Music

Mrs. Hinkley is the Music teacher at Dorsey. She has taught music in Garland ISD since 2001.  She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Music Education from Armstrong Atlantic State in Savannah, Georgia and a Master’s Degree in Music from Texas A&M Commerce. She is also certified in Orff Schulwerk and World Music Drumming. 

Mrs. Hinkley teaches weekly music classes to all Dorsey students. She also teaches our 5^th Grade Honor Choir and our Dorsey Drums select drum group. She plans and directs many special musical programs and events for our school.

Mrs. Hinkley enjoys and participates in many kinds of music, both vocal and instrumental.  In her free time, she enjoys dancing with the Stone Steppers square and round dance club in Mesquite.

Art

Ms. Callan is the art teacher at Dorsey.  She is very excited to teach the students art and see their creativity.  She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Art and History from Abilene Christian University in Abilene, Texas. Ms. Callan’s favorite types of art are mosaics and sculptures. In her free time, she enjoys swing dancing and visiting art museums in downtown Dallas.  

Benefits of Fine Arts in education

• Early musical training helps develop brain areas involved in language and reasoning.
• There is also a causal link between music and spatial intelligence (the ability to perceive the world accurately and to form mental pictures of things). 
• Students of the arts learn to think creatively and to solve problems by imagining various solutions, rejecting outdated rules and assumptions. Questions about the arts do not have only one right answer.
• Recent studies show that students who study the arts are more successful on standardized tests such as the SAT. They also achieve higher grades in high school.
• A study of the arts provides children with an internal glimpse of other cultures and teaches them to be empathetic towards the people of these cultures. 
• Students of music learn craftsmanship as they study how details are put together painstakingly and what constitutes good, as opposed to mediocre, work. These standards, when applied to a student’s own work, demand a new level of excellence and require students to stretch their inner resources.
• Through music study, students learn the value of sustained effort to achieve excellence and the concrete rewards of hard work.
• Music study enhances teamwork skills and discipline. 
• Music provides children with a means of self-expression. 
• Music study develops skills that are necessary in the workplace.
• Music performance teaches young people to conquer fear and to take risks. 
• An arts education exposes children to the incomparable.