Formative Assessment For HS Choir

Formative assessment is an indispensable classroom learning tool. It is important for the students to have formative assessment to account for their personal growth academically and behaviorally. It is also important for the teachers to know whether their teaching styles work for the students and any modifications are needed to enhance the learning procedure.

I am planning a lesson for my high school men's choir with this lesson objective singers will interpret a musical piece and sing with each of the following dynamics: shaped phrases, loud and soft, crescendo and decrescendo.

I have chosen the song and I will explain the music concepts in class. I have created three formative assessment activities to ensure students are learning towards meeting the objective.

Assessment#1

Self evaluation among small group members

Within a group of six, create a checklist to evaluate on the performance of the specific dynamics and compare notes among each other after each singing session. They grade themselves to observe their progress and submit their checklist to me.

Rationale: This is for the students to help each other out; to be on the same page knowing exactly how to shape and make the nuances for each phrase.They will also be aware of where and when to make a crescendo and decrescendo.

Assessment#2

Video recording of student performance

While the students are singing, record a few students at a time to watch their postures, mouth positions, facial expressions, and performance of dynamics.

Rationale: The video recorder is the most honest and fair judge of all. Video recording the students' performance can help them eliminate bad singing habits while maintaining the good ones. They can also work on their singing skills to shape the music and sing with dynamic levels. I can also keep a record of their progression.

Assessment#3 

Student conductor

Students will be placed in groups of six. Each student will be the conductor of the group to conduct the song, emphasizing on how he wants the music to sound. Have the others in the group sing exactly to the conductor's gestures. I will also record the activity for peer review.

Rationale: Being the conductor, the student needs to know the interpretation of the song very well to lead the singers. He needs to feel the music in his own body in order to convey the dynamic nuances through his hand gestures and have the singers perceive and interpret his ideas. Each conductor has a different style in leading the singers. It is interesting to watch each one's creativity and how the singers respond to the interpretation. This activity helps students to develop a sense of singing sensitively with music dynamics as the elements are gradually growing in their inner-self. I am also able to gauge their progress .

A Reflection on Undersatnding and Applying Standards

This unit is indeed one of the most practical and beneficial lessons I have ever read. All the three activities are very useful for me to create not only my lesson and unit plans but also my entire curriculum for the courses I am teaching. More importantly, they are cornerstones for me to become a very successful teacher.

Unpacking a standard

By dissecting each standard into three parts: the skill, the concept and the context, I have come to understand the 11 anchor standards for music so much clearer and can immediately outline my unit plans based on the standards with clarity. For example: what to teach? how to teach? And what context to cover? As soon as I outline my unit plans, I am able to constructively write my lessons for each unit. I can also revise and update my curriculum map in specific details. The students will benefit from a more specific curriculum and be clear of the course outline they are to study. This will eventually help students to be successful during self-directed learning.

Backwards mapping

I have in the past been writing my lesson plans using this approach that is seeing the end from the beginning. I know what I want my students to achieve from the very beginning and put in the nitty - gritty to reach that achievement. However this week's activity helped me to organize my skills far better by teaching me to come up firstly with the outcomes, then create the assessments to achieve the outcomes and lastly develop the lesson plans that are accessible for assessments. This is in fact a very systematic process for teachers to do their planning as well as students to know their ultimate goals and learning directions.

SMART goal

Writing these goals gives me a precise knowledge of 

i) what I am teaching the students 

ii) how I am assessing the students' knowledge and learning. 

iii) what the students' capabilities and limitations are.

iv) what the time frame for learning a unit should be so that no students become bored or anxious.

I have learned that in my future lesson plans, I must include this goal when developing the lesson objectives. Students will know exactly what is expected of them and how to revise and study the subject with specific directions.

Standards and Backwards Mapping

Here is the standard I am using to create a unit for my first grade Music class,  the National Core Arts Anchor Standard # 2: Organize and develop artistic ideas and work.

I choose this standard to teach students how to organize pitch and rhythm into musical ideas and further develop the ideas into a musical work.

At the end of this unit, first graders will be able to achieve the following three proficiencies:
1) Use musical pitches and rhythms to organize sounds into short four - beat musical ideas or patterns called motif.
2) Describe an emotion such as happy or sad in the motif through organizing the tempo ( fast and slow), dynamics (loud and soft), pitch and rhythm.
3) Organize the motifs to develop a musical work.

The students' progress and success will be evaluated through the following three assessments: 
1) Students demonstrate their work through playing on the instruments.
2) Teacher records students' performances via digital devices.
3) Students show their musical ideas using iconic notation.

