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Originally Posted by trumpet blower88 My third and final complaint deals with written assignments. I understand that the district has new requirements, and all classes have to have some of these typs of assignments, for example maybe writing a short biography on a famous composer or something like that. But he's taking it to far. Basicaly, he wants us to analize every aspect of each piece of music we're playing and write an essay about it. Now, this is a fine asignment for maybe one of our pieces, but keep in mind each group is playing 5 or 6 peices, and many students (including myself) are in all 3 ensembles. This is about 15 pieces that I have to analize. He expects us to put in 4 to 6 hours of work on this assignment for the week. And yes, thats just this week, G-d only knows what he will expect us to do next week.
Maybe I'm not thinking clearly, but in my opinion, I just think the time would be better spent practicing our horns... |
Like some others here, I am speaking as a public school teacher certified in music. I wasn't able to check out the Arizona standards for music in detail, but in practically every state in this country (including ours), every public school teacher has to be accountable for the type of learning that goes on in their classes (thanks to NCLB and high-stakes testing). Teachers in grades K-12 have to prove through their lessons and lesson plans that they are following the standards and must show tangible proof of assessment that they are reaching benchmarks to help students succeed in the subjects taught. And in some cases, the assessment is necessary to keep music classes in the school curriculum, especially in "failing" schools that really need to justify why they must have music classes when the students are unable to read or write or solve math problems (although I doubt that this is the case in TB88's school).
Although I feel that 4-6 hours/week is a bit much for assignments, I second the opinion that (if you really respect your director) you and your classmates hang in there. Speaking as a librarian, you could also save some time by doing research online as well. There are many research portals online, and universities also have some really comprehensive collections in music literature and other research resources (and don't forget to ask the librarians for help, too!
In this day and age when the "powers that be" are trying to find ways to cut music, arts and other programs from public schools, I applaud all music teachers for really making the effort to make their programs work.
Liz