Assessment:

Assessment in the context of a choir class is easily overlooked, as

teachers continuously evaluate and assess the students performance of

music throughout each class period. However, there are ways in which more

formal assessment can give teachers a clearer picture of students musical

strengths and struggles. The choir classroom also offers unique possibilities

in terms of forms that assessment can take, as an effective musical

performance involves hard knowledge, accurate execution of rhythmic and

technical elements, as well as an understanding of the meaning behind the

piece. There are countless ways in which teachers can assess these various

elements, but performance is the most effective as it integrates all three.

Most lessons contain pre-assessment measures that consist of either

pedagogical questions or student definitions of terms that will be focused on

in that days lesson. Not only will the teacher learn the students current

level of understanding, but also students learn from their classmates

answers to pedagogical questions about the material such as What do you

know about Elvis? What genre do you suppose this piece of music belongs

to? and What exactly changes when someone uses a different tone of

voice?

In terms of formative assessment, students will fill out worksheets with

questions guiding them to conclusions about the role of Elvis and his socio-

cultural context, and worksheets about text painting examples within the

piece. Worksheet questions will be very open ended for students to come up
with the questions on their own and with their groups. The class will also

discuss worksheets as a whole to go over answers and educate the rest of

the class on answers they may have missed. There is also an assignment on

Google Classroom where students will post a creative representation of a

battle they are fighting or a battle someone they know is fighting, and

respond with encouragement to another classmates post. This assessment

will be for credit for completion, but not for a grade. Students will also be

given an assessment of choosing a piece of literature to form a composition

with demonstrating knowledge of text painting. This will be more assessment

formative as learning because students will be required to think critically

about the meaning of the literature and what elements of music can be

altered to create that that same meaning.

The main summative assessment will be the performance at the spring

concert. The performance will effectively demonstrate students abilities to

execute the technical skills of performing correct rhythm, dynamic makings,

vowel shape, and intonation, as well as their ability represents the story with

appropriate facial expression and musicality. Students will evaluate

themselves with the following rubric while watching their performance video

after the concert (which is also after the completion of this Unit).