First Lady Michelle Obama will be the keynote speaker at an awards luncheon this Wednesday,
July 16, where Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District teacher Sunshine Cavalluzzi will be
honored for her innovative ways in integrating music into the curriculum.
Cavalluzzi, who teaches at El Dorado High School in Placentia, is receiving the award at the
Grammy Museum’s annual Jane Ortner Education Awards Luncheon. She and six-time Grammy-
nominated artist Janelle Monae are the event’s two honorees. The award was established in 2010 by
the Ortner family in memory of Jane Ortner, a devoted public school teacher who recognized
the critical importance of music in education.
A government, advanced placement government, economics, and contemporary world affairs teacher, Cavalluzzi is being honored for a classroom lesson called, “Money, Money, Money—Musiconomics!”
The lesson addresses several academic state standards and calls for students to examine music and its relationship to the economic condition of the nation at the time.
This is the second year that El Dorado teacher Sunshine Cavalluzzi is an honoree at this awards luncheon. In 2012, she and fellow El Dorado High teacher Erica Amann won the award for a team lesson where comparative world religion students and contemporary world affairs students analyzed protests songs throughout time. Students explored the meaning and context of songs, the effectiveness of expression through music and commonalities.
Cavalluzzi is also an alumnus of the high school where she teaches, a 2012 Orange County
Teacher of the Year and coach of the school’s six-time Mock Trial championship team.
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