Mitchell Robinson is a professor of music education at Michigan State University. He has been remote teaching, and he is not pleased with it at all.
He begins:
A friend asked me how I was doing during this pandemic, and I thought I’d share my perspective as a teacher who has struggled to find my footing in our new reality…
How am I doing, you ask?
To be honest, not well. I’ve been a teacher for 40 years now, and I really love teaching. I love the interactions with my students, and colleagues. I loved teaching high school band for 10 years–I couldn’t believe I got paid to make music with kids–and I really get a thrill now out of helping my college students find their voices as musicians and teachers, and helping them to realize their dreams; whether that’s being a middle school chorus teacher, or an early childhood music teacher, or a freshly minted college professor.
But I didn’t go into teaching to invite students to a Zoom meeting, wear a pair of noise-canceling headphones, and talk through a mic to a Brady-Bunch-style laptop screen where my most frequent advice is to remind my students to “unmute” their microphones. It feels artificial, and stale, and impersonal. Few of my favorite teaching “moves” translate very well to online instruction–no one has figured out how to rehearse a band virtually, and I simultaneously kind of doubt they will, while hoping they won’t.
Because teaching isn’t about the mere transfer of information, like some sort of antiseptic banking transaction. The best teaching is messy, and loud, and unruly, and chaotic, and unpredictable.
And I really, really miss it.
So, not so well.
Now, if there is a silver lining in this situation, I dearly hope that everyone currently struggling with our temporary reality, juggling “homeschooling” (it’s not homeschooling–it’s emergency teaching) with working from home, and mostly failing, will somehow come to understand the real value of public education. That when done well, it’s about much more than just teaching and learning, and about a whole lot more than obsessively testing every student from kindergarten to graduate school, until we’ve beaten the very last drop of joy and wonder out of learning.
For those of us who absolutely require a teaching environment where student-teacher interaction is vital, this has been a miserable failure. I also teach band, but my students are beginners. The good part of this happening now is that my students already had a few months of playing under their belts, but if they were starting an instrument from scratch, it would be nearly impossible. I shudder to think what next fall will bring with the incoming beginner students. The sad part about the timing of this is it happened just before all three of my schools had their very first band concert ever. So many people say how this pandemic ruined firsts for their kids—this was another first that these kids will never have. But…at least they are ok. We are, a good portion of us, ok. Sadly some of us have lost some people along the way, but the rest of us are surviving. That’s what really matters right now.
Life’s about to get a whole lot more different as we try to figure out how we are going to manage going back to our schools. Hope we don’t fall too far away from these environments and teaching styles upon which our students thrive.
Sorry about the cancelation of your students’ concert.
I know what a disappointment that must have been not only for the students and you but for all their parents too.
I have been to many band concerts of my nieces and nephews and the first was always the best, in my opinion.
I have played clarinet for about 50 years and it never ceases to amaze me how kids can pick up an instrument and sound better than I do after just a few months.
But maybe that says more about my slow progress than it does about their quick progress.
SomeDAM Poet: “I have played clarinet for about 50 years and it never ceases to amaze me how kids can pick up an instrument and sound better than I do after just a few months.”
Clarinetists always make the best people!! [I’m also a clarinetist.] My second instrument is the flute and after that almost anything goes. I’m not a whopper on the trombone.
Can’t play a lick of anything, but am addicted to music and love the clarinet. Copland’s Clarinet Concerto and Dr. Michael White’s version of George Lewis’s St. Philip Street Breakdown (although best recorded version is on Live at the Village Vanguard, in my opinion). Sadly, Dr. Michael Whites collection of traditional jazz archives and instruments was destroyed by the flooding following Katrina.
Eddie Daniels is my favorite
He’s definitely a consummate performer. His attention to detail, not to mention his slick improv skills, makes him a favorite to musicians across genres. A master.
Here he talks about playing his instrument to feel better
God couldn’t play clarinet so she made Eddie Daniels to play for her.