The students will work on the following three activities to achieve the target.
 1) To organize a motif:
Students will explore  la, so, mi pitches on the xylophone to create a four-beat pattern using quarter and eighth notes.
2) To describe an emotion
Students further explore and focus on  the combination of tempo, dynamics, pitch and rhythm to specifically create a happy or sad mood.
3) To develop a musical work:
Students plan on developing a structure for a musical work by creating two motifs, and then repeat or alternate the motifs. For example: AB, AABB, ABAB.


Examples of iconic notation

Positive Reinforcement and Appropriate Actions to Maintain A Healthy Classroom Environment

In my Music class I firmly establish a set of rules and procedures at the beginning of the school year and run through my expectations of following them with my students regularly. There is consistent positive reinforcement to give incentives to enhance student learning and participation.

Below are the positive management strategies I implement:

Verbal Affirmation

I always praise the students aloud for specific good behaviors and good performances.  For example: I would say, “ Thank you Jane for singing so beautifully, I can hear that you are projecting your voice.” This does not only have a positive influence on Jane, but the rest of the class too. I will continue to praise many others that I see singing well and I will normally end up saying, “ Wow! I really love how you all are singing. You are using your head voice to sing and you are pronouncing the words so clearly.”

Stickers

Following the praise, I immediately stick a sticker in the student's shirt. Also, for the purpose of encouragement, there are times the whole class gets stickers even though not everyone gets praised. This typically happens when there is no misbehaving in class.

Bee Cards (reward coupons)

I give out Bee cards to the students who work cooperatively throughout the lesson. They put their names down and tick what positive behaviors they have exhibited and turn in to the school counter. Upon collecting 10 Bee cards, the students will get a prize reward from the school.

For example, Susie is absolutely focused and cooperative while performing as well as responsible and mindful in handling the musical instruments. She thus deserves a Bee card.

Class Dojo

At the end of each lesson, I will fill out the students’ Dojo scores to keep track of their behaviors.  Sometimes, I encourage students to be honest and evaluate their own behaviors. When the class consistently fares well, the students celebrate at the end of the month by having a class party. Parents will also receive a message about their child’s positive behaviors.

Award certification

After rounding up the Dojo scores, high scorers will either get gold, bronze or silver certificates for being cooperative in Music.

 

In my Music class, two very common negative scenarios are students getting off-task and not following instructions. I have to carry out actions to help them realize their undesired behavior and find means to help them get back on track.

Actions to modify classroom misbehavior:

Close proximity and a nudge.

I constantly practice “withitness” during lessons. When I see that a child either gets off task or act silly while participating, I go close to him/her and sometimes give a nudge to express disagreement. The student generally shapes up.

Verbal warning

If the undesired behavior persists, I give a warning to the child by firmly saying “2^nd time” and expect the student to get back on track.

Withdraw from the activity

If verbal warning doesn’t work, I withdraw the student from the activity and have him/her sit aside for five minutes to watch how one should be behaving in that moment and have him/her tell me what the observation is. I expect the child to get back in the group with a better attitude. At this stage, the child will shape up as he/she has not only observed what is right but also missed out five minutes of fun learning.

Dojo Scores

The score will be affected for misbehaving students and communication with parents via Dojo messages will take place at this point.

Reflection note

On a few occasions, the really rebellious child has to write a note reflecting on what his/her undesired behavior is; what would have been a better choice; how will he/she not behave in such a manner in the future; and finally he/ she needs to let the parents know and get their signatures to submit the note to me. I go through the note with the child and keep him/her accountable for what has been written.

When the class management system is well articulated and executed, the students will know what is expected of them and the expectations will positively impact the learning environment.

This flow chart gives a summary of my classroom management: 

Analysis of Three Teaching - Learning Situations

I have in this week watched three videos of teaching-learning situations and would like to give my analysis about them.

                                                        

STEM in Action  ( Grade 5/ Science / Motion)

Academic expectations:

Firstly I would say this is a high achiever class; it looks like everyone in the class is a high-expectancy student. I also believe, based on their ways of interaction in this particular lesson, these students have had many practices of working as a team before landing in this last leg of the project.

I could see that it was a well-planned and systematic project based lesson. It is definitely student - centered. The students were expected to share and communicate their problems; to discuss and collaborate; to apply critical skills for self - evaluation and modification. The teacher expected students to share and solve problems without much of her involvement. Students were expected to communicate their ideas and become smarter through this learning mode. They were expected to take ownership and leadership in the project; to be good problem solver with barely enough materials as well as be responsible and independent learners. Certainly the teacher has stepped back in this last leg of teaching to allow students to take sole responsibilities of learning. This is evident in the way she prompted the students with questions to challenge their critical thinking skills.

