Blog Post 2, Assessment

I have always felt like self-assessment is a tough thing. Some students are honest, and some really aren't because they think they'll get a better grade if they say they worked really hard and learned a lot (even if they didn't). Also, sometimes students are too hard on themselves, and their self-assessment actually doesn't demonstrate exactly how hard they worked in class. Same thing with group performance evaluations - if three of the students weren't a big fan of the fourth student in the group, they may evaluate him poorly, even if he did work hard. How can we manage this as teachers?

As far as choir comes, performance assessment is a huge aspect of grading. It's hard to have a choir "test", and since the whole point of choir is to perform, that's typically how you would grade. Personally, I'm a big fan of performance assessment versus other types because it really forces you to understand the material - you have to use it, not just know how to use it. Tests can be great assessment tools, but it's just asking you questions about how you'd use the material you learned. Performance assessments actually require you to use that information. It also uses a lot of problem-solving skills, which is really important to develop in students.

For choir, I could do a performance assessment by using portfolios. The portfolio could have numerous aspects to it, in order to hit different aspects of music. I would prefer a process portfolio, because then I could see the student's improvement over the year. It could include some music theory tests, some videos of the student singing, some evaluations of concerts or performances the students have gone to, and some self-evaluations. I'd definitely want students to help choose what goes in it, though I'd probably have a few requirements they'd have to fulfill. This way, I can evaluate more than just how well they sing, because that's too subjective: some students are just naturally more musically gifted than others, and those students may not work as hard. This way, I can grade numerous aspects of choir, as well as documenting their progress over the semester.