A Culmination of the Arts and Education

It has only been a week, but Christmas at Luther seems like such a distant memory.

Students had to arrive on campus early from Thanksgiving break to begin rehearsals, and the majority of the week that followed was consumed by mass rehearsals, ensemble rehearsals, set up for this or that, not to mention the cascade of emails with the latest updates and need-to-know information for... you name it. The week of Christmas at Luther was certainly insanely hectic, but it's amazing how quickly we forget of all the other planning and preparation that went into such an event.

Choirs began rehearsing this Christmas music somewhere around the time of Halloween, and I'm sure the behind-the-scenes work had begun some time before that- likely last January or before! Although the finished product of all the work we put into Christmas at Luther is only apparent to those of us participating in it during the week of, it's important to realize everything else that went on.

Students aren't always going to see everything moving around them- and that's the way it's supposed to be. As a future educator, it's going to be my responsibility to see that students are motivated to learn... even though the end goal may be a long way from being in sight. Singing about the joy of Christmas when you're still deciding what Halloween costume to wear doesn't make a whole lot of sense at the time, but when viewers around the country see what we have to present on December 22nd, the work we did will make sense.

World Peace through Education

In our educational psychology class, Dr. Langholz has given us the opportunity to work on an independent project as an alternative to a traditional final exam. We were presented with different options shortly after our midterm exam, and originally I had intended to read 3 additional education-related books, but I realized quickly that time constraint might make this difficult, so I am now preparing a different project. However, I had begun reading "Three Cups of Tea," which turned out to be so fascinating a read in itself that I continued with it in my spare time.
I finished the book on Thanksgiving day, laying on the floor of my grandmother's house, my stomach full from a bounteous traditional Thanksgiving dinner. Certainly a juxtaposition from the lives of the young people Greg Mortenson is trying to help in his book, who have very, very little in the means of worldly possessions.
To summarize, Greg Mortenson was an avid mountain climber who failed an attempted climb of K2 in the early 90's. Weak and seperated from his crew on the way down, Mortenson is nursed back to health by local residents who very little to give, but they still give it all to help this stranger. Touched by their kindness and seeing their desperate need for a building for the young people to learn, Mortenson vows to someday return and build a school. In the years since, Mortenson has gone on to build over 50 schools in some of the most dangerous terrain on earth- Pakistan and Afghanistan, some places where the Taliban grew.
Essentially, Mortenson has seen that through education (notably the education of girls), peace, understanding, and an ability to move forward in the world is a possibility. Mortenson is a curious exception in the realm of mission-work, in that he is not pushing a Christian or western agenda- he simply is promoting education.
Mortenson is inspiring in that his work voices the simple idea that education (even basic) is a very powerful thing. Although I don't recommend that everyone who wants to make a difference in the world go to impoverished foreign countries to teach, I think we can be inspired to make some difference. Making sure every young person in America receives a real, quality education is something we can all work towards, and wanting to make a difference on the other side of the world is a worthy cause as well.
"Three Cups of Tea" is very insightful in realizing that something as simple as education or having tea with those who are seemingly radically different from ourselves can be helpful to see that we have more in common than we think. If Mortenson's work can prevent wars, what logical person would argue otherwise?

Technology in the Classroom: Cohesiveness or Chaos?

Recently, we completed our book review projects by doing a a presentation in class lecture- however, we didn't do this in typical fashion. In Professor Langholz's sections of Ed Psych, we were to implement technology by recording what would be our presentation and posting the video on a media-sharing website, such as YouTube.

Utilizing technology in such a way was quite interesting- it was a both an opportunity for wider artistic freedom and expression, yet it was definitely a challenge (and rather time-consuming) to figure out the technology and how best to use it.

Group projects (which in themselves can be rather time-consuming and difficult when individuals don't easily agree) are only complicated when technology comes into the picture. All the planning for the presentation, topped with how to work the camera, the logistics of who is doing what when, and how, make for quite the challenge. The largest chunk of our time was consumed by editing and putting together our final "film." We used i-Movie on a Mac, which is supposed to be a very easy-to-learn and easy-to-use film editing software program. It wasn't extremely complicated, yet it still took a while to learn- I can only imagine the horror of trying to master and use a more complicated technology in a short amount of time.

In the end, our project did come together, but only really at the end! Technology can be a valuable asset in the classroom, yet because of it's ever-changing nature, it is a force to be reckoned with.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1p3GeMEFuIk
Check out our finished project, our "First Lecure" (it had to be divided into two parts to be uploaded onto YouTube- the technology again!)

