One of the blessings of working in my district is that I have had the opportunity to become a peer-observer, even during my first year. While I have been aware of the profound effects of observation in music (watching master conductors with ensembles), I was not aware of how valuable it would be to watch other teachers in my building. 


Observing others causes me to take a step back and realize that my class makes up just a fraction of a students' time at school. It is reassuring to know that other teachers deal with the same students and often experience issues that are similar to what I have faced. Also, through watching others, I have come to realize what a different experience it is for students to come into a class where they MUST participate. Even if a student is soft-spoken in choir (or band), the student has to participate. This is much different than the classes in which a student might easily blend in with others. 


Finally, through noticing the educational process that others use to teach, I am able to refine my own skills as a teacher. I am able to better align my classes to fit within the larger context of a school. This allows the experience that a student has in my class easier to understand in the context of her whole day. 


-Andrew Beard


Endnote: While I cannot pretend to know everything about Peer Coaching, I will share the process that I use when watching others and how I talk to them after the fact. I write down in Objective terms what is happening in the class. I try to include the time at which most things happen (i.e. At 11:42 you asked "What is the answer" and Tom said "Four."). Then, on the side of this list of objective observations, I will include questions for the teacher ("Why did you answer in that way?" "How do you know that students had the knowledge to complete that", etc...). In this way, I am able to enter into dialogue with the teacher as someone who is interested in learning and not as one who is trying to judge their teaching. When the teacher being observed sees this, he will be much more likely to engage in meaningful dialogue.

As I have thought about how to advocate for music, there is a theme that keeps coming up. Do I stand up for music because it helps students' standardized test scores? Or, do I argue that music for musics' sake is enough for people to understand? 


The obvious answer is a hybrid of the two questions, but nevertheless, I would like to lay down a framework of ideas that have come up.


#1:  When we make connections between music and student achievement in other disciplines, we need to explore WHY this achievement has climbed. Music gives students a new way to see math. The dimension of time relationships in music is a way that students can feel math. They can sense proportions of 2 to 1, 2 to 3, etc... when they perform the differences between quarter notes, half notes, and triplet figures. This is a way to experience mathematical ideas in a different way. Students who may never have understood fractions can still perform notes of different lengths. When a student can begin to understand how their performance relates to what is printed on a page of music, that student can make connections between performance and mathematics.


#2: Students "Read" music in a way that creates connections with English test scores. In traditional reading, students can stumble over words and spend a lot of time fumbling around for understanding with what they read. In music reading, students must read in a given tempo, which forces them to read at a faster rate. Since musical line can be left up for interpretation, a student learns to make inferences about possible meanings of notes on a page. This kind of creative thinking adds depth to that student's understanding of classroom texts in reading and other reading-based disciplines.


#3: Students who participate in a music ensemble have a chance to be part of a group in which NO SINGLE person is un-important. If one musician does not play a solo, or if one player holds onto a note for too long, an entire performance can be jeopardized. This is a unique situation that does not happen in a normal classroom or any sport (except for individual sports). This kind of accountability teaches students much more about life than many experiences in their adolescent years. 


While I do not claim to be an expert in cognitive research and music, I do think that, as musicians, we must find ways to speak up for ourselves as important independent from our affect on test scores. This is a short list of items I believe are crucial to advocating for the arts and music specifically. I hope to add more as time goes on and I hope to edit these as I learn new things about music and education.


-Andrew Beard

It is commonly understood that reading literacy is the gateway to a solid educational foundation. Without the ability to read, students would find it difficult to learn without direct instruction. They would rely upon information that would be either experiential or told to them directly by another person. If a student wanted to gather information without outside help, it would be nearly impossible.


Imagine a classroom in which the following happens:
A Ninth Grade student is studying a passage of Shakespeare. One the first read, the student struggles to pronounce some of the words. On the next, the student is able to pronounce all of the words smoothly and without pause. On the third read, the student finally recognizes a few of the words and their meanings. Not until the fourth and subsequent readings is the student able to comprehend anything that is being written. It is long after that before the student is able to grasp for deeper meaning and plot points.


I have come to believe that when my students cannot have any grasp of sight reading, it is similar to the student who struggles reading Shakespeare. Without the knowledge of how to smoothly get from measure to measure, my student does not understand the larger intent of the piece. Once the student learns to read music, however; interpretation, analysis, and style are no longer things reserved only for memorization. A new world has been opened in which the student can truly become an independent musician.


The question of what (sight reading proficiency) is so much easier to talk about than the how. There are so many "If Only's" (Time, money, staff, to name a few) that seem to work against us as teachers that the task seems daunting. After watching Jerome Upton of Duluth, MN work with his choirs, I am convinced that sight reading can be accomplished. His group sang pieces with concert appropriate interpretation on their THIRD DAY of reading the music. His students came alive with expression and with questions and comments about how to better perform the music. Instead of taking time to read and re-read the piece, the students were making music right away! 


As I go on with my musical journey, I will try and share insights into anything I learn about sight reading. Until then, I would love to hear from anyone who has ideas!


-Andrew Beard