Thank you for the Eddie Daniels feelings video. Just love him. I am going to share that with my students today!
The clarinet has saved Eddie’s butt, but it’s kicked mine more times than I can count.
If you guys like the clairinet, you need to check out the Hoosier Hotshots.
RT: The Hoosier ‘HOT shots’? Okay, enlighten me on the subject.
I’m a clarinet totin’ Hoosier with TWO clarinets…both an A and a B flat. [Needed both to play in orchestras.]
Good stuff. I had forgotten about Eddie Daniels. Thanks for the reminder.
I was going through some old things the other day and found a songbook put out by Alka-Seltzer back in the day. It was used to sell the stomach-relief material, and it featured The Hoosier Hot Shots favorite songs. Curious, I looked the band up on the internet and got pictures of four guys apparently they featured a clarinet, standup bass, tenor banjo, and washboard. I think this was in the thirties and forties. I have not had time to look up any more about them.
My husband & sons play about 4 instruments each. We all started with piano. Both sons continue teaching individual lessons (piano & guitar) online, but of course the ensemble lessons are on hold. They report it goes as well as can be expected – not ideal, but not bad. The music school they teach out of has initiated some great (& gratis) keeping-in-touch events & series showcasing both teachers and students, complete w/live comments/ chat. I love choral singing, esp classical. Miss my groups fiercely.
“…no one has figured out how to rehearse a band virtually, and I simultaneously kind of doubt they will, while hoping they won’t.”
I can’t imagine having my beginning band [fifth graders] learning their instruments online. I had to, on the first day, show kids how to open up their instrument cases. Then I’d have to show them how to put their instruments together.
Around 30-45% of the students don’t have access to WiFi. The homeless children, who are increasing in number, are being left totally behind.
Online learning is NOT good and can never replace live teachers. Children will get totally bored, and I imagine by now, they all are. Parents also are tired of this constant deluge.
Carol, I know it makes you as angry as me. Your U.S. senator needs a hard kick in his patoot: https://crooksandliars.com/2020/05/gop-senator-blocks-resolution-calling-cdc
GregB: Senator Mike Braun [R-IN] won the election by proclaiming that he was the strongest Trump supporter. Trump obviously knows much more than CDC.
[How did drinking or injecting bleach go over with not only the US but the rest of the world?] Unfortunately, we have an ignorant con man who is delusional running this country. How many will needlessly die?
Thanks for this, Diane. I think something is really lost just watching my son (band is one of his two favorite classes) and I’m glad that teachers who also find distance learning a poor substitute feel free to weigh in.
I feel as if I’m watching him detach from school which is a shame because he likes school, generally. The novelty has worn off and he’s just hauling himself to these Zoom sessions trying to finish the year.
I think we already knew this in Ohio. One of the things we learned from our giant cybercharter was students were engaged initially (the novelty, a new school, etc.) then it dropped off. I’m watching that happen.
The most effective teaching and learning take place in the context of personal relationships. I can remember people asking me if I got bored teaching for so many years. They saw it as a dull job like hanging wallpaper. I always responded that teaching is a people job, and the students are always changing. The students always made the working both challenging and interesting.
Online instruction is limiting to both teachers and students. Students are constantly giving teachers useful feedback that is impossible to duplicate in distance instruction. Computers may be useful for some rote, discrete material, but they are an epic fail for many students including the arts, humanities, hands-on science and social sciences. Many people talk about teachers that inspired them, but nobody has ever said computer software changed their lives.
In college my son had a combination of in person and online instruction. He enjoyed most of the courses taught by human teachers, and he tolerated the online instruction despite the boredom. The most absurd application of online instruction was a speech class. He had to meet with fellow students and video tape speeches that were sent to the instructor. Then, in “big brother” fashion each student received feedback from the instructor online. It was like an “education dead zone.” but he did get a good grade and three credits for his efforts.
