Here's the beginning of a great discussion about reforming our education system. I strongly enourage anyone who cares about education, who cares about the future, or who cares about children to participate in the upswell of support for real reform in public education. We all need to be more involved as the NCLB comes up for renewal.
Education Policy Blog: I think we have lost our way
Thursday, November 23, 2006
Why Didn't You Teach Me That?
A great article appeared in a recent Newsweek magazine concerning the lessons that the writer did not learn in college. The author graduated from a great and well-regarded university with a sparkling 3.9 grade point average, but was feeling victimized by some lessons about the real world that were never mentioned in her educational career. How do I manage my money? How do I get and keep a job? (In this case she had a job as a waitress at a bowling alley.) How do I fill in my tax return?
I believe that this is just the first wave in what will prove to be a flood of graduates who are stunned by what they need to know in the “real world.” This is the beginning of the “tested” generation. Academic success has been measured and narrowly defined for students using specific quantifiable benchmarks. If children progress through these at a passing rate, their academic progress is deemed successful! While this is currently an elementary, middle and secondary school phenomena the trend is threatening to enter the world of higher education too. The net result of all this testing is a body of students who have only been required to pass a minimum standard. What are they learning?
The author in the article is sending us an early wake up call. Here is the first indication I’ve found of the result of an educational policy that congratulates and considers successful those who manage to pass a minimum standard. Gone is academic rigor for the best and the brightest and gone is remedial education for those considered too low in academic progress to be able to pass the test. Gone are incentives for teachers to better themselves. (A recent study was done on NPR showing that teachers who are National Board Certified are not anymore successful at raising test scores than teachers fresh out of college!)
The author should feel victimized! Her education was the best it gets; yet she didn’t know how to find out what she needed to know to fill out her tax return. She didn’t know how to LEARN! She didn’t know how to manage her money, but with all the information available to anyone with a small nest egg or who is just starting out there is information everywhere! She couldn’t organize or synthesize the information that she needed to join the world. To those who have pushed the policy of No Child Left Behind, be careful what you’ve wished for. You are gonna wish you had taught them something!
I believe that this is just the first wave in what will prove to be a flood of graduates who are stunned by what they need to know in the “real world.” This is the beginning of the “tested” generation. Academic success has been measured and narrowly defined for students using specific quantifiable benchmarks. If children progress through these at a passing rate, their academic progress is deemed successful! While this is currently an elementary, middle and secondary school phenomena the trend is threatening to enter the world of higher education too. The net result of all this testing is a body of students who have only been required to pass a minimum standard. What are they learning?
The author in the article is sending us an early wake up call. Here is the first indication I’ve found of the result of an educational policy that congratulates and considers successful those who manage to pass a minimum standard. Gone is academic rigor for the best and the brightest and gone is remedial education for those considered too low in academic progress to be able to pass the test. Gone are incentives for teachers to better themselves. (A recent study was done on NPR showing that teachers who are National Board Certified are not anymore successful at raising test scores than teachers fresh out of college!)
The author should feel victimized! Her education was the best it gets; yet she didn’t know how to find out what she needed to know to fill out her tax return. She didn’t know how to LEARN! She didn’t know how to manage her money, but with all the information available to anyone with a small nest egg or who is just starting out there is information everywhere! She couldn’t organize or synthesize the information that she needed to join the world. To those who have pushed the policy of No Child Left Behind, be careful what you’ve wished for. You are gonna wish you had taught them something!
Sunday, November 19, 2006
AOSA Conference 2006
Each year the American Orff Schulwerk Association presents the absolute best in-service conference for educators! The passion, the energy, and the creativity presented are un-matched at any other education association sponsored event. Children’s performances, educational sessions, exhibitors displaying products and resource material dedicated to elementary education, networking with the most passionate, enthusiastic, dedicated teachers on the planet are all to be seen and experienced at the AOSA conference.
Click HERE to see some picture highlights of this year's conference in Omaha Nebraska! Enjoy!
Making Marimbas
The Project:
The assigned task was to make one 3 1/2 octave marimba and one bass marimba along with assorted miscellaneous homemade percussion instruments at Stewart Middle School with the help of four classes of students from grades 3 - 10. The Summer Arts enrichment program for the gifted and talented in Augusta County provided the funding for the project. These marimbas were designed by Jon Madin, author of the books: Marimba Music 1 and 2 and (Wacky Music Instruments). The students worked on the marimbas, tuning the bars, stringing and nailing the frame and working on J pipes, circle shakers, and bottle drums for 3 days and part of the 4th day. The rest of the 4th day was spent learning several of Jon Madin’s marimba pieces in preparation for the “Festival of Tropical Delights” on the final day of the program. The goal of the week’s activities was to let the students make the marimbas and then have the chance to learn to play them.
