Shaping Sound Musicians - Ch. 4 "Assessment"

While working on my Capstone project I decided to continue reading Patricia O'Tool's, Shaping Sound Musicians. I've learned a lot so far and I'm not even through the chapter yet! I'm going to share some quotes and elaborate on personal feelings and ideas that relate to those quotes.

"Music teachers are good at assessing, but we need to improve at providing students with systematic feedback, involving students in assessing their own learning, and developing meaningful criteria for grades."

This hits the nail right on the head. I have found that I'm okay at identifying problems and assessing what students are doing well, or could improve, but I still struggle with providing that feedback in a meaningful way. I also, need to allow students to express their feelings in a way that they use music specific vocabulary and are sharing in a positive environment. In the past, I've had students perhaps say, "that sucked", or perhaps something that pointed out a specific student. While attempting to address that, I need to teach how to properly assess inward and outward.

Music courses are typically assessed through attendance, attitude, and behavior. Our focus should rather be gaining musical knowledge, growing as a performer, and performing with understanding.

This is a loosely taken and is a paraphrased quote, but it's a true statement. How do you assess a class that is performance oriented? Typically the practice has been to assess students on whether or not they were in rehearsal, trying their best, whether or not they had their instrument, and a slew of other factors. After thinking about this issue, the challenge is going to be assessing these important factors that help students remain successful in rehearsal, but also, making sure that that "grade" is effectively communicated with the parents. Typically, if the issue with the student's success is behavior, parents can be a driving force to help that behavior improve.

The second sentence refers to the content knowledge that students should be able to demonstrate. This is when Comprehensive Musicianship can help students and music educators make amazing music. The CMP project, is designed to prepare students for lifelong music making. This has been a something that can be achieved through standards-based grading. By using national standards, and the CMP project, music educators can develop a well-rounded curriculum, rigorous learning targets, and better musicians.

Assessment:

• Can serve as a means of advocacy
• Is imperative for recruitment of lifelong musicians
• Music can teacher concepts, skills, attitudes, and appreciation for basic human interaction
• Can demonstrate to students that they're growing as musicians and that they possess the skills and knowledge to develop musically throughout their lives

The first bullet point holds true for me. If you have high, yet achievable standards, then you'll have the potential better program, and a sense of community pride. Assessment provides opportunities that will give students the skills to make music for the rest of your life. These thoughts are pretty cool, thinking that assessing with students can help musicians perform better!

"Grading has posed many problems for ensemble directors. It has not been a part of the year culture of ensembles to collect "evidence of learning", but rather collect "evidence of participation"... "Letter grades can seem weighty and formidable, sometimes using a more casual system of feedback is less threatening and yields a better learning process."

As I shared above, we too often focus on behaviors rather than content knowledge. I believe that moving to a SBG framework, we can focus on music making, rather than behavior. Creating standards and learning targets that promote a focus on music will allow for music educators to do so much more! I'm excited to see what implementing SBG next year can hold. The letter grade can have an extremely negative stigma attached. In a podcast created Eric Townsley and Matt Townsley related to SBG, Matt brings up a great point, "What does the letter grade mean?" He gave a specific grading example, but nevertheless what does that letter grade mean? Even through the use of rubrics, does the letter grade (just the letter grade with a percentage) effectively communicate the knowledge possessed by a student and whether or not they can demonstrate their knowledge?

These are just simple musings, but they raise some really good questions - How do we effectively communicate how our students are doing in our courses? Are we assessing behavior or content knowledge?

Please feel free to check out the book - Shaping Sound Musicians by Patricia O'Tool and the Townsley podcast. 

Townsley, E., & Townsley, M. (2015, March 15). SBG Podcast. Retrieved June 12, 2015, from http://sbgpodcast.blogspot.com 

Toole, P. (2003). Shaping sound musicians: An innovative approach to teaching comprehensive musicianship through performance. Chicago, Ill.: GIA Publications.  

3rd Year Reflection

School has been out for a week for our students and a couple days for teachers and I have learned a lot in a very short amount of time. After an interesting first two years of teaching PreK-12 Vocal Music in a very rural district, I made the change to South Tama County Middle School to teach 5th grade general music, 6th - 8th grade bands, 5th - 8th grade lessons, and 7th & 8th grade choir. During this year there have been challenges but nothing more than someone should be able to handle. Here are a few things that I've accomplished and why they are necessary to a MS music education:

• Solo festivals - this year I brought back the solo festivals our school used to have. I have found that during this time students practiced more than usual, and gained some great insight from judges that were from a distance. As my first year in a more instrumental position, I learned that students will take the opportunity to grow with an accompanist and showcase their talent. Having judges that are specialists with a specific instrument group allows the teacher and the student to have a nice perspective on what helps create an ideal sound on any given instrument. I split and had 2 solo nights - 1 for 5th and 6th grade and 1 for 7th and 8th grade instrumentalists. Take aways - more communication, sooner. Work with solo repertoire more often and thank goodness I can play piano. It made helping students with their music that much easier.