Chalk

I regularly look forward to someday being a teacher.
I also regularly look forward to Thursday nights, as they generally come with a new episode of NBC's mockumentary comedy, "The Office."

Our Ed-Psych class was fortunate to recently get the opportunity to watch a comedic yet very informative movie entitled, "Chalk." "Chalk" essentially takes on the same documentary-type format as that of "The Office," but in this feature-length film, the camera crew follows around a group of teachers (and an administrator) in a public school setting. Funny moments and irony abound as the year unfolds for this ragtag bunch.

Character list includes:
the female PE teacher, who has to learn to stop being so pushy
the music-teacher-turned administrator, who never has a minute of spare time in her life
the likable yet overly ambitious 3rd year history teacher, hell-bent on winning teacher of the year
and the first-year history teacher who can't quite find his footing (or his confidence)

This isn't the overly-inspirational success story that is typical of movies about teachers. I feel that "Chalk" is a more realistic (if not simply comically exaggerated) portrayal of the average teacher. Each individual working at the school has their own issues and their own obstacles to overcome, and it's not an easy thing to do, especially when feelings of being alone in thankless job set in.

Simply put, "Chalk" is a very reasonable (and entertaining) insight into the world of real-life teachers. I recommend for all teachers, future teachers, parents, and anyone else who is looking for a good laugh.

Students > Numbers

Our final guest lecture series hosted parents of students in the Decorah School District.

It's amazing how a well-presented argument can really modify one's outlook or opinion on a certain subject. These parents got me to re-think my stance on No Child Left Behind.... AGAIN.

Originally, from all that I had gathered in high school, reading about the matter, and talking with teachers I knew, my opinion of "No Child Left Behind" (NCLB) was not a good one. I understood it to be a poorly thought-out, bloated, sagging bureaucratic way of addressing the shortcomings in the American education system. All the emphasis was placed on ever-higher test scores, the tests that were used to gauge student achievement were not accurate, were biased against students not of the majority WASP background, and ridiculous amounts of teachers' time was wasted on the presentation of the test results.

A few weeks ago, in our Ed-Psych lecture nonetheless, administrators spoke to our class about the successes of NCLB and how putting an increased focus on teaching strategies that yielded positive results was a major benefit of NCLB. Although some older teachers would argue that "this is the lesson [they've] been teaching for 25 years," and why change it, administrators give the voice of reason is that it's not working. Some might say this is a bit heartless, but our goal in education is to have students learn, not simply for teachers to teach.

So I began to see a real value in NCLB (as evidenced by some of my previous posts). Yes, the test results might not be a perfect representation of true student achievement, but as science would suggest, no data ever really is. Now that these administrators had gotten NCLB and myself seeing eye-to-eye, the parents came along and tipped the balance again.

The parents in our class understood the purpose and supported the positives of NCLB. Yet they each had small criticisms that someone who hasn't been a parent yet, might not really have thought of. These parents pointed out the ridiculous expectations the tests held for students with exceptional learning handicaps or disabilities. The actions taken as a result of these test scores seemed to make the learning gap larger. "My child is more than just a number."

So after a few weeks of reflection, it is still hard to clearly see what exactly my own stance on NCLB is. I'm sure that as I further progress down the path of education, I'll slowly clear the shroud in my mind, only to have something make me think in a different direction. NCLB is something I will be constantly maneuvering around in my mind for a long time to come.

"I Can't See Myself Doing Anything But Teaching"

As of late, we've been rather fortunate in our Ed-Pscyh Monday evening lectures, in having fine members of the Decorah educational community joining us. That trend continued last Monday with three teachers from the Decorah public schools responding to a question-answer session. All three had different teaching backgrounds, but all three explicitly said they couldn't imagine themselves not teaching.

This is truly admirable. I'm sure that with a little self-reflection, I would be able to see that (subconsciously) one of my reasons for wanting to teach was probably in having great teachers who were really passionate about what they're doing. Passion and preparation on the part of the teacher leads to wholesome learning and genuine enthusiasm from students.