Some Pictures:
The Process:
An essential part of the project was to hire a professional carpenter to do the complicated task of measuring and cutting each tone bar to the required length, thickness and width. Our carpenter also adapted and built the frame as well as the tube resonators. I chose to make marimbas with tube resonators which turned out to be quite a bit more difficult that I had anticipated. Each tube had to be cut and tuned, a process that added more than a few hours on my part to project. In Madin’s book there are also plans for a simpler box resonated instrument that also plays very well and may well have been a better choice for this workshop.
The students were able to tune the bars with hammer and chisel and get them reasonably close to the correct tuning. In order to have a playable instrument, however, I found that most of the bars needed some fine tuning in order to make a nice sound. The students took to their task with great enthusiasm. I had them go off in groups of two with each pair working on one bar. As they worked they would go to the electronic tuner and check the tuning of the bar. I helped them determine how far they had to go and where to cut next and off they went to finish the bar. As they finished, I asked them to sign the bar with a “sharpie.” After signing off they went to the finished frame and found the correct place for it and mounted it. It was great fun to watch the marimbas slowly grow into complete instruments. Of course, the students played the new bars to see what they would sound like, which only added to their desire to finish the instruments and “get to the music.”
Younger students in third and fourth grades were not asked to use the hammers and chisels but were able to sand the bars and paste the temporary letter name labels on each one. These students had a wonderful time making J-pipes, circle shakers, and bottle drums. J-pipes are measured lengths of 4” corrugated drain pipe, bent in a J shape and tied so that when you hit the crook with a stick it makes a nice “boing” sound. We made J-pipes tuned to C and A to play with our ensembles. Circle shakers are also made of 2” corrugated drain pipe in shorter lengths joined in a circular shape and filled about half full with lentils. These were used for various tossing games and dances while the marimba ensemble played. Bottle drums are simply used 5 gallon blue plastic drinking water bottles donated by a local Water Supply Company. We bought a few new ones from them for $5 apiece. All of these instruments were decorated with colored electrical tape and streamers making quite a colorful display. Of course the young students were allowed to play the marimbas as well but they were most proud of the instruments they built.
The Cost:
All of these instruments were built with materials available at local hardware and auto parts stores. We used cherry wood for the marimba bars and white pine for the frames. The bass resonator tubes were made from thin walled 4” PVC pipe and the marimba tubes from thick walled 2 1/2” PVC. Using the thick walled pipe was a mistake as we found that the frame was not long enough to accommodate the thickness of the pipe. More long hours were spent trimming the pipes by hand to narrow them enough to fit under the bars. We will use thin walled pipe next time! For mallets we used 3/4 “ dowel with shock absorber bushings for mallet heads. I used American Drum bass bar mallets for the bass marimba although there are suggestions for homemade mallets in Madin’s book.
The assigned task was to make one 3 1/2 octave marimba and one bass marimba along with assorted miscellaneous homemade percussion instruments at Stewart Middle School with the help of four classes of students from grades 3 - 10. The Summer Arts enrichment program for the gifted and talented in Augusta County provided the funding for the project. These marimbas were designed by Jon Madin, author of the books: Marimba Music 1 and 2 and (Wacky Music Instruments). The students worked on the marimbas, tuning the bars, stringing and nailing the frame and working on J pipes, circle shakers, and bottle drums for 3 days and part of the 4th day. The rest of the 4th day was spent learning several of Jon Madin’s marimba pieces in preparation for the “Festival of Tropical Delights” on the final day of the program. The goal of the week’s activities was to let the students make the marimbas and then have the chance to learn to play them.
Some Pictures:
The Process:
An essential part of the project was to hire a professional carpenter to do the complicated task of measuring and cutting each tone bar to the required length, thickness and width. Our carpenter also adapted and built the frame as well as the tube resonators. I chose to make marimbas with tube resonators which turned out to be quite a bit more difficult that I had anticipated. Each tube had to be cut and tuned, a process that added more than a few hours on my part to project. In Madin’s book there are also plans for a simpler box resonated instrument that also plays very well and may well have been a better choice for this workshop.
The students were able to tune the bars with hammer and chisel and get them reasonably close to the correct tuning. In order to have a playable instrument, however, I found that most of the bars needed some fine tuning in order to make a nice sound. The students took to their task with great enthusiasm. I had them go off in groups of two with each pair working on one bar. As they worked they would go to the electronic tuner and check the tuning of the bar. I helped them determine how far they had to go and where to cut next and off they went to finish the bar. As they finished, I asked them to sign the bar with a “sharpie.” After signing off they went to the finished frame and found the correct place for it and mounted it. It was great fun to watch the marimbas slowly grow into complete instruments. Of course, the students played the new bars to see what they would sound like, which only added to their desire to finish the instruments and “get to the music.”
Younger students in third and fourth grades were not asked to use the hammers and chisels but were able to sand the bars and paste the temporary letter name labels on each one. These students had a wonderful time making J-pipes, circle shakers, and bottle drums. J-pipes are measured lengths of 4” corrugated drain pipe, bent in a J shape and tied so that when you hit the crook with a stick it makes a nice “boing” sound. We made J-pipes tuned to C and A to play with our ensembles. Circle shakers are also made of 2” corrugated drain pipe in shorter lengths joined in a circular shape and filled about half full with lentils. These were used for various tossing games and dances while the marimba ensemble played. Bottle drums are simply used 5 gallon blue plastic drinking water bottles donated by a local Water Supply Company. We bought a few new ones from them for $5 apiece. All of these instruments were decorated with colored electrical tape and streamers making quite a colorful display. Of course the young students were allowed to play the marimbas as well but they were most proud of the instruments they built.
