Blog 10

Andrews' article reminded me of a dance instructor I interviewed during my Daily Collegian days up at Main Campus. I think her classes had some sort of end-of-the-semester showcase coming up or something. Anyway, I remember her saying that the performance would be the final piece of the puzzle for her students, the piece she couldn't teach them in the classroom. Actually, I think I'll try to track that article down in the online archives. Hold on. Wow, that was a lot easier than I expected it to be. Anyway, here's an excerpt.

Ford, who focuses on musical theater styles but also teaches both ballet and advanced jazz, said the interaction between the audience and a performer is necessary to test the performer's ability to implement a new technique.
Lon Hurst, assistant professor of dance, agreed that a performance essentially fulfills the function of dance as a performance-based art form.
"It's surprising what people will invest when they know they're doing something for an audience instead of just a grade," said Hurst, who teaches both tap classes and a beginning jazz class.

I didn't think about it relating to writing at the time, but it definitely does, especially considering the important role that audience plays, or should play, in the writing process. If audience is a part of the process, why not make it a part of the product, as well?

Statewide standardized testing. Sigh. I think I've already had about as much as I can handle for one semester, so Alejandro's article was more of the same, for me. As we've discussed in class, I think that by "teaching to the test," we're not really teaching our students anything but the test. If we're doing our jobs as teachers, our students should be able to succeed. Period. However, that type of teaching takes time, probably more time than many teachers who are under pressure feel that they have. Isn't it easier to teach students how to apply knowledge in one specific scenario than to teach them how to apply it anywhere? At the school where I am observing this semester, the seventh-grade students take language arts and a literacy class, which is supposed to improve reading and, as a result, PSSA scores. It's not a perfect solution, but at least PSSA preparation isn't taking up all of the time in language arts.