The Public Thoughts of a Music Educator in Washington, DC

High School Performance

2008-05-16T05:36:00.002-04:00

I have been a terrible blogger as of late, but this needed to be said publicly.

Last night, the 9th and 10th grade students at WEDJ had their spring performance, entitled "Buffalo Soldiers" and it was simply amazing! I'm so very proud of their growth this year as performers and young men and women. The students, and the students' teachers have worked so hard and it showed!!

There is an encore performance tonight at 7 PM. There are tickets still available and are $5. So come on by and see how far we have come!

Calendar of Events

2007-09-25T07:30:00.000-04:00

I apologize for not being a loyal blogger as of late. But, as this post will show, it seems like there's never an time anymore!

These are my upcoming weekend appearances.

September 28 - 30 - Connecticut

October 6 - Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Washington, DC Area Alumni Association Annual Founders Day Celebration at the Capitol Brewery on Capitol Hill across from Union Station.

October 7 - Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, Province 27 Sinfonia Slam at the University of Delaware.

October 13 - CPR Training

October 20 - WEDJ Saturday Program
and
Kelly and Ben's Annual Halloween Party (contact me for details)

October 27 - WEDJ PCS Performance for Grade 1-6 with a Science and Nature theme

November 3 - Class at GW

November 4 - Phi Mu Alpha Washington, DC AAA Meeting in Maryland

November 10 - 12 - Going out of town (not sure where yet)

November 16 - 18 - Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Alumni Retreat

December 1 - Class at GW

December 8 - WEDJ Saturday Program

December 15 - WEDJ PCS Performance for Grades 7-10 themed Theater for Change

And that brings me up until winter break!

Yes, I'm a little busy, but that means life is full!

Paris

2007-06-29T20:48:00.000-04:00

I'm flying out tomorrow with my wife for a week in Paris, France. I'm extremely excited! It will be nice to get away for a little while. I'll take lots of pictures so that I can spruce up this blog a bit!

Janey Ousted

2007-06-23T22:55:00.000-04:00

I know I'm extremely late on this story but I think it's noteworth enough to post here.

Again, I am unsure what to make of Fenty's plan as of yet. Currently, I'm of the mindset of, "anything different is better than no difference." However, I will be watching Mr. Fenty and Ms. Rhee very closely to see what will become of all of this.

In a meeting I attended with some leaders from charter schools, the main concern expressed there was that charter schools that were initiated by DCPS would have to change their accountability plans to fit the DCPCSB standards. Of course, for WEDJ this is not really an issue because we are already authorized by the DCPCSB. Only time will tell what will really happen, but, again, I'm just glad that at least somebody is doing something different. The same old thing just wasn't working anymore.

End of Year Four

2007-06-23T22:42:00.000-04:00

I have officially ended my "senior" year as a full-time teacher and my second year at WEDJ and working in DC. It seems weird to me, at this point, that I ever worked, or lived, anywhere else. It also seems unreal that so much has changed, for the better, since my having come here. I only hope I can continue the trend indefinitely.

Our students ended the year on a bright note. The middle/high school students put on "WEDJ Side Story", and, no, that is not a typo. It was basically a musical revue that explored interpretations of scenes from various shows including "Grease," "Porgy and Bess," "Titus Andronicus," and, of course, "West Side Story." We were also able to include quite a bit of original student work in the form of original rap and hip hop. It was overall pretty interesting and I am extremely proud to see how far the middle/high school student have come from the beginning of the year.

One week from today I will be leaving on my trip to Paris, France. I am looking very much forward to immersing myself in the history, culture, and artistic environment Paris is so famous for. Of course, I know that in only a week I will hardly get to experience the true Parisian experience, but I'd like to think I'll get a decent taste. My wife and I are hard at work, already, planning out every detail of our seven day excursion!

I've already been working hard on things for the WEDJ Summer Program. This summer, I have a lot of unique opportunities in the works. The theme is "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" and I'm trying to make it more of a sports/nature/arts/academia kind of thing. I have some unique programming that I'm bringing to the table, so I hope that students and teachers alike will have an enjoyable and meaningful experience!

One of the things I'm beginning to realize in having a public blog is, while it is great to have a forum to publically express things, often times, because it is public, I have to think it through so much that by the time I get around to even posting it, I've almost forgotten what my originaly intention was. So, that's my most recent excuse for not posting. However, I will try to be more religious about it in the future.

I have to keep a detailed journal for summer school this summer as part of my GW internship, so perhaps a few nuggets of inspiration will come from that and magically post itself onto here. We shall see!

Disney's Aladdin, Jr.

