Religious Music in School

I hope people google the exact title I've given this post and then read this, because I have a simple idea that solves everything, and that not enough public school choral directors do.

Just like that.

The Problems

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• Teachers are obligated, by virtue of the Establishment Clause, to neither promote nor inhibit religion or spirituality.  In the particular case of [public school] choral music, communities have disagreements about whether religious music should be taught.  Is a teacher promoting religion if he/she compels students to sing the words, "in nomine Dei...Amen," to a captive audience?  Is a teacher inhibiting religion if she/he avoids all mentions or references to any god during a holiday concert?
• Choral directors can easily develop a habit of overcorrection in response to complaints from parents if they cannot persuasively and swiftly quell unrest.  Some directors choose to never perform religious music.
• Some directors do take the opportunity provided by their position to attempt to influence families toward their religion of choice by overemphasizing and predominantly selecting particular religious music.  I've seen this happen.

The Vital Information

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• Religious music, particularly that of Catholic nature, has had an undeniable impact on the development of western music.  Since performing music is a very effective way to learn about music, never performing religious music is akin to never viewing religious works of art in Art History class or never discussing the Protestant reformation in World History.
• In accordance with the above reasoning, the National Association for Music Education states clearly, "The omission of sacred music from the school curriculum would result in an incomplete educational experience."
• There is a robust legal guide that all teachers should be aware of: The Lemon Test.  This is a test established by the U.S. Supreme Court that, if met by a decision or situation, almost guarantees that no violation of the principle of separation of church and state has occurred.  According to this test, an action is acceptable if it (1) has a secular purpose, (2) has a primarily secular effect, and (3) avoids excessive entanglement with religion.

The Solution

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Choral directors should always explicitly determine the academic and musical benefits of teaching a particular song.  They must do this for themselves when selecting the music, and they must explain it to students as well (especially if asked).  If the benefits do not meet the Lemon Test, or if they are redundant relative to another selection, the song should be put aside.

This simple habit does everything necessary.  It prevents the promotion or inhibition of religion, it prepares a director with explanations that meet community or administrative demands, and it guarantees the inclusion of educationally beneficial secular music.  Beyond that which is necessary, it also helps teachers meet curriculum guidelines, it helps to balance the educational emphases of a program, and it provides students with an awareness of what they are meant to be learning.

You're welcome.

More Funny Stories / Inspirational Stories / An Update

(If you haven't already seen my first set of funny stories, check it out, too.)

1. In addition to "Mr. Bowtie," "The Bow Tie Guy," "Metal Guy," and "Mr. Ninja," I am apparently also called "The Pirate Guy."  A group of 10th graders at one school seems to have come up with that due to my long hair and ear piercings.  As thrilling as it would be to magically meet an old-fashioned pirate, meeting one who wears a bow tie would suitably fulfill my life.  Furthermore, I was recently talking to a student at "Pirate Guy" school about how she knew a lot of students at "Ninja Guy" school.  I told her that a couple students their call me "Mr. Ninja" and she said, "Those are my friends!"  Hm.  Small world.

2. I got asked to prom.  No, really.  Yes, by a student.  There are times when, after discovering that singing is my primary musical focus, students convince me to sing something for them.  On this day I had a class split into two adjacent rooms so that they'd have enough computers to use, and while singing for one room, those in the other came to the door to listen.  One of those girls, just before leaving class said, "Mr. Duval, I haven't found a date for prom yet and I think you would be perfect."  Stunned, wary, and unavoidably flattered, I said "No thanks, I'm afraid I can't do that.  Good luck."  It's really too bad I couldn't sing this well when I in high school.

3. I was in a cafeteria walking by a table of students that had just had a class with me.  One girl asked me where I was from and then, "Did you fly?" whilst comically flapping her arms like little wings.  "Yes, but I had to flap a lot faster than that," I said.  That joke earned laughs and led to her repeating the gesture each time she saw me that day (which was often, due to an assembly), which I responded to with direct imitation.  Plenty of other students laughed when their sub flapped his arms awkwardly in the halls.

4. At the same table, a student asked a question more ridiculous than the classic "Are you smart?"  This one asked, "Are you old?"

5. I'm not sure if this counts as "funny":  I was substituting for a middle school when I was confronted with some questions that I never expect to hear again...multiple times.  In one class, a student walked in and said to me, "You're creepy." Another soon asked, "Are you famous?"  I said "No, have you seen me on TV or something?" and the student's response was, "You look like a serial killer."  In a later class of a different grade, I was told, "You look creepy."  As if this weren't enough, the next day (in a new, hopefully less frightening bow tie), I was walking through the front door of the building and a girl whispered to her friend, "He's scary," as I walked by.  Such things have never happened at any other school or at that school again since that 24-hour series.

