James Coleman
Entry 6
Assessment is key in a music classroom in order to ensure that the students are making progress. Without including assessment, it can be difficult to see how much (if any) progress the students have been making. One common form of music assessment is observation. Simply watching and taking mental notes, however, leaves room for error in the recalling progress. Teachers should either write down notes or design specific performance activities for students to show their mastery of a concept. Another important assessment in music education is self assessment, which is useful for the musician because they are reflecting on their progress and abilities. This also activates their higher thinking skills as they will be the ones trying to fix any issues they find. A final useful assessment is peer assessment. This gets students to critically listen and think, and also allows for them to get constructive feedback on their skills. They are able to take what they hear from this assessment and better themselves for their next attempt.The effective teacher will utilize these assessment tools, as well as many others.
During student teaching, I used a variety of assessments in order to see the progress of each student. Observation is the one I used the most because students are able to express their knowledge of the content in a way that is most comfortable by them. Assessments, just like instruction, should be differentiated for higher student success. For example, a student who gets nervous performing in front of others won't be successful in a playing test in front of the whole class regardless of how well they can typically play the piece. Therefore, I can use observation during class to see their progress because this is where they feel comfortable. I also implemented the use of self and peer assessment. As we started making more progress on a piece, I allowed the students to pick out parts of the song they believed that they or the ensemble needed to work on. This got them thinking about what they personally needed to work on as well as assessing the rest of the group. My students also became more invested in the piece when they had to be thinking critically about which parts they were struggling with. Using a variety of assessments gives the students a better chance of being successful and creates less stress than a typical test does.
During student teaching, I used a variety of assessments in order to see the progress of each student. Observation is the one I used the most because students are able to express their knowledge of the content in a way that is most comfortable by them. Assessments, just like instruction, should be differentiated for higher student success. For example, a student who gets nervous performing in front of others won't be successful in a playing test in front of the whole class regardless of how well they can typically play the piece. Therefore, I can use observation during class to see their progress because this is where they feel comfortable. I also implemented the use of self and peer assessment. As we started making more progress on a piece, I allowed the students to pick out parts of the song they believed that they or the ensemble needed to work on. This got them thinking about what they personally needed to work on as well as assessing the rest of the group. My students also became more invested in the piece when they had to be thinking critically about which parts they were struggling with. Using a variety of assessments gives the students a better chance of being successful and creates less stress than a typical test does.
Artifact #1
This is a lesson I taught with middle school orchestra, and was able to assess their performance. Then, I got the opportunity to discuss it with my cooperating apprenticeship teacher.
apprenticeship_lesson_plan.docx | |
File Size: | 15 kb |
File Type: | docx |
Artifact #2
This is a post-lesson reflection I completed about the lesson I taught above.
apprenticeship_post-lesson_reflection.docx | |
File Size: | 15 kb |
File Type: | docx |