Being able to apply the skills and knowledge you have aquired throughout your education to measure student's success is important in the music classroom. In order to be successful in measuring your student's progress you must use a variety of tools to present material and gague what they are learning! Below are a few tools I have used during my student teaching experiences. Beginning with a visual checklist to assess beginning clarinet playing position. Next, you will see a formal written assessment to gague student's knowledge on musical concepts we will be working on. Lastly, a rubric that I have used many times to inform students of their performance strengths and areas they can improve during playing tests.
As a music educator I believe that students should have opportunities to experience music outside the classroom. Taking trips with your students is great way for them to experience new music and culture while also bonding as a group. Washinton, DC is a great location to take students on a band trip not only for the educational opportunities but for the great music that is made in the area! The trip includes visiting the National Zoo, Smithsonian Museums, a Murder Mystery Dinner, and a National Symphony Orcehstra concert. This project proved to be challenging because I had no idea how much planning was needed to have a successful trip but overall I learned a lot from the assignment! Below you will find the link to my trip packet as well as my reflection on the trip assignment.
Curriclum is an important aspect of every classroom, including music. Being able to develop a plan for a grading period is a great way to organize how and when you plan to assess students and the concepts you want to cover! Below you will find my detailed curriculum plan for beginning 6th grade band, as well as my reflection. The curriculum plan includes standards of learning I intend on covering in every class, formal and informal assessments, activities involving learning about a composer, and other concepts I plan to address. This project is absolutely something I intend to use in the future.
Lastly, you will see a sample budget for a program with a $100,000 start up budget. The images below show the items I would purchase and their cost. I tried to purchase high quality equipment for a reasonable price based on an ensemble of around 40 members. Through this assignment I learned that you can't always get what you want, even with a large budget, and that quality is much more important that quantity. Below you will also see my reflection of this assignment and the process I went through when deciding what to purchase and not.