6. The second time subbing for a particular high school was filled with unexpected and flattering praise.  Just before a first period study hall began, a student that was in my class the previous week walked in and flat-out yelped with glee when he saw me.  Hmm.  Other students were also quite pleased (though not quite as vocal) to see me.  Yes, this happens to plenty of good subs, but I was particularly surprised to see this my second day in a school.  During a fire drill later in the day another teacher said, "Hey, you're that sub they keep talking about."  I am?  Apparently so.  Reputations spread quickly at that place.

7. Particularly after singing, I have had a number of students talk to me about becoming music majors.  I love opportunities to talk to students about finding and pursuing their passion(s).

8. There have been two incredible days this semester.  The first was when two music teachers had subs; I for band, and a non-musician for choir.  I had the chance to give input to a couple choirs and wound up conducting a few pieces.  The students and I all had so much fun because they responded to my suggestions, critiques, and conducting gestures.  That kind of ensembleship (pretend that's a word) is what makes music education unlike anything else, and it absolutely made my week.  The second was when I was subbing for a [different] choir teacher and worked with a wonderfully receptive choir.  I just talked about it, though I neglected to mention the amazingly inspirational moment at the end of that day; about five students walked to me and shook my hand as they were leaving class.  I couldn't believe it.  To any students out there, if you want to make a teacher feel appreciated, do that — shake your teacher's hand and say, "Thank you."

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Finally, an update.  I've moved to a nearby state for the summer to a place where I can practice piano incessantly, attempt to accomplish a lot of my self-assigned "summer reading list," and apply for a lot of jobs.  I'll continue to blog, as I have a few in the draft phase and fully expect to find other research and current events to discuss.

A portion of my list.  I've yet to purchase a few.

A Brief Revolutionary Thought

Today I was discussing with a fellow educator and friend the differences between an inner-city school district that we know and other districts we've worked in.  I ended up making an analogy that I think works incredibly well, and I want to make sure I've recorded it for reference and remembrance.

Foundational to the philosophy of the United States' government is the idea that the legitimacy of the government is derived from the consent of the governed.  Instead of power being seized and enforced by force or inheritance, it is granted only voluntarily by the people as a group.  This bottom-up idea was, while not entirely new, revolutionary when applied.

Education is not much different.  The value of education can only be transferred to those who consent to be educated.  People have tried, and most of our educational system is built around this old method, to educate by force.  Yes, knowledge can be gained when it is forced, but such a case is analogous to order gained by force; it isn't nearly as legitimate and valuable as that gained by consent.

I experienced the success of a class that consented to be educated today.  I worked with a choir that, while done with their performances for the year, was so receptive that they let me "experiment" with vocal warmups, which we did for 30+ minutes!  I taught them a few vowel symbols of the International Phonetic Alphabet, about some vowel modification, about diphthongs, and more, because they consented to be educated.  It was awesome.

12/13

We had the choir perform all of their songs on kazoos (which were needed for my selection) today.  This was very funny, especially when solo/duet moments arrived.

General Music went fairly well, overall.  I ran a great class with a great lecture for the first two classes; one good enough to have been observed by an administrator (even though I...*ahem*...improvised the whole thing).  Unfortunately, I never realize soon enough that a lesson will be particularly good and observation-worthy, so I've never done as highly-recommended and invited a principal to observe me.  It's my last week and I'm starting to tag-team-teach with Mrs. D, so that chance has passed.  Oops.

The last class drives me crazy!  I can't do a simple activity with them without watching them all goof off in a fit of ridiculousness and immaturity!  I once said, "Great, I'm glad you can all clap a beat at the level of second-graders," and they got the point for, oh...about 3.7 seconds.  One of them was scheduled for a detention today (but fear of that did nothing to make her act better today, I moved her seat twice and Mrs. D yelled at her, too).  I had a chat with her that should make a difference.  I might be too optimistic.

I joined a group of teachers in a friendly competition against the Quiz Bowl team of the high school.  They destroyed us in the first round, but we beat them heartily in the second two.  I completely embarrassed myself once by not answering a question about which I was only 99% confident (it was, in short, "Who composed the opera 'Tosca'?" (the answer is Puccini)).  I redeemed myself later with a few other composer questions.  That was fun.