2007-05-20T15:16:00.000-04:00

The William E. Doar, Jr. Public Charter School for the Performing Arts
Proudly Presents

Disney's Aladdin, Jr.
Performed by Grades PreK-5th
Wednesday, May 23rd at 2
Thursday, May 24th at 2 and 7

Tickets are $8
Call (202) 269-4646 for more ticket information.

A Great Experience

2007-05-06T13:07:00.000-04:00

I was fortunate enough to be able to take my 5th and 6th grade select chorus students to two different events this week. On Wednesday, we went to a reception at The Hart Senate Office Building. I could tell my students could sense the importance of what they were doing there.

Then, on Friday, I got to take them to perform at the Fourth Annual Public Charter Schools Best Practices Conference which was presented by the State Education Agency's Office of Federal Grants Program. My students had the most amazing time there. Not only was it a great opportunity for them to perform for an enthusiastic audience, we were also provided with a very lovely meal in the ballroom with other conference-goers. The students were so well behaved. While we were eating, there were speakers talking about various responsibilities and realities we face as charter schools. My students not only listened intently, but even responded and interacted when questions were asked. I was so excited to see them, eyes bright with excitement over what they were doing. I think this event truly made an impact on them.

I would like to thank Ms. Claudine Sherwood, Dr. Ramona Edelin and all of those who helped to make these events possible for my students. It is very much appreciated!

Faculty Show and One Busy Week!

2007-04-30T19:20:00.000-04:00

This past weekend was our annual faculty show and the theme was 60's and 70's. I apologize about not promoting it sooner so that some of my loyal readers could have attended. It was a great show, however, and we had a great turn out! Even a few of the guys from the DC Area Alumni Association for Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia came out to sing and we had a grand time!

This upcoming week is a busy one for me and for my 5th and 6th grade select chorus. Wednesday we will be performing for a reception at the Hart Senate Office Building. Then, on Friday we will be performing at a DC Charter School Best Practices Conference.

Amidst all of this we are hard at work pulling together our production of "Aladdin, Jr." which is going to open in just under three weeks. Talk about booked!

Virginia Tech

2007-04-16T15:20:00.000-04:00

My thoughts and prayers are extended out to all of those affected by the shootings at Virginia Tech today.

The Process of Coordinating Summer School

2007-04-16T11:18:00.000-04:00

It's a challenging one.
I finally got my flyer and enrollment package completed and those should be going out tomorrow.

Now it's a matter of acquiring facilities. Then I have to see what the actual count will be for summer school as far as students and then link staff, facilities, and students.

It's all very mathematical when one gets down to it. Hopefully my mathematical/musical mind will aid me in this process.

It's been almost two years...

2007-04-06T10:39:00.000-04:00

In about a week it will have been two years since I came to the DC Area and made the decision to move here.

How it all happened is truly something out of a movie. My wife and I came down here on vacation to visit a friend and just to spend some time in our nation's capitol.

We instantly fell in love with the place. On a whim, my wife interviewed for a job and she got the job.

A couple of months later we packed up our bags, loaded up a Budget Truck and moved here.

It's as if we went on vacation and never returned!

And, so far, it's been one of the best decisions I've made in my life...

New Networking Tool for Sinfonians

2007-03-22T20:05:00.000-04:00

The Sinfonia Circle has just been opened!

Basically it's a fantastic networking site for Sinfonians. After just briefly looking through it myself, I have to recommend that everybody sign up for it.

Any Sinfonians who have not recieved an email regarding this site, but would like to be a part of it, just email me and I'll get you signed up.

Stepping into a Leadership Role

2007-03-22T19:46:00.000-04:00

I've decided that even with all that I have going on, that an opportunity I was presented with for this summer could not be turned down. As a student of Educational Leadership and Administration at GW I am required to do a 150 hour administrative internship.

Well, as it turns out, WEDJ was also looking for a Summer School Coordinator. So, this summer I will be Summer School Coordinator for grades PreK-6. I am very excited about this opportunity!

A lot is happening already. I am meeting frequently with the leadership team so that we can have a solid plan ready by the end of Spring Break. That's when we're hoping to send out the flyer.

I just don't think I would have found a better opportunity to really get my feet wet with site based leadership. It's going to be intense, for certain, and stressful to boot. But, I believe this is the best formal induction into Educational Leadership I could have asked for!

An Encounter from the Past

2007-03-12T18:59:00.000-04:00

I attended the Eastern Divisional MENC Conference in Hartford, Connecticut the latter part of this past week. There, I attended a lot of useful sessions, made some new connections, and reconnected with some old ones.

One in particular was my music teacher from middle school who helped inspire me to continue with music right around a time of hopelessness, when my father had committed suicide.

