My SBG Journey
1. Figure out which standards to assess. I am planning on assessing seven of these. I assess singing (whether or not a student can match pitch), but I do not grade students on it. I do not plan on assessing students on Standards #1 and #3. In music, we work on the same nine standards in different ways throughout the school year. This allows students opportunity to show growth and mastery.
National Standards for Music Education
1. Singing, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music.
2. Performing on instruments, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music.
3. Improvising melodies, variations, and accompaniments.
4. Composing and arranging music within specified guidelines.
5. Reading and notating music.
6. Listening to, analyzing, and describing music.
7. Evaluating music and music performances.
8. Understanding relationships between music, the other arts, and disciplines outside the arts.
National Standards for Music Education
1. Singing, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music.
2. Performing on instruments, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music.
3. Improvising melodies, variations, and accompaniments.
4. Composing and arranging music within specified guidelines.
5. Reading and notating music.
6. Listening to, analyzing, and describing music.
7. Evaluating music and music performances.
8. Understanding relationships between music, the other arts, and disciplines outside the arts.
9. Understanding music in relation to history and culture.
2. Rubric: I am still responsible for have letter grades (we do S+, S, E at the elementary level). My four levels of accomplishments: Expert, Practitioner, Apprentice and Novice. Each has a corresponding percent score: 100%, 90% and 80%.
3. How to Access: this has been my biggest mental block. I have two hundred students, so I need a way to access them that will not overload me. At the same time, it needs to be fair for the students. I have decided not to have deadlines for when I assess. Students will have all year to accomplish the individual standards and they will be marked according to their progress each quarter on those standards. I use the website Class Badges with my 3rd and 4th graders and they earn badges as they work thru different projects. I am brainstorming ways to include sicker badges into my lower grades. I want to make it clear to my students what we are learning and what skills they are achieving through each project.
How is your SBG journey? I would love to hear how you are implementing it into your classroom.
How is your SBG journey? I would love to hear how you are implementing it into your classroom.
Thanks for sharing this. I like reading your blog and appreciate it's honest reflection and insights. I wouldn't assume that you have to use the current grading system in place if you would like to change it. As we explore SBG as a staff, we could all learn a lot from a pilot program and I would be interested in supporting you if you'd like to tackle that. If the timing isn't right, that it is ok too. Hope you are having a great summer!
ReplyDeleteI appreciate your feedback Joey. Making the full transition to SBG is something I am very interested in. I am still working on the logistic, but I will let you know when I have more concrete ideas. Thank you! I hope you are having a great summer too!
ReplyDeleteI would love to learn more about your standards based grading. We are being asked to transition to this.
ReplyDeleteMy school is not transitioning to SBG yet, so it is just something I am doing in my classroom. When we are working on projects, I have students assess themselves based on this chart and I use the same chart to assess them. I like that it forces me to spend more 1:1 time with each student and it helps them see that learning is a process and not a destination. I would love to hear about how you are using it in your district/school.
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