Behavior expectations:

For grade 5 level , this group of students were overly well behaved. They were expected to be totally on task and knew exactly what they were doing. They were so drawn into their work that there was no time for casual chat. The teacher didn’t have a need to mention any behavioral expectations.

Norms and procedures:

The teacher must have set her class procedures very well as the smooth transitions in the activity showed high student performance. They knew how to transition from sharing their problems to discussion, from taking out their note books to sketch their work to running to the computer and finally to move around to work on their models. There seemed to be no flaws and no time wasted in the entire lesson because the students knew exactly what they were supposed to and were learning independently.

3^rd Grade Chinese Math class

Academic expectations:

 This is a typical traditional Chinese class lesson whereby the teacher stands in front of the class and the students are cooped up in rows facing the white board.

In the first part of this lesson the students were expected to belt out the multiplication facts, while the teacher wrote the answers on the board. The louder they sounded, the cleverer they were meant to be in their learning.  In the second part of the lesson the teacher was teaching the students to solve a subtraction problem. Again, students were expected to belt out the process loudly. However not everyone proofed that he/she knew the solution.

Yes, the students performed and behaved very well in routine learning. However, the teacher did not give chance to every student to showcase his/her understanding of math. This was more a teacher – centered lesson as the teacher was belting out the answer while solving the subtraction problem.

Behavior expectations:

The students were expected to sit properly throughout the session, legs crossed and hands behind their bodies. And they were doing so throughout the session except for one student in the third row. It was beautiful that these little ones knew how to be obedient in class. They were indeed submissive. By the sound of their response in class, the students seemed to be participating well in the activities.

Norms and procedures:

The students knew very well the verbal transitions from the first activity to the

second. When the teacher called for the first part, the students knew how to respond to the second immediately. Some of them knew to raise their hand to want to give answers.

Having said that, I am not convinced that this kind of learning style produces high student performance.  I only see these students as highly obedient and submissive but I can’t infer that their critical thinking and problem solving skills were challenged.

  

Whole Brain Teaching

Grade 9 Power teaching

Academic expectations:

These high schoolers were expected to not only know their facts but also to be able to reproduce and “teach” their peers the facts learned with expression and gestures. Their cognitive and social skills were stimulated. They needed to be well versed in class.

Behavior expectations:

In this Whole Brain class, the students were highly motivated and focused. There was no room for misbehaving, as they needed to receive and reproduce and dramatize their learning throughout the session. Active learning was taking place the entire time.

Norms and procedures:

The students knew how to respond upon the verbal calls; they knew how to mimic the teacher’s tone, as well as the movement and gestures for every call. The positive effect of these norms and procedures has truly supported the class performance.

 Setting High Performance Expectations Among My Students

 There are some strategies I have learned from these videos that I would like to apply in my classroom to ensure high expectation outcomes.  Certainly the project based learning mode is the number one strategy. It is the most fulfilling teaching experience for me to practice this in my Music classroom. I expect my students to collaborate and discuss how to perform in unity, problem solve and think critically to create and compose music, take responsibility of handling the instruments and take ownership of their performance. Finally, I want them to be independent learners.

I would also take from the WBT to implement successful transitions and procedures such as the “I Say, You Say”, mimicking the teacher’s tone, and adding motion while reciting the rules. I find these are also great tools in catching student attention.

Creating a climate of caring and concern in the classroom for students from diverse racial, ethnic, and cultural groups in a classroom

As a citizen of a multi racial country, Malaysia, I grew up and lived harmoniously in a multi cultural society. I love cultural diversity as it helps me understand and learn about a bevy of different people groups in the world. In the previous international school I taught at in Malaysia, students came from 56 different countries and generally each class had at least six different races of students. With such a huge diverse culture in a multicultural classroom, there were many social and emotional concerns as well as relationship skills to develop. Creating a climate of caring and concern in the classroom for students was of high importance as I often saw the same ethnic students clinging together to support each other. This was even more common for the children who had little or no English when they came to the new school.

I believe strongly it is important to create a friendly and welcoming atmosphere in the classroom for positive and fun learning; this will instantly keep classroom management on a high note. When each child feels that he/she is valued and recognized, learning and participation will take place as he/ she feels important and safe, therefore looks forward to coming to class. And especially in a multi cultural classroom, if the students see that the teacher who is of a different culture and ethnic background from theirs is interested in getting to know them and their cultures, they will immediately feel safe and happy, and respond positively in class

Let me share my experience in creating a climate of caring and concern in the classroom for students from diverse racial, ethnic, and cultural groups as my passion for the myriad cultures, especially the different cultural music, made it really enjoyable for me.