However, towards the end of the session, I was tempted to ask them a question a long these lines: Do you ever think that you could do more, or make more of a difference, if you were in a different position? From the perspective of a student who had heard the other groups come to speak their part about education, it was interesting to hear these current teachers say they couldn't imagine doing anything else. A few weeks earlier, the administrators from Decorah told us they hadn't ever thought about doing administrative work before an opportunity was presented to them. The younger teachers told us how they had to take on 2nd (or even 3rd!) jobs to help pay off college loans, get a little ahead in the financial world, and to keep themselves busy. The administrators admitted that the increase in salary was certainly not a deterring factor in their decision to move from their teaching post.

So, as honorable a profession as teaching may be (in what way could you alter and improve the lives of young people more immediately?), are there better or more broad-sweeping ways that one could help forward the education of young people? Teachers, of course, will never be replaceable, but it's likely that the efforts of school administrators or those individuals who progress education legislation go unnoticed. So when teachers say, "I Can't See Myself Doing Anything But Teaching," because they always want to help kids, maybe they should consider what other ways, outside the scope of being a teacher, they could actuate a positive impact.

Yes, I whole-heartedly want to be a teacher once my time at Luther College is up. But discussing educational legislation (NCLB), reviewing new data on successful teaching methods and strategies, and the consistent bad news that test scores in America are falling below more and more other countries, has forced a realization in me that maybe my efforts might be placed best elsewhere. Education Reform. Although the young academic world likely has strong and capable advocates working on our behalf, I feel that the lack of significant improvement is evidence that their efforts aren't completely successful. There are so many factors working against minimally (let alone profoundly) changing the public education system in America, and much of the stigma against change is held in societal norms, which is extremely hard to modify. But this is why we must work even harder to fix the system, to keep our graduates marketable in an ever-shrinking world.

So some teachers "...Can't See (themselves) Doing Anything But Teaching."
- I can definitely see myself teaching, but I can also see myself making a difference for my students by working to improve the system determining their success.

No Child Left Behind: The Good, The Bad, and the Test Scores

Our Ed Psych class recently had the opportunity to host some guests, in welcoming administrators from the Decorah school district. The preceding topic of discussion in class had been the pros and cons of No Child Left Behind, and what that meant for future teachers.

One issue that repeatedly came up was the focus No Child Left Behind places on test scores. While most teachers would give you their two cents worth (probably not two thumbs up!) when it comes to No Child Left Behind, administrators will do their administrative duty and defend the commands from their higher-ups from the state and federal educational agencies. In our lecture with the administrators from Decorah, I knew they would defend NCLB (as it is their duty), but I was surprised to sense some genuine support coming from these two. Both having come from some form of teaching experience, they see the legitimacy in teachers complaints that some of the standards presented by NCLB are setting students, teachers, and schools up for failure. However well-intentioned the politicians and educational lobbyists who pushed for this national education reform were, there are bound to flaws in any such legislation. Despite NCLB''s pitfalls, it has introduced us to what seems will become a hugely important factor in making decisions about education: analyzing hard data.

Although many teachers and dissidents may credibly argue that relying nearly completely on test score results for making decisions may be foolish, not recognizing the implications or importance of hard data would be a rather brash dismissal. The single point that seem to repeat itself during the question & answer session with our guests was the importance of analyzing data.

There are new studies being published all the time, and as long as these research projects are done scientifically and non-biased, they offer amazing potential ideas for improving educational methods and systems. The administrators (and the school board members who graced us with their presence a week later) let us know how much of their current time is centered around analyzing the new data they see.

In a technology-driven, instant gratification world, it's important to quickly integrate new ideas and utilize information efficiently. Like the cliché goes, "Knowledge is Power." Or as the education world is now, DATA is Power!

Debate!

In our class lecture last Monday, we presented a hypothetical school board proposal. Groups of students were divided to argue different positions that would likely be presented in the school community. Some groups were to support the proposal, while others were to oppose it, each for their own reason. Although this originated simply as a class activity to get us thinking in certain directions, debate quickly became seriously heated.
The main issue in the hypothetical proposal, was how to handle standardized testing and successfully implementing "No Child Left Behind" policy. While necessary to gauge students' progress and achievement, there is strong reasoning that the setting of a standardized test is often detrimental to accurately gauging students' abilities.
As I move deeper into the realm of a public educator, I'm sure I will be presented with all of these different opinions. It is important to value different groups and individuals' views, yet sill be able to clearly process and work towards what is best for my students.

