Assessment
I believe one of the most difficult things to do in elementary
music classes is to assess. Scratch
that. I feel that while I constantly
assess my students (formative assessment), the quarterly grades I give to do
not accurately provide feedback about students’ growth in music. Assessment seems to be a blinking red light
on my radar throughout this graduate program.
At least three final projects I have completed have to do with
assessment. Although I am very pro-assessment,
I do feel that elementary music should be all about exploration. I ask three things of my students: cooperate,
participate, and respect. If they are
doing these things to the best of their individual
ability, they will receive an “E” (excellent) or “G” (good). This does not mean I let my students slack
through my classes. I have very high
expectations and I hold them accountable.
I also realize that we all have different levels of skill and there are
many skill areas within the realm of music.
One of my conclusions has been to create a checklist for
skill development. If I am diligent in
my record-keeping, I will be able to track my students’ development from
kindergarten through fifth grade. Technology will be very useful in keeping
these records. As I read about Google
Forms in the text this week, I was encouraged try it out and see what I can
create (Bauer, 2014). Creating some
standard rubrics using Google Forms is also smart. That way, I can access the forms via the web
instead of having them in one program on my desktop computer.
Just this week I dove into using Edmodo with my theatre arts
middle school elective. Edmodo is a website
(and app) that creates an educational social network. What is Edmodo? With Edmodo, I am able to send assignments to
my students, receive and grade their assignments, facilitate online discussion,
and communicate with students one-on-one.
My students are very familiar with Edmodo as they use it for several
other classes at our school. I have been
impressed already with the opportunities for questions and feedback. While I am excited about using it for my
middle school elective, I do not see myself using it for my elementary classes. If I had music ensembles in middle and high school,
I would definitely use Edmodo or a similar tool.
Webquests
Maybe I’m way behind the times, but I don’t think I’d ever
heard of a Webquest until this week. My
colleagues (some who have been teaching at least the sixteen years I have been
teaching and some much younger) were very familiar with the term and had used
them years ago…”way back” in the 1990s.
Even though the idea is “old school,” it is amazing to think of how the
idea, process, and resources base have evolved through the years. I am very excited to design my own Webquest
for our final project. I see Webquests
working well for groups and for individuals.
In a way, I feel that I have been on a large-scale Webquest throughout
this degree program, especially in the class “America’s Music.” It has been very eye-opening to see how much
information is readily available from notable sources. I look forward to integrating more tech tools
to supplement my teaching.
Bauer, W. (2014). Music learning today: Digital pedagogy for
creating, performing, and responding to music. New
York, NY: Oxford
Hi Karin,
ReplyDeleteI understand your position, formative assessments are ongoing for my elementary students. But it doesn't necessarily show on the report card. I am very interested in your skills checklist, having an multi-year, age-appropriate skills list would be great. I hope you will share it! (hint, hint)
Thanks Kathy! I created a very specific checklist for recorder skills during Inquiry II class. Because of that course, I've redirected my recorder program (and paid more attention to prerequisites). My third graders are blossoming so quickly and I see a definite difference in their note-reading skills!!! Hallelujah!
ReplyDeleteI looked specifically at the following skills and when I was implementing them:
Echoing Rhythm Patterns (Body Percussion) - K Fall
Dictation of Rhythm Patterns (using quarter & eighth notes) - 1 Spring
Melodic Echoes (using Mi, Re, Do) - 2 Fall
Singing Songs with Mi, Re, Do patterns - K Fall
Reading Mi, Re, Do Patterns on treble staff - 2 Spring
Labeling B, A, G on treble staff - 3 Fall
Playing recorder - 3 Fall
Playing and reading recorder songs using B, A, G - 3 Fall
As far as tracking individual skills, I'd like to put together a checklist with the following items:
Matches Pitch, Pats a steady beat while singing, Uses good mallet technique, Can verbally decode a rhythm pattern, Can correctly dictate a rhythm pattern, Can read a rhythm pattern, Can clap a rhythm pattern,...
You see where I'm going with this. I will insert specific pieces of rhythm and melody (solfege) for specific grade levels. Instrument technique will extend from simple non-pitched percussion to xylophones, recorders, and drums. It will be exciting to track individual students. Of course, I'm at a smaller school (about 300 elementary students) where I keep most of my students K-5...and I see my students three times a week. It would be even more challenging to track individuals at a school with more students and less time.
As an aside, one of my kindergartners found her singing voice this week! I was so excited. She gave me a beautiful "Cuckoo" (sol-mi) as I checked solo echos. Check!!!
Hi Karin,
ReplyDeleteThis was a really nice post this week. I can absolutely relate to what you said about assessment being a blinking red light. That is something that seems to pop up throughout every class I have taken so far. While I feel I do an adequate job of assessing my students in a formative manner I can improve my summative assessment strategies a great deal. Technology can no doubt help overcome some of the hurdles.
Finding a way to assess over 50 students in the same class but in varying grade levels and abilities levels has been one of my biggest challenges. I really liked your idea of having a checklist for skill development. My district has recently switched our email as well as all student email accounts over to gmail. Using the tools that Google has to offer will most definitely help with creating these checklists and keeping them organized.
Thanks for sharing some of what you include on your checklists. It is always great to see what other teachers are using in their classrooms that works. Thank you!!