I was interested in knowing each child’s nationality as well as ethnicity. In the beginning of school year, I always had students go one round to share where they come from and three things about themselves and their countries in a call and response style.  I sang to ask and they sang to response.  I was telling the children I was interested in their well – being.

In my curriculum, I constantly prepared songs, dances and singing games that were related to my classes so that the children could understand and learn about each other’s culture through music. I saw a radiant smile in the Dutch kid when I taught the class a Dutch song and dance- Sarasponda; I was sure she felt important and proud that a song in her language was recognized and learned in class. Similarly, a Korean child got so excited and started to tell us more than we would love to know when we all learned the song Arirang. 

I invited parents to the lessons to share with us some cultural activities and teach us songs in their languages.  Such ways of learning had always been lively, engaging, as well as fun and laughter filled.

 My motto in class was “Many Cultures, One World”. I was instilling in the children to love and embrace each other through the many cultures that we were sharing in class.  I still remember the song that was so loved by my multicultural students: The World Is A Rainbow by Greg and Steve

The world is a rainbow
That's filled with many colors;
Yellow, black, and white, and brown,
You see them all around.

The world is a rainbow:
With many kinds of people;

It takes all kinds of people
To make the world go round.

Now you be you
And I'll be me.
That's the way we were meant to be.
But the world is a mixing cup.
Just look what happens when you stir it up!

The world is a rainbow
With many kinds of people;
And when we work together
It's such a sight to see.
The world is beautiful when we live in harmony!

Youtube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVv0U_FYIck

In addition, I loved to celebrate the diverse cultural festivals and celebrated the Chinese Lunar new year, Indian Divali, Thai LoiKrathong Mexican Cingo DeMaya and the Swedish Sankta Lucia, to name a few.

When the teacher takes the lead role to take interest and embrace the diverse cultures, and treat every student with respect, this role model will be passed on to the students. Everyone will have that mutual respect for each other. The learning environment will be beautiful. I have had this wonderful experience and am positive that it will still work in the future.

Using Mobile Devices in the Music Classroom

As a classroom Music teacher who seldom uses digital devices and tools, I have always been convinced that I can do without all of these as long as I have my students engaged in singing, moving and playing in music lessons. I have also stressed my view to my administrators that since the students are using digital devices in other classrooms, let them come to the music room to have a holistic experience of engaging their mind, body and soul through movement and music. However, I am gradually making a paradigm shift in my classroom with regards to incorporating mobile learning ever since I immersed myself in the 21^st century learning styles three months ago.

Why should I, as a teacher allow or require my students to use mobile devices to achieve learning objectives?

I believe the number one reason is that the people are moving into a fast pace digital world. Digital devices have become a necessity more than a fashion for survival. Though as much as I want to maintain the kinesthetic performance base elements in my classroom, I am persuaded there is a need for me to keep up with the current learning trend in order to prepare my students for the real world outside the classroom. In addition, there are many music apps in the market that really serve educational purposes.

I also see the advantages of mobile devices when used appropriately: i) enhance students engagement in interactive learning. ii) serve as a time management tool because students can have prior knowledge to the lessons with teacher’s guidelines before coming to class. Students can also continue to complete their projects outside class. iii) increase student knowledge and achievement as the students can do research and use different devices to create their own work of interest. iv) with the many music apps available, students can improve their music skills as well as composition skills such as creating and performing an orchestral piece using certain music apps.

Guiding principles for using mobile devices:

1)   The use of mobile devices must serve the purpose of learning, as the students are not using the devices simply to check that they have used them. For example: using a few apps on ipads to compose simple melody and rhythm, students must show that they can and know how to use those apps to replace pencils and papers. Otherwise it defeats the purpose of using mobile devices.

2)   The use of devices must be able to measure the learning outcomes. For example, by using mind map tools or any other music apps, students must show products of learning.

3)   Teacher must communicate clearly with the parents as to how, when and why their children are using mobile devices for learning. And the parents must be aware of their children’s usage of the devices.

4)   Teacher must teach the students how to use the devices in order for them to have a fruitful and effective lesson.

5)   Teacher must also give clear guidelines on how much usage of mobile devices are recommended in the learning as sing, dance and play are still the primary component in a Music lesson.

6)   Teacher must first research and go through all devices and tools that are to be used in the lesson before recommending to the students to foresee any glitches and challenges.