Online instruction is like mental and social solitary confinement. It is wholly inadequate, and the only reason for its adoption is that there is so much money behind it to impose its acceptance.
distressing comparison, yet so true: online instruction is like solitary confinement
It’s more important than ever that dissenting practitioners weigh in, because the ed reform echo chamber are united in cheerleading distance learning:
“Tom Vander Ark
@tvanderark
I think we’ll see 500,000 students move to virtual schools (district operated as well as statewide operators), coops on top of virtual (like Prenda) and private microschools (like Acton) over next 18 months (net increase ~0.5 pts)”
They clearly see this as an opportunity to sell the same stuff they’ve been pushing for a decade. There’s no analysis, at all, of what might be lost. It’s all portrayed as “freedom!” and “throw off the chains of factory schooling!”
Once again, they are WILDLY overselling the product 🙂
Students and teachers- speak now or get run over by the train- they are pushing this hard. If it’s something you value, you are going to have to fight to keep it.
It is a time for parents to take a active role in rejecting online instruction as well. Teachers must resist too, but their motives will be considered suspect. Parents’ motives are less likely to be challenged. All those that care about the future of this country should speak out against this attempted hostile takeover.
Tom VanderArk has been selling the same snake oil for 20 years
Build an ark and they will come.
“The best teaching is messy, and loud, and unruly, and chaotic, and unpredictable.” Amen Brother. And may I humbly add, passionate, understanding, and with a burning inner joy.
Mitchell’s comment caused me to pick up a book I haven’t thought about in 25 years, Thinking in Jazz: The Infinite Art of Improvisation. When I was working in civic education, I had a dream to create a program linking Jazz with the study of democracy. It never went anywhere because I couldn’t get anyone else to see my vision. It was inspired by an interview of Wynton Marsalis I saw in the early 90s, which he summed up as, “Jazz is democracy in music.” I summed it up as, reasoned improvisation is engaged democratic civic virtue and citizenship. Here’s a great example, if you like the first video, keep hitting next, it only gets better and better: https://wyntonmarsalis.org/harvard-lectures/view/jazz-improvisation-as-democratic-discourse
Going to have to move Berliner up in my (re)reading queue. Just perusing my highlights from 25+ years ago sent a nostalgic chill up my spine. (Another example of why ebooks suck and why a personal library is one of the best things in life.) Thanks, Diane and Mitchell!
Teaching is in part performance, in my opinion. I can remember a couple of times not feeling too well thinking “the show must go on.” Also, when a lesson is well executed, the students are engaged and responding positively, it must be similar to how a musician feels when a performance is “in the pocket.” Likewise, when a student or two torpedo a well meaning lesson, it feels like a performer whose musicians are out of sync.
Could not agree more with your observation. When I was young, snot-nosed teacher fresh out of college and never having taken an education course, I taught middle school history and geography. I learned quickly that I couldn’t keep my foot on the gas for five days a week, so my general philosophy was to teach three days a week, entertain or have class discussions about things that were related to what we were learning on the other two. And one day a month—a practice I kept when I taught high school—I would make copies of that month’s edition of Harper’s Index and just have a free flowing discussion as we went down the list. It was so much fun. My students and their parents loved it. As one parent told me once, “my son has no idea he’s learning.”
I don’t believe I’ve ever read a more inspiring essay, only topped by its responsive comments. I don’t know how even someone like Bill Gates could NOT “get it” from reading them. CBK
Can’t agree more with the sentiment and a point of this piece.
“ Now, if there is a silver lining in this situation, I dearly hope that everyone currently struggling with our temporary reality, juggling “homeschooling” (it’s not homeschooling–it’s emergency teaching) with working from home, and mostly failing, will somehow come to understand the real value of public education. ”
That said I think that while many parents are recognizing the value of actual school, in a place, with a physical real professional teacher, the vast majority will side with whatever state and federal politicians who want to bring “efficiency” and “lower taxes” to communities via Ed tech and remote learning. Let’s not forget, we are in for Great Depression like economic devastation. Paying school taxes, especially here in NY where it’s already contentious, is going to become a hotter topic.
