Video Prep

Well, I am planning on doing my video taping tomorrow. I woudl have done it last week but my camera had a dead battery. I am really hoping that the teachers will let me see the kids. I am begging for a few extra minutes because I want to do the taping and then have some time to work on my action research project as well. This time of year gets really difficult because teachers and administrators want the kids to go to special tutoring and pull out sessions for math and reading. As a music teacher, I see that their efforts are commendable, but are the kids really getting information that will make them do better on the tests? Music people know that you have to layer information. We can't give the kids music one day and expect a concert the next. Life doesn't work like that. We, as teachers, have to be able to have info spread out over time to really make a difference. I was making notes today for the music as artist part of the class and I was re-reading some of Pinks thoughts on left vs right brain. It seems as though these tests are really trying to push left brain thinking. They want these kids to learn now. They try these last ditch efforts, tutroings, and classes to try to getthe kids stuffed with as much last minute info as possible. Is this really teaching? Is shutting everythin else down for weeks really teaching the kids anything? There are reports alll the time about college bound kids committing suicide over failed or bad SATS, or because they didn't get into the college of their choice. Yet...all we are doing with these tests is setting the kids up anyway. We are telling the kids this is the most important test ever. Is it really? Or is the grading the teacher has done all along for the year worth anything? I know there are people who disagree. As a music teacher though, I see kids all the time in my classes who would be labeled by these tests as not meeting. These are kids who have behavior problems and problems finding anything fun about their other academic classes. Notice I said other academic classes. Like Pink, I constantly tell my kids that this is th most academic class you'll ever take. It synthesizes all the information you learn in every other class, combines it, and then your brain has to transfer it into playing an instrument. No other class in the building does that. The kids seem to understand that, so why don't some of the adults? Music? Nah. Testing for a week straight? That's the ticket! I definitely do not concur.