Mr. B's Blog

For three days I attended the New York University Interactive Multimedia Performing Arts Collaborative Technology (IMPACT) Conference . It was IMPORTANT to meet teachers who are just like me (I’m not alone) : Over the course of three days I met four teachers who I would also consider future collaborators.  We are all doing similar things which are not typically done in our home states.  We are fighting “the system,” which is what I call old-school music education.  The truth is that 20% of students take band, orchestra, and choir.  The other 80% must have a MEANINGFUL music education.  At one point we discussed why we were teaching music. There was large discussion about cultivating talent vs. teaching music for the joy of music making.  Barbara Freedman summed it up by saying “Teaching music saves lives.”   Industry Meets Music Education: This is the first conference I have been to which combined teachers, future teachers, and industry leaders in an interactive way. I

www.pentucketmusic.com The Pentucket Regional School District is now by definition, the most innovative public school system in the state of Massachusetts.  Innovation schools were originally designed for lower level school districts facing state takeover.  Pentucket, considered a higher achieving district, was able to capitalize on the opportunity to add innovation schools when the state department made it possible for any level district to apply. See the following Boston Globe articles: 1 2 What is the Pentucket Music Conservatory? This is an innovation school focused on the music education we provide for Pentucket students in grades 7-12.  Over the course of the 2014-2015 school year, a committee made up of faculty, administration, a school committee member, parents, and a student representative dedicated their time to answer the following two initiatives: 1. Create career pathways for music 2. Expand the music education opportunities for students not in our traditional b

I remember back to when I was in the first grade at the Bagnall School in Groveland, Massachusetts.  Our teacher told us about an exciting new room that no other class had been in.  We would be the first group of students to try out the school's new computer lab!  I remember walking into the room, basically a converted storage room with no windows and about 15 huge Apple computers.  My fondest memories of using technology in elementary school included playing the games "Oregon Trail" and "Where in the World is Carmen San Diego."  As a reflective educator, I also recall learning how to type and having pen pals with dog sled racers in Alaska.  Fastforward to 2015.  I have been teaching for seven years and have already gone through a full "edtech trend."  I consider an edtech trend something that hits the market and every teacher wants, though they don't know how to use and are not sure on its success for integration into actual lesson plans.  Some

Google is offering 200 people involved with education to their office in Boston for a day of training.  They have asked anyone interested to apply to attend this event by publishing how 2015 will be the best year for student learning! For me, this is a year of clarity.  I've been teaching music for seven years and lately have seen a group of teachers in Massachusetts and surrounding states working on new common assessments for music.  I was interested in it at first and then the more I looked into it, found that assessment became the cornerstone of the music class and took over the curriculum, much like what it is doing in other subject areas which have high stakes testing.  I was looking to simplify the expectations, take out the randomness in the assignments I was giving, and provide clear definitions as to why I was teaching what I was teaching.  One day I was on Pinterest and saw the Recorder Karate curriculum...and thought, oh yeah, this works for 3rd and 4th graders why can