Jessica Baron
Jessica Baron is the founder/Executive Director of Guitars and Ukes in the Classroom (GITC). As a life-long musician, human development educator, music teacher and author, Jess has devoted her life to making musical learning accessible. Her SmartStart Guitar and Ukulele books present her simplified, developmental approach. Since its founding in 2000, GITC has reached teachers, specialists and students of all ages and abilities with hands-on music in 39 states through their free, ongoing professional development courses. Everyone learns to sing, play guitar and uke, write Lyrics for Learning, facilitate hands-on music and collaborative cross-curricular student songwriting. GITC also offers classroom residencies for language, literacy, math, science and social-emotional learning through music. Since 2000, over 16,000 education professionals have trained to become Songleaders for Learning. GITC now offers adaptive music training for inclusion of students with diverse exceptionalities.
