Principal Woes
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What do you do w/ a principal that fights you on wanting to give grades for class assignments? I teach K-8 and feel that by 5th grade students should receive grades for tests, projects, and attendance at concerts. The year has just begun but already my principal is upset w/ me sending out my class expectations in a memo to the teachers! To her music is a “specials” class and thus students shouldn’t be held to the same standards as regular classes. Does anyone else out there have this problem and, if so, how do you deal w/ this and, how do you handle an unsupportive admin?
D’Ann
That’s awful. My principal is fine with me calculating my own grades and then providing the homeroom teachers with them. To be honest, I’m not sure that the homeroom teachers need to know your expectations. If one of their kids is at fault breaking one of those rules, then they need to know about the rules. In my previous school I experienced such an administrator. The kids fed off that and treated my class as nothing more than free time “It’s just music.” That was one of the reasons I left.
Back to your principal – Do you have a Music Dept chairperson? If so, I’d contact the person and ask them to speak to your principal. One of their responsibilities, I think, is to support you and help the admins understand what you do. …. If you do not have a dept chairperson, I might make an appointment to speak with the principal and explain that if you were to hold kids to a lower standard than other grade-level classes, they will fall behind and will not consider Music class as a serious subject, which could in turn affect behaviors in your classes. (let that marinate a minute)
Of course, by 5th grade kids should be getting graded on their work!! I tell my kids in grade 3 and higher that they get a behavior grade (which may or may not get entered, depending on how many things are on my list) and a grade for their classwork. …. Oh, and participation.
Good luck!!
Christopher M. Johnson, Professor of Music Education and Music Therapy, is currently the Chair of the Music Education and Music Therapy Department and Director of the Music Research Institute at the University of Kansas. Johnson earned his Ph.D. from the Florida State University.
Since his arrival at The University of Kansas, Johnson has taught courses in Instrumental Conducting, Teaching Instrumental Music, Managing Behaviors in the Music Environment, Psychology and Acoustics of Music, and Research Methods in Music Education and Music Therapy. Johnson served two terms as the editor of the International Journal of Music Education: Research, the research publication of the International Society for Music Education. He is currently serving his second term on the National Association for Music Educations Executive Committee of the Society for Research in Music Education. He also served on the editorial board of the Journal of Research in Music Education, and one earlier term as the Chair for the MENC Executive Committee of the Society for Research in Music Education. Johnson also served as the Chair for the Research Commission of the International Society for Music Education.
Johnson’s research interests include applied research in music education, and basic research in all aspects of the psychology of music. He has published articles in many journals including the Journal of Research in Music Education, the International Journal of Music Education, the Journal of Music Therapy, Journal of Band Research, Contributions to Music Education, and the Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education, among others. Johnson has also been an active member and contributor to the Research Seminar of the International Society for Music Education and World Alliance for Arts Education.
Johnson received a university teaching award – the Ned N. Fleming Award for Excellence in Teaching and received the recognition for Graduate Teaching Achievement from the Center for Teaching Excellence. Johnson was also awarded a lecturing & research award as a J. William Fulbright Scholar and recently received the Ella Scoble Opperman Citation for Distinguished Achievement from the Florida State University College of Music.
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