Mobile learning in the Music classroom:

1)   Video recording using ipads, smartphones, cameras: students can capture their performances and “Aha moment” in class for fine-tuning, feedback and peer evaluations as well as evidence of learning.

2)   Using mind mapping tools for music appreciation: students can create mind maps for visual learning after listening to and aurally analyzing a piece of music.

3)   Flipping class: teacher can post the music links and questions on Schoology for students to listen to prior to Music Appreciation class. This will help the students to enter the lesson with preparation. They can also complete their reflection after the class.

4)    Keeping track of their singing via a series of recording: my choir students can create a file on Schoology to save their own singing over a period to review and check for improvement. Their parents can also check on their progress and achievement.

5)   Creating a YouTube list of quality music relevant to class learning to discuss and share in the choir: students will be able to pull out examples from their lists to use as good or bad modeling.

How I would teach a new song to my ELLs

 Next month I will be teaching a grade 2 unit on Play Party songs.

In my class, I have four English language learners; three Koreans and one Chinese. All four of them are at different stages of language acquisition.

Jiong Min (Stage 3 ELL)

When Jiong Min left Korea three years ago, he had no English with him; over the years living abroad he has started learning the language for schooling reason.  Jiong Min is bubbly and rather extrovert, and he is not shy in speaking English even though sometimes he finds it hard to express himself. However, he is very quick in fixing his mistakes when the teacher gently corrects his speech. He is able to read slowly and surely at his level.

Tae Han (stage 4 ELL)

Tae Han, a Korean boy who has lived and studied in Singapore for two years before joining our school for first grade. He has rather good English skills and can join in a discussion in class. Using simple English, he knows how to share his knowledge and also to ask for clarification when in doubt .

Ga Eun (Stage 5 ELL)

Ga Eun has been in our school for four years and has plenty of exposure to English at home too. Her English level is pretty strong, and can read and write fluently. She interacts well in class and has no problem following instructions in Music.

Jia Yi (Stage 2 ELL)

Jia Yi, has just arrived in Hong Kong this school year; she was studying in a public Chinese school in Shanghai and was learning some basic English while at school. Jia Yi speaks a little English but can follow instructions when the teacher speaks to her slowly with gestures and in short phrases.

For this lesson, I choose the play party song “ Skip to My Lou” to teach the students.

Choose your partner, skip to my Lou (X3)

Skip to my Lou, my darling

Skip, skip, skip to my Lou (X3)

Skip to my Lou, my darling.

  

Here are my lesson objectives for this unit.

i)              To understand what play party songs are.

ii)            To pronounce the words of the song clearly

                 while singing.

iii)          To sing on pitch and in tune

I am designing this lesson plan to involve everyone in the class in an interactive way i.e. both meaningful for low level language kids and high level kids. However, I have put in much consideration for my stage 2 and 3 ELLs while not boring the non- ELLs and high level English learners. The good thing about this lesson is that we are learning a play party song that involves dance and movement and social interactions. The student will learn by actions and enjoy it.

Strategies and steps:

1) Use a simple sentence to explain what Play Party is - a gathering in which people come together to sing and dance, then show pictures and a video sample of it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVeFvSs9FTo

                                  

                     

1)   Show the lyrics of the song on PowerPoint. Read slowly to the students while pointing the words. (At this point, the high language level students will naturally read together with me and perhaps Jia Yi, Jiong Min may join in by following the sounds of the words)

2)   Highlight the keywords to the students and have them repeat after me: Choose, Partner, Skip, Lou, Darling ( I will pay attention to my ELL 2 &ELL 3 students)

3)   With simple verbal cues, demonstrate and show pictures of each keyword to the student. Explain with simple words the meaning of Lou. ( I will have eye contact with the the 2 students before I look at others)

4)   Have the students demonstrate using actions how they would i) choose, ii) be partner with someone, iii) skip  ( Make sure the two students are participating)

5)   Read the lyrics together and ensure that everyone is pronouncing the words correctly. Have the class read it in different ways. Examples: very slowly, moderately fast, loudly, softly and whisper.

6)   Group the class into three groups, have the non ELL kids be accountable for each other in their small groups (including Da Eun and Tae Han) to memorize the text, while I spend some time reinforcing the text with Jia Yi and Jiong Min from sentence by sentence to line by line.

7)   Gather the class back and sing the song with them. Ensure that everyone is singing.

If time permits, I will introduce the dance to the students. If not, their take away will be, knowing what a play party is and singing a play party song called “Skip to My Lou”. And I will teach them the dance in the next lesson.

Notes: All names mentioned above are pseudo.