Mr. Mills Blog

First, I wanted to pass along a story that should make teachers (and parents) cringe. From the New York Times:

New York City has embarked on an ambitious experiment, yet to be announced, in which some 2,500 teachers are being measured on how much their students improve on annual standardized tests.

The move is so contentious that principals in some of the 140 schools participating have not told their teachers that they are being scrutinized based on student performance and improvement.

I think this really is a travesty. In this data driven world, I guess this was the logical next step. I know that we have to be assessed on our performance somehow, but this is not going to work. As it has been said before, scores on standardized tests will NEVER accurately measure how intelligent a child is. It is only one tool amongst many tools available to teachers. So, to hold teachers jobs in the balance over standardized testing is plain wrong…there is no other way to look at it…

On to fine arts, the 3rd graders are almost done with their puppets and getting prepared to work on their short plays. They are already starting to interact with each other using their puppets, so it is easy to see that the ideas are flowing.

The 4th graders are almost at the point where they are ready to make their videos. This week, we talked about the different ways we can reduce, reuse, and recycle the things we use. A lot of the ideas they came up with will hopefully be translated into their videos. As we have told the children, while a lot of things we have been talking about sound very “doom and gloom”, we want them to know that they have the power to change their behavior. We, as Americans, can be very wasteful, but that is changeable.

The 5th graders are either done or about to finish their foamcore houses. We are also starting to look at hip hop music in preparation for the African American History Fair. Hip hop is my favorite type of music, so I’m very excited to talk to the students about the origins of the music since it is very different from where it is today. In Mr. Bynum’s class, we have already discussed the differences and similarities with hip hop then and now after watching a clip from a classic hip hop film, Wild Style. Next week, we will be looking at the origin of the breakbeat, the essence of any hip hop song.

The 6th graders are also in different stages of completion for their stop animation videos. I look forward to putting these up on the blog since they are turning out beautifully. Group work can be a struggle for the teacher, but some times the results can be amazing.