April 17, 2009, 1:27 am
Meet a NYC Teacher: Kevin Edwards
This article doesn’t begin here. It begins beneath the horizontal line a few paragraphs down. Toward the end of the article, there will be a test. The test will consist of four questions. Your performance on this test will determine whether or not you are allowed to read the next Meet a Teacher entry on LinkEd. Answers for this test will be based on information gleaned from this page, as well as on your personal experiences.
Before we begin, take a minute to consider what’s at stake here. I presume that since you are reading this article that you will want to read the next one, as well. If not, you’ll be denying yourself a wealth of information, the likes of which you can’t possibly comprehend, - what with not having seen it and all. Plus, you’re doing a disservice to your future. You’ll need to read those articles in order to have a fruitful future as an educator. Everybody says so, so you’ll surely want to do your best on the test!
Are you excited? Are you ready?
Do you care?
_______________________________________
In the year 0002 TPE (Test Prep Era), I, a humble classroom teacher in his first year of teaching, presided over a spirited and vigorous class of fifth grade Bronxonians. On my first day with this new group, I asked my to create a set of goals for themselves, to be achieved during the school year. To my utter and ignorant delight, every student aspired to pass his or her standardized tests.
We started right away preparing for the November Social Studies test, followed by the January ELA test, and the March Math test. Many of these lessons were scripted. Many were so heavily based in content that the students struggled to relate to them outside the context of the test. I struggled to relate to them, and yet I plodded onward, testward. Months of test preparation bombarded our senses with a barrage of information first, and information second. The kids got better whether they liked it or not! As a new teacher, I was pleased that they were improving in this very limited spectrum of learning.
It was only as the testing ended and the year came to its final months that I realized I had done them a great disservice by following such a regimented and uncreative course. I tried to engage them more creatively, with limited success. As far as I could tell, two things had happened. Firstly, the students had become jaded toward nearly all schoolwork that required more than a token effort. For one, the testing had been such a dominant motivating factor that, without the looming presence of the tests, schoolwork didn’t seem so important. Secondly, the class’s energy had grown out of control. That fiery hunger that one so often finds in inner city schools had been left unattended and unnurtured for so long that the top had blown clean off. For the remainder of the year it was my Sisyphusian task to contain this fire and direct it toward new and exciting (to me) projects.
It is only very recently that I came to fault the pre-scripted lessons and the external motivation that the tests provide. As a new teacher, the energy I speak of scared me. I was at a loss for how to control it, and the test-prep materials at least subdued it for much of the year. But reflecting on this five years later, I am certain that the ability to harness and employ this energy to fuel the students’ desire to learn was the most crucial element missing from my formal training as an educator.
Recently, I read an amazing book by Eric Booth, founder of the mentoring program for Teaching Artists at renowned Julliard College, that I wish I could mail, back in time, to myself as a new teacher. Booth places engaging learners as a higher priority than the information that is offered.
This prioritization respects the learners as people, reminding us that they have to be involved participants in the work [we] present rather than merely acquiescent recipients of [our] information. After they’re engaged, your information will have a far greater impact and relevance, will be desired, retained, and used.
This seems so obvious, so intuitive and redundant. And yet, how are we engaging students to prepare for testing? We’re telling them that if they fail, they may not pass the grade, instead of demonstrating the inner value of learning. Would that excite you? We’re telling them, as a society that schooling is necessary and then undermining the statement by presenting them materials in a way that says it is the tests, rather than the materials themselves that are relevant.
Booth addresses this issue in such a way that itimmediately had me replanning my lessons, and finding students more engaged, more invested and more inquisitive than ever before. In under 300 pages, Booth manages to breath new life into the teaching of music by breathing new life into sound educational practice in general. Beyond the artistic and creative, he designates entire sections to giving directions in the classroom, how to plan and orchestrate reflections with the students, and how to give them feedback.
In just a few short months, I have come to better value their energy and their choices, and have begun fostering an environment in which mistakes are learning opportunities and connections are celebrated as the smallest act of creation. I’m finding that my in reflecting on my practice through Booth’s lens, I’ve made my lessons more engaging, more thought-provoking and more exciting for students. Their energy has begun working for me. For them.
And so, with this in mind, I present a short test:
1. What is a struggling student’s motivation to do well on the standardized tests?
2. Are they excited?
3. Are they motivated?
4. Do they care?
I’d love to read your answers and comments for question 1. As for questions 2-4, if your answer was something along the lines of, “not really”, then please head to the library and check out this book.
Though its title suggests a very specialized audience, the message of The Music Teaching Artist’s Bible: Becoming a Virtuoso Educator is at once universally relevant to educators, eye opening, and brilliantly simple: Engagement before Information. I cannot deny that there are some sections - perhaps 20% - of the text that are specifically geared toward music-educators. Another 20-30% is written for Teaching Artists of all disciplines, but could be especially relevant to teachers interested in engaging in more project-based learning, especially those based in the arts. The remaining 50-60%, however, has the potential help enthuse the work of the teacher and students, something that ca work mini miracles every day!
__________________
Booth, Eric. The Music Teaching Artist’s Bible: Becoming a Virtuoso Educator. Oxford University Press, Inc., New York, NY. 2009.
