Are rubrics the end all, be all?

Article on Rubrics


Yes and no. I believe that rubrics can serve their purpose so long as they're not the only resource and aren't used for every aspect of learning. It can add limitations, literally not allowing for 'thinking outside of the box'.

Are there any instances where a rubric should be used?
I feel rubrics could be very useful to new teachers. As an upcoming teacher, I'd feel more comfortable with some general guidelines of what is to be accomplished by each student. This would include of course, what is required by the common core, as well as what I feel are the skill sets that would most benefit my students. In this instance, the rubric is for the teacher, not the students. As the teacher, during your lessons you should let your students know what is expected of them but also allow for them to have productive meaningful thought. So during any and every instrument lesson, include breath control exercises, posture, and various stretches that will help to ensure stronger tendons and ligaments. Explain the importance of why breathing exercises are beneficial, do not embed it into their minds all at once, but add in details as you go along. Give them options of different techniques to improve their playing not only intellectually, but physically as well. It will help make them better lifelong players.
Rubrics for a student? Some students may benefit from a set of basic guidelines for them to follow. They should not be held to that grading guide line to a 'T' of course, if all the students aren't following it. But some students who may have a learning disability, or maybe are not that strong in that subject matter, might be a little more 'at ease' if they know what is expected. They should be encouraged to think along the lines of the rubric, not give a grade to each topic either. More or less open-ended questions to help get their minds thinking about the subject matter.

Why not use a rubric?
Some teachers feel that they can justify an unpleasant grade to parents if they have a rubric to back it up. Well, teachers are very busy. But if they student is not doing so well in their class, parents should be notified along the way, not just at report card time. I know of many teachers who frequently e-mail and even text parents to update them on their child. The positive, and the not-so-positive news. This is key. Don't just talk to a parent when the child is behind in class or behaviorally acting out. Good behavior and understanding the material should be rewarded as well. It'll help create a stronger relationship with parents as well, if they feel like the teacher is really looking out for their child's well-being and education. So if you have the 'paper trail' or e-mails to parents, as well as phone calls, there should be no surprises from upset parents (mostly). Plus, if parents are notified as these issues arise, perhaps the student can have a better turn around and they'll improve.
Rubrics as a district to help ensure that every teacher covers what they need to and that grading is fair? Not all subject matter is easily gradable, a lot is subjective. Take an essay for example. Yes, content, spelling, grammar and 'all that jazz' are objective details, but a lot is left up to opinion. Grammar and spelling, that's pretty black and white. The rest is grey matter, rubric or not. I'm also throwing out the same reason I opt for no rubrics for students... it makes it nearly impossible to think 'out of the box'! Every teacher has their own style, pizazz, flair, gusto, etc. You limit that by throwing on guidelines and regulations on their shoulders. Plus that's what the common core standards are for, as well as all the standardized testing. Rubrics are too robotic in my opinion. See that? That was a subjective! 'Rubrics are too robotic'. They don't breath human life. I remember (even still as a student) getting back a book report or other assignment and seeing all the pen marks over it. The comments I mean. Positives, with suggestions to help expand what I already wrote, questions asking to elaborate, comments about their personal viewpoints on it. I loved it! Some kids feel anxious about that, others not so much. That's where knowing your students come in, knowing what kids will thrive on your feedback and what ones may hermit themselves because of it. Both of which should be addressed with human emotion, not a rubric. 

Jazz- What an educator should bring to the classroom.

