Tell me what you really think.
Everything in our school, district and state is now being driven by the WASL. It's horrifying. As you note in this post, sports are OF COURSE exempt.
You agitator, you, exposing young minds to something other than WWF and NASCAR. Aren't you afraid you'll add to these kids actually thinking for themselves and cause them to step out of line from time to time? Are you that un-American?
I'm aghast.
Who are the stupid yahoos who are doing this to our children? (And of course athletics is the golden boy. Parental reliving of what could have been.)
I had a jerk hijack a posting on my blog. I made one sideways reference to standardized testing (in the middle of a larger, political post that was only peripherally about education issues), and he (apparently he works for a think tank that supports standardized testing, but he himself is not an educator in any way, shape, or form) kept trying to defend it as the Only Way To Fix Education.
Criminy, these people disgust me. Mamacita, you tell this story and tell it loud and often.
WF
It is appalling (sp?) to me. Field trips are still done here in NC; whole bus loads come to our museums and a few plays here in Raleigh every school day from all over the state (that can be reached and back in one day). It is really too bad that yours have been cancelled. I would fight it with a passion!
Thank goodness my school district still includes field trips to Geva Theater, art museums, and the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. All children MUST experience the arts up close and personal in order to appreciate them, and hopefully even pursue them...
Do you know that my defense committee made me change the spelling of "theatre" to "theater" in my thesis? And hey, I was talking about Broadway in the 40s! I figured if that wasn't theatre, nothing was!
You are a fantastic teacher!
Music, theatre and other cultural events often enrich lives and bring a great deal of joy to many otherwise lifeless lives.
I have always been fortunate in that both my parents love music, the theatre (it's always spelled this way in Canada), literature and eating at restaurants other than McDonald's.
It's too bad schools don't recognize the importance of these kind of teaching.
I enjoyed your post. I also loved the one about the bird sign below and wanted to tell you (after perusing your pictures) that the Trojan Horse was where my hubby and I went on our first date in 1986. 
I am joining Genuine Boy and Genuine Girl on a field trip to the Theatre on March 10th...I am not sure who is more excited them or me...it's the first trip with both of them together....So much fun to come!!!
I have very few fond memories of high school, but one that remains most vivid was a class trip to Ashland, OR, for the Shakespeare Festival. I didn't always know what the play was talking about, but I felt that I was part of something important.
That's so horribly typical about the lack of funding. I wonder if the theatre has resources to help parents/small groups get a gathering together to attend.
You know, I was kind of wondering about this myself...the only trips my kids seem to take are to the movies when there is something particularly relevant to what they are teaching. It didn't occur to me that they might be phasing out the good old fashioned "Field Trip." Sad, really.
I know that every teacher who reads this is shaking her/his head in sad agreement. It's a crying shame that teaching has come down to year-long test prep. And what a loss for the students.
Reading this post brought me to the verge of tears. I don't think that politicians and administrators understand how the standardized testing is hurting kids in so many ways. Thank you for sharing your story here.
At this risk of bringing down a hailstorm of this-guy-is-crazy posts, isn't part of the problem that the testing just isn't done right?
That is, if the tests were better and the way tests are used were better, couldn't teachers still find time for field trips and other enriching activities?
I've heard the horror stories about weekly "benchmark" tests and errors in test questions and kids throwing up because of the pressure and administrators acting as if the TEST is the only that matters. But an anti-testing backlash could mean no accountability at all for schools.
Is there a way to strike a balance?
Wow, where are you? I was raised in southern Indiana, in a town of 2,000, which is now somewhat famous due to a certain basketball player ...
I send my kids to school to learn to read, write, and do math and science. Not to be given etiquette lessons and indoctrinated into what the teacher feels a worthy endeavor.
That makes me so sad 
I had been to the theatre before I was in middle school, but my chorus teacher in 7th and 8th grades really made me LOVE the theatre, musicals especially.
Those kids were SO blessed to have you for a teacher; I hope they know that.
A side note--my daughter had the word "theater" as a spelling word. She spelled it "theatre" and got it wrong @@
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