Op.23 Prelude #6 in G minor (S. Rachmaninoff) - Yuri Rozum

12/9

The trip with the show choir was essentially a success, and a good time was had by all.  We performed at 3 locations and went to a mall for lunch.  I spent most of the day downing cough drops, and I learned a few things...

Always bring a keyboard.  Our contacts at one location said to us that they had a piano we could use, but it turned out to be horrifically out of tune (seriously, think of the pianos you hear in horror films) and in a bad location.  Fortunately, we had an electronic keyboard with us (that we did need for another location) and were able to use that.

Try not to let the students sing on the bus.  Mrs. D is very relaxed about these sorts of things, but I'm convinced that the noise of a bus engine and its movement on a highway are so significant (yet subtle) that anyone who sings, over-sings (unavoidably).  It tires out voices, and I could sort of tell by the last performance (some singers were tending flat at lower pitches than previously).

I'm not sure what kind of "lesson" I gleaned here, but I had an interesting experience with one piece.  One of my selections is their most difficult, and I hadn't quite finished teaching it to them.  After the first performance, during which they did not sing this piece, we had time for me to teach them the rest.  So we had a crash course and they did pretty well, but we didn't have the kind of repetition that one gets in real rehearsals to even identify every issue.  Both performances of this piece later in the day were adequate; there were great moments, and there were moments that they barely got through.  Oddly, I was pleased, but if I were performing with my HS select choir and we did equally well, I would be downright embarrassed, even angry.  These are good singers — they deserve to have more rehearsals (and those who come to every one deserve to have ensemble-mates that do the same).

We got back to the school in time for the detention that I had scheduled.  The damn kid didn't show up.  Now he has an office referral and a fuming teacher; one who will find him wherever he is held (ISS or some other detention, I don't yet know) and give him the same talk that I had planned to give him today. Also, I picked up shards of broken PEN from the MS room's floor today, not just of a pencil!  I collected that and other trash to use as fodder for a lecture on respect.

We also returned to the HS to find that the Theory kids had drawn funny/weird things all over the board in the choir room.  I was quite amused.  I'm also really looking forward to showing them some musical demos that I have for them tomorrow.  I hope to post those links tomorrow :)

12/8

I'm still sick, and though I managed to make it through yesterday, I didn't make it past 2nd period today when Mrs. D told me that I should go home.

The timing is bearable; the General Music classes are just watching a movie (they all selected West Side Story, by the way).  I was also able to get through a morning observation (my final one) just fine.

We had a HS choir rehearsal that [intentionally] extended into the next class period today, which meant that I couldn't do much with Theory.  It extended further than I expected though — I ended up with no time at all for Theory.  This, too, is bearable, but less fortunate when the context of tomorrow is considered.  I will be going with the show choir on an all-day trip, and we'll have a sub at the school.  There will be 3/5 Theory students there (2 are coming on the trip) and several variables have conspired to make it ridiculous for me to include anything in the lesson plan for the sub that really has to do with Theory.  We think that a neighboring music teacher will have something for them to do, otherwise they'll have a study hall.  Hm.  C'est la vie.

12/7 - War and Peace

The MS choir has been driving us a little crazy.  When, in our last rehearsal before performing, they look at us like we're crazy when we ask them who sings a section of a song first and who joins later, we worry.

We performed for the school at an assembly today...and were embarrassed.  Mrs. D had to tell students on stage to stop talking, then she had to start a song over because of a non-functional beginning.  Soon enough, the assistant principal had to remove three girls from our choir (from stage) because they were talking so much.

The assistant principal, Mrs. D, and I all spoke to each of those girls, one at a time, after the assembly.  On a tangential note, the assistant principal tore into the students with wording that was slightly beyond the harshness that I expected, or that I was entirely in agreement with.  I'm either still a softie or he was in a really bad mood.  Maybe both.

We had another complete rehearsal with the choir at the end of school, which allowed us to prepare for the public concert this evening.  The singers told us that other students said they "sucked," and we just looked blankly at them.  Mrs. D lectured to them about how being disruptive is not cute (a phrase inspired by a boy whose cuteness gets him a pass on misbehavior) and how they didn't "show up to sing."  I added on to this by providing two solutions for the issues brought up.  First, as students who've been in my classes know I like to do, I told them that they need to give an honest effort, and that would solve the musical symptoms of not showing up to sing.  Second, I told them to relax and be confident, and that would resolve the musical symptoms of being anxious.  I know it's easier said than done, but I had to.

After all of that, we started to sing.  Mrs. D gave the pitches for the first song, and WOW!  It all came together!  I didn't know these students could sing so well.  It was confident, in tune, and focused.  We were amazed.  This ended up being a stunning rehearsal.

