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The Nation’s Report Card for Reading and Math: Will Dismal Results Bring More of the Same (higher stakes testing)?
As Igor Stravinsky once said, good composers borrow; great composers steal. So, instead of writing my own setting of the stage, let me steal from my fine colleague and friend at Common Core, Lynne Munson: I challenge anyone to think of a nation that works as hard as we do to find silver linings in…
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Arts Education: Too Much and Not Enough
One of the things I have been thinking quite a lot about lately, besides having no power at home for the third time since July (four straight days this time), currently resulting from Saturday’s somewhat bizarre snow storm, is the quite odd dichotomy between my work in K-12 and my work today in higher education.…
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A Shot To The Foot: How The Arts Ed Field Can Be Its Own Worst Enemy
I have been meaning to write about this these two horribly disappointing Opininator posts in The New York Times: Beyond Baby Mozart, Students Who Rock, by David Bornstein Rock is Not The Enemy, by David Bornstein For about as long as I have been in this field, which is longer than I would now like…
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Guest Blog, Jane Remer: A Paradox, A Paradox, A Most Ingenious Paradox –The Common Core of State Standards and The Untamable Core of the American Class System
Jane Remer’s CliffNotes: September 29, 2011 “A Paradox, A Paradox, a Most Ingenious Paradox” (Pirates of Penzance/Gilbert and Sullivan), The Common Core of (Voluntary) State Standards and the Untamable Core of the American Class System. The 21st Century is young, but it’s clearly becoming a paradox. The now developing Common Core meticulously charts the paths and…
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I Hate to Be Out of Step: Have the Dividing Lines Among Musical Genres Disappeared?
I have had many a conversation about how the dividing lines among musical genres (and other arts disciplines) were “breaking down or blurring.” So, as I was watching this video about a really swell festival taking place next month, “Sonic: Sounds of a New Century” by The American Composers Orchestra, I was quite struck by John…
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A Favorite Arts Ed Video: The Mural Project at JHS256
I have always been fond of project-based learning. And this mural project is one true exemplar. The opportunities for many to be engaged in a multi-year arts project, that combines youth development, art, music, history, social studies, literacy, and more. Not to mention, it’s a stunning work. Click on over to this YouTube video, and…