Marking Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day

If you're like me, you want to find a way to mark MLK Day with your family (besides doing something like shopping, even if you are shopping at the Ann Arbor PTO Thrift Shop 20% Off Sale--which, by the way, has to do with having a 20% off sale on the 20th of every month in honor of their 20th anniversary, and not with MLK Day.)

On the other hand, what exactly do you do with a 5 year old, a 10 year old, a 15 year old?

Here are a few ideas.

1. From 2-3p on Sunday, January 19 the Pittsfield Branch will honor Martin Luther King Jr. with award-winning author & illustrator Bryan Collier highlighting his 2002 book Martin's Big Words: The Life of Martin Luther King Jr. The event is geared towards elementary school aged kids (grades K-5).

2. There will be a second event to honor Martin Luther King Jr on Monday, January 20 from 1-2p at the Downtown Branch with the Biakuye Percussion Group. The event is for grades K through adult.

A Cuban stamp with the image of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther
King. Found online here. 

3. University of Michigan is hosting the MLK Children and Youth Program, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Monday, at the Modern Lanagues Building, 812 E. Washington. This is targeted to K-12 students, and you can go in and out of the program. (It's really a series of events. I've found some to be very good, and others rather boring.)

4. University of Michigan is also hosting a Black History Mobile Museum on MLK Day from 10-7 in the Art Lounge in the Michigan Union. This year it is focused on 15 Black people who have won the Nobel Peace Prize, and there is also a special section focused on Harry Belafonte, who is the MLK Day Keynote Speaker at UM.

5. Older kids (especially those interested in the connection between music, acting, and social activism) may be interested in hearing Harry Belafonte, who will be speaking at Hill Auditorium at 10 a.m. on MLK Day.

(Find out more about the University of Michigan MLK-related events here.)

6. Really, this is more for adults: Geoffrey Canada, of the Harlem Children's Zone will be the EMU keynote speaker at 10 a.m. at the Student Center. I've been told that he's quite impressive--but remember that the HCZ has had millions and millions of dollars spent on it. Given the per-pupil funding of an Ypsilanti or Lincoln school district, you might ask him what aspects are easy to implement without tons of additional fund. 

7. Ypsilanti District Library--Main Branch has a concert with Rev. Robert Jones at 4 p.m.--he is a wonderful Detroit-area performer and huge supporter of American Roots music. (And you may remember his show on WDET.)

8. Ypsilanti District Library--Whittaker Branch has the You Can't Stop Me Project singing at 6:30 p.m. They are a group of kids who sing and perform. 

9. Read or listen to a related book (something about the Little Rock 9?)--there are lots of great ideas for books.

10. Watch a movie with your kids. Right now the movie 12 Years A Slave is at Rave Cinemas but of course there are many other options. Want a sports movie? How about Glory Road or 42 or the Jackie Robinson Story?

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Fantastic Summer Music Opportunity for Washtenaw County Students

I have known about the Ann Arbor Public Schools Summer Music Program for a couple of years, but this is the first time I've noticed (and maybe it's the first time it has happened?) that it is open to all Washtenaw County students in grades 6-12 at all levels of instrumental music. What a great opportunity! (I know some of the teaching staff, and have a lot of respect for their musical and teaching talent.)

Details:

Skyline Drumline Photo. Taken from Skyline web site at
http://skyline2.aaps.k12.mi.us/bands/percussion.html. 

Dates: Class dates vary, between June 24 - July 25, 2013 with July 4th off!
Classes meet 4 days per week (Monday - Thursday)
(Class dates and times vary, see class descriptions!)
Locations: 2 Sites: Huron High School (2727 Fuller Road), and Scarlett Middle School (3300 Lorraine)
Fee: Early Bird: $175; after 6/15: $185.
*Multiple class and family discounts available!
(All fees due by June 28th)
*If your child enrolls in a second class, or if you have multiple children registering for classes, there is a $25 discount per class, in addition to Early Bird discounts, if applicable.
Make checks payable to: AAPS Music Dept.; memo: Student Name and Summer Session #Deliver to:AAPS Music Dept.2555 S.State StreetAnn Arbor, MI 48104Questions: Contact Frederick Smith: Program Facilitator at 734-994-2017 x35419, or email smithf@aaps.k12.mi.us

I'm not going to type in every class, but suffice it to say that there are jazz classes: jazz band, drumline, big band. There are also regular band, wind and percussion, and orchestra classes. There is even the possibility of instrument rental! For low-income AAPS students, there are scholarships available.