Anyway, we had a touching conversation and I felt compelled to write to her afterwards. I want to share with you all what I said.

What follows is a slightly edited version of the letter, just to protect my former teachers' identity and interests!

Dear Mrs. XXXXX
I just wanted to say that seeing you the other day brought back a lot
of memories. When you see people from your past sometimes, it puts
things in perspective a little. In many ways, you were probably the
most important teacher I ever had. You were my music teacher during
what was most definitely the most difficult time in my life and, I
often wonder, if it wasn't for you and your inspiration, if I'd even
be alive today let alone married, successful and happy. It was music
and the wonderful teachers I had who encouraged me through it all that
made the difference. And amidst all of the technicalities, the
out-of-tune notes, the diaphragmatic breathing, duple meter, triple
meter, mixed meter.... there is something about music that truly
inspirational to all of us and trascends culture, emotions, and can be
a bridge into the best of us. It's very easy to think of our craft as
mathematical and almost simplistic. But, even after all I've learned,
I still see the magic.

That being said, I love everything about what I do. I love the glow in their eyes when they finally get something. I love seeing them carrying flowers with their
parents back to their vehicles after a concert well done. I don't feel
sorry for my students.... rather I demand a lot of them, knowing that
if they have the passion, they will achieve it, and they do.

Twice, just today, I was told by students who most teachers might
consider unlikely, that I was their favorite teacher. One even went so
far as to say that he didn't think he'd like me when he met me, but
now he realizes that he does. That was a powerful statement. It gives
me hope that maybe, in some way, I've been able to give this student
the inspiration he couldn't find anywhere else but in music.

Because of all this, when I read the papers and see how music
programs are being treated by various administrations throughout the
country, it alarms me greatly. How could something that saved my life
be what administrators are now considering expendable? What would have
happened to me if I had not had as wonderful a teacher as you? It's a
scary prospect.

And that's why I feel my calling in the realm of educational
leadership. There are ways to solve this problem. It's not going to be
easy, but there are ways. You said to me the other day that the
administration is constantly demanding we show exactly how music is
benefiting the students (and by students they most surely mean test
scores). We all understand how, but, you're right. It's difficult to
show those who have no idea. And, the truth is, I don't think it
should be the music teachers responsibility to constantly have to
prove this time and time again. The evidence is already there in the
research. It's time for the administrators to come to us and ask us
what they can best do to fit us into the curriculum because for some
students music may truly mean the difference between life and death. I
feel that I may have the ability to contribute to that movement one
day and I hope that I can be a force in giving more and more students
the opportunity that you afforded me.

Anyway, I'm sorry about my ramblings, but I guess you can't blame me
for being verbose about this topic! Attached is a poor quality
recording of one of my Kindergarten classes for your enjoyment! It's so amazing what even the youngest of students can achieve when you put the right tools in their
hands. I can't wait to hear this group of kids when they get older!

Again, it was so nice to see you this past week. I hope all is going
well. Please keep in touch!
Your former student,
Ben

Just a quick response...

2007-03-06T06:07:00.000-05:00

...to a comment posted to my last post.

I don't neccesarily think that using a standardized test is a good idea for arts education. Mostly, my suggestions is that if the trends continue in the direction they are headed with "No Child Left Behind," and it looks like they will no matter who controls the White House or Congress, then that may be the only way to adapt to keep us, as an industry, from fizzling out completely or simply becoming an avenue to teach other, non-artistic things.

I don't disagree that it is a scary prospect. But, it may be the reality we face.

An Art Form at Risk

2007-02-18T10:40:00.000-05:00

That's the title of the paper I'm currently writing. Basically it's about the crisis in music education and how schools across the country are either diminishing its presence or cutting the programs all together. NCLB requires that every school have a comprehensive arts program, but since there is no test currently being administered, the definition of what and arts program should be is actually very vague. This allows individual schools and districts to wreak havoc on their music programs in favor of more emphasis in math and language arts.
I found some interesting things in my research. One of the ways I found to help solve this problem from an administrative perspective (per the assignment) was to create a structure that allows for arts integration. There were several types of arts integration that I talked about, the most ideal of which was the system that WEDJ is using. I also found that there was a danger in arts integration in that either the "traditional" subject or the art could be trivialized. It seems obvious, but I didn't think of it from the perspective that it could actually hurt both academics and arts if arts integration is not implemented properly.
Another thing I found was the results to a NAEP arts assessment pilot. If high stakes testing is here to stay, perhaps to evolve and not get "left behind" the arts will need to step up to the fact that they may be the subject of a standardized test in the near future.

