Philosophy of Assessment

        My philosophy of assessment is based primarily upon providing my instrument music students k-12 with performance based activities, paper & pencil activities, and incorporating technology into the learning process.  I feel the most important part of any assessment must be the student. It is important to provide a range of different assessment formats so student strengths and weaknesses can be seen in a fair and positive manner. 

        Will students learn the material they need to know to be successful? 

        Will students be able to apply cognitive, psychomotor and affective skills to the performance of a band instrument as they develop from beginning, intermediate, and advanced musicians? 

Because of the importance of these two questions, I have based my philosophy of assessment surrounding goals to develop cognitive, psychomotor and affective skills to produce music students who will practice the "Art of Excellence" in their musical studies. 

         Cognitively, students will be assessed in their knowledge of various musical concepts, such as scales, musical terminology, and playing principles through various assignments and activities. My instruction concept uses modeling by teacher and by student peers, who are proficient in the material, which is being studied and performed. I believe that in an instrumental or band activity students should be playing a majority of the time, which they are in class. I believe that through modeling and guided practice students are better equipped to take concepts, skills and knowledge into use in their own practice sessions. Some examples of terminology which is used on a consistent basis are what note values are being used, the letter names of notes, the proper fingering of specific notes on individual instruments, and how to read the road map of music to play a phrase, section or whole musical composition. 

          In the assessment of psychomotor skills students will be assessed in the evaluation of posture, correct playing positions, embouchure, and various other assignments as they occur. I feel again that teacher modeling is very important in the psychomotor skills of any music student. Constant positive reinforcement is a very effective tool to use with students. When the learning process can be made silly and fun this also improves the ability of students to retain skills and apply them in the future. For example, when I teach a brass player to form an embouchure I ask students, "Have you ever smelled a skunk?" Students will answer, yes or no. I then ask students what they words they use to describe the smell of the skunk. I tell the students, I use the word Peu and this is the same word to use when they form their embouchure. I have them say the word. I ask them if they know how to speak French. Usually most of my students have told me, "No." Then I tell them they just spoke in French, when they said peu. It is more fun when you have me in real life teaching students how to develop a proper embouchure. 

    Affectively students will be assessed in their written concert evaluations, self-assessment insights, and various other assignments as they occur. As students develop from beginning to advance musicians they will become aware of the development of emotion throughout music. They will develop skills to be able to perform songs with expression. Just as a poem, essay, short story, play, or novel meaning in the text, students will develop vocabulary, schema, and capabilities to express meaning in written and musical formats through concert critiques, self evaluations, and music performances.