The concert went better than the assembly, though not quite as good as the rehearsal.  Overall, they stepped up and I was proud of them.  Mrs. D had warned me that middle school choir is like a box of chocolates.  You never—

12/3

Mrs. D went with the show choir on a trip today, but I joined them in the morning for a rehearsal.  Many things are coming together, and we even did some work on my selection (which they're not yet performing) and I was able to address fancy things like articulation and attack.  That was nice.

The rest of the day was filled with guitar quizzes.  I did consciously choose to approach them in a way that allowed the students a lot of socializing time.  This allowed me to observe who can control themselves when given some freedom and who can't.  Well, I learned confirmed that the entirety (save one) of the last class of the day cannot handle themselves.  The substitute that joined me today and I had an interesting discussion about the teams in this school before these kids arrived, and I warned her that this group sees music class as a recess.  I ended up giving a detention to a girl who REALLY needs one.

Regarding the one exception to rowdiness in that class: this girl confuses me.  She's the goth type, and I've never given it much of a thought until today.  I see her sit in class and methodically drape her hair to shade her face from the world as it dangles from her slouched head and neck (I've also seen her write dark poetry (that needs work, but seems like a nice outlet) on the back of papers that are handed in).  Sometimes she participates in discussion; once she was insightful, but since then her thoughts have been tepid.  Today, during our one-on-one guitar quiz, she seemed, perhaps, depressed, but it was extremely hard to distinguish possible mental anguish from simple lower-functioning capacity of applying knowledge than I expected (she could barely understand that a melody I wanted her to play had more than three notes in it).  I'll ask Mrs. D tomorrow what she thinks; I can't figure out if I should be worried or if I should just roll my eyes.

12/1

I'm a little sad that it took me so long to figure out how to establish rapport with this choir (humor), but I think I'm moderately succeeding at this point.  I think they'll be able to accomplish everything they need to to succeed with the piece I'm directing.

On the other hand, I've developed such a comfortable rapport with Theory that they're starting to joke around more than I would like.  They wasted class time today by constantly chatting (Mrs. D even chimed in on occasion, surely to help me realize that I'm losing my sway), but part of the reason they continued is because they want material presented to them faster.  Since that last test (that they bombed!), I've slowed down dramatically to allow them to catch up to the skill level I expected.  My struggle now is that 4/5 students want to move along faster, while one is still falling behind.  I think I'm going to offer tutoring sessions for him and then increase the pace of class by a little.

Today's guitar lesson went well with the first class, fine with the second class, and terribly with the third.  During the third, I even vaguely mentioned that I've started giving detentions and that I am no longer "Mr. Nice Guy," and one of the boys that I was going to give a slip to (though he didn't know it yet) said "detentions don't work."  I said, "I suppose I'll find out," and when I gave him his slip at the end of class, he barely looked at it, mumbled some sort of "ok" and walked away.  Weird.  I've also acknowledged to them that I will treat them like 3rd graders, as that's how they're acting, and have been writing names and checkmarks on the board.  Every educator-professor I've had has said that students don't like seeing their names up on a board, but these kids practically enjoyed it.  They like the attention and I could barely get the technique to be effective.  These detentions should theoretically impact the whole class, but I have my doubts.  It seems I'm going to have to get really creative in order to keep them under control and still not resort to anything educationally counterproductive.


Long Outstretched Pier With Its Shadows - Xuefei Yang

11/30

I must be brief, I need sleep.

The song that I'm conducting in HS Choir requires the use of kazoos, which we handed out today.  That was a riot.  We have very few rehearsals left until our concert, and we still have a lot to do.

I brought out guitars today.  Oy.

I also wrote out my first and second detention slips today (to be delivered to students tomorrow).  Mrs. D was proud, and I really needed the opportunity and guts to deliver such a punishment.  This "teacher detention" is more old-fashioned than I thought schools tried to be.  In a week, each of these students will stay after school in my classroom and I get to tell them what to do (within reasonable and legal limits, of course).  One student left a mess on the floor and is also consistently disruptive; I plan on having him pick up floor trash and then (maybe) have him write a note to the janitorial staff...or just sit.  The other one seriously owes himself some time to reflect on his uncontrolled and bullying behavior, so I will provide him that time.  Of course, I still have a week to think about this.  I really dislike punishing kids, but in these cases I slightly enjoy the "that oughta teach 'em a lesson!" feeling.


Immigrant Song - Led Zeppelin
Communication Breakdown - Led Zeppelin

11/17

I was very glad to have Mrs. D back today for choir, as a pianist and consultant.

