Assessment of Music Learning

Assessment, as far as the educational system is concerned, is all about accountability, the willingness to take the responsibility for results and the willingness to adapt changes if it means affecting more gains in student learning and achievement. However, it should not be all about following what the curriculum and the standards say. In order to see the improvement and growth of every student in all levels, the teacher needs to be willing to try out new strategies. I was one who seeks and explores new things that are far from the traditional and stereotypical methods of teaching.

This method has proven to be effective for me since I often get positive feedbacks from my co-teachers. They say that I am able to keep the lesson interesting which is good but they noticed that I tend to exclude effective assessment. According to Wiggins providing opportunities, incentives, and requirements can greatly motivate teachers to do more research. To specifically and carefully examine what worked and what did not work on the most and least engaging assessments made a huge difference in the result. I found it effective to assign group projects and have other groups professionally evaluate other groups.

This helped train students since they are given the opportunity to act as the teacher by judging their classmates’ works. This is an authentic learning process. Assessment of Music Learning Assessment, as far as the educational system is concerned, is all about accountability, the willingness to take the responsibility for results and the willingness to adapt changes if it means affecting more gains in student learning and achievement. However, it should not be all about following what the curriculum and the standards say. According to Wiggins:

I have to follow this recipe—even though many of the previous customers who ate it said the meal was distasteful. I have to follow my medical school textbook—even though the patient is not getting any better. (Wiggins, 297) In order to see the improvement and growth of every student in all levels, the teacher needs to be willing to try out new strategies. The teacher must be experimental. He/she must engage engage in more careful research into the effectiveness of students’ practice in an authentic manner. Usually, most teachers tend to rely on habits.

They do what has been basically done and just trust that it will work out well (p. 298). Teachers must be bold enough to take risks. Simply satisfying ones senses would give no accountability in education. “The teacher’s job is not to ‘cover’ or merely do what the curricular framework says, or what the teacher knows, habitually does, or only feels comfortable doing”(p. 300). In order to get the results that have higher expectations and to see the improvements of student’s performance, the teacher needs to get out of his/her comfort zone.

Every teacher has an ego and certain field where he/she excel in teaching. As for my personal teaching experience, I was one who seeks and explores new things that are far from the traditional and stereotypical methods of teaching. This method has proven to be effective for me since I often get positive feedbacks from my co-teachers. They say that I am able to keep the lesson interesting which is good but they noticed that I tend to exclude effective assessment. Even though, I delivered the lesson in an authentic manner, the assessment often seemed inauthentic.

I was experimental and innovative but I often fail to produce successful results. Wiggins provides a solution to this problem. According to Wiggins providing opportunities, incentives, and requirements can greatly motivate teachers to do more research. Wiggins (p. 338) says that it is important to consider several questions, namely: • What are the most and least revealing assessments you use? • What are the most engaging assessments? • What works? • What were the most effective coaching, guidance, and feedback you gave students in the past year?

This solution was effective in my own teaching experience. To specifically and carefully examine what worked and what did not work on the most and least engaging assessments made a huge difference in the result. I had the opportunity to teach the same lessons in many times. Therefore, by examine and making a little adjustment each time, I was able to make the assessment more successful than the last. Moreover, the most authentic assessment that makes the students more engaged in learning is considering the feedback of their peers.

According to one of Wiggins’ (p. 329) strategies, “[a]llow—encourage—students, as part of an assessment…Judge their work not merely on content and skill but on their ability to revise and produce quality work, based on self-assessment, peer critique, and self-adjustment”. In my teaching experience, I found it effective to assign group projects and have other groups professionally evaluate other groups. This helped train students since they are given the opportunity to act as the teacher by judging their classmates’ works. This is an authentic learning process.

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