Read the rest here.

A Shout Out To Our Music Teachers

My son started humming a song today that I had never heard.

"What is that?" I said.

"It's a Woody Guthrie song, 'I'm Gonna Mail Myself To You.' My music teacher [from four years ago] taught it to me."

So here is a shout out to all those music teachers who teach our kids music that they actually remember four years later. Thank you, elementary music, choir, band, and orchestra teachers!

This song is essentially a love song from Woody to his children, so music teachers:

Happy Valentine's Day!

[Interestingly, one commenter on Youtube said, "I remember singing this in elementary school on Valentine's Day.]

 

Picnic Pops: Saturday, May 19th, 2012

A fun, outdoor, ice cream social type event, with lots and lots of music. Join in the fun--free! Did I mention music? At Pioneer High School. Saturday, May 19th, 2012.

Here is the schedule:

Following is the full schedule of Picnic Pops:

10:30 AM Skyline Symphony Band
11:15 AM Huron Symphony Band
12:00 PM Forsythe
12:30 PM Skyline Concert Band
1:00 PM Huron Concert Band
1:30 PM Clague
2:00 PM Huron Varsity Band
2:30 PM Skyline Varsity Band
3:00 PM Slauson
3:30 PM AA Open
4:00 PM Pioneer Concert Band
4:30 PM Pioneer Varsity Band
5:00 PM Pioneer Symphony Band

Proud Music

I spent much of this evening at the Ann Arbor Open winter band and orchestra concert. For middle schoolers, they sounded pretty good! The improvement between the intermediate and advanced groups is very noticeable. It's so nice to really see the difference, and understand that they are really learning!

As a parent, it is always a "kvell moment" when your child is performing, and there are not enough opportunities for performance in many types of school work. (Kvell--a Yiddish word that roughly translates to "swell up with pride.")

While I was sitting there in the audience, I was thinking about a couple of conversations I had with my sister and sister-in-law over the past few months. They both have middle-school-age kids, and they all go to "very good public schools" (in other words, comparable to Ann Arbor). But do their kids play instruments? Not anymore. "She tried it for a week..." "After two weeks she decided she didn't like it..." "She wanted to play the flute but she could barely get a sound out of it."

Two things stand out here. First, in the Ann Arbor schools, nobody tries instrumental music for a week. Everybody has to try it for at least a year! Second, students spend a few weeks at the beginning of fifth grade trying out different instruments, and if it's hard for a student to get a sound out of a flute, the teacher will probably not assign flute to that student.

So those conversations--and tonight's concert--really made me appreciate the Ann Arbor Public Schools music scene...especially in the elementary and middle schools, before it gets super competitive. The start that AAPS gives kids in music is awesome!

Or perhaps I should say that the AAPS music program...

Is jazzy.

It's snazzy.

It rocks and 

it rolls.

It's classy and

it's brassy!

It boogies and

it bounces!

Thanks, music teachers!

P.S. I would put in a plug here for Horns for the Holidays, but I'm not sure it still exists. Does anybody know? If you have an instrument in good condition, many of our local school districts would probably welcome the donation.

How Do You Get to Carnegie Hall?

When we came home from the preliminary round of Future Stars last night, my husband said to me, "I don't think they sang that well at my high school!"
They didn't sing that well at my high school either.

Future Stars, if you don't already know, is a competition that is "Ann Arbor's American Idol." High school students compete in a singing and dancing competition, and move forward based in part on the opinion of judges, and in part on voting (cheering). Just like in the original American Idol, the judges' comments are often insipid. [Seriously. Could they use a thesaurus before they get to the show? Find some alternative words for "amazing," "fantastic," and "you guys?" I don't think it is too much to ask.]

The singing and dancing, on the other hand, ranged from very good to unbelievably wonderful. The competition is hosted by Pioneer's Theater Guild, and though it is open to students from all schools--and there were a few I knew from Community and Skyline, though I'm not sure about Huron, Clemente, or Stone--it is dominated by Pioneer students. At this point I also have to give a shout out to the band that backed up most of the students; they didn't get much attention but they were truly attention-worthy.

Most theater programs--including the one at my high school and my husband's high school--tend to try to offer a diverse array of theater experiences, including musical theater, but not primarily musical theater. Part of it is related to size--my high school, and my husband's high school, had about 1000 students--Pioneer, even in its reduced state, will be a lot larger.

