Practice Logs versus Edmodo

[nafmeadmin]

Has anyone ever used Edmodo to dialog with students about practicing, using personal goals and personal practice strategies instead of “counting minutes?” If you have used Edmodo in Band, can you recommend any best practices on using it as an authentic assessment piece for student practicing?

[nafmeadmin]

I began implementing Edmodo last February with my 7th and 8th grade bands. We found it most useful for self assessments, ensemble critiques, as well as for performance reflections. When combined with Sound Cloud, I found it very useful. Sound Cloud has an app that allowed me to record students during class with my smart phone and it would automatically upload to my internet account through wifi. Once it was there it was simple to share with the students privately through Edmodo. I would create Assignments on Edmodo and they would write and “Turn In” their assignments. On a few occasions, I would assess their recordings through Sound Cloud to make notes in real time, which they found very useful. For class discussions, I allowed students to post videos of other concert bands for the class to critique using predetermined criteria (student created rubrics). We also used this for our own performance review and class discussions on general music topic discussions. I noticed students improving in areas such as sound quality, phrasing and interpretation, which are usually more difficult than some concepts. They began listening more critically and were forced to find a way to explain their growth or areas needing improvement through their writing. I continued to use a hybrid type chart that had both minutes and a detailed practice session for them to complete. I would be happy to share this if you are interested. I created it based on one that I found in an old Music Educators Journal. Hope this is helpful.

[nafmeadmin]

Thank you so much for your response! It is exactly what I am looking for in assessment. I just found that counting minutes was meaningless. I have never heard of Sound Cloud so I will need to do a little research on this. I would love to see your practice sheet of your idea. All our kids have iPads so I am wondering if they might be able to upload to me from their own iPads. How do you “assess” your students using this method? Do these “conversations” with the kids count towards their quarter grades? Again, thank you so very much!

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