After Theory, Mrs. D pointed out to me that one student has been getting more disrespectful toward me.  I hadn't noticed, which seems like a pretty disappointing oversight of mine considering the mere five students in the class.

Have you ever tried to explain ledger lines to a 12-year old with a learning disability?  How about 28 at once?  Such a feat isn't rocket science...it's harder.

Hourglass Nebula

I forgot to mention a great teaching moment from yesterday.  We have many posters up in our room, and one of them is of the hourglass nebula.  It came up in conversation and the students asked me what a nebula is.  Well, I explained it, as well as answered other tangential questions, and managed to keep the conversation under five minutes while still getting their minds spinning.  I love those moments.

I can't seem to find a previously blogged explanation of a significant part of my educational philosophy as it relates to moments like that (Edit: Found it, 9/1).  I find it extremely valuable for students to see their teacher as more than a container of knowledge on one subject, but instead as a more complete person who knows about other things, too.  The best manifestation of this is when I'm able to connect something from another subject to music, but times when I get to briefly teach them about something completely unrelated are still very satisfying.


The Boxer - Carbon Leaf

11/15

There's a newly hired  sheriff  administrator in town whose job covers the yet-dealt-with office referrals we've submitted.  Two of the girls were not in Choir today and things went better (they did get in a physical fights, after all).  I'm being optimistic...for now.

I conceded today that I am prone to making Theory tests/quizzes too difficult.  I try to keep them short, and in doing so choose to skip questions of medium difficulty and include a couple easy ones and many hard ones instead.  Related to this, I discussed with a friend today the exam that we had to take for state certification in music; it was very challenging, but we consider it to have been a well-made exam because it had enough foundational/easier questions to establish that understanding before using the difficult questions as the real measures of who is advanced and who is not.  I've constructed a moderately elaborate scheme to get these students' test grades up, including providing them with some much more extensive and repetitive skill-building exercises.  Practice is as vital to Theory as Math, and I haven't given them enough.

The General Music class that I expected to be the slowest to progress is keeping up quite well.  All of the classes did an excellent job absorbing my lecture and applying it to a worksheet that I made for them.  I'm a little bit proud of them, and hope that their understanding is demonstrated in the next quiz better than the last one (which had a 0% - 100% bell curve).

It's almost 10:00 and time to go grade workbooks, create exercises, create worksheets, and create lesson plans for tomorrow.

Music Education (Part 2) and Supplementary Reflection

Continued from Part 1

It takes a village to raise a choir.  Sure, there are those who are motivated toward musical achievement without the encouragement of friends, family, and their community, but filling a choir with motivated singers does require broader support.  However, if I were to continue on that path of reasoning, my conclusions of "everyone just needs to be encouraged" would apply no differently to music than to any other subject.

Currently, the particular form of communal perception of music that I think is needed is esteem.  When students and communities admire musical accomplishments, a wealth of intrinsic motivation arrives.  You've read my stories about students who approach choir almost no different than study hall, and you've read about situations which diminish the potential of the ensemble but end with the blame falling on a director who is often unfairly powerless.  If students joined choir out of a respect for what can be done with the ensemble, these issues wouldn't be present.  In order for that to happen, a change in perception of the entire school community — students, parents, teachers, and administrators — needs to occur.

I do think that other teachers and administrators respect this choral program, but what we really need is a second choir.  Now, the show choir is already made up of motivated students, and they've built a reputation by performing locally, but we need another during-school choir.  The most successful choral programs that I've seen are built around setting "the bar" higher and higher.  There needs to be a beginning choir that includes music-reading education and establishes proper choral habits (beginning rehearsal on time, focusing on the music, warming up with purpose, etc.), and then an advanced/older choir that is prepared to be challenged into creating music that is deeply worth listening to.  That kind of achievement is the pinnacle of music education because it educates more than the students, but also the community.  Music teachers should see music as a cultural necessity and devote themselves to its development.  In order for them to most readily succeed in that goal, however, the support of esteem for music needs to be omnipresent.




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Supplement to 11/12


During the first major incident, Mrs. D and I were told that "perception is an issue," and I conceded that the girls involved are all of the same ethnicity.  It's impossible at this point not to wonder if the lack of discipline is due to an avoidance of disciplining a group of students of minority ethnicity.  The worst part of this apparent reverse discrimination isn't, to me, the unfair treatment involved (though that itself is detestable), but that it ends up fueling racism in the student body.  It is mentally so easy (instinctive, perhaps) to allow the feeling of "Why are they getting preferential treatment?" to turn into a judgement of those are are benefiting from the reverse discrimination and the ethnic/religious/cultural group that they fit into.