At Pioneer, the emphasis is clearly on musical theater, which is why, if the district ever decides to do a theater magnet, it would probably make sense to put it at Pioneer. Those who prefer straight plays at Pioneer get their day, but less frequently and with a smaller audience.

The net result, in this case, is that students get a lot of practice at singing. And in fact, I know that many of those students also take singing lessons. It pays off.

How do you get to Carnegie Hall?

Practice, Practice, Practice.

The Future Stars "finals" are this coming Saturday evening, 1/15/2011.
If you want a seat, get there early.

A Few Updates

Ann Arbor:
Budget Forums THIS Monday and Tuesday
The forums will begin at 6:30 p.m. at these locations:

Monday, April 12
Pioneer High School's Little Theater, 601 W. Stadium Blvd.

Tuesday, April 13
Huron High School's Little Theater, 2727 Fuller Rd.

Also, Schools of Choice materials are available now.

Dexter:

The Dexter Superintendent, Rob Glass, is a semi-finalist for the Bloomfield Hills school superintendent position. He is also having a "Coffee and Conversation time" on April 21, from 7-8 a.m., at Foggy Bottom Coffee Shop. So go ask him your questions.

I also like what he had to say on his blog post about the MEAP (and I like the title of the blog itself: Glass Half Full).

Then, after savoring the moment [good district MEAP scores] for a good 30 seconds, I came back to my senses, acknowledging that these scores are very limited in both their use and their meaning. After all, districts who ‘live’ by the sword of standardized testing should beware lest they ultimately ‘die’ by the same.

Saline:
Congratulations to Saline Middle School student Jacob Tanner, who is Michigan's state geography champion and is going to the National Geography Bee. I probably wouldn't call that out, except that I love geography, once worked in a map library, and have an environmental studies degree. And geography is a lot more than maps!

Saline is getting an updated web site, according to the Superintendent's Blog. I already thought that the Saline web site was the best one among the local schools, so I'm looking forward to the unveiling. (No, don't get a swelled head, Saline-ites--it still had its share of broken links and missing information, but at least most of the time, if the information was there, you could find it.)

Ypsilanti:
Notices have gone out to the Chappelle families about their choices for the upcoming school year. I will be curious to see how that goes. I've also heard a fair number of rumblings as to whether there really was an open process regarding the school closings, or whether "the fix was in" and the decision was made before the process. I'm hoping someone will FOIA the appropriate documents, and find out. If, in fact, the process was truly open, I think that would soothe some ruffled feathers. And if not, well--people should know.

Willow Run:
A book could probably be written about the trials and tribulations of this district. The school board appears to really be coming together, the district has joined the Early College Alliance, people seem to like the acting superintendent...BUT if the allegations from the past few years are true, then it is amazing the district is still standing!
To wit:
The detailed allegations against Hope-Jackson are substantial, AND that
The former board president appears to have signed a contract extension for Laconda Hicks AFTER she was no longer board president

But wait--with these allegations, and with the acrimony that she stirred up among faculty and staff, you would think that nobody would be itching to hire Hope-Jackson--and yet, you would be wrong.
Hope-Jackson, too, is a semi-finalist for a superintendent position. David Jesse at annarbor.com linked to this Chicago Tribune story that tells the tale. Yes, she is a semi-finalist in the Harvey, Illinois district, where she had been an assistant superintendent, and where she remained on the school board even while working as superintendent in Willow Run! From the Chicago Tribune story:

Four other candidates have dropped out, leaving Harvey Public School District 152 to choose between Harvey Mayor Eric Kellogg, the district's assistant superintendent, and Doris Hope-Jackson, a former District 152 assistant superintendent and school board member who most recently was in Michigan. . .
Without a search or an interview, the school board in November voted 4-2 to name Kellogg superintendent-designate and instructed Bridges [current superintendent] to train him to take over her job. Of the board members who voted for Kellogg, one is his sister, one is his cousin and two are on the city payroll, working under Kellogg, records show.
The board began a search after the Tribune started asking questions and requesting public documents in January...[Describes Hope-Jackson's career.]

In the last few months, Hope-Jackson was demoted to director of information and assessment and accused of giving perks to certain employees. For example, she allegedly allowed a friend who works as a student services administrator to receive extra pay for working weekends and after hours even though she is a salaried employee, according to a 46-page memo from Willow Run school board President Sheri Washington. Hope-Jackson allegedly allowed that employee to abuse paid sick leave and work shortened days, the memo said.

