Instrumental music is an elective course not a after-school or before-school club.

Which means that students will be pulled out from their classrooms and miss a period of instruction per week.

AND the expectation is that you will make up all the missed instruction on your own. The teachers work with the music instrument specialist/instructor/teacher to allow students to make up missed quizzes and tests. In some instances they will also let them know what was taught and the homework. But in no instance will they reteach the content.

SO, OP, I think it was very wise of your teacher to explain that to your DS. You should know what you are signing up for and what the expectations are.

NOW - you could get extremely lucky and the elective could coincide with a subject that your DC is very good at and missing one class will not be a problem. Its the luck of the draw. However, lots of kids do decide to take this elective and also thrive in academics.

The real challenge is when the kid decides to take 2 electives - instrumental music and chorus - now they are being pulled out from their classrooms twice a week. AND STILL - tons of kids do that and enjoy it and get good grades as well.

Students and parents need to get a bit organized, make sure they have homework buddies and be proactive about making up missed work. That's all your DCs teacher wanted her students to take away.

Our 4th grade teacher was very enthusiastic about kids taking instrumental music-- she specifically mentioned it at back to school night and said missing a half hour of class occasionally wasn't an issue.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:4th grade teachers HATE musical instruction.

All my kids took instruments in 4th grade and I never got this impression. I always thought theY handled it well and were very positive about the experience. They even worked with my special needs son to adjust homework on music days so he could manage the workload.

+1

The benefits of learning to play an instrument far outweigh the inconvenience of making up the work missed.

Why can't the schools change up the schedule to provide for a block during the day when kids can go to music lessons, special instruction, ESOL, speech therapy, whatever? It's called block scheduling and in our last school system it worked like a charm to minimize disruptions and enable kids to get whatever type of services they need. Sounds like MCPS has a really dumb system if they can't figure out how to offer instrumental music as part of the curriculum in a way that doesn't detract from the rest of the schedule.

Anonymous wrote:4th grade teachers HATE musical instruction.

All my kids took instruments in 4th grade and I never got this impression. I always thought theY handled it well and were very positive about the experience. They even worked with my special needs son to adjust homework on music days so he could manage the workload.

It is a huge pain for the teacher and it is important for the students to know about make-up work. Some kids cannot handle it. They miss class and then have to make up the work but they can't do it without the instruction. It is something important to think about before signing up.

It sounds like your DD is making this decision, not the teacher. The teacher is just explaining the situation - yes, she'll have to make up the work (as would any kid) but it sounds like your DD would have no problem doing that. But that she doesn't want to.

Also, it's not clear from your post if the teacher specifically said this to your DD or to the whole class. I assume it was just to the whole class, which is completely to be expected. Some kids may think it's a way to get out of school work.

I can't see anything wrong with what this teacher did. They simply pointed out that this would be IN ADDITION to school work, not instead. Some kids may not have realized that.

4th grade teachers HATE musical instruction. It pulls kids out of their class willy nilly on a rotating basis, and it makes it difficult to keep up with who missed what. They have kids leaving the classroom right and left -- 2 for flute, 3 for string, 5 for clarinet etc. Drives the best of them batty.

By 5th grade many of the kids who couldn't handle it have given it up and things get better.

From what I read from your post, I don't find anything that proves the teacher discouraged the student to learn an instrument at school. The teacher said a fact, which is pretty important information. Maybe some students like your daughter took it differently.

But they do have to make up the work, if they go for lessons. That's not discouragement; it's a fact.

Though of course it's possible that the teacher said it in a particularly discouraging way.

Anonymous wrote:Do you expect the class to stop and wait while your daughter learns an instrument? Making up the work is part of the deal. The kids and their parents need to know that.

Exactly.

Do you expect the class to stop and wait while your daughter learns an instrument? Making up the work is part of the deal. The kids and their parents need to know that.

I have heard others say the same thing. I would not let it get in your child's way. Usually a large percentage of 4th graders try an instrument and it shouldn't be a big deal to make up the work.

I'd call the teacher and just try to get clarification. Not in an accusatory way. But yeah, that is bad if a teacher is trying to put the kibosh on a school sponsored activity.

DD came home from school with the flyer for upcoming selection of instruments for kids who are interested. She already plays piano and we were pretty excited about the chance to add another instrument...that is until her teacher got ahold of her. When she brought the flyer home, she said she no longer wanted to play an instrument because the teacher made it a point to tell the class that if they break out for lessons that they will have to make up that work.

Call me crazy, but I'm pretty sure that the lessons will be all of 30 minutes once per week. DD is a straight A student and I highly doubt she will have issues making up the time, especially since there will likely be multiple students coming and going during the day for lessons and my guess is that instruction will be slower all day due to that as well. WHY would the teacher need/want to discourage little kids from music, especially with the arts so underrepresented in school these days.

Sorry just needed to vent.