Tips for Parents (21)
April 17, 2009, 1:27 am
Meet a NYC Teacher: Kevin Edwards
This article doesn’t begin here. It begins beneath the horizontal line a few paragraphs down. Toward the end of the article, there will be a test. The test will consist of four questions. Your performance on this test will determine whether or not you are allowed to read the next Meet a Teacher entry on LinkEd. Answers for this test will be based on information gleaned from this page, as well as on your personal experiences.
Before we begin, take a minute to consider what’s at stake here. I presume that since you are reading this article that you will want to read the next one, as well. If not, you’ll be denying yourself a wealth of information, the likes of which you can’t possibly comprehend, - what with not having seen it and all. Plus, you’re doing a disservice to your future. You’ll need to read those articles in order to have a fruitful future as an educator. Everybody says so, so you’ll surely want to do your best on the test!
Are you excited? Are you ready?
Do you care?
In the year 0002 TPE (Test Prep Era), I, a humble classroom teacher in his first year of teaching, presided over a spirited and vigorous class of fifth grade Bronxonians. On my first day with this new group, I asked my to create a set of goals for themselves, to be achieved during the school year. To my utter and ignorant delight, every student aspired to pass his or her standardized tests.
We started right away preparing for the November Social Studies test, followed by the January ELA test, and the March Math test. Many of these lessons were scripted. Many were so heavily based in content that the students struggled to relate to them outside the context of the test. I struggled to relate to them, and yet I plodded onward, testward. Months of test preparation bombarded our senses with a barrage of information first, and information second. The kids got better whether they liked it or not! As a new teacher, I was pleased that they were improving in this very limited spectrum of learning.
It was only as the testing ended and the year came to its final months that I realized I had done them a great disservice by following such a regimented and uncreative course. I tried to engage them more creatively, with limited success. As far as I could tell, two things had happened. Firstly, the students had become jaded toward nearly all schoolwork that required more than a token effort. For one, the testing had been such a dominant motivating factor that, without the looming presence of the tests, schoolwork didn’t seem so important. Secondly, the class’s energy had grown out of control. That fiery hunger that one so often finds in inner city schools had been left unattended and unnurtured for so long that the top had blown clean off. For the remainder of the year it was my Sisyphusian task to contain this fire and direct it toward new and exciting (to me) projects.
It is only very recently that I came to fault the pre-scripted lessons and the external motivation that the tests provide. As a new teacher, the energy I speak of scared me. I was at a loss for how to control it, and the test-prep materials at least subdued it for much of the year. But reflecting on this five years later, I am certain that the ability to harness and employ this energy to fuel the students’ desire to learn was the most crucial element missing from my formal training as an educator.
Recently, I read an amazing book by Eric Booth, founder of the mentoring program for Teaching Artists at renowned Julliard College, that I wish I could mail, back in time, to myself as a new teacher. Booth places engaging learners as a higher priority than the information that is offered.
This prioritization respects the learners as people, reminding us that they have to be involved participants in the work [we] present rather than merely acquiescent recipients of [our] information. After they’re engaged, your information will have a far greater impact and relevance, will be desired, retained, and used.
This seems so obvious, so intuitive and redundant. And yet, how are we engaging students to prepare for testing? We’re telling them that if they fail, they may not pass the grade, instead of demonstrating the inner value of learning. Would that excite you? We’re telling them, as a society that schooling is necessary and then undermining the statement by presenting them materials in a way that says it is the tests, rather than the materials themselves that are relevant.
Booth addresses this issue in such a way that itimmediately had me replanning my lessons, and finding students more engaged, more invested and more inquisitive than ever before. In under 300 pages, Booth manages to breath new life into the teaching of music by breathing new life into sound educational practice in general. Beyond the artistic and creative, he designates entire sections to giving directions in the classroom, how to plan and orchestrate reflections with the students, and how to give them feedback.
In just a few short months, I have come to better value their energy and their choices, and have begun fostering an environment in which mistakes are learning opportunities and connections are celebrated as the smallest act of creation. I’m finding that my in reflecting on my practice through Booth’s lens, I’ve made my lessons more engaging, more thought-provoking and more exciting for students. Their energy has begun working for me. For them.
And so, with this in mind, I present a short test:
1. What is a struggling student’s motivation to do well on the standardized tests?
2. Are they excited?
3. Are they motivated?
4. Do they care?
I’d love to read your answers and comments for question 1. As for questions 2-4, if your answer was something along the lines of, “not really”, then please head to the library and check out this book.
Though its title suggests a very specialized audience, the message of The Music Teaching Artist’s Bible: Becoming a Virtuoso Educator is at once universally relevant to educators, eye opening, and brilliantly simple: Engagement before Information. I cannot deny that there are some sections - perhaps 20% - of the text that are specifically geared toward music-educators. Another 20-30% is written for Teaching Artists of all disciplines, but could be especially relevant to teachers interested in engaging in more project-based learning, especially those based in the arts. The remaining 50-60%, however, has the potential help enthuse the work of the teacher and students, something that ca work mini miracles every day!
__________________
Booth, Eric. The Music Teaching Artist’s Bible: Becoming a Virtuoso Educator. Oxford University Press, Inc., New York, NY. 2009.