Hope-Jackson also is accused of belittling, bullying and disrespecting staff, parents and school board members...

In 2006 Hope-Jackson left the superintendent's job in Calumet Public School District 132 after she tried to fire the special education director for allegedly falsifying her resume. The school board then tried to get rid of Hope-Jackson.
In 2003, she sued Dolton School District 149 after she claimed she was put on paid administrative leave as superintendent for refusing to do political favors for some board members. But board members said they disciplined her for having a negative attitude and being brash with parents and staff.

In other words--Harvey, Illinois appears to be way more dysfunctional than Willow Run, and...
given Hope-Jackson's history of lawsuits, it seems clear that the WRCS board is very wise to proceed cautiously and...
Let's hope she's on her way out.

Washtenaw Intermediate School District
There has been a lot of talk about consolidation of services, and it appears that the WISD is the center of a lot of these discussions. But if you go to their web site, it is pretty bare bones. Sure, you can get student accounting numbers, but I couldn't find a list of board members, and I have no idea how you get on the WISD board. And based on news reports it seems likely they (both board and staff) have been discussing quite a lot of things--international baccalaureate program, transportation consolidation. . .

Other
You might be wondering--what's with the Superintendent job-hopping? Yes, there is lots of movement in the superintendent arena. Remember that the Ypsilanti assistant superintendent was just offered a job in Niles, MI. All I can say is, it appears that a good superintendent can be hard to find.

Also--if you missed these two posts: Music and Autism Updates, take a look at them and add your comments.

Music

Let's start with this interesting comment that I got the other day on my Cui Bono (Who Benefits?) post:

Speaking of Who Benefits, Pioneer has just won another award for their music program. I would love to see an expose of this program and who is benefitting. The orchestra is basically a public school forum for private music students. It has nothing to do with the school program that starts in 5th grade and doesn't teach enough for kids to suceed in high school. The teacher simply cherry picks the top students that have been privately studying music since a very young age, devotes all the resources to them, and literally leaves everyone else behind. The kids that can't play at a level well beyond high school are in a basic technique class where they can either accept their 2nd class status or quit. You never hear about them because they don't go anywhere beyond the school auditorium! The whole program is focused on winning and they are not about to let anyone in who can't do that.

I have mixed feelings about this comment.
On the one hand--point well taken. The top levels of the orchestra/band are very exclusive. At least one acquaintance has told me that the majority of the kids in it are taking lessons, outside of school, for at least an hour a week, from the very best teachers in town--no college music majors for them! I don't have personal experience of this because none of my kids has played past 9th grade (at least, not yet). But I believe the commenter when s/he says that many of the kids experience the lower levels of the orchestra/band as "second rate." And one of the reasons that I am happy about the presence of Skyline is that I believe this will make more room in those top bands (and Varsity athletic teams) for kids who are good, but not the very best.

On the other hand--this charge could be leveled not only at Pioneer but at other schools as well. They all use their music programs to attract students. I have seen articles about Huron, Ypsilanti, Lincoln, Willow Run, Community High, and even Stone School's music program. I think this is natural--although everyone thinks "basics" are important, it is the extras that draw people in to schools. And generally music is perceived as, and should be perceived as, value added.

And on the third hand (if I had one)--a friend of mine went, several years ago, to the NAACP annual dinner. She (a white woman, and a teacher) was seated at a table with several middle class African-American couples. The talk turned to school, and to the achievement gap. [And I would say that both my friend and I, as white women concerned with education, have been concerned with the achievement gap as a problem, but not as a problem that personally affected us. These families felt it affected them.] My friend reported to me later that the other parents were discussing their strategies for keeping their kids out of trouble and in with the top-performing kids. Universally, their favorite strategy--even for kids who weren't in advanced classes--was to keep their kids in the music program. So many of the advanced students are in Orchestra, Band, or Choir, that those classes end up driving a lot of class schedules. In effect: stick with Orchestra, and your kids end up being with hard-working students for the rest of the day.

Last, but not least--I really believe that when you learn music, you are also learning math (think rhythm, notes, spatial awareness) and arts (besides the beauty of music, it really is like learning another language). So I think it's important, despite the fact that my (older two) kids' interest in music peaked in 6th or 7th grade, and I want the schools to have good music programs.

Finally--I don't have much experience with the local music programs, and I would be interested in yours. Are they elite and snobby, or open? Does everyone benefit, or just a select few?