• Variety Show - this year was the first year in a long time since a variety show has been put on at STC MS. At this event, I wanted to showcase students and their talents, and boy did we ever. I came up with the theme "Rock with You". This theme was based on a medley by the same name of Michael Jackson music. I originally gave the medley to the students... all 52 pages... and guess what?! They learned it all! Many other students that I had never heard sing a solo participated and were very successful. I think that this event featured anyone who needed a feature. I also thought - how can I get the other specialized courses involved in this event. I took the logical choice of Family and Consumer Science (FCS) and Art with us! It was a success! The Art Club created a great art show, featuring top notch work of 6th - 8th grade students and the FCS students created a great dessert reception.

Being in my last two terms as a graduate student I learned that my practices in grading haven't been the best. In the fine arts classroom, how do we assess students? We assess based on the ability to perform. That is why I'm making a change to Standards-Based Grading/Assessment (SBG). This summer I am creating assessments and rubrics that will help guide student assessment. Students will be able to demonstrate if they are achieving specific standards and learning targets. 

The struggle is real when talking about vocal music and SBG since I don't necessarily have a lesson book like I do for general and instrumental music. I will be doing a lot of sight-singing, composing, teaching music theory, and creating more competent singers. I appreciate that my students have given me the opportunity to teach so far and push them to learn different pieces and have success with those.

Changes for next year:

• Vocal Festivals - Real Men Sing at Wartburg College, and OPUS honor choir auditions
• Honor Bands - NEIBA, Marion, and Five Seasons
• 2 Solo nights again 
• Variety Show

More information to come, off to relax, research, and improve. Have a great weekend everyone! 

A Jazz WebQuest

It's post concert series and now I get to look forward to my unit about jazz music. I had to design this WebQuest for a graduate course at Kent State (my online program) and found it actually a lot of fun to do!

1. The Link - https://sites.google.com/a/kent.edu/jazzwebquest/

The first page shows jazz greats Billie Holiday and Louis Armstrong. The students are split into groups and allowed to pick a jazz artist, however they cannot duplicate which artist they want to research. Since we're from Iowa I try to suggest Glen Miller, or even Benny Goodman from Illinois, but a mean jazz clarinet player.

After those artists are picked it was time to go into the next step of the project. I had originally planned to use Google Slides, however my students don't currently have access to that, so I decided to meet with our teacher library Dixie Forcht - (follow her @dixieforcht) to discuss other options. One of these options went from GarageBand, but from there we decided on using iMovie. The students' new task is now to create a movie trailer based on their jazz artist. They are to speak as though they are the producer/director of this film and they will be presenting the information requested in great detail.

That being said I'm working with the students to save their notes through Google Docs, so they may share them with their classmates, so they can access them whenever they need them.

The biography sections requires the family history of the artist. Where are they from? What's their birthday day? Did they have siblings? What other things may they have done?

The next section requires the students to research the instrument that their performer used. What can they tell their peers about it? Was it typically used for jazz band/concert band/orchestra? Also, mind blowing enough, the voice is an instrument! What kind of style do they use? What's Ella Fitzgerald doing? Scatting of course!

The last section requires the students to obtain a video of their performer. Since I'm not exactly sure what is available through TeacherTube, my goal is to have students conference with me about the different pieces and research that specific piece. Where was it recorded? What instruments are included? What makes it unique?

The first time I did this project I had a wonderful teaching moment. I had a group choose Billie Holiday. As many of you know, Lady Day, had well, a colorful past and also some heart wrenching songs to be sung/heard. This group choose the piece Strange Fruit. Now I wanted to see how this tiny school's students would take a piece like this so I allowed it. Eventually a student in the group approached me and asked in greater detail what it was about. This student was African American. The race typically wouldn't matter, unless you were researching this piece. Strange Fruit is a song, sung about "strange fruit" hanging from a tree. Yes a tree. Meaning this had to do with the hanging of members of the black culture. Dang! Right?! To top it off, she sang that in prominent jazz clubs as a black performer to a bunch of white aristocrats. The room feel silent. This was a powerful moment, because we can look at the historical importance of this piece and this event to see where we've come from and how we're still growing as a society.

While students are finding their facts, they will be citing their sources in an MLA format with the help of Ms. Forcht.

The last portion is a self reflection. This allows members of a group to be completely honest with themselves and about their peers. I hope that we have the same results this time around.

