coordinator

"Creative growth through improvisation"

 

Academic Coaching Links

THE SWEET 16: What Good Readers Know

THEY KNOW…

1. Reading is thinking. Good readers read for meaning—not just to “get it done.”

2. You don’t read everything the same way.

3. The purpose of their reading and how to pace themselves appropriately.

4. They don’t remember everything they read. They must use tools to help them (notes, highlighters, post-its, etc.)

5. The importance of asking questions before, during and after reading. Have a dialogue with the author!

6. Not all of their questions will be answered within the text.

7. How a reading is organized.

8. How to find the big ideas in a reading and the smaller ideas that support them.

9. How to add new ideas to older ideas.

10. How to think beyond the page and read “between the lines” to the author’s meaning. (Understanding literary elements, making predictions, etc.)

11. Know the difference between fact and opinion.

12. How to connect themselves to the reading or the reading to something else. Take it personally! Don’t be afraid to analyze!

13. Being emotionally connected to a reading helps them read better. Being emotionally connected to anything helps us learn it better!

14. How to create a wide range of sensory images when they read. They can GIVE themselves to the literature.

15. What they understand and what they don’t understand—and are honest with themselves.

16. How to use a strategy when confusion hits. They don’t stop reading.

 
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2012 Jazz Combo Workshop Registration Is Now Open

Bill Chapin and Paul Nielsen, co-directors of the Grayslake Jazz Combo Workshop, have opened registration for the 2012 summer workshop. Use the links above to view the workshop flier or to register online, and read detailed information about the program on the GJCW Information page.

Last Updated on Wednesday, 25 April 2012 09:45
 
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About Chapin and Chapin

With over 50 years of combined experience as educators Amy and Bill Chapin are dedicated to providing personalized services for learners and jazz improvisers.

Amy Chapin

A certified teacher and adult educator, Amy Chapin through her Academic Coaching Services provides confidential, individualized help for learners on a wide range of subjects and levels. A typical day in the office of Academic Coaching Services, at 18 S. Lake St, Grayslake, will see Amy helping students hone their study and test-taking skills, prepare for tests, tackle a long-range project, and overcome learning issues of many kinds. Integral to her coaching is frequent consultations with parents of her learners, and she often attends meetings with parents at the student's school to assist with communications and to help the family and school develop a plan for the student's learning. Her Frequently Asked Questions, services, and her bio provide more information, both about her special approach and her unique skill set for helping students develop "strategies for success."

Bill Chapin

While Bill's day job is managing the technology program at Warren Township High School, where he is the Director of Educational Technologies, he also plays and teaches jazz piano and improvisation. He brings to his music instruction more than 30 years as an educator and musician, which include teaching high school English, teaching jazz piano, and leading or playing with numerous groups in the Chicago area. Bill also founded and coordinates, with fellow music educator Paul Nielsen, the Grayslake Jazz Combo Workshop. This summer program provides opportunities for young jazz students to play in a combo setting. These days he is playing with the College of Lake County Jazz Ensemble and taking his own playing to a new level through weekly lessons with one of the area's best jazz piano teachers--definitely an opportunity to explore his own "creative growth through improvisation."

Last Updated on Tuesday, 06 April 2010 10:03
 
 
 

Jazz Piano Links

Audition Information--Combo Workshop

If you are new to GJCW, watch for an email or call soon from your instructors to confirm a time for your audition on Tuesday May 29th or June 5th, sometime in between 4 and 8pm. If anyone is just now sending in his/her signup form, feel free to email bill@chapinandchapin.com so he can get you an audition time. (See Tips below on how to prepare)

Please know that these auditions are not competitive. They are designed to help Mr. Nielsen and Mr. Chapin hear you play and place you in a combo with other students at or near your playing ability.

We encourage you to download and run through the audition piece(s), posted below, that match your instrument(s).

Horn Players--

Rhythm Section (piano, bass, drums, guitar):

If you have improvised before and want to show us where you are in your improvising, we'd also like to hear you jam over the F (concert) blues.

Tips on how to prepare for an audition:

  • Horn players--please be ready to play one of the two pieces linked above. Play through the pieces, count out measures that are hard for you, and work to play with a swing feel.
  • Piano and guitar--be ready to play the chords for one of the two songs (see the supplemental page for the chords; use the "head" to know when to play each chord). You could hit the chord on beat one of each measure, or if you're familiar with typical "comping" rhythms, show us that.
  • Bass players--be ready to play a bass line, or play what is written on the supplemental page, for one of the tunes. Tip: bass players usually play the chord root on beat one, and, depending on the type of tune, move through scale tones to the next chord.
  • Drummers--be ready to play a swing beat for the blues, or what you would play behind one of the tunes above. Keep it simple. Jazz combos need to hear a steady beat, and, generally, complicated playing confuses the band about where the beat is.