nafmeadmin.
nafmeadminI hate grades. That said, I need some ideas for efficient grading techniques in my 18-week choir exploratory. What kinds of activities do you grade, and how?
nafmeadminI grade on participation and preparedness. I grade the second one by walking around during rehearsal and listening to the kids. I should hear a difference in week to week if they practiced as asked. Ideally I write down a participation grade in my book at the end of the day (1-5 scale, 5 best).
nafmeadminI grade on participation (20 points) this includes, no talking, on task, on time and evaluation (10 points), my observation of attitude and involvement in the class. I don’t grade them on talent but on whether they work. They are given points everyday by computer and their parents can check it at home. I give them 100 to 125 points for their concerts depending on the length. I put the score in the day after the concert so parents of missing students can immediately see the effect of missing the concert. I give exams and concert report assignments that add up to 50 points. I actually enjoy grading now that I have a computer grading system. At the end of the quarter the grades are all done and the computer has done the totaling and grading as long as I have put the information in correctly.
nafmeadminAdditional rubrics/measures could include the following:
*Memorization of lyrics: Give them a date by which a piece/section of the piece has to be memorized; have them write out the lyrics.
*Mastery of the music: Have quartets or octets sing the particular piece/section you’ve assigned to be learned by that day. You could designate groups from the get-go (based on proximity) and move quickly from one to the other. “Group three, sing the third verse….” IF you designated preassigned groups, you could also sing an entire song, with various groups “taking over” when you point at them.
The above are especially helpful if the students need more accountability–or if you want to help them take the class more seriously.
Christopher M. Johnson, Professor of Music Education and Music Therapy, is currently the Chair of the Music Education and Music Therapy Department and Director of the Music Research Institute at the University of Kansas. Johnson earned his Ph.D. from the Florida State University.
Since his arrival at The University of Kansas, Johnson has taught courses in Instrumental Conducting, Teaching Instrumental Music, Managing Behaviors in the Music Environment, Psychology and Acoustics of Music, and Research Methods in Music Education and Music Therapy. Johnson served two terms as the editor of the International Journal of Music Education: Research, the research publication of the International Society for Music Education. He is currently serving his second term on the National Association for Music Educations Executive Committee of the Society for Research in Music Education. He also served on the editorial board of the Journal of Research in Music Education, and one earlier term as the Chair for the MENC Executive Committee of the Society for Research in Music Education. Johnson also served as the Chair for the Research Commission of the International Society for Music Education.
Johnson’s research interests include applied research in music education, and basic research in all aspects of the psychology of music. He has published articles in many journals including the Journal of Research in Music Education, the International Journal of Music Education, the Journal of Music Therapy, Journal of Band Research, Contributions to Music Education, and the Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education, among others. Johnson has also been an active member and contributor to the Research Seminar of the International Society for Music Education and World Alliance for Arts Education.
Johnson received a university teaching award – the Ned N. Fleming Award for Excellence in Teaching and received the recognition for Graduate Teaching Achievement from the Center for Teaching Excellence. Johnson was also awarded a lecturing & research award as a J. William Fulbright Scholar and recently received the Ella Scoble Opperman Citation for Distinguished Achievement from the Florida State University College of Music.
This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.
If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.