Beyond that, let’s not forget that the bonds between Ed tech and politicians like Andrew Cuomo here in NY are quite strong. Obviously we all hope for a Biden victory for all of the broad humanity-saving and civilization-saving reasons, but there is zero reason to expect a Biden Administration to be anything other than completely pro-privatization and Ed-tech, and Gates-like re. Education policy. There is little daylight between Democratic and Republican Ed policy….it’s the DeVos .vs Duncan divide, which is only about sophistication, language, and perhaps focus. The entire Obama 8 year term was an existential crisis for working teachers. We are currently in a much deeper and larger existential crisis for our profession and I fear that this time, the privatizers and tech utopians will win. A Biden win will mean there will be a strong national focus on Ed tech and remote learning whereas a Trump victory will mean that it’s going to basically be left up to the states, which in NY’s case is just as bad with Cuomo.
Working teachers are gonna take it in the chin over the next year and beyond. Watch.
I am a progressive and besides having an amazing role model in my union activist/musician father, I can definitely attest to playing in improv ensembles as a student of jazz as a lesson in democracy. W. Marsalis is as much an educator as he is a legend in both jazz and classical performance.
Music, in general, is such a cooperative effort. With my beginner students, having peers play with them even at a basic level is so invigorating to them. When I taught middle school band, the older students sat in on band rehearsals with the younger students. The sense of community was so strong with them that they volunteered to mentor these students. These kids went on to be award winning musicians and many of them, teachers and professional players. They got it.
We need to make music together in real time and in person. Nobody likes to sit at home and practice by themselves. Communication with instruments is the ultimate in human satisfaction. The closest we come to this is right now is having students play along with the teacher while they are muted on zoom lessons. The method book we are using does have an online component where students can play along with mp3s of their exercises, but there is no interaction—only student reaction to a robot who doesn’t care how they play and who remains unaffected.
I’m very worried about my current students going forward because I feel they were robbed of the continuation of a beautiful social experience in their lives. Have they been inspired enough to hold on until we can make music together as a group again? I certainly hope so. Tomorrow is our first recruitment meeting for middle school band. Hoping for a good turn-out.
Yes! I definitely take my lessons very personally. Every opportunity to teach is a performance to me. I am fine-tuned to the audience, and reactions and engagement are gold to me. My admin and I talk about this self-awareness as teachers and performers all the time. It helps that he’s a pianist himself. People wonder why I’m exhausted after teaching music all day.
The exhaustion from teaching is very real, At least, at the end of the week, you can look in the mirror and know you have made a contribution and done something worthwhile.
A lot of it is muscle memory. Our muscles do tire more easily as we age. The one good thing about distance learning that has happened to me is I have been working on improving my chops on just about every instrument now that I am playing the content daily with students. Before we closed, I was easing off the playing and giving them more autonomy so they were ready for their concerts, but now I’m back to being the performer model just to keep them going.
Don’t laugh, but I’m a trained flutist. I can get around pretty well on the clarinet, but for some reason, I can play the trombone like it was made for me.
Having played on many different classroom loaners, I have found that the quality of the instrument has a great deal to do with my success as a player. Try a different trombone! 😀
That’s why I keep the same old clarinet I have used for ages.
That way I have an excuse for the way I sound.
Any one want to tackle how Vygotsky theory of scaffolding could apply to teaching/learning situation of a music teacher sheltered at home with earphones trying to make the best of distance learning?
Music teachers or any teacher be honest: Can you say you never wanted the power of electronics to mute your students?
Live performance and recorded performance are subsets of performance. Folks pay huge prices to be at some live performances. And, huge number of folks buy recorded performances. Live and recorded performances are unique onto themselves.
So are school teaching/learning and distant teaching/learning unique onto themselves.
