That's where I am now.... at the start.
Some background
I have been teaching now for 13 years. I am at a wonderful middle school, teaching 6th, 7th, and 8th graders. We are a 1:1 iPad school with a newly renovated library media center and learning pockets that have lots of the bells and whistles of the 21st century. We have a supportive administration, as well as a community that definitely loves the fine arts programs in town. I love my building, I love my staff, and I love my students (most of the time). We start orchestra and band in the 6th grade, but we get to see them 5 days a week, for a total of 207 minutes a week.NOW....
I am going to incorporate a system of self-evaluation and practice tips with my 8th graders. I want to try it with them, then start using it with my other grade levels in a simpler format. Here, I want to process the plan for my 8th graders, then I will update as I go through the process to see how successful it is. I am very excited about it, so I hope it goes well.Step 1: (I have already done this)
Have students brainstorm skills they have already learned. They did this using a discussion technique I learned about from Jennifer Gonzales on the Cult of Pedagogy podcast called Affinity Mapping. Students wrote brainstormed as many skills as they could recording each one on a different sticky note. Then, I had students group them into categories of their own choosing. We then shared out and created one master class list.Step 2: (I'm doing this today)
I put all of the skills on a Google Form for the students to rate their comfort level of each skill. What I realized when the class was sharing out that my students who take private lessons had a lot more advanced skills on their list than the majority of my students who do not take private lessons. So, I want to know how each student sees themselves with each skill. I also asked students to decide on the top 5 skills they would like to learn more about or improve upon.Step 3: Next week - Growth Mindset
I am working with my learning coach to co-teach a lesson on Growth Mindset and how that looks in life versus how it looks in orchestra class. I downloaded lots of resources on teaching this lesson from Angela Watson and her website The Cornerstone for Teachers (or her TpT site). I want students to 1) know how they currently see themselves through the lens of a growth mindset; 2) what does it look like to have a growth mindset, and 3) how to make decisions on how/what to improve. My learning coach will be introducing the Growth Mindset, and I will transition into what it looks like in orchestra. I want my kids to get away from the mindset that "I am not very good on my instrument" to "here are the areas that I could improve and here is what I can do to continue to improve in those areas."Step 4: Practicing Techniques
I would like to start introducing specific practice techniques to my students. I do this, but I want it to be more intentional, use the same vocabulary each time so students really know what I am talking about. I also want to make sure each practice technique is tied to specific skills. That way when students think "I am really missing a lot of notes in this section," they can also think, "here are the practice techniques I can use to improve upon that." (Of course, I know this is the exact wording my students use when they think!)Step 5: Eventually - Recording and Self-Evaluations
Here is where I am going eventually. Students will video record themselves playing a given excerpt. They will then evaluate their recording, on skills that we have been discussing in class at that time. Then, I would like them to create a goal on how to improve their skill. Next, would come a plan of attack, so to speak. Students would come up with the practice techniques to use for the chosen skill and a schedule for practicing at home. In a given span of time, like 2 weeks, students would work on the skill within the given excerpt and record their playing time and what practice technique they used during that time. At the end of the 2 weeks, students would re-record their playing and re-evaluate their playing. After having a chance to do all of these steps, students will reflect on the entire process and decide if they improved or not and why.Reasons
In high school, students have more playing tests for higher stakes. They decide their seating placement, the orchestra they play in, etc. I want my students, by the time they get to high school, to be able to listen to their own playing, self-evaluate, make a decision on what needs to improve, use specific practice techniques to improve that skill, and feel more prepared for those playing tests as they happen.If students never have a "flow chart" of sorts, they could be spending time at home playing, but never really see any improvement. Where, if they have a plan of attack, even a short amount of time can show improvement. We all know that as adults and teachers of music, but how do we teach students that process? I have student evaluate their playing informally in class all the time, but do I intentionally teach them what it means and what to do with that evaluation? I will now.... hopefully!
