Ungrading: Chap 9 & 10
Tech Tempo
by Brenda Muench
8M ago
Chapter 9 – This teacher’s process is more than I’m looking to take on. Excel sheets to show points before and after the test. Nope. I can appreciate the process though. The idea of asking for confidence level on each question is a good one though. It would certainly give me a more clear look into whether the kids understand what is being assessed on the exam. I already to something similar to this in a more verbal fashion with my piano lesson students. When they finish playing a song I sometimes ask, “Tell me 2 things you are really proud of and 2 things you could improve if I ask you to prac ..read more
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Ungrading: Chapters 7 &8
Tech Tempo
by Brenda Muench
8M ago
“What is success for you in this class? How can I help you achieve it?” Is this a question I can get k-3 to answer in music at the start of the year? What if I think their answers are too simple? How might I have answered this question set for our Book study? I am successful if I read all the chapters and am ready to discuss in class. Does my grade go down if my answer does not include anything about applying it my own teaching? Student contracted for a C but supplied reasons (atheletics, school play, etc.) Does one have to explain why they are contracting for something lower than A??? There i ..read more
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Ungrading Chapters 3 & 4
Tech Tempo
by Brenda Muench
8M ago
Chapter 3 There seems to be some emphasis on valuing passion instead of work done. I’m not sure I ever want to evaluate a student’s passion as part of my observation structure. What could portfolio grading look like for our 3rd grade composition project? How often would I need to meet with each student? How to do prompt kids to evaluate their own work? “If I am treating my students as adults, then recognizing that my course may not be central has to be acceptable.” How does this statement work down in a k-12? CAN students choose to not make a class central??? Should they be able to? Is there s ..read more
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Ungrading: Chapter 1 & 2
Tech Tempo
by Brenda Muench
8M ago
Iroquois West is doing a monthly bookstudy covering Ungrading edited by Susan D. Blum. What follows is essentially the questions/thoughts that emerged while I was reading the assigned chapters. Lots of talk of ranking students. Is there a difference between ranking and grouping for assessment? Does that difference even matter? This way of grading requires more time. We need time during the day for it. 1 prep won’t do it on school time. How might Ungrading look for teacher evaluations? “And that whether we’re grading or not, we think critically (and talk openily with students) about our approa ..read more
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Boom Cards: Automating Grading for Rhythm Understanding
Tech Tempo
by Brenda Muench
8M ago
Last year I started experimenting with a new digital product by a company called Boom Learning. I was looking for a more automated way of running the beginning and midpoint testing for my SLO (student learning outcome) that is required by my district. I have to give my students an assessment before I start teaching a unit so that I can demonstrate that my students have grown from my teaching. Of course, most of the kids do not score well on this test because I haven’t taught the content yet. I prefer to give most of my tests in small groups or individually so that I can see what each child tru ..read more
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Reclaiming My Calm in the Face of Kindergarten Over Exuberance
Tech Tempo
by Brenda Muench
8M ago
Brace yourself, reader. I’m about to get very real in this post. Teaching is a struggle that looks ugly sometimes. Hopefully, my honesty here does not lower your opinion of me too much. Remember I’m just a flawed human trying my best to raise up successful musicians. My youngest students this year have been an interesting group. In Kindergarten this year we have a mix of students that attended pre-school and those that have not been to school at all before this year. It has made for some interesting music classes. There are kids in this group who just lack the ability to wait. They do not unde ..read more
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A Daily Question and More Confusion
Tech Tempo
by Brenda Muench
8M ago
This year I began using Plickers to ask my 2nd and 3rd graders a question related to our topic for the quarter. 2nd grade has been getting a lot of questions about 16th notes and 3rd is currently focusing on note reading in the treble clef. Here’s what I’ve gleaned so far: If you ask 2nd graders to notice the specifics of how a note is drawn, they will start to second guess themselves. They assumed that the note with 4 noteheads is always a set of 16th notes. When you tell them it is not, they will start to doubt everything they ever learned about notes. Placing 16th notes on a staff suddenly ..read more
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Change in the Air: Updating Our State Program
Tech Tempo
by Brenda Muench
8M ago
I did it. I cut the Fifty Nifty States song that the 3rd graders have sung all of the 20 years that I have been here (I think for a few years before I arrived on the scene at IW). So how was it? Stressful and delightful at the same time. Since I didn’t want to hold all the blame for ditching the song, I let the 2nd graders last year listen to both the old song (Fifty Nifty United States arranged by me) and the new song (Our States Are Great from Music K-8). I must admit, I suspected that the backing track with drum and other exciting sounds would be enough to win them over to the new song. Aft ..read more
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Year 2 Opera for the Young
Tech Tempo
by Brenda Muench
8M ago
This was the second year of having Opera for the Young come perform at our school. This group brings a small cast of opera singers, a pianist, sets and props to your school’s performance area (they prefer to use gyms) and they perform an opera with and for your students. The music teacher can choose to prepare the students a few different ways. The opera company allows up to 16 students on the stage area with them in show, these students are the “Opera Chorus”. The teacher can select 16 students and teach only those students the songs from the opera or the teacher can teach the songs to the 16 ..read more
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First Year Using GamePlan for Kindergarten
Tech Tempo
by Brenda Muench
8M ago
Over the summer, I used my entire Kindergarten budget to purchase a copy of the curriculum called GamePlan. At the end of 2nd quarter, I have a few observations I’d like to record. Things I am enjoying: The format of the lessons is wonderful. There are songs and activities listed for each week of the month. Since I only see my students 2 times each week, I get to look over the lesson and pick song and activities that will best serve the students I am working with. I have found it helpful to look forward a few weeks and check which activities make a reappearance in following weeks. Early on, I ..read more
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