Melissa Karakaltsas is the Coordinator of Junior School Music (P-6), Classroom Music Teacher and Choral Conductor at Penleigh and Essendon Grammar School. Melissa has taught Classroom Music and conducted choirs in a number of school settings across Kindergarten to Year 6 for 15 years. As a student she was taught in a Kodály setting and this is where her passion for making music with others, and particularly choral music, began. Since the beginning of her career, Melissa has been a keen advocate of the Kodály Philosophy and Method and has been on the committee of the Victorian Branch of KMEIA for most of that time. She was awarded the Australian Kodaly Certificate (Primary) in 2021. Melissa’s most recent interests in education are in the Science of Learning and Explicit Instruction, informing her curriculum develemnt a solidifying her understanding of the successful elements of the Kodaly Method and developing her practice in other areas.
