The Purpose of PLCs - Interpreted by a Singleton

This year was my first year in a Professional Learning Community (PLC) and honestly I didn't enjoy it at all. Why you might ask? First, I was a middle school music educator, attending a high school hodgepodge PLC with an art teacher, TAG teacher, Technology/Teacher Librarian, a couple Spanish teachers, the instrumental music teacher, and the vocal music teacher. Now this may sound find and dandy, but let me tell you the struggles. First the culture was one of negativity, pessimism, and was deemed "The Island of Misfit Toys". Honestly, we were. It was rough. I'm typically a positive person, searching to stay on task with the task at hand and follow the norms. However, I found that we were talking about different topics, like HS standardized test scores or what to do with the HS's study hall?

How does this relate to what a PLC is supposed to be? It really doesn't. PLC's are designed to have content teams, grade alike teams, building teams, and others that share the same students to work through curriculum development, common formative assessment, and helping each other improve their instruction. Unfortunately I felt that it didn't work that way. The primary reason for this was because I was, what the faculty at Solution Tree called a "singleton". A singleton is an educator that is the only one that teaches their content with a specific grade level.

I have learned that being a singleton isn't really a bad thing, and to a degree doesn't really exist. I am the only one teacher middle school band/choir at my school, but that's okay because I should be able to collaborate with team members of either speciality content (district level music department), or one of the sessions considered using Skype and other technological tools to connect with teachers that have the same position.

My big take aways and hopes for this upcoming school year:
1. Meet as a music department and determine essential outcomes. In music there should be a PreK-12 curriculum, that is changed and altered to align with Common Core Standards created by the National Association for Music Education. These standards are shared to give us framework, a presence among our "core" content area teachers, and are flexible enough to be tailored to our instruction.

2. Once those essential outcomes are determined, why not work as a department on some common formative assessment. Music educators have data as well - if you look at my concert footage, or my lesson binder, you will be able to recognize students that are struggling and where I have attempted to put interventions in place. We should meet at our weekly or bimonthly meets to share out data and see if there are better ways to teach. I know, I know, we all struggle with putting ourselves out there for critique, but I, like many others need to step aside and let students be the driving force, the reason for what we teach.

3. I want to become more cross-curricular. Duh! Music is already an interdisciplinary course, why not use that to the students' advantage? I think a physics teacher should consult with a music teacher to talk about sound, perhaps the anatomy and physiology teacher could consult with a choir director about vocal help... and the list goes on and on.

After leaving the PLC institute today I felt a sense of clarity, a sense of fear, and a revived purpose for teaching. Clarity was given through learning about what the proper PLC process is supposed to be. Fear is because there will be push back. Purpose is my drive. This is the reason why I'm moving to Standards-Based Grading next year. I need to look at essential outcomes and learning targets, create assessments, and strive to allow students to grow as musicians and as students.

TGZ

At-Risk vs. Underserved

Today at the PLC Institute provided by Solution Tree, my thinking was challenged. When a teacher thinks about students that are labelled at-risk, what do they think of? Their home life? Mental Health?  Parental support? A slew of negative thoughts tend to rush to my head, then, I hate to admit it, but a groan may come out. Now I don't want my readers to get on their high horse and judge, but rather reflect. When Kenneth Williams asked the entire session to share with a partner something positive about those "at-risk" students you could hear the crickets chirp. However, after we listed characteristics of "at-risk" we then listed students deemed "underserved". Underserved students were categorized to be under the umbrella of special needs, ELL, and an array of other potential issues.

Now that you've thought about it... What's the difference? Students labeled "at-risk" are done so with a negative connotation... But think about it. How many of those factors can the students control? Very few to none, many would think. We can't control those either. Look at the underserved characteristics, how can we help those students. Through the use of carefully planned and structure interventions, the students that are underserved will have greater chances for success.

In other words, the reason for this post, was merely to share my soon to be altered thinking and my challenge readers to look at the students with the rough home lives, and stop making excuses for them. We can do this through helping them leave their worries at the door because they come to school to learn, to improve, to move forward in life. Helping students realize that they can shape their destiny is important. I came from a broken home, with divorce, and a slew of other issues, but I'm here because of my choices to improve and not make the same mistakes. Let's reach out and do the same for our underserved students. 

