INTASC 8 - Assessment of Student Learning
The teacher understands and uses formal and informal assessment strategies to evaluate and ensure the continuous intellectual, social and physical development of the learner.
Assessment is a key factor of education, especially performance based education, and should be done every day.
Assessment indicates the progress of the students, teacher, and program. It allows us to see where students are in their musical development and decide how to proceed in future instruction and planning to benefit the student best. Assessment provides a concrete record of student growth that can be documented and proven to parents and administrators. Through assessment, teachers then set goals and plan for the future.
Informal (formative) assessment is done throughout the lesson and usually involves teacher observation and questioning. It allows the teacher to see where to take the lesson next and how to guide students to the knowledge/concept of the lesson. Formal (summative) assessment is done at the end of a lesson or unit and tells teachers and students how well they comprehended the material/concept and if they are able to apply it to or synthesize it with their musical knowledge and abilities as a whole. It is something that can be formally documented.
There are three areas of assessment: knowledge, skills, and attitudes/preferences. In a lesson on syncopation, knowledge assessment would ask students to define the term and how it occurs, skill assessment would ask students to accurately perform the musical concept through singing, playing, movement, writing, etc., and attitude assessment would ask students to discuss whether or not they enjoy that musical concept in context of a piece using appropriate musical terms and vocabulary. A tool for assessing knowledge is questioning. Questions should relate to instructional objectives and clearly ask for convergent or divergent thinking from the students. A way to assess skills is through any type of contextual performance. Give students guidelines for singing, playing, moving, or notating and allow them to produce the concept themselves. A simple way to assess attitudes is through writing exercises or discussion. Opening up a dialogue that encourages students use of musical terms and expressions is paramount.
Lastly, self-assessment is an aspect of assessment that provides a unique opportunity for the teacher and students. Students are engaged, aware, and reflective, when asked to self-assess, and this provides the teacher with some sincere feedback from the students on what they consider their best effort to be. Students should self-assess their understanding, skill ability, preferences, progress, and effort put forth. In an ensemble setting, I encourage this through constant questioning and group discussion prompts. I ask the students to evaluate the sounds they are making compared with their peers, my model, and other recordings. These types of efforts are crucial in developing a young musician's ear.
Artifact 1 (Psychomotor Rubric)
Below is a rubric for testing a student's psychomotor skills in music literacy. This type of rubric could be adapted to any type of vocal or performance skill. I have clearly defined what musical qualities each score lines up with and exactly what I will be grading on. The students should have these rubrics ahead of time for preparation. A rubric like this allows for both a valid and reliable assessment.
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Artifact 2 (Choral Ensemble Assessment Tools)
These assessment tools all belong to a unit project. There is a written quiz over a piece of rehearsed literature, a concert reflection/evaluation assignment, and a writing prompt as a cross-curricular assessment as well. Rubrics and scoring are included/indicated.
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