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About Me


I am a certified Orff-Schulwerk elementary music teacher, teaching in an urban school. I switched from secondary to elementary music teaching in 2006 and it's been the best move (not financially! ) of my career. If you want to have major impact on students concerning music education, elementary is where it is happening. Disclaimer: The topics in my blog do not necessarily reflect what is happening in my current teaching position or with my current students, administration etc. I have a long teaching history and may chose to deal with an element or problem that I have witnessed or experienced in a previous school or have seen being dealt with by other teachers I have encountered...so there!

Showing Tag: "assessment" (Show all posts)

It's Not on the Test!

Posted by The Orffsite Webmaster on Friday, February 24, 2012,
I'm not really a boat rocker. I can be a bit annoying, however. I don't know the history, but some while back, my district thought that giving our 3rd and 4th graders a music assessment test was and idea who's time had come. I'm not arguing that point in this post. I am saying that the current test is not a measure of whether or not my students are learning music, nor a gauge of what kind of job I'm doing in elementary music. I frankly, don't have a clue as to what it is designed to do except...
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Elementary Music and Grades

Posted by The Orffsite Webmaster on Monday, February 6, 2012,

Originally Posted by The Orffsite Webmaster on Sunday, October 10, 2010

I assess my students constantly, but I believe grades are unnecessary, despite the fact that I'm required to give them. 
I don’t trust District and State assessments. I haven’t seen one that measures how well a student has learned to play/sing their own part in an ensemble. I’ve never seen a test question that measures a student’s ability to improvise vocally, instrumentally or in movement. Where is the question ...


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