The Cost:
All of these instruments were built with materials available at local hardware and auto parts stores. We used cherry wood for the marimba bars and white pine for the frames. The bass resonator tubes were made from thin walled 4” PVC pipe and the marimba tubes from thick walled 2 1/2” PVC. Using the thick walled pipe was a mistake as we found that the frame was not long enough to accommodate the thickness of the pipe. More long hours were spent trimming the pipes by hand to narrow them enough to fit under the bars. We will use thin walled pipe next time! For mallets we used 3/4 “ dowel with shock absorber bushings for mallet heads. I used American Drum bass bar mallets for the bass marimba although there are suggestions for homemade mallets in Madin’s book.
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
No Child Left Behind, a failing policy
The political season is winding down. The loudest shouting is now going on with everyone making mountains out of molehills and squealing about normally insignificant events. Political debates are interesting theater, but rarely have anything to do with real issues, important public policy, or actual decision making. Most political campaigns are about character, social issues, and morality. Most of the talking points are expressly manufactured campaign commercials only reflecting and sometimes obscuring the substantial issue imbedded deeply in the governmental agenda. It's one liner after one liner, one "gotcha" after another, real and manufactured "scandals" and hot-headed zealots from all parties trying to out-shout each other in the name of political debate.
Real issues put the general population to sleep. One must dig into public policy with research and astute observation to even find out what is really going on in the halls of government. How does a government operate, what has the government done, what are the real measurable effects of government policies. If you read a wide variety of reports, transcripts, and research you will find actual real policy debate going on. It's well hidden from the daily news and far off the beaten track, but can be found with a little digging. Only by looking beneath the superficial news reports, blogs, and political commentary of the local newspaper you can actually observe and measure the real effects of policy decisions made by folks elected by "we the people."
In education, of course, we have the policy known as "No Child Left Behind." As a music teacher in the Augusta County Public School system for 33 years, I saw first hand, and experienced "up close and personally" the dramatic effect this political morality play had on education in my district, my school, and my classroom. In Virginia, the real effects of NCLB were pre-dated by our own policy of "Standards of Learning." The SOL initiative came along several years before the ill-timed and watered down federalized version that came to be known derisively in our school as "No Child's Left Behind."
At Stewart Middle School, we tried mightily to "align the curriculum" to meet the "SOL objectives." Every classroom teacher was given a nice wall to ceiling poster with Virginia's specified "subject appropriate objectives" to be taught in each classroom. Special emphasis, teacher training, workshops, slogans, and administrative pressure were used to ensure that each teacher "aligned" their curriculum in such a way that their specific objectives were taught. An enormous amount of material now had to be covered so that each objective could be checked off. Teachers were held accountable for the performance of their students and were reprimanded or applauded as progress was measured.
Every year Students were tested on the SOL's. The results of the testing were published and written up in the news media. Of course this is all background. In the next blog, I'll talk about some of the effects of this testing program as it affected Stewart Middle School.
Real issues put the general population to sleep. One must dig into public policy with research and astute observation to even find out what is really going on in the halls of government. How does a government operate, what has the government done, what are the real measurable effects of government policies. If you read a wide variety of reports, transcripts, and research you will find actual real policy debate going on. It's well hidden from the daily news and far off the beaten track, but can be found with a little digging. Only by looking beneath the superficial news reports, blogs, and political commentary of the local newspaper you can actually observe and measure the real effects of policy decisions made by folks elected by "we the people."
In education, of course, we have the policy known as "No Child Left Behind." As a music teacher in the Augusta County Public School system for 33 years, I saw first hand, and experienced "up close and personally" the dramatic effect this political morality play had on education in my district, my school, and my classroom. In Virginia, the real effects of NCLB were pre-dated by our own policy of "Standards of Learning." The SOL initiative came along several years before the ill-timed and watered down federalized version that came to be known derisively in our school as "No Child's Left Behind."
At Stewart Middle School, we tried mightily to "align the curriculum" to meet the "SOL objectives." Every classroom teacher was given a nice wall to ceiling poster with Virginia's specified "subject appropriate objectives" to be taught in each classroom. Special emphasis, teacher training, workshops, slogans, and administrative pressure were used to ensure that each teacher "aligned" their curriculum in such a way that their specific objectives were taught. An enormous amount of material now had to be covered so that each objective could be checked off. Teachers were held accountable for the performance of their students and were reprimanded or applauded as progress was measured.
Every year Students were tested on the SOL's. The results of the testing were published and written up in the news media. Of course this is all background. In the next blog, I'll talk about some of the effects of this testing program as it affected Stewart Middle School.
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