Posted by Rick Denney on September 08, 2002 at 15:17:23:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: The Swing of the Pendulum posted by Doug Whitten on September 08, 2002 at 12:32:44:
I don't disagree with anything you said. If the objectives are not being met (as exposed by testing), then why would I want the student to move on? And I have no problem with testing early to see if some students have already satisfied those objectives. As I said before, testing should demonstrate what is learned, not what is taught. But testing doesn't prescribe the solution--the solution still must trace back to goals and requirements of education that are sensibly established (see my long post in the other thread).
If the goals of education are wrong-headed, then the tests designed to see if the goals are being met will be wrong-headed, too. And even if testing exposes a problem it doesn't reveal that the cause of the problem is wrong-headed goals. Tracing the elements of education back to proper goals is the key to solving the problem, not just identifying it.
Tuba teachers follow the same principle. Don't teachers ask the student to focus on sound? To get that sound in their heads so that the litle steps they take along the way will contribute to achieving that sound? But teachers still ask their students to play the scales or etudes in their next lesson (testing) to make sure that they practiced the material and made progress. If they didn't make progress because their goal is wrong, then teachers will re-estblish the goal. Most times, the test is there to make sure they worked on the material. Practicing the scales and etudes with the right goal in mind is what makes the progress. Do we assign double-tonguing exercises if the student has a really poor sound concept or can't move air efficiently?
Interestingly, the sound-concept approach to establishing goals grew from practical teaching experience rather than from an educational establishment approach.
Rick "who thinks we mostly agree, but approach agreement from different perspectives" Denney