Classroom Applications and National Standards

2007-01-28T14:30:00.000-05:00

A post on the Music Education Blog Collective shines some light on a possible revision of the National Standards for Music Education. The emphasis is on questions of how exactly do the national standards impact the music classroom and, specifically, what students are learning.

For me, I would say that the current national standards in their own form provide me a very beneficial framework with which to instruct my students. Unlike the standards of other subject matters, I find the music standards to be concrete and understandable. It helps me to focus more on teaching and learning in my classroom rather than just what to do to get through the next performance.

All too often, I believe, rote learning is emphasized in our music classrooms for the purpose of getting through the next concert. I believe the national standards help to keep us away from that trend, but, generally, only for those educators who have the forsight to do so. I do not think it is the "vagueness" of the music standards that are the problem. Rather, I believe it is the enforcement and accountability placed on those standards. At WEDJ, I am held accountable to those standards because that is what I grade on. If I haven't hit all of the standards, then I have nothing to give a student a grade for. This holds me true to my craft as a music educator and not just a choir director. In most schools students simply recieve one grade for music with no emphasis on evaluating the particular skills we are trying to assess.

I do not think that changes to the national standards are neccesary. However, I do think that administrators in schools, especially those that tout arts integration, should use the national standards as a template for the assessment of musical skills. Putting the national standards on the report card legitimizes music as a subject and hols us more accountable to the development of the skills we are supposed to be teaching.

Do Current Trends in Education and Politics Match What Universities and Employers Are Looking For?

2007-01-16T19:01:00.000-05:00

Not neccesarily, says Education Week.

We all want results. I guess the definition of what results are is the real question.

I had to write a response to this article. Basically I said that administrators today have to balance compliance with federal mandates with making sure their students are getting the kind of education that will make them employable and able to succeed in college and beyond.

As I was writing my recommendations, what I found myself falling back on was a model not too disimilar to that of WEDJ. I really have a lot of faith in what we are and what we will accomplish at that school and I hope to be there through the best of it, which is certainly still to come.

Issues in Educational Administration

2007-01-15T21:42:00.000-05:00

That is the title of my current class at GWU. I think this will be one of my favorite classes. This blog, more or less, is based around the gist of the syllabus. So, hopefully, in the near future, I'll have more to post about!

The Talk of the Town

2007-01-05T14:54:00.001-05:00

Fenty has officially released his plan for the future of DC's Public Schools.

Predictably, not everybody is happy.

In asking questions regarding charter schools, some of what their role will play was explained.

The bill would... consolidate responsibility for all charter schools in the District -- which are overseen by two organizations -- under a sole entity, the D.C. Public Charter School Board. - From The Washington Post

This is a move that has been
long recommended by those who are directly involved in the charter school movement in DC.

It will be interesting to see what actually comes of all of this.

Paris and London

2007-01-04T13:30:00.000-05:00

It's official.

I've never been to Europe and so I am making it a priority, this summer, to take a trip to Europe with my wife.

Our destination will be Paris and perhaps London as well.

Anyone have any advice for a first-time European traveller?

Any recommendations on places to stay? Things to see?

Public Praise for Teachers' Accomplishments

2007-01-04T07:44:00.000-05:00

We need to do more of this.

I know that most people are going to skip right by this story. But, this is a teacher who has achieved something really special for her students. To recognize her publically like this must be such a thrill.

More of this should be happening.

Thank you Mr. Matthews and congratulations Ms. Suben for making a real difference in your students' lives!

Wow... just wow...

2007-01-04T07:29:00.000-05:00

I have to be honest, I consider myself to be a pretty decent person,
but I never would have had the guts to do this.

Bravo Mr. Autrey. You are a real life hero.

Oprah's School

2007-01-03T09:14:00.000-05:00

Here is one of the plethora of articles one can find on Oprah's new school in South Africa if you do a simple yahoo search.

It'll be interesting to see how this works out. The thing that gives me hope about this school is that Oprah seems to have high expectations for her students which is key.

I'd be curious to have a conversation with her regarding the state of education in the United States and what specific things she feels are causing the problems in our schools. She mentioned that, as Americans, we have a sense of entitlement about education that makes us appreciate it less. I would argue that if that is the culture we have to work with, then we need to find a way to reach that culture in our schools. Schools do need to change to best educate the population it serves just as my teaching methods change when in dealing with all different types of students. If this sense of entitlement is getting in the way of our students' education then it is our responsibility to get students to come back to education. We need to re-evaluate our methods and make decisions on how to get our students to appreciate what is truly a gift: that of a free education.

I don't have the answers. Only more questions to ponder...