It is a pandemic crisis that had schools turn to distance learning with historic shelter-at- home requirement.
Schools turning to distant learning was a crisis reaction that is still a work in progress And, it will take a long time to evaluate what was retained of distant teaching/learning when the pandemic crisis is history.
Recognizing uniqueness of school teaching/learning and distant learning/teaching, I believe Professor Vygosky’s social learning theory of scaffolding can be applied to the muted and unmutted of the distant learning crowd.
I believe, having experienced ZOOM software meetings, and while the major theme of Vygotsky’s theoretical framework is that social interaction plays a fundamental role in the development of cognition, the distant learning platform –while controlled and different than school–distant teaching/learning retains the possibility of social interaction in using Zoom software tools such as raising hand, chat, and unmuting.
I dislike online school very much; on the other hand, I feel that reopening school will result in many teacher deaths. Our sealed classrooms, even with 1/2 the number of students, are virus transmission machines. If it were up to me, we wouldn’t return until there’s a vaccine.
Mitchell Robinson. Thanks for the wonderful post. You can surely imagine the problems of visual art teachers who are trying to figure out how to teach studio habits of mind given their best guesses about materials and tools that may be available in homes or delivered there at low cost. Students who have iPads and the right software are making images and uploading these… but teachers along with students are growing tired that medium as they are with show and tell on ZOOM…if they can use it.
I believe it won’t be long before NO country will want Americans. How sad that we are no longer respected in the world.
……………………..
Canada Will Be ‘Very, Very Careful’ About Reopening Border With U.S.: Trudeau
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says his government will be “very, very careful” about reopening the country’s border with the United States, as the country’s top doctor warns our southern neighbour poses “a risk to Canada” due to its COVID-19 cases.
Speaking to reporters outside of his Ottawa residence Tuesday, Trudeau faced several questions about a cross-border agreement, which is set to expire next week, that prohibits non-essential travel to and from the U.S.
The pact, which was imposed in March and later extended to May 21, allows essential workers and trade to move between the two countries, but not tourists or cross-border shoppers…
Article: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trudeau-on-canada-us-border-reopening-were-going-to-be-very-very-careful_n_5ebc0b55c5b63d41595247cf?ncid=engmodushpmg00000006
Trump Feared Testing Too Many People for Virus Would Spook Stock Markets, Says Report
Jamie Ross
Reporter
Updated May. 14, 2020 7:04AM ET /
Published May. 14, 2020 6:42AM ET
REUTERS / Tom Brenner
President Trump was wary of making preparations for the coronavirus pandemic because he was concerned doing so would sent the stock market into a panic, the Financial Times reports. In a quote attributed to an unnamed Trump confidant who is said to speak to the president frequently, it’s claimed: “Jared [Kushner] had been arguing that testing too many people, or ordering too many ventilators, would spook the markets and so we just shouldn’t do it…
That advice worked far more powerfully on [Trump] than what the scientists were saying. He thinks they always exaggerate.” Elsewhere in the FT investigation into Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, an unnamed administration official is reported to have told the paper that trying to advise the president is like “bringing fruits to the volcano… You’re trying to appease a great force that’s impervious to reason.”
Read it at Financial Times
carolmalaysia I’ll add that to my fattening file marked: “incredible.” Trump and Kushner are both extremely dangerous gasbags. CBK
Carol, do you have a direct link to the FT story? Everything I google with that title comes up as Daily Beast. I would like a source that doesn’t appear partisan. Too many Trump supporters complain about the DB, even though they are credible.
LG: It come from the Financial Times but I am not a subscriber. Tried, but they wanted me to sign up and PAY.
Read it at Financial Times
Thanks! I did try to find it at FT, but was unsuccessful. I’m also not a paying customer so that could be why.
“Because teaching isn’t about the mere transfer of information, like some sort of antiseptic banking transaction. The best teaching is messy, and loud, and unruly, and chaotic, and unpredictable.
And I really, really miss it.”
So true!