David Altman

MUSE-FINGER
April 20, y

Reading Task #6
Assessment

Reading task six discusses some of the challenges educators will face
when it comes to assessing their students. As a music educator, assessment
can be particularly tricky. In order to accurately assess your class you need
to have a thoughtful rubric, and a way to analyze your students as they
perform in the class. Music educators have to come up with quick and
efficient ways to get an accurate read on their students progress while those
students are under their guidance. While a lot of school districts and state
organizations have rubrics already in place, most educators take these and
modify them to fit the needs of their teaching styles and of the students that
they are teaching.
Music is such a unique art form that we cant necessarily assess it by
doing summative assessments. Most music educators grade their students
informally. By scanning or walking around the ensemble during a rehearsal
you can gain some really good feedback on how students are performing
individually, as well as with each other. Authentic assessment is a great way
to test students musical ability on a few different levels. Having students
sight read a small phrase, or have different students play solos in the music
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can keep them on their toe. Doing this can also help you really understand
which students are grasping the concepts and actively applying them to their
daily practice.
Assessment does always have to be for a grade either. After a rep or
performance its great to have the students check themselves. Asking them
to review their own performance individually and as a group helps to keep
them accountable to themselves. Technology also has its place in educators
assessment. I know that at Crown we usually do online assignments using
the SmartMusic programs. We use this to play warm ups, exercises and
excerpts of show music. After the recording is completed our section techs
can go back, listen to the recording and then see what percentage of
note/rhythm accuracy we got.
Unfortunately technology can also be distracting. I know that using of
SmartMusic can take away some of the musicianship that is required by
students. Since that program is all about accuracy you dont have to add any
sort dynamics, or use a particularly good tone to get a good score. Luckily
though, instructors can leave comments on the recordings that the students
can go back a read later. That is a great combination of formative and
summative assessment. The teacher can use the participation, accuracy and
recording to grade the students and keep track of their progress. Meanwhile,
the students can use this tool to be reflective over their own performance.
To get the best results for the administration and yourself you need to
come up with a great combinations of tools to help you tie everything

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together. Understanding your classroom needs will help you have the most
accurate read on your students progress over the course of their time as
your student. Using technology to your advantage, student evaluation and
different formal or informal assessments is the key to accurately gauging
your students knowledge.

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