The ability to assess students in technological ways resonated with me this week. Having valid and reliable methods of assessing students while being able to retain students in my program is difficult. I find that most of my performance ensemble students are willing to be assessed because they understand that assessments are part of being in school. However, a percentage of my performance ensemble students are involved in the music program purely because they enjoy being involved but want no part of being assessed. Developing creative methods of assessments would be helpful in assessing these students.
SmartMusic, audio-visual assessments, and recording software are three methods in which students can be assessed in a valid and reliable way while still having fun. Of these methods, SmartMusic would be the formal assessment method of the three. However, balancing technical exercises with fun activities would still allow my students enjoyment in using technology. Audio-visual assessments can be equally, if not more; valuable, valid, and reliable than SmartMusic. Audio-visual assessment adds aspects of assessment that can not be assessed in SmartMusic. Video assessment is able to assess visual aspects like posture, facial expression, and the visual aspects of breath support where SmartMusic is unable to capture these aspects. I see videorecording chorus rehearsals as a valuable formative assessment because it allows students to critically see the visual aspects of their performance. Recording software like Audacity or GarageBand can be an alternative to SmartMusic. It would allow students to record themselves, convert the file to a more user-friendly file type (e.g. mp3) and submit this file for assessment. This is how I currently grade students in my piano class. Every station in the piano lab is connected to a Mac mini and has internet connection. When the student has recorded a song to be assessed in GarageBand, they convert the GarageBand file to an mp3. They then upload the mp3 file to a shared folder in Google drive. Once they have uploaded the mp3 I can listen to the performance and provide formative/summative feedback according to the rubrics that was provide them with on the first day of class.
I was glad to read the section on Backward Design as it is a concept my school district has adopted. As a first-year teacher, having never heard of this concept, was worried about applying this concept in my classroom. After four years I have become comfortable with developing new units of instruction according to this curriculum model. I can see how this model can be applied to learning being “contextual, active, social, and reflective” (Bauer, 2014, p. 147). Building lessons within your units of instruction in Backward Design accommodating these learning styles ultimately leads to self-regulation. Self-regulation is a concept that has been a goal in my professional career. The philosophy I have developed over the years of being a private instructor and a public school teacher is to teach my students to become independent musicians. If students are not able to self-regulate their abilities as a musician, then they will never be able to become a lifelong musician. They will always have to rely on someone else to tell them what they are doing correctly or incorrectly. Implementing assessment methods like SmartMusic, audio-visual recordings, and recording software is one way in developing the independent musicians that I hope to develop. Not only is it a way I can give them a grade for my class, it is also a way they can assess their own performances after they leave high school.
SmartMusic, audio-visual assessments, and recording software are three methods in which students can be assessed in a valid and reliable way while still having fun. Of these methods, SmartMusic would be the formal assessment method of the three. However, balancing technical exercises with fun activities would still allow my students enjoyment in using technology. Audio-visual assessments can be equally, if not more; valuable, valid, and reliable than SmartMusic. Audio-visual assessment adds aspects of assessment that can not be assessed in SmartMusic. Video assessment is able to assess visual aspects like posture, facial expression, and the visual aspects of breath support where SmartMusic is unable to capture these aspects. I see videorecording chorus rehearsals as a valuable formative assessment because it allows students to critically see the visual aspects of their performance. Recording software like Audacity or GarageBand can be an alternative to SmartMusic. It would allow students to record themselves, convert the file to a more user-friendly file type (e.g. mp3) and submit this file for assessment. This is how I currently grade students in my piano class. Every station in the piano lab is connected to a Mac mini and has internet connection. When the student has recorded a song to be assessed in GarageBand, they convert the GarageBand file to an mp3. They then upload the mp3 file to a shared folder in Google drive. Once they have uploaded the mp3 I can listen to the performance and provide formative/summative feedback according to the rubrics that was provide them with on the first day of class.
I was glad to read the section on Backward Design as it is a concept my school district has adopted. As a first-year teacher, having never heard of this concept, was worried about applying this concept in my classroom. After four years I have become comfortable with developing new units of instruction according to this curriculum model. I can see how this model can be applied to learning being “contextual, active, social, and reflective” (Bauer, 2014, p. 147). Building lessons within your units of instruction in Backward Design accommodating these learning styles ultimately leads to self-regulation. Self-regulation is a concept that has been a goal in my professional career. The philosophy I have developed over the years of being a private instructor and a public school teacher is to teach my students to become independent musicians. If students are not able to self-regulate their abilities as a musician, then they will never be able to become a lifelong musician. They will always have to rely on someone else to tell them what they are doing correctly or incorrectly. Implementing assessment methods like SmartMusic, audio-visual recordings, and recording software is one way in developing the independent musicians that I hope to develop. Not only is it a way I can give them a grade for my class, it is also a way they can assess their own performances after they leave high school.
References
Bauer, W. I. (2014). Music learning today: Digital pedagogy for creating, performing, and responding to music. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
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