While listening to a group of students talk about their frustration with this event, one perceptive student said, "It almost makes me feel racist," in reference to the illogical application of judgement that I just explained.  Reverse discrimination doesn't just manifest in unfair treatment, it also quite effectively reverses the progress we have made against the rampant discriminatory racism of the past.

11/12

I am so glad it's Friday.

All of those intra-group-fighting girls were in Choir today with absolutely no recourse taken for anything.  The other students are so frustrated that they passed around a petition (which Mrs. D saw and stopped) to the administration to deal with the persistent and pervasive disruptions.  We were able to rehearse, and then...well, I need to censor details here for the sake of anonymity...the administration wants to blame our classroom management instead of addressing the infractions already reported.  Just before we left the HS for the day we heard that one of the girls just about started a fight in a hall and had to be restrained by multiple adults.  Are they waiting for someone to get punched?

There is some serious reflection that I have regarding this issue, but I need to take a break before writing it out.  I'll include it as part of a "Music Education Pt. 2" post that I hereby promise to write this weekend.

I put an extra credit question on the Theory test for today that stated, "Draw something," and I got to see some funny illustrations (one of them had a picture of me yelling "Pupil!" which is funny if you remember that story).

I had some success in the General Music classes today (I taught the basic history of western notation), except the last class hadn't taken yesterday's quiz yet, so I had to try to get that out of the way.  Too bad for us that two minutes after I handed out the quiz, a fire drill began.  The drill took the rest of the class.  Now they're two days behind!  Sweet.

11/11

We lost an entire freakin' choir rehearsal today because those disruptive girls were about to brawl (I tried to think of a way to write that sentence in a way that sounded appropriately seething, but I couldn't).  I'm seething (see?).  The story goes that there was almost a fight yesterday that didn't happen, so it apparently boiled over into this morning and choir began with these girls yelling colorful expletives so that everyone could hear them.  We spent the class with me monitoring the room while Mrs. D took certain participants to the office one-by-one.

That wasn't the worst part, though.  After all of the discipline write-ups Mrs. D did, they are still, according to the web-based discipline system, unread (in fact, so are the write-ups from the last significant incident)!  We have no idea (again) what to expect tomorrow.  I am being generous in saying that administrative action regarding these girls leaves something to be desired.

I was able to give 2/3 General Music classes a quiz today (the 3rd wasted too much time during our review session).  I read the quiz to them and allowed them to use their notes for the last 3 minutes of quiz-taking time, and many of them did terribly.  The learning support teachers present in these two classes were in support of my methods, and I will be working with them to make sure I only give bad grades to the students that deserve them for not giving an effort, and that I find a way to enable those who suffered due to disability a proper chance to succeed.

If anyone ever asks you to differentiate instruction for 26 special education students, run.

11/9 - I Don't Think People Should Use Ellipses

Today began with me expressing frustration about students wasting time in choir.  Mrs. D seemed to agree and announced some moderate rule changes.  I hope they work.

Theory surprised me today by sparking a stressful philosophical dilemma in my mind, though I should ultimately recognize my role in sparking the spark...

I played a video clip from Glee for them to discuss (with an emphasis on the song, of course).  One of the responses I received was, "I would have liked it better without the gay guy......because I don't think people should be gay."  Another student immediately said, "Nice, someone who agrees with me."  I was downright stupefied, and without another glance starting rambling about the production of the a capella tuning in the song.  My mind, however, immediately reached a conflict...

When does a subject become more political than ethical, thus rendering it inappropriate for classroom conversation or teacher input?  Where is the line between culturally standard ethical viewpoints (which teachers are expected to uphold) and something controversial enough to be either political or religious (which teachers are expected to avoid)?  I think I can elaborate by describing two short [and true] stories that have happened recently...

1. A student said, in a conversation with another, "That's retarded!"  I interjected with the requisite seriousness and explained that using a word that legitimately describes an inherent characteristic of certain people as an insult is very disrespectful and insulting towards those who the speaker didn't intend to target.  The student (and those nearby) seemed to understand what I was saying, and I didn't hear it from anyone in the class again.
2. A student said, in a conversation with another, "That's so gay!"  I interjected with the requisite seriousness and explained that using a word that legitimately describes an inherent characteristic of certain people as an insult is very disrespectful and insulting towards those who the speaker didn't intend to target.  The student (and those nearby) seemed to understand what I was saying, and I didn't hear it from anyone in the class again.