The trailers will feature music by the artist and the movie talks with allow the students to see how they could portray the life and times of the performers.

Feel free to comment/share/ask questions. I'll be making changes to this over the summer!

Thanks - Travis @traviszinnel

Developing Standards-Based Report Cards

Thanks to an administrator that has a great deal of educational literature I was able to get my hands on the book, Developing Standards-Based Report Cards by Thomas R. Guskey and Jane M. Bailey. As I'm reading I'm trying to remain open minded about a lot of things; for instance, the use of points and what those points really mean, and how standards-based grading can become a more accurate reporting system from teachers to parents?

So I've only just begun reading the book, but I feel I need to make some major notes and refer to a lot of the author's ideas. This just allows me to better organize my thoughts and my rambling before I write my program design and review of literature. Guskey and Bailey give educators some great guiding premises that I feel need to be discussed or at least pointed out:

1. Developing a standards-based report card is primarily a challenge in effective communication.
2. Accurate interpretation is the key element in effective communication
3. Consistency is essential to accurate interpretation
4. Developing a successful report card involves a series of trade-offs
5. Report cards should be descriptive, not restrictive
6. No report card is perfect
7. Developing a standards-based report card requires teamwork, broad involvement, and initial training or study.

All of these thoughts are great, but are a bit a overwhelming to start. The first two premises talked about communication and this is truly a key component of adequate and effective assessment. I'm looking forward to educating my students and parents about what our students are expected to learn and how they should be able to demonstrate that learning. With this type of grading I feel that I will be making a bunch of rubrics, but that's okay - it will hold the students accountable... but it will also hold me accountable. I'm sure that I, like many teachers early in their careers, fudge the lines and give scores that aren't because of content knowledge, but because they try hard. Yeah we mean well, but by giving the score they achieve/earn will allow the rubric to help the student see the work expected and how they can show what they know.

Number 5 - descriptive, not restrictive means that as educators our jobs are to teach our content, assess that learning has taken place, and communicate that with parents. In music our standard could relate to singing a melody on pitch without accompaniment. The student can meet the standard a majority of the time, but has tendencies to go perhaps under or over the pitch. That is where our rubric and grade reports can show parents specifically why the student achieved which score.

Number 6 allows us to be human. No matter how we try to develop the perfect assessment and the perfect report card we just can't. On the plus side, knowing this helps us strive for perfection, which in theory should help our students and our instruction. 

Thanks for reading this musings! Chapter 2 will be coming soon. Please consider following me on social media - @traviszinnel on Twitter. I would appreciate any followers and any insight in SBG and other grading practices. 

Guskey, T., & Bailey, J. (2010). Developing standards-based report cards. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Corwin.

Tracking Students' Progress

Throughout Chapter 5 of "Formative Assessment and Standards-Based Grading" we look at the different approaches for Tracking Student Progress. I read this chapter and became super confused about assigning summative scores, but then I found that 4th approach. This approach is all about Continual Improvement Throughout the Year. I know this seems like a no brainer, but especially for music it is.

When going through this SBG journey, I think my department could benefit from a total restructure of curriculum, or a design. This allows us to examine the whole experience that a student can experience in music education. If we can see exactly what standards our elementary music teacher is covering and assessing then I should be able to do the same in middle school. In middle school new opportunities arise - students can choose after 6th grade to be in either band, choir, or both. From there I do my own sort of tracking through delivering my beginning instrumental and vocal ensemble instruction. My standards will be met through continual assessment of standards. I've been asked to look with my secondary music colleagues at what the expectations are to be successful as a band/choir student in the freshman year.

To ensure that the tracking is well documented, I have already kept a lesson binder with sheets of the student's progress from weekly lesson attendance. On these sheets I can see if a student came prepared to learn and how many excerpts they have passed from their lesson book. My goal is to move to SBG (performance based grading) so I am able to see if mastery is being achieved on different concepts like "Student is able to play basic rhythms - whole, half, quarter, and eighth notes". Student can demonstrate that through the exercises provided in their lesson books.

As I go into the next year, I intend to track my singers a bit more thoroughly. I plan to have a portfolio of sorts that will have what the students' ranges are and what their tone quality is. I hope to check these quarterly so I could potentially learn more about the changing voice and when to anticipate those changes. Those changes will make SBG challenging in the respect that students will be trying to manipulate an anatomical change... so how do we grade appropriately? Also, communicating to parents and students - even to administration that the student is receiving that grade, not because of a lack of trying, but because the students can't, no matter the manipulation. This grade will change hopefully in middle school but can change through high school. Let's be real... How many voices don't still crack?

