End-of-the-Year Packets

The annual question: what to do in band class following the spring concert?

Each year I have experimented with different activities to do with the days (or weeks) that follow the band spring concert, from sight-reading music for the next year to making recordings of music for future students to composing music. The students and I enjoyed the set of activities that were completed last year, so I decided to improve upon it this year and create a packet.

Cover page to a packet

Each class received a slightly different packet, each including activities they were required to complete and additional optional activities.

OPINION SURVEY: Each student was required to complete an opinion survey. For 7th grade students it including questions regarding activities and music from this school year, as well as questions about next year. For 8th grade students, I did not include the questions about next year. I asked the students NOT to put their name on this survey; I hope to receive honest opinions through anonymity. This was the back page of the packet; once the survey was complete, the student pulled off the page and handed it to me. I marked on my grade-sheet that the student completed the task.

COMPOSE A MELODY: Each student was required to compose an 8-measure melody for their instrument. I gave them guidelines: it must be in a key (use a scale as a guide), it must use all 7 pitches of the key, the key must be accurately noted, and it can be composed using the rhythm given or with an original rhythm. Percussion students had the option of creating the entire 8-measures for bells, or splitting it 4 for bells (with all guidelines followed) and 4 for snare (rhythm entirely original). The student had the option of performing the composition for me as bonus. I graded based on adherence to the guidelines.

SELECT A PLAYING QUIZ: Each student was required to perform a final playing quiz. Each class was given a choice between 2 exercises at the current playing level, except for the advanced 8th grade class: these students could select any exercise (not including warm-ups or scale) to perform. Percussion were asked to complete half the quiz on bells and half on snare. This is standard in my classroom; this way I can check both skill sets (note-reading on bells and technique on snare) without asking them to perform more measures than the rest of the band. I included the grading rubric for the quiz on the back of the front page to the packet. When the student was ready to play, I used their rubric to grade and give feedback and wrote the grade on my grade sheet. The student kept the rubric and were able to practice and perform again if they wanted to improve.

PAY YOUR BAND DEBT: This only applied to students who owed fees for books or rentals, or needed to check-in a school-owned instrument.

WHAT DO YOU MEME?: This optional activity asked students to look at band-related photos (2 were of our actual students) and create memes that will be postures for our classroom next year.

Meme Bulletin Board

There are 3 complete meme examples at the top and then 9 photos to use for