Lakota Sioux Dance Theater: Professionalism Through Preparedness

Last Saturday evening I attended one of Luther's Center Stage series performances. After being rather disappointed by another cultural dance performance a week before, I had rather low expectations. However, I was pleasantly surprised and very impressed by the professionalism of the Lakota Sioux Dance Theater.
While I don't think I learned much culturally through the other dance company, because of Lakota Sioux Dance Theater's preparedness and professionalism, I was engaged throughout the entire performance. As a result of their organization and professionalism, most of the audience eagerly embraced the culture, content, and information they presented.
The professionalism and readiness of the Lakota Sioux Dance Theater serves as a good example on the necessity for teachers to be organized and prepared before entering the classroom. If teachers are ready to present their material in organized and exciting ways, students are not only willing, but excited to learn.
Simply put, being well-prepared exponentially increases a teacher's chances for successfully engaging their students.

Lions for Lambs: Selling the Student... to the Student

As happens to be the case for most of us, I too occasionally confuse the desired order of things from time to time.
Like I should have done a week ago, I want to create my own bit of commentary on the film, "Lions for Lambs."
Watching this movie for education psychology, we sat down to take in the portion about the immediacy of education today. Although the film projected a rather political undertone criticizing the American-led wars in the Middle East and the self-important bureaucrats in Washington who claim to be leading us to victory, our purpose was to focus on the issue of education presented in the movie.
Robert Redford plays a political science teacher who, throughout the course of the movie, is trying to convince one of his students that he has potential to fix the problems he sees in politics, if he ups the ante in his academic. The student claims to be sidetracked by many other things (girls, fraternity, etc), but really seems to be discouraged by the seeming ambivalence of the system. The movie comes to a close with a shot of the students face, clearly in turmoil on whether to turn a new leaf, or to continue with his indifference.
Although many educators may not come into contact with extremely gifted students very often, or may not teach the level where their students can make a huge, immediate impact on the world at large, these scenes challenge us to reflect on what we as educators are doing to make a difference. Why do we do what we do? Why are college students like myself willingly going into education, a field where we will be underpaid and sometimes under appreciated? What keeps many teachers doing this?
I have been thinking lately about what my philosophy of education will someday be, and the deep questions presented in this movie have catalyzed a thought. Robert Redford's professor character is fortunate in having this gifted, yet disinterested student. The concept we can take away from it is two-pronged: every student we come into contact with has a definite, positive value, and various gifts. Secondly, (and importantly) it is our job to find this value, cultivate it, and convince the students to continue helping themselves grow.
Teaching may be our job, education our profession. But in our fortunate and truly powerful position, it is our moral responsibility to make sure that before we finish our time with each group of students every spring, they leave school knowing that they have a positive value, and they should revel in cultivating that potential.

Gateway Dance Theater: Incorporating Diversity through Art

Last Friday evening I attended an event on campus which at first I assumed would be for entertainment purposes. Gateway Dance Theater is an organization based out of Des Moines that presents various cultural dances, striving to incorporate the different attire, tools, and rhythm instruments of these different cultures. Coming from a background with what would be a surprisingly significant amount of dance experience for a male, I could be critical of what I saw as flaws in coordination. However, I want to focus on the goal that is being forced through the visual effort.
As the Gateway Dance Company does, learning about and honoring different cultures is a worthwhile goal. Living in the near-post-globalization world, we ever more quickly come into contact with people different from ourselves. The America that my parents and teachers grew up in is very different from the America of today, which of course, will be vastly different from the America of tomorrow. Being born, growing up, and living in the Midwest has somewhat sheltered me and some of my peers from what the rest of the U.S. is like. Many demographic polls show that in 50 years, whites will definitely not be the majority in America.
So what does this mean for the sheltered Midwesterners like me? It means that we have to be completely open-minded and truly embrace people of different cultures and background than those we are experienced with.
As a future educator, this a concept that is wholly applicable. Entering into the world of teaching very soon, it's necessary to realize that diversity in the classroom will forever be increasing. It's absolutely necessary to always make sure students feel and know they are welcomed as part of the class. Learning about and warmly accepting students' backgrounds is integral to our success as teachers today.
Gateway Dance Theater helped give me ideas on how to incorporate cultural information in exciting ways, and that understanding and embracing diversity will lead to success in my future classroom.

Welcome

Hello people of the World Wide Web. This blog is where I'll post occasional reflections as I progress through the world of Music Education at Luther College. Currently enrolled in Educational Psychology, this semester is when I'll truly dive into the mindset of today's teachers.