“So over the course of my tenure there, I had the opportunity to create this music program,” he said.
Kozol describes many of his other accomplishments as opportunities as well. While teaching music at the Children’s Storefront, he also co-directed the school’s gospel choir.
“In that group, we had the opportunity to perform on Good Morning America, live on television,” he said. “And we had the opportunity to perform with Dr. Billy Taylor, who is one of the greatest jazz musicians of all time, and also a great educator.”
And recently, another opportunity has opened for Kozol. A Spanish and music teacher here since 2006, he has been named Interim K-12 Performing Arts Coordinator for this year. Kozol will continue to be in the classroom as well, teaching Introduction to World Music next semester. Kozol’s passion for music comes with a love of learning and a commitment to teaching.
Senior Micah Katz-Zeiger has played in Kozol’s Samba Drumming Club, since his freshman year said that Kozol brings a humble approach to the classroom.
“It’s really not the Kenny show. He really is just like a peer, an equal to us,” Katz-Zeiger said. “It’s really more like we’re figuring stuff out together, learning together and playing together.”
Kozol views his new job with a similarly unassuming outlook. He said that he is starting the job by trying to gather information from teachers on how things are going.
“I’m in here right now, as a new person, to learn as much as I can of what’s going on,” he said.
According to Katz-Zeiger, another one of Kozol’s strengths is pushing people to better themselves.
“If someone was really apprehensive about soloing, he was really good at saying, ‘Keep it simple. Here’s just one thing,’” Katz-Zeiger said. “Or with more high-level people, he would have constructive things to say: ‘Try to keep more on beat; try to use this kind of rhythm.’ Everyone ended up soloing.”
Katz-Zeiger also said that Kozol is good at getting unlikely combinations of people to work together. While Kozol was teaching music at the Children’s Storefront, he brought conservatory students from the Manhattan School of Music in to teach private music lessons. Kozol described coordinating that partnership as another opportunity.
“Those were students that were looking to become teachers,” Kozol said. “I was able to be a supervisor for those people and help them develop as music teachers.”
Kozol said that research has shown that music and dance classes benefit students in core academic subjects.
“I don’t believe that we’re using music so that we will improve in math. I believe that we’re using music for all the wonderful things that music offers us in our lives,” he said. “But I think it also has an additional effect, where it helps in other areas.”
Besides classroom teaching, Kozol has also worked with other performing arts teachers on Música y Cultura, a project to bring African, Latin American, and Caribbean music and dance performances to the school.
“He’ll have some really good suggestions for integrating music into learning,” Katz-Zeiger said.
For now, Kozol is still mostly acquainting himself with the department. He said that an advantage of his position over the previous setup, in which there was a coordinator for the elementary schools and a coordinator for the high school, is that he gets a bird’s eye view of the entire program.
“It is a big job, but it’s one that I wake up every morning excited to do — and one that often keeps me up very late at night — but with a real enthusiasm,” Kozol said. “I’m loving it.”
Aaron Sege can be contacted at [email protected].
