Annotated List

1. Teacher Observation
o Definition
 Teacher listens closely to identify if the objective of the assessment is
being met.
o Rationale
 Teacher observation is a useful tool because it allows the teacher to
quickly determine if the objective is being met, information is being
transferred. It also helps the teacher identify areas the students still need
some work in order to reach the goal/meet the objective/become
“acceptable”.
2. Checklists
o Definition
 Teacher utilizes a roster to make sure that each student has an opportunity
to participate and can be accurately and individually assessed.
o Rationale
 Because this is a more personal form of assessment, one rationale for
utilizing a checklist is to get students involved in and comfortable
speaking in class. This should help students to realize it is safe
environment, which will hopefully allow them to be open on regular basis.
3. Rubric
o Definition
 Teacher uses a set template with a gradient of quality of work to compare
student responses to. The template includes various categories that allow
the teacher to give focused feedback.
o Rationale
 Rubrics are effective in that they provide a guideline for the students to
accomplish the assignment. Rubrics can encourage thoughtful responses
because students see what is required to receive full points and so they put
in more effort to meet that criteria.
4. Journals
o Definition
 Students are given the opportunity to reflect or elaborate on a concept or
idea discussed in class.
o Rationale
 Journals give students the freedom to express their understanding as well
as their own unique perception toward a concept. This puts the learning
responsibility on the students as they have to use their own words to
articulate their own thought.
5. Rating Scales
o Definition
 Rating scales are similar to rubrics; however, they are less specific.
Teacher uses a gradient of quality of work by assigning a number to
represent the quality of work displayed.
o Rationale
 This assessment tool allows for quick and simple assessment and can be
helpful in assessing where a student is at during the learning process.
6. Portfolios
o Definition
 A form of embedded assessment, the assessment tasks are part of the
instruction. This tool contains samples of learner’s work and shows
growth over time.
o Rationale
 Because the assessment tasks are part of the instruction, students are able
to make connections between the assignments and what they are learning.
Also, by showcasing students’ work, this form of assessment allows both
the students and teacher to see growth over time.
7. Pencil and Paper Tests
o Definition
 This form of assessment is efficient in that students must read questions
and respond in writing. The questions could require student to listen and
identify, recall information, etc.
o Rationale
 Pencil and paper tests are a quick and efficient way to see if students
understand a concept.
8. Peer Review
o Definition
 Having students assess each other’s work.
o Rationale
 Peer review challenges students to think critically, synthesize information,
and effectively communicate.
Implementation
1. Teacher Observation
o This form of assessment can be implemented into the classroom in a number of
ways such as individual playing tests, running a piece (from top to bottom),
listening to individual sections, etc. With each of those, this form of assessment is
implemented by the teacher listening and formulating an assessment based off
what he or she hears. When doing this, it is important for the teacher to make
clear to the students what the objective is. It is equally important for the teacher to
keep that objective in mind and have a predetermined understanding of what it
would take to at least meet that objective. This establishes validity as the teacher
is able to determine whether the goal/objective has been met. This also establishes
reliability by helping the teacher to be consistent each he or she observes. The
analysis process is almost immediate with this form of assessment as the teacher
takes in what he or she just observed. The teacher can then adjust their instruction
or possible objective to help students learn the concept.
2. Checklists
o This form of assessment can be implemented into the classroom by using a roster
with a checklist. This form of assessment is reliable because it produces
consistent results by ensuring consistent student participation. This form of
assessment also establishes validity because it measures what it is supposed to
measure, which is student participation. Analysis is easy in that you can determine
who has not participated based off of who has not been checked off the checklist.
This could be subsequently adjusted by having students do exit tickets before
leaving class. With that, it is important to not allow checklist assessment to
become routine such that students just go through the motions.
3. Rubric
o This form of assessment can be implemented by creating a set of guidelines for a
specific activity. For instance, students might be tasked with writing a strong
paragraph over a concept. A teacher could implement a rubric that dictates the
number of points students will receive based on thoughtfulness, making a certain
number of points in the paragraph, and the number of sources/evidences used to
support their paragraph. These are just an example of different categories that the
teacher might use in the rubric. Rubrics establish reliability by being able to
consistently measure the quality of students’ work in a number of ways. Rubrics
really establish validity through its use of various categories to assess accurately.
Through the use of rubrics allows the teacher to assess in detail the degree to
which a student understands a concept, which allows them to adjust their teaching
to work on the areas in which the student struggled the most (the category that got
the lowest score in the rubric).
4. Journals
o This form of assessment can be implemented by having students keep a journal
throughout the year. In the journal students can write one thing they learned that
day or perhaps reflect on an experience they had (performance, activity,
assignment). Reliability can be established because journaling consistently allows
a teacher to have a form of assessment where they delineate what a student is
learning through a student’s ability to articulate it in their journal. That being said,
validity can be established by ensuring student learning is measured and not just a
student’s ability to articulate their understanding through writing. This can be
ensured by including other forms of journaling such as a video journal. Once a
teacher analyzes these responses they can then adjust what he or she may have the
class write about or perhaps change format of the journaling.