In an ideal world if a music educator is planning on teaching 'jazz' to their students, yes they should be an expert on the subject. As they should be an expert on all things musical; history, theory, the hierarchical levels of music, etc etc. With that being said, that isn't possible. But what's better than being a complete expert on a topic, is giving their students the skills and basic knowledge so that they are then able to venture off into the musical world and delve into jazz (or any other genre of music) and be able to then go off and be an 'expert' themselves. If you as an educator have no (or little) knowledge on jazz but the curricula calls that jazz be included in your classroom, then you better start learning it.
Dr. Robert Ford was, who I consider to be, my first music teacher. I've had music teachers before, but he was the first to really lay an impact on me. He was new to my High School in my junior year. Classically trained, pianist, music theorist (loves roman numeral analysis), chorale director, etc. He was one of two music teachers at my high school. The other being the band teacher. Well essentially everything I know theory wise, I learned from his classes. Most of what I learned on my own, I was was able to do with the skills and basic knowledge he gave me during those two final years of high school. When the school district told him that he needed to come up with an entire years worth of lessons for a class he was obligated to teach, History of Rock and Jazz, he was out of his comfort zone. I had multiple music classes with him over those two years, and he confided in me that he knew nothing about jazz, and minimal about rock and roll. I knew that, and he knew that. So when the class started that year, needless to say I was weary about what was to come. Over the summer prior, he became an 'expert' on jazz. He did so anyway anyone learns anything for the first time. You use what you can from prior knowledge and you venture off into the new world. It's not an overnight process, but what is? There's always something more to be learned and that's one of the true joys in life.
When first studying any style or piece of music, what do you do first? Well, you listen to it of course! Listen, and listen some more. With the internet, it's now easier than ever. You probably find some videos as well, see Dizzy Gillespie playing the trumpet and you know that your cheeks aren't supposed to come out like that, but you see that it worked for him. Being classically trained or new to jazz you think of your students who play brass and wouldn't dream of ever accepting the 'puffer fist' cheeks as healthful playing. Yet still, it works. You read on-line to get a basic overview of the different sub-genres of music, general time frame, big band verses motown verses du-wop and so on. Since you're 'becoming an expert' you pick up a couple books on jazz. You also find friends and reputable music colleagues of yours who are jazz connoisseurs, go and see some local jazzers perform. Essentially you dive face first into the jazz world. Of course you can't forget about actually reading the music, but a lot is improvised. So how do you show improvisation without having it notated on music? You play the song for your students, but if they're reading along on sheet music it won't quite match up. Then you explain a 'head arrangement' and this thing called improv, shake the classically trained students and the 'tab' kids alike. You can get into key signatures, modes, scales, modulation, arrangements, all of this and more. The band kids can play off the head arrangement, solo through the form or through certain sections, dare I say modulate midway through a piece? Play through the form multiple times, giving different instruments a chance to solo, modulating each time, just for fun? Show off the skills of the band. If they're not all to that level yet, then work on those skills. Anyone can learn how to play any song on any instrument. Put your fingers here, blow like this, fret that, bow here, etc. Anyone could learn how to play that song. But teach the meaning behind it, more than just this middle C is played on the third fret of the fifth string on this instrument, in standard tuning. That's a decent place to start, but eventually the training wheels should come off.
Now for repertoire for your students. Jazz standards are a basic place to start. Music stores and on-line carry thousands of versions. The Real Jazz Book is a great reference to have on your bookshelf. I really like the spiral bind, it tears less and allows for you to shuffle through it time and time again for sheet music. It offers head arrangements, lyrics, all the basic essentials to get you started (with enough room to help musicians 'play' around with it). As for the repertoire, that of course will vary depending on what the teacher wants to bring into the classroom or what might work better with the students. One technique I would like to utilize in a classroom is to of course, bring in the repertoire and teach it. But once the students have learned the basics of jazz, have them then go into small collaborative groups, let the students do some research on their own and find a jazz song they like. They then learn about it, break it open and apart and then teach it to the class. You as the teacher, may already know the piece or may not, either way it keeps you as an educator on your toes. The students can then teach their peers (and hopefully you as the educator) about what their findings were. Sit back as if you were a student and observe while the groups present, help your students by asking questions to help guide them and think deeper into their findings, etc etc.

 

Who am I? What do I believe? What are my core values?

