Just Music History?
I have been reflecting over the last few weeks about the curriculum in place at the middle school in which I teach. Because of strange scheduling quirks, I teach two periods of seventh grade music every day in the middle school and then travel to the intermediate school to teach fifth and sixth grade chorus and general music. My role at the middle school is to "fill in" because the other seventh grade teacher's schedule has become too full to teach all periods of seventh grade. The middle school has a 30-day "cycle" program, so I see the same students for that period of time until the next 30-day cycle. The curriculum is supposed to cover 20th century music, specifically jazz, R&B, classical, rock n' roll, rap, etc.. I have been given basic lesson plans with material I am expected to proclaim to the students each day. Basically, the class has become a music history lesson, where I tell the students about music and they listen to it. I have been trying to incorporate activities into the lessons that will help the students to be more involved in learning and to make it more meaningful to them, but I know that if I were in my class, I would be bored out of my mind. While there have been some students who have told me that they have enjoyed learning about jazz, and now they are interested in listening to it more often, I can't help but wonder how many more students cannot wait to run out the door when the bell rings. It is very difficult to put any of "me" or the students into the lessons, because it is so necessary that I get through all the material on the right days so that the students have "learned" everything at the end of the cycle and therefore can complete the prescribed final project. I realize that there is no music making going on in my class; just listening to music and the history behind the music. There aren't even any instruments in the room (or in any room in the building for that matter)! Is this what happens when students get to middle school--that they no longer make music in music class? Is this okay?
Thoughts? Help?!
posted by jodi m @ 6:25 PM
1 Comments:
Jodi, I understand your problem, and I see Jessica go through the same, basic set of issues in her middle school teaching (and, believe me… it’s not a middle school problem).
Imagine this: You break your leg. The ER doctor gives you a cast. Someone else comes in with a burn on her leg. The doctor gives her a cast. Someone else comes in with a puncture wound on her leg and is bleeding out. The doctor gives her a cast.
I think the problem with those “curricula” is that curriculum writers are creating a solution to a problem that is one size fits all. Obviously, a cast will not help a burn, nor will it help a puncture wound and excessive bleeding. In the same way, a set district-wide curriculum (or a prescribed itinerary of exactly what to do and when – which is what they have become) will not benefit all children, if any. One size does NOT fit all (trust me… I’m a rather large guy!).
So what can you do about it? Hardly anything, I’m afraid. Not until you have tenure. What you CAN do is try to figure out a way that learning about all of these sub-topics and genres can turn into learning these sub-topics and genres (rather than learning about). Make the learning meaningful for your students. Don’t tell them about jazz; experience jazz! Find relevance in their lives and allow them to live it. I don’t know how to do this exactly, but figure it out within your specific situation. Knowing your students may be the only way.
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