- all work is accepted through the end of the marking period with no penalty for being late
- students may resubmit playing assessments and other work as many times as they choose
- 6th and 7th grade students do credit/no credit practice reflection videos
- one point weekly assessment worth 25% of overall marking period grade
- meant as a low key way to check in on individual students' progress, hear where their thinking is leading at the time, and find trends (students struggling with same part or concept)
The combination of new implementation of Google Classroom, students and I still learning each others' expectations (I'm new to the district), and what I strongly suspect are some students taking advantage of my policies have led me to spending the majority of the last four days grading and checking easily over 100 late submissions. Many students completed a marking period's worth of practice reflections all in one night, defeating the entire purpose they are meant to serve. I've been dreaming of gradebook spreadsheets with Hot Cross Buns playing on repeat in the background.
As I develop more of a rapport with students and we finish working out some of the technical difficulties that prevented students from uploading videos, I hope and feel that many of these problems will work themselves out. However, I am seriously considering putting a two week deadline on practice reflections both to encourage them to be used in the way they're intended and also to save my personal sanity.
Additionally I'm struggling with grades for things that are basically compliance. While most music education standards include something along the lines of "performing as a part of an ensemble," that doesn't necessarily mean that an audience is required. We perform music daily, so what do I do about grades for participating in our concerts? Or grades for participating meaningfully in class? Because students' behavior and attendance have a direct impact on the rest of the students in the ensemble, I feel like something needs to be tied to the choices they make.
As I reconcile my current practice with grading research and trends, I'm sure this will not be my last post in regards to grading, especially as it pertains to a performing ensemble. So here is my first in what will be a long-term journey. Please share your thoughts, ideas, or suggestions. I'd love to hear how others are going through this process, especially other band and music directors.
As I develop more of a rapport with students and we finish working out some of the technical difficulties that prevented students from uploading videos, I hope and feel that many of these problems will work themselves out. However, I am seriously considering putting a two week deadline on practice reflections both to encourage them to be used in the way they're intended and also to save my personal sanity.
Additionally I'm struggling with grades for things that are basically compliance. While most music education standards include something along the lines of "performing as a part of an ensemble," that doesn't necessarily mean that an audience is required. We perform music daily, so what do I do about grades for participating in our concerts? Or grades for participating meaningfully in class? Because students' behavior and attendance have a direct impact on the rest of the students in the ensemble, I feel like something needs to be tied to the choices they make.
As I reconcile my current practice with grading research and trends, I'm sure this will not be my last post in regards to grading, especially as it pertains to a performing ensemble. So here is my first in what will be a long-term journey. Please share your thoughts, ideas, or suggestions. I'd love to hear how others are going through this process, especially other band and music directors.
Is performing as part of an ensemble things like... listening, responding to the group dynamic, keeping rhythm, applying your part correctly? I'm not a musician, but surely there are skills to target not simply a yes or no? Best observed in practice sessions I assume. Certainly challenging to assess! Nice blog!
ReplyDeleteHi Amy,
ReplyDeleteI, too, struggle with how to award grades in my Band classes. Our administration hounds us and hounds us for data on student growth and learning and with ensembles, that's not easy to measure. I have tried to get them to just take ensemble data, i.e. festival ratings, sight-reading scores, concerts, as proof that students are learning and improving on their instruments, but they're all about the individual data now and it's difficult. We are 1:1 school this year 6-8 for the first time on Chromebooks, but the students don't take them home. Last year I ditched the good 'ol weekly practice cards in favor of more playing quizzes. With 50-60 in a class, the quizzes just took too much time and I couldn't offer any feedback to students without taking more time. I moved to doing Google Voice quizzes and it works fairly well. The sound quality is terrible, but I do get to hear each kid each week and have a permanent record (data) of them playing.
I grade them on a mastery basis. They either get 10/10 for passing, 11/10 for pass with distinction, or an R for retake. Retakes are unlimited and only become 5/10 when the 9-week quarter ends. You can guess how many quizzes I was listening to in that last week of the quarter! I wish I had more answers and the "golden ticket" to Band grading.
I enjoy your blog. Thanks for writing it.
Coming up with a fair way to assess students that fits current research is definitely a challenge, especially when most of the information to be found is in regards to more traditional classes. Thank you so much for reading and sharing!
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