I feel like the more classes I take, the more experiences I have and the further I travel through life, the more my mind expands. It becomes less narrow, and more open to possibilities. It also shows me how little I do know and how much more is left, that will probably never be known, at least while I'm here. I'm starting to learn that it's not what you know, but how you come to know it. It's not the direct route from A to B that matters most, sometimes it's a windy road. When Boonshaft talks about 'the little old man knew', I can't help but think of myself years from now, feeling very similar to the way he did. Being a teacher isn't about how much knowledge you can cram in the skull of a student so that they can pass that test. It's about creating a learning environment that will follow them for life. I think of one of my students in a Kindergarten class. Now I'm not a certified teacher, just a mere intern at an Elementary school. One little boy, quite a character actually. He loves singing and dancing, just full of life. He wasn't always so. I remember his first day of Kindergarten.... meek and quiet, barely looked up from the ground. I worked with his teacher that whole first day. His first day of school, my first day interning. We were both unsure of what would come. The teacher tried breaking the ice for all her students by playing a childhood favorite, "the Chicken Dance". Most of the kids were all about it! This boy however, sat in his seat and said he never heard it before. So me (preparing to be a music teacher) had to hop up and do the chicken dance with the kids. This young boy still was weary, but I eventually got him to smile as he did the 'chicken' part of the dance. Then slowly, but surely, the rest of it. We had a bond at that moment. So fast forward a month or so into the school year. He and his older brother got taken by DCF and were in a new home, same school. Him, being 5 just waltz in talking about all the happenings on how him and his brother were now living with their 'new mommy' and couldn't see their real mommy. Needless to say life for this 5 year old pretty much sucked. School for him offered the love and support he lacked at 'home' (he was eventually moved from house to house for a long period of time), but the educational portion lacked. He was being taught at school, but nothing seemed to stick. He wasn't able to practice it at 'home', which was the least of his worries. Then one day I worked with him  in his class again. Since, as an intern, I was bounced around from class to class, I did not get to work with him on a regular basis. Well one day he was told to practice writing his numbers. The rest of the class pretty much perfected their number writing, a few backwards 3's here and there, but nothing out of the ordinary for Kindergarten. He needed more help. So we worked on a small dry erase board at his desk. I dotted out numbers for him, he traced them, tried to recognize the number... this was difficult for him. He became really discouraged, really fast. He cried and said things like, "I can't do it. I can never do it." I kept reassuring him, but he was down. Until the moment I went to dot out a 7 for him to trace.  I'll never forget it. He reached his little arm out in front of me to block me from doing so and said, "I got this!" and without hesitation he drew a huge 7! Perfection! The most beautiful 7 I ever saw, I close my eyes and I can still see it as clear as that day. 7 is now my favorite number because it reminds me of that little boy and the world of possibilities that opened in HIS mind, that very day. Some might call that a small feat, but they didn't hear the conviction in his voice when he took the reigns and made that '7' appear.
That's what I believe in. Those moments that to others, may seem like some tiny little thing. So that boy is being retained. He used to only 'want' to come to school because it gave him normalcy, because he didn't have to be there with some new family. But it was that moment that he 'wanted' to come back to school everyday. School should be more than just a safe haven for kids, and for him it is. It's the place he learned how to write a 7, and I got to witness it. I got to see that moment, the light in his eyes. I got to feel the slight sting of his 'high five' for having written the best 7 imaginable. That's what I believe in. Those moments. I didn't 'dot out' that 7 for him to trace. He did that all himself. But I was there to help him realize his potential, and I was there to help him celebrate his accomplishments. I can't help but think that he'll continue to love to learn, because he believes he can, and he knows there's at least one other person in the world who believes he can as well.
When Boonshaft talked about the science teacher who asked his students if the bucket was full after he filled it with 'big rocks', I chuckled inside. I knew what was coming in this chapter, being the daughter of a hydraulic engineer. I swear my father told me as a zygote that 'fluid fills the shape of it's container'. Not big rocks or medium rocks, even sand. The air in the container technically filled it, even the oxygen molecules in the water. Nonetheless, the visual aid really helps to embed the meaning. The 'big rocks' are things like posture and breath control. But if you harp on the fundamentals too much, that will give you a disengaged student, and eventually leave you jobless and a more robotic culture. Sometimes you have to add that human element to your teaching, that instant satisfaction. Like writing a 7. Sure it's a long way from doing even simple math problems, but it's a step that motivates the learner to, well learn. Not to say posture and breath control are mundane and therefore do not belong in actual practice. Of course not. But sometimes you have to bend a little to engage the learner. The slowly add in bigger rocks.
I feel I am a lifelong learner. My students teach me just as much, if not more, as I teach them. Teaching book knowledge is essential. Teaching for actual practice is obviously useful as well. But you can't teach someone to want to learn. It's getting them to want to learn that's the tricky part.