In both of the above situations, someone made a comment that is, by my understanding of our culture, ethically incorrect, and as a teacher I was completely within my responsibilities to point this out and thus help the student develop into a more upstanding citizen.  However, as in today's event, when a student makes a direct statement about not liking homosexuality, I am caught in a position where I am expected not to address the comment since the student's perspective is religiously (and perhaps politically) motivated.  That almost seems like a logical place to "draw the line", but, quite seriously, what if the student had said, "I would have liked it better without the retarded guy......because I don't think people should be retarded," instead?

I know, I can hear the arguments, the most likely being, "That analogy is no good because no one thinks that retarded people choose to be retarded, whereas some people do think that people can choose to be gay."  My rebuttal: it doesn't matter what group of people I used as analogous to homosexuals, the speaker is still declaring an illogical and insulting attitude toward a group of people, and isn't that something that our educators should battle against?

I have learned to be even more careful in my selection of materials, because, evidently, some high school students are prohibited by their parents from watching such things as Glee (on the other hand, these students have also told me about the controversial readings they've done in English class (is controversial material only fair game for English teachers?)).  I have also learned that the "line" that I'm looking for is a squiggly one.  My ethics hurt.

We worked with just the boys in MS choir today.  Not all of them showed up, and the ones that did were so constantly distracted that it was more difficult to keep them quiet than my rowdiest class.


(Since I would typically link to my Theory selection here, I'll tell you instead that revealing the exact clip that I played for theory would distract from everything above, so I'm keeping it secret.)

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Edit:

What if I were gay?  I'd have to keep my mouth shut, at least in this district.  As a student teacher, schools have no legal pressure to keep me around.  Also important, however, is that before tenure, schools cannot dismiss teachers in discriminatory ways, but they also don't have to provide a reason for not offering a teacher a new contract after their current one ends.  As a non-tenured teacher in this area, I would probably have to silently endure comments like that (even tenured teachers often keep silent, because there are indirect ways to lose one's job for having a characteristic that a community disapproves of).  If I were open to everyone else about my orientation, the school in which I teach would be the final place of necessary secrecy.

I know of no one who feels the need to flaunt their orientation (except for some extreme homophobes), because nobody should care — but the idea that one would (and many do) have to resist standing up for themselves in order to keep their job is appalling.

11/8

I know I'm new to this, but I'm no stranger to fundamental blogging etiquette.  Last weekend, Hemant Mehta of Friendly Atheist made a post specifically about my "Are you Christian or Catholic?" story, and linked to me.  So I shall link to him and wish a belated welcome to the plethora of visitors from his site (and the occasional others that picked up the link).  A rather productive conversation has been had in the comment thread of that post regarding what and how topics like this should be approached in various educational settings.  This is a valuable conversation for members of every community to have, and I'm honored to have played a part.

It's almost too bad that the student who asked this will never know (or at least not for a long time) the effect she had.

Continuing with my daily reflections and updates, we completed the first major step of learning my HS Choir selection; we've introduced each voice part to their notes throughout the entire piece.  Soon I'll find out how well they can hold onto their pitches without the support of the piano.  It is, after all, an a capella piece.

I tried to present something from a computer in Theory today but didn't bring the adapter that I needed with me, so I said "get out your workbooks" instead.  After looking at the workbook, however, I decided that it didn't have the right kind of exercises, so I made up my own on the board, passed out staff paper, and had them work on those for the rest of class (with other things mixed in).  I recovered from two planning mishaps, and plan C worked well :)

I got the General Music classes lined up!  Yes!  Now the chaos of conference week (with early dismissals) will be easier to bear.

I did some successful work on my selection with the sopranos of the MS choir this afternoon.  I hope they remember at least half of what they learned today by the time they rehearse again next week.

I also introduced the HS Show Choir to my selection for them.  They seem to like it, but the piece is a definite challenge.  I wish that we could meet more than once a week...ah, well.


Up To Me - Jethro Tull

11/5

My piece in Choir is coming along, though there's this one section with tricky (and humorous) rhythm that completely threw off the guys (the only ones with music written during this part)...especially the tenors.

I'm starting to get fairly out of sync with my three GM classes.  In previous weeks, when something slightly different occurred in one class, I could easily remember it the next day and adapt.  Now, though, I find myself asking the class what they have written down from the day before, because they're all in different places.  Much of this isn't my fault (repeating fire drill procedures, unexpected code red drills, wildly differing capabilities and behaviors...), so I'm saying, "C'est la vie," but hoping to do better...soon.

I finally got to go over that difficult quiz with the theory student who was absent when we finished doing so in class.  He is struggling, so it turned into quite a tutoring session.  I'm trying not to baby him, because he is definitely motivated, but he guesses when I ask him questions that the other students began to consider rudimentary weeks ago.  I'm hoping that with the right exercises, some tutoring time, and clear encouragement to spend some time on musictheory.net, he'll pass comfortably.


The Cave - Mumford & Sons

11/4

I'm starting to be understood by the choir, I think.  Starting to.

I'm making some pretty significant departures from the workbook we're using in Theory.  Its sequencing has students learning about dominant 7th chords before learning to distinguish major and minor triads.  That's just silly.

In the last GM class, a class discussion led from languages into questions about where I'm from, and a student decided to ask me, "Are you Christian or Catholic?"  I managed to resist addressing the glaring semantic issues of the question and answer, "I'm not comfortable  answering questions about religion."  Many in the class were shocked but I moved on quickly.  How many other teachers would have answered without hesitation?  In this school, I think many would.  Should they feel comfortable answering such questions?  I think we all should be, but there's absolutely no way that a person with a response outside of the mainstream wouldn't be at great risk of backlash.

In fact, I'm so nervous about exposing an answer to questions of my religion that I avoided (and once deleted in the paragraph above) an admission of where I stand out of fear that some day someone from this district (except Mrs. D) would read this blog.  Well, I'm an atheist, and I say so to take one very small step toward the freedom to admit who one is in a classroom setting.  Now I'm just hoping this doesn't come back to bite me before tenure protects me from discrimination someday.

At today's faculty meeting we watched an old video dramatizing a story about a cipher (not a concealed message, but a student who is left behind as meaningless) who dies, and whose death awakens the perspective of one of his past teachers to realizing that it is abhorrent to set a role for a student and then treat them according to it for years on end, effectively ignoring their development and needs.  Well, I think the school district in which I work does an excellent job of avoiding allowing students to become ciphers.  Usually this is a result of things outside of school that can't be controlled, but the in-school approach of the faculty seems quite effective.  There are a couple of students that come to mind when considering those who not only don't have a network of friends, but are also considered slow by teachers and often have frightening out-of-school personal histories.  I think we're doing the best job that we can.

When considering such a topic, I come to consider this as well: not only are educators expected to be guides toward success for students who self-motivate, but we are also expected to cover the other end of the spectrum — we are to be the safety net for students who are left behind by their family and community.  Don't think for a moment that I'm whining; I am proud to take on both of these responsibilities (and everything in between).  I just want non-educators to know that it's a lot of weight.


Too Late Now - Yonder Mountain String Band

11/3

I was observed while directing the choir today.  I did better than yesterday (with my new understandings), and am beginning to convince myself to feel optimistic (though I know that phrasing makes me sound bitter...give me a break, it's late).

I finally got to play another discussion-worthy piece for Theory today.  It's from one of my favorite movies, Les Choristes, so we ended up talking about that a little bit, too.  It was also an exciting lesson because I introduced them to triads.  I just get giddy thinking about how they're catching a glimpse of approaching theory as if it were a ship approaching from the horizon — they can make out its general shape and purpose, but have no idea of the detail and grandeur that will eventually arrive.

The 1st GM class of the day is essentially a full day ahead of the rest.  Tomorrow, however, I will begin lecturing on the first unit, and am preparing myself for a slowing of pace.  The last class of the day $&#*ed up our practice fire drill.  They talked and goofed off and one even rudely imitated me calling her name when going through the roster outside.  I was mad, and I think they caught on when I told them that they were so disrespectful that we'll do it again tomorrow.

Oh, fine.  I'll provide some pedagogical reflection.  I vacillate on my thoughts of the function of punishment in class.  It's very easy to mistakenly create a punishment out of something that shouldn't be viewed that way by a student.  Practicing a fire drill, for example...if they think of it as a punishment, am I risking having students think more about negative things than about safety when a real evacuation has to occur?  Furthermore, I strive to educate them on much more than just music; I would like them to understand the why of procedures like this.  If I don't see value in it, why should they?  Lastly, when I get angry, I inspire (or at least signal that I want to inspire) fear from them.  Fear = not educationally beneficial.  If, instead (and more likely suited to my personality), I am disappointed, I inspire guilt in them.  Guilt = not a feeling a student should have when entering a classroom.  Ultimately, I think Mrs. D would remind me how quickly students get over things like that, and that swift punishment is vital to preventing a disruptable/distractable environment.


La Nuit (from Les Choristes by Bruno Coulais)