5. Rating Scales
o This form of assessment can be implemented by asking students questions in
which they give you feedback. For example, one might ask “On a scale from 1-5
how did we do at playing light in this section today?”. Reliability is established by
asking questions that are relevant to whole class and the whole class feels
comfortable answering. It has to be something that they feel like they can actually
evaluate themselves on. Validity is established through the affirmation that the
students’ responses align with the progress that is trying to be measured. When
the teacher analyzes these responses, he or she can then adjust the
questions/degree to which they rate the students the next time around.
6. Portfolios
o Portfolios must be implemented in the classroom at the beginning of the year, so
that students’ work can be organized inside. By implementing this early on, not
only can the information be organized by students can also be associating the
assignment and projects they do with the overarching goal of the portfolio. It
could be a portfolio that covers a certain unit or a portfolio that covers the whole
class and the learning goals for that class over the whole semester or year.
Portfolios establish reliability by always providing teachers and students with
summative results/understanding. It establishes validity by measuring exactly
what it is supposed to measure and that is student growth from the beginning to
the end. When a teacher analyzes a portfolio, it allows them to see the process,
along with what worked and what didn’t work. It also shows them where students
struggled. This allows them to adjust those assignments or activities for future
portfolios.
 7. Pencil and Paper Tests
o Students are already very familiar with pencil and paper assessment, so it is not
hard to implement into the classroom. However, in order to establish reliability
and validity the questions on the test must be carefully crafted. In order to do this,
questions must be specific and require critical thought. Analyzing this form of
assessment does not take very long because the teacher can simply compare the
students’ responses to those on the answer key. If questions are specific and
carefully considered, then it is easy to determine what areas need more
improvement than others. This will help the teacher to adjust their instruction in
the future.
8. Peer Review
o Peer review must be carefully implemented into the classroom. When peers assess
each other’s work, respect is of the utmost importance. One helpful way to ensure
this practice is done effectively is to have students utilize the complement
sandwich when providing constructive criticism. Setting this protocol will help to
establish reliability within this form of assessment. Additionally, a guideline can
be helpful to ensure reliability in the assessment process. Validity can be
established by ensuring that students understand the topic well enough to assess
their peers. Based off how well the students are able to assess each other and the
actual assessments themselves, the teacher can analyze how effective the peer
assessment was and areas their teaching could be improved moving forward. They
also might consider how they could model effective assessment.
Exemplars
1. Teacher Observation
o Students will demonstrate their ability to sigh read by playing a piece of music
that is a Grade 2-3 with 80% of the notes and rhythms correct. Something like this
would be impossible to check off while conducting. I think 80% would equate
pretty well to making it through the piece without stopping. It’s not going to be
perfect the first time but if we can just get through it together then most of the
students got at least 80% of the notes and rhythms correct.
2. Checklists
o Students will demonstrate their ability to stay active in rehearsals by giving at
least one point of feedback (when called on or after class) per week. I will just
have a roster with a checklist. It may seem forced at first, but I want every student
to have the opportunity to give feedback. I just want to get the students involved
and comfortable speaking in class! Hopefully this will allow them to be open on a
regular basis!
3. Rubric
o Students will demonstrate their ability to show how music relates to other areas of
the arts by drawing at least one connection between their music and another art
form. With The Nutcracker Suite, I would let them watch components of the
ballet and describe how their music relates to the dancing that they see. They
would have to give at least 5 ways and specific instances that their music matched
the dancing that they saw. I would use a rubric so that their responses were well
thought out. They would get five points for giving five examples, four for giving
four, etc. I would also score them on their thoughtfulness on a similar scale.
4. Journals
o Students will demonstrate their knowledge of how the music they are playing
relates to history by writing in a journal and citing at least one fact from class.
When playing The Free Lance March, we will talk about John Philip Sousa and
the role he played in music history during that time, along with some of his
compositions. The students will write a one paragraph reflection focusing on one
key point that learned about operettas and music during this time that John Philip
Sousa was composing. The paragraph has to be at least five sentences and they
have to include at least one fact that we talked about in class in their reflection.
5. Rating Scales
o After rehearsing a piece of music with the focus of the rehearsal on playing light
(even in areas of thick texture and loud dynamics), students were asked: “On a
scale from 1-5 how did we do at playing light in this section today?”
6. Portfolios
o Students begin a portfolio at the beginning of the year. The focus of the portfolio
is to collect assignments that show how music relates to other areas of the arts and
history. Students have the choice on a project to write a one-page paper on the
impact the lyrics has on the way they play the music and how it compares poetry
in language arts, the impact a certain art depiction (painting, photograph, etc.) has
on how they play the music, or the impact the historical background of the
song/its origin has on how they play the music. After writing their paper, students
submit the paper into their portfolio. The teacher and students then evaluate how
their understanding of how music relates to the other areas of the arts and history
has grown from one assignment/project to the next.
7. Pencil and Paper Tests
o Students will be able to identify who has the melody throughout the piece.
Students will receive a piece of paper that includes the various segments in which
the melody is performed. We will then run through the piece and I will stop at the
end of each of those sections so that they have a chance to write down their
answer. This will allow me to assess how well my students know the piece and if
they are able to hear and identify the melody. This should help develop critical
listening skills.
8. Peer Review
o Groups of two students (like instruments/stand partners) will take turns utilizing
the practice room to play the most challenging section for their instrument on a
specific piece. Students will then provide each other with constructive feedback.
This whole process will be recorded and submitted to the teacher for analysis.