Assessing your students in a kindergarten through fifth-grade elementary music classroom can be a challenging task. After all, oftentimes you have hundreds of students! As students begin to learn to play instruments, it becomes even more important to assess their progress and provide feedback for improvement. In this blog post, we will discuss some effective ways to assess students playing instruments in an elementary music room. If you want to read more about how to make assessing easier and more effective in elementary music, you can read that blog post here.
Develop a Grading System
It is important to have a grading system in place to assess students playing instruments. This system should take into account factors such as tone, rhythm, technique, musicality, and overall performance. It is also important to provide students with clear grading criteria so they understand how their performance will be assessed. Start with the grading scale your district provides and come up with a rubric for each tier of the grading scale from there.
For example, my district grades K-5 students on a 1-4 scale, with 4 being grade level/proficient. So, I’ll come up with what proficient or at grade level look like on an instrument and work backward.
Observe Students During Class
Observing students as they play their instruments can provide valuable insights into their progress. Maybe you assess students playing a pattern on xylophones with a song, or keeping a steady beat on drums. For example, I recently did a formative assessment with my students playing the notes “G-G-A-A” on their xylophones during the song We Are Dancing in the Forest. You can read more about how I teach that song here. Their job was to play that pattern any time it came up while singing the song. So they sang the song, played that pattern (which happens 4 times in the song), and on the other parts of the song, they didn’t play. Not only was I watching to see which students were playing the correct notes, but I was also watching to see which students were actually listening to the song and only playing on their part rather than playing their xylophone through the whole song.
Depending on how you’re using this observation, it could be a formative or summative assessment. To learn more about the two types of assessment and get more examples of each, click here.
Use Recordings
Recording students as they play their instruments can be a helpful tool for assessing their progress. It allows you to listen to their performance multiple times and provide detailed feedback on areas that need improvement. While this takes more time for you outside of class, the ability to go back and rewatch parts of the recording is extremely helpful for summative assessments. This is how I do all of my beginning band assessments.
Encourage Peer Evaluations
Encouraging students to evaluate each other’s performances can be a valuable assessment tool. This allows students to learn from each other and provides opportunities for peer-to-peer feedback. This could be a great option if you’re composing and sharing your work! You can click the following links to read more about composing in lower or upper elementary music classes. I have free composition worksheets to make composing even easier. Click here to get your copy!
Peer evaluation is a powerful learning tool for all students, but it can be intimidating to teach students how to fairly evaluate and give constructive or useful feedback. Start with watching videos of live performances and filling out a form about what you liked and what could be improved. You’ll want to make sure you talk about what types of things you can write in the “improve” section- for example, suggesting that the song be played faster or slower or that you play with more confidence is fair feedback, but suggesting that you change the genre of music or change all of the notes because you didn’t like how it sounded is not particularly helpful. After you’ve practiced giving feedback on videos, then try feedback on peers’ work.
Assess Performances for the Class
It is important to give students opportunities to perform in front of the class or in small groups. This allows them to showcase their skills and receive feedback from the teacher and their peers. While your students are evaluating their peers, these performances can also be used as a formal assessment tool for you to evaluate.
It’s very rare that I force students to perform for the class. I require it about once or twice a year. It’s good for students to practice the skill of presenting in front of others. I always tell them it’s a skill that has to be developed. They’ll have to speak or perform in front of others at some point. I’m someone who gets extremely nervous performing in front of other adults. I completely understand the nerves having to talk or perform in front of others can cause. However, I’ve also learned that the more you do it the easier it is to do the next time.
Aside from these couple of times, I allow them to play their piece for just me while other students practice. After I’ve heard all the students who don’t want to play for the class, I’ll put one instrument at the front of the room and allow the students who want to share their composition with everyone to do so.
Provide Feedback
Providing regular feedback to students for playing instruments in elementary music is crucial for their development. It is important to provide both positive feedback and constructive criticism. This feedback can be provided in written form or through one-on-one conferences with students. Students want to improve and deserve to know how they’re doing. I always tell students their grades on an assessment and let them retry it if they want.
Use Technology
I use rhythm play-along videos on YouTube all the time in my classroom! Students can clap or play rhythm sticks with the video, and you can assess them to see if they’re playing the correct patterns. This is a really quick, easy way to assess. My favorite channel is Music with Mrs. Gibbs– her videos are always right with the beat of the music and the students really enjoy them.
We should have multiple ways of assessing kindergarten through fifth-grade students playing instruments in an elementary music room, just like any other concept in our class. By developing a grading system, observing students during class, using recordings, encouraging peer evaluations, assessing performances, providing feedback, and using technology, teachers can effectively assess students’ musical skills and provide valuable feedback for improvement. If you want to chat more about creating a scope and sequence for elementary music, DM me on Instagram (@caffeinated.j). I love to talk about planning and assessing!
