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What Would I Say?

I've just received word that I need to allow extra time this morning to find a parking space because there will be educational dignitaries visitng the school where I am teaching. This put me in mind if what I would say if I ever got to meet any such dignitaries. And I realized that I wouldn't say anything, I'd sing.

Please click the link, and watch the whole thing. It's pretty alarming to me that this was written in 2008 and things have only been getting worse since then. This was written to address the narrowing of school curriculum that was happening in response to NCLB. Read Tom Chapin's explanatory essay here.

He states:

... I so appreciate the tough job that faces every teacher. I believe they need all the help they can get: anything that excites a student, opens their eyes, and hearts and minds is a positive that makes a child invest in school.

And, later:

Now we are teaching by rote again - where the test, and only the test, becomes the reason to teach and study.

This song still gives me shivers when I hear Chapin's soothing voice tell me that "music and art and the things you love best, are not in your school 'cause they're not on the test."

We're still cutting back music and art in Howard County. Maybe it's time we held a sing-in.

*****

Update: via the HCPSS Facebook Page

We are very excited today to welcome U.S. Department of Education Secretary Arne Duncan, Congressman John Sarbanes and Maryland State Department of Education Secretary Dr. Lillian Lowery to Ducketts Lane Elementary for a classroom visit and roundtable discussion with teachers from Ducketts and Thomas Viaduct Middle School.

The roundtable discussion will begin at 9:50 a.m. and will be streamed live on our website, www.hcpss.org and available after the event on demand.

 

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