Has your desk ever looked like the photo above? Maybe it has never had stacks of paper three feet tall (or maybe it has!), but there usually comes a point in one's teaching career when reorganization is necessary. When I first began teaching, I relied heavily on printed worksheets and assessments to record student achievement and comprehension. The piles of papers and extensive time spent preparing or grading quickly became tiresome. Luckily, technology can assist music teachers in assessing creation, performing, and response standards (Bauer, 2020). This article will include various resources for teacher administrative use; however, most of the technologies presented are free, web-based software from Google.
Assessments are a vital part to a successful unit and should not be neglected. In fact, beginning unit construction by creating an assessment to match achievement goals can help one prepare appropriate learning activities. This planning strategy is known broadly as "backward design." Also, the assessment should match the learning goals, giving students feedback about their own strengths and weaknesses. Consistency is a key element of assessment construction. Without validity and consistency, an assessment becomes purposeless and ineffective (Bauer, 2020).
How does one create a meaningful, effective assessment? In my opinion, the first step is to recognize what standards or goals need to be assessed. Once selected, the teacher can begin formulating formative and summative assessments. I consider formative assessments to be "checkpoints." How are the students learning currently? How are they progressing toward the learning goals? Formative assessment data can help teachers understand which concepts were received well and which must be retaught or adapted (Bauer, 2020). Summative assessments provide closure by assessing whether or not students achieved all of the learning goals. To create these types of assessments, teachers might use Google Forms to create self-grading quizzes. The data can be gathered in Google Classroom or imported into other programs. This platform includes multiple question types (true/false, multiple choice, etc.) and the option to import media to enhance the quiz. One way I have used this assessment method was to assess students' abilities to listen to music and describe the instruments they hear. I imported a YouTube video of an ensemble and added pictures to a "select all that apply" question type. Students then selected all the instruments they heard in the musical selection.
It is also important to create a rubric that students will be graded by. Rubrics provide qualitative rating scales, descriptions, and opportunities for feedback (Bauer, 2020). These allow the student to know the expectations before completing the assessment. The teacher also benefits by creating a consistent climate; students should be graded strictly on whether or not they meet the goals. Google Sheets is an excellent resource for creating rubrics. An example activity using a rubric could be performance submissions. Teachers can use platforms like FlipGrid and SmartMusic to accept student videos for grading based on a performance rubric.
Concerning administrative productivity, technological advances provide many resources for teachers. One of the most simple, easily-integrated Google technologies is Google Calendar. For music teachers, keeping a schedule of events is vital. Rehearsals, performances, PTA meetings, fundraisers, and many other events can crowd one's planner or calendar. Google Calendar can be used to organize events, search for events by name, and share events or calendars with others. This is ideal for an ensemble setting where a teacher can create a calendar with ensemble rehearsals and performances to be sent out to each student. Other great platforms for sharing information with students include Google Drive and Dropbox. These web-based interfaces can be used for document or media sharing without needing physical drives (USBs, CDs, etc.) or email (Bauer, 2020). This eliminates the need for chain emails as students can access the folders by being invited to view or edit the contents. Teachers can use digital storage websites to send syllabi, assignments or worksheets, and performance or other educational videos. Google Docs is another free source for creating documents, newsletters, and any word-based resources. It includes many templates. Similarly, Canva is a platform I use often for creating newsletters, flyers, and other graphical creations. Creating impactful presentations with Google Slides is another way to reach students. Furthermore, Google Slides can even be used to create a virtual classroom for those teaching virtual learners (to see my virtual classroom, follow this link!). For other ideas about how technology can be used to communicate with students (especially in light of the COVID-19 pandemic), see my previous blog entry titled "Music Performance Technologies - Capabilities for Collaboration."
All in all, modern technology can be an invaluable resource for teachers' administration and organization. We often seek to find ways to include technology in our classroom activities. Why not better ourselves with these tools, also? Integrating some of the aforementioned software can be a simple yet effective way to transform your teaching. Instead of your desk looking like the picture at the top of this article, using paperless resources can have your desk looking like the this:
References
Bauer, W. I. (2020). Music learning today: Digital pedagogy for creating, performing, and responding to music (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780197503706.001.0001
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