Colleen Zaller is a trained linguist, musician and dancer, and cross-literacy arts educator. She has a Master’s degree in Applied Linguistics, is Spanish-English bilingual, and has worked in the field of education for over 20 years as a teacher, literacy/language researcher, and program evaluator. She has expertise in instruction for linguistically diverse populations, interventions for students on the autism spectrum, trauma-informed approaches to education, and comprehensive strategies to teach disciplinary literacy at the elementary and secondary levels. In 2021, she became a certified trainer-of trainers in evidence-based sheltered instruction for English learners (SIOP) from the Center for Applied Linguistics.

Colleen’s career as an educator has led her from teaching literacy and visual arts at the secondary level in Baltimore to developing and facilitating arts-infused ESL programs internationally in Mexico and China as well as in Boston, MA, Providence, RI, and Little Rock, AR. For the past several years, Colleen has served the Arkansas community as a Teaching Artist-in-Residence in conjunction with Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, the Conway Symphony Orchestra, and other arts-based organizations. In partnership with classroom teachers, she integrates content-area literacy and curricular content into her week-long arts immersion residencies with students in central Arkansas public schools. This direct teaching experience, along with her 10-year tenure as a literacy program evaluator and researcher has given her a deep understanding of how to navigate the curricular demands of a classroom while bringing in diverse modalities of learning via the arts that bring lesson plans to life for kids.

Apart from her experience as an educator, Colleen is a multi-instrumentalist with a strong understanding of music theory, wide range of musical talents, and deep interest in improvisational performance. As a bassist, she performed regularly in bands and as a session player across venues in Rhode Island. She studied improvisation and music theory at the Berklee College of Music under the guidance of jazz musician, Richie Hart. As a percussionist, Colleen studied West African and Afro-Caribbean polyrhythms and has performed in drum ensembles to accompany dancers. She is also a classically trained pianist and vocalist. She has performed and recorded backup vocals for independent singer-songwriters, and has performed in classical vocal ensembles, madrigals, and musical theatre. She is an active member of the Latin dance community in Little Rock, and has studied under internationally renowned choreographers and instructors in Afro-Caribbean dance forms such as salsa and bachata.

Throughout her career, Colleen has demonstrated her commitment to reaching all students. She is dedicated to finding pathways to understanding for everyone in the classroom, with a particular focus on emergent bilingual children. Arts integration is a wonderful vehicle for reaching students who may otherwise not be able to access core academic content in the regular classroom. Some recent examples of residencies include: student percussion ensembles exploring aspects of identity, culture, and geography, immersive art installations and soundscapes that analyze the benefits and consequences of industrialization, and collaborative lyrical and instrumental compositions that weave together traditional blues music, abstract expressionist visual art, and curricular content in Language Arts. Colleen is thrilled to work in collaboration with classroom teachers to open windows to learning through the richness of the arts.