Advocacy for Music Ed on MENC

MENC has done so much to promote music education. This page includes research for a stronger case then just test scores.

Taylor Mali

My wife has turned me on to the poetry of Taylor Mali. I especially enjoyed What Teachers Make.

Shift Happens

An interesting video/powerpoint, titled Shift Happens, by Scott McLeod, on how the global economy and advances in technology will provide challenges for the United States in the future.

More from Marc

• Digital Immigrants teach by Delivering content, presenting and telling, linera stories, one thing at a time, one size fits all, face-to face
• yahoo to google, email to im, ipod to vpod, mp3 to wma,
• Change is threating. Digital immigrants are threatened by digital natives needs. (youtube, facebook, etc)
• We must involve our students in everything we do.
• Don't try to keep up with the technology, you will only look stupid. Understand the technology so you can help students evaluate the technology
• Without motivation their is no learning. If a learner is motivated there's no stopping him.
• The world is changing, students are changing and engagement is changing
• Learning feels like play when you are engaged (video games, film making and using other tools)
• Evaluate with their tools (calculators used to be cheating)

Marc Prensky

I am listening to Marc Prensky at the Kansas Career and Technical Education Conference, Feb 20, 2007. Some interesting points to consider:

• Listen to your students (or teachers). They know what they want. Really? I think students don't know what they want, they need exploration opportunities.
• Without support from the base (students/teachers/community) you cannot make higher level decisions (bottom up vs. top down)
• Today's learners are no longer limited by their teachers' ability and knowledge - Mark Anderson
• We shutoff students connection to the world (put them in the dark) instead of showing them the light
• School is about standards/credentials. After school is about learning (itunes, lego clubs, etc)
• The bureacracy of schools is limiting the programs and learning we can provide for students. Other organizations (Van Go, LAC, etc) will provide these opprtunities and reap the success of them.*
• If your kids don't learn, will you be fired? If you don't supervise your students, will you be fired? Security and safety more important than learning. I have to disagree here. Without safety students could not learn.