My Soapbox and My Mission

Yesterday...

My morning began with the strangest occurrence of my life. I sneezed and SNAP!... blew my back out. After twenty minutes on the floor with a heating pad, I had to start getting ready for work because we had orientation at 7:30. I couldn't twist, bend, or lift--- just stand straight up or lie flat on my back. So, needless to say, my hair looked goooooood when I finally rolled in to work. Did I mention they took our pictures for our ID's? Yeah, so I get to look at that for the next few years.

Anywho, after yet another mingle and Ra-Ra speech with my new coworkers, we headed to our individual schools for some more PD. Today's challenge? Get with other middle school teachers in your content area to design a common curriculum and common assessments. The curriculum must be written out in "I CAN" statements... For example, "I can count a rhythm aloud involving quarter notes and half notes." The "I CAN" statements must be specific, and you have to be able to assess every single one of them. They should get sequentially harder and be organized into units. Perform an item-analysis on each assessment that you will give for the year to make sure that questions are fair, effective, and balanced.

      Hmmm.... what could possibly go wrong? The other choir teacher in our district is also responsible for teaching computers, drama, and arts/humanities at his school. He was also asked to revise program evaluation documents for the district. So guess who was left all by herself to do the choir stuff? Yep, the new girl. I had a general idea of what I wanted to teach over the course of the year, but I didn't have an updated curriculum from the state of Kentucky to reference. I also didn't have my assessments from last year to dissect as I wasn't a teacher last year. To me, this assignment sounded like, "Plan your entire year and make all the tests in the next four hours. Go."
       A few of my colleagues approached me and said, "You know, you're different as an elective. You really don't have to do this. I mean, what is there to assess? They just sing and dance, right?" I swear, there must have been smoke coming out of my ears. I had to do this. I let myself panic for ten seconds and then just started typing. Four hours later, I had an entire curriculum written and outlines of my assessments... didn't have time to make the actual tests but I was all alone... what did they expect? This project isn't so bad if you have twelve math teachers that can each tackle a unit. Overall, I'm pleased with what I came up with. I am integrating more music theory and history into the curriculum that what has been done in the past (so I've been told). I'm also doing an additional concert and adding an after-school group. Call me naive or crazy-- I very well may be-- but I just think that kids need a well-rounded musical education.

SOAPBOX: I am already sick and tired of being told that all I do in choir with the kids is sing. I am "just" an elective (hate the word elective), and my class is essentially just to give the kids a break from the "real" classes. I have been told that all this community wants from the choral program is a couple of good concerts a year. Who cares if the kids can read music or not-- you should just teach everything by rote. You won't have enough time to teach them anything other than their three or four pieces per semester anyway. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

Dear fine arts educators across the country,

Do you want to know the reason why your programs get cut? It's because you buy into this crap. It's because you don't stand up to people when they label you as "just an elective"... a glorified babysitter! If you want to be a valued part of the school's curriculum, you need to show them that you are teaching the kids so much more than just how to put on a good Christmas concert or paint a pretty picture for the Open House. When they try to excuse you from creating a detailed curriculum or from designing assessments, politely refuse and create a curriculum that puts the "core" subjects to shame. In music, show that you are  teaching history, theory, logic, writing, reading, creativity, speech, professionalism, presentation, expression, and so much more. If you treat your subject are as a "core" subject and hold yourself to the same level of accountability as a "core" teacher, your students and your school will start to view you as a "core" subject. If you treat your subject area as an elective... just something extra for funzies on the side... then don't be surprised when your program is the first to go.

That's my soapbox. And this is my mission: I want to make music a valued part of the curriculum, not only at my school but also across the district. It may not happen this first year, but I plan on hanging around. :-) After all, when have I ever gone anywhere and NOT stirred things up?