Shaping Sound Musicians - Ch. 4 "Assessment"

While working on my Capstone project I decided to continue reading Patricia O'Tool's, Shaping Sound Musicians. I've learned a lot so far and I'm not even through the chapter yet! I'm going to share some quotes and elaborate on personal feelings and ideas that relate to those quotes.

"Music teachers are good at assessing, but we need to improve at providing students with systematic feedback, involving students in assessing their own learning, and developing meaningful criteria for grades."

This hits the nail right on the head. I have found that I'm okay at identifying problems and assessing what students are doing well, or could improve, but I still struggle with providing that feedback in a meaningful way. I also, need to allow students to express their feelings in a way that they use music specific vocabulary and are sharing in a positive environment. In the past, I've had students perhaps say, "that sucked", or perhaps something that pointed out a specific student. While attempting to address that, I need to teach how to properly assess inward and outward.

Music courses are typically assessed through attendance, attitude, and behavior. Our focus should rather be gaining musical knowledge, growing as a performer, and performing with understanding.

This is a loosely taken and is a paraphrased quote, but it's a true statement. How do you assess a class that is performance oriented? Typically the practice has been to assess students on whether or not they were in rehearsal, trying their best, whether or not they had their instrument, and a slew of other factors. After thinking about this issue, the challenge is going to be assessing these important factors that help students remain successful in rehearsal, but also, making sure that that "grade" is effectively communicated with the parents. Typically, if the issue with the student's success is behavior, parents can be a driving force to help that behavior improve.

The second sentence refers to the content knowledge that students should be able to demonstrate. This is when Comprehensive Musicianship can help students and music educators make amazing music. The CMP project, is designed to prepare students for lifelong music making. This has been a something that can be achieved through standards-based grading. By using national standards, and the CMP project, music educators can develop a well-rounded curriculum, rigorous learning targets, and better musicians.

Assessment:

• Can serve as a means of advocacy
• Is imperative for recruitment of lifelong musicians
• Music can teacher concepts, skills, attitudes, and appreciation for basic human interaction
• Can demonstrate to students that they're growing as musicians and that they possess the skills and knowledge to develop musically throughout their lives

The first bullet point holds true for me. If you have high, yet achievable standards, then you'll have the potential better program, and a sense of community pride. Assessment provides opportunities that will give students the skills to make music for the rest of your life. These thoughts are pretty cool, thinking that assessing with students can help musicians perform better!

"Grading has posed many problems for ensemble directors. It has not been a part of the year culture of ensembles to collect "evidence of learning", but rather collect "evidence of participation"... "Letter grades can seem weighty and formidable, sometimes using a more casual system of feedback is less threatening and yields a better learning process."

As I shared above, we too often focus on behaviors rather than content knowledge. I believe that moving to a SBG framework, we can focus on music making, rather than behavior. Creating standards and learning targets that promote a focus on music will allow for music educators to do so much more! I'm excited to see what implementing SBG next year can hold. The letter grade can have an extremely negative stigma attached. In a podcast created Eric Townsley and Matt Townsley related to SBG, Matt brings up a great point, "What does the letter grade mean?" He gave a specific grading example, but nevertheless what does that letter grade mean? Even through the use of rubrics, does the letter grade (just the letter grade with a percentage) effectively communicate the knowledge possessed by a student and whether or not they can demonstrate their knowledge?

These are just simple musings, but they raise some really good questions - How do we effectively communicate how our students are doing in our courses? Are we assessing behavior or content knowledge?

Please feel free to check out the book - Shaping Sound Musicians by Patricia O'Tool and the Townsley podcast. 

Townsley, E., & Townsley, M. (2015, March 15). SBG Podcast. Retrieved June 12, 2015, from http://sbgpodcast.blogspot.com 

Toole, P. (2003). Shaping sound musicians: An innovative approach to teaching comprehensive musicianship through performance. Chicago, Ill.: GIA Publications.