This continual tracking can be passed on into the high school setting where we can begin to see a culmination of the K-12 instruction. Through the use of Comprehensive Musicianship Project (CMP) we will begin to see students graduate with a well-rounded music education. I'm very excited to provide the foundation in both instrumental and choral music, taking what the elementary music teacher built and continue it. This should overall help with retention and continued recruitment. Educating students and parents of the standards and how they will be tracked allows for a student to start band/choir at any age and be assessed accordingly. Woot!

Thanks for reading folks! Have a great day! - TGZ

Chapter 3 - The Need for a New Scale

This next chapter in Formative Assessment and Standards-Based Grading urges teachers to look at the current 100 point scale in teaching and moving toward more of a rubric and small score based scale. In the Standards-Based Grading (SBG) setting this is our intention. With the use of rubrics we can better assess our students. The funny thing is that we will still "score" our students - especially in our classes/districts with grading programs that only allow for a points-based system. The points-based issue doesn't need to be a bad thing...we can overcome it. This is done through assigning students a numerical score, but ultimately we could have the scores transfer to language like this:

5.0 - Exceeds expectations - mastery shown with extra practice
4.0 - Meets expectations - the student is demonstrating mastery, this leaves room for extra practice
3.0 - Approaching expectations - the student is able to demonstrate mastery, but on an inconsistent basis.
2.0/1.0 - remediation is required.
NA - this label is for standards that haven't been assessed yet

Now this is a scale that I just put together on the spot. While going on this SBG journey, I intend to look at peer reviewed journals, rubrics that other music educators have used, and resources from other educators.

I'm sure that many of us making this transition to SBG can see the assessment format to be overwhelming, but with the help of national and state music standards, I will be able to smoothly move away from points-based systems. I will be able to identify learning goals (targets) and create rubrics to assess them. The 6th grade science teacher at my school and I have talked about this. I asked - how did you create Learning Targets (LT)? She said that she merely took the science standard and broke it down into smaller sections. This is important for our students to not become overwhelmed.

Marzano brings up a great idea - how can we better communicate these rubrics with our students? He suggests giving the students an brief explanation of the rubric expectations and help them word it in a way that is understandable. I can say that this can be challenging and we may feel that we're supposed to be the people that use academic jargon throughout our practice. Well... let's be honest... Kids may not care about the use of "big words" and such, so why not have them help decipher how they can demonstrate their learning? We can help students take hold of their learning...which is so powerful!

My goal for this chapter is again - identify my standards, identify my LT, and create rubrics and lesson plans accordingly.

Happy Saturday Everyone!

- TGZ

The Anatomy of Formative Assessments

I was handed the book, Formative Assessment and Standards-Based Grading by Robert J Marzano. This is part of my direction shift from a points-based grading system to a standards-based system. The big take aways from this chapter are:

• Formative assessment is a process, not just giving a test, quiz, or worksheet. This type of assessment provides feedback to both the teacher and the student. Something to think about with this type of assessment, or any type really, is that when a test is given or when questions are asked we as teachers can find inadequacies in our instruction. This is typically shown through the number of missed questions, or in my case - missed pitches and incorrect rhythms. This allows the teacher to reteach and the students to eventually improve the student and the ensemble's achievement.

There are three types of Classroom Assessments - these are simply obtrusive, unobtrusive, and student-generated assessments.

• Obtrusive assessments are when we stop to take a test, fill out a worksheet, and they obstruct the flow of instruction. When first reading it, I held a negative connotation to the word "obtrusive". Yes, it may interrupt the flow, but I don't think that has to be a negative in our classrooms. These types of assessments allow us to collect our data through hard copies. 

• Unobtrusive assessments are more procedural and they don't interrupt the flow of instruction. These are content driven involving learning a skill, strategy, or a process. 

• The most underutilized type of assessment is student-generated assessment. Basically this means that students are guiding how they'll demonstrate what they've learned. I'm sure I'm not alone with saying that I struggle with this...I shouldn't, but I was trained by teachers that taught with stock assessments and a prescribed way of assessing. The cool thing, is that a shift can happen through Standards-Based Assessment. The teacher, with help from their national and states standards, can lay out the expectations academically for students. From there a student gets to demonstrate mastery of a skill set. In my district, particularly in 6th grade science, I've seen that students can't demonstrate they have mastery of a learning target, so that means the teacher meets with them during lunch and recess to reteach, allow for retakes, and the teacher allow provides other opportunities to demonstrate learning. I feel this allows for students to take ownership of their learning. 

There were other take aways that I had, but it is getting late. As I've been working on this transition, I'm excited to "nerd out" and share my findings. Please feel free to follow me @traviszinnel on Twitter. I'm happy to connect and to continue to learn.

Marzano, R. (2010). The anatomy of formative assessment. In Formative assessment & standards-based grading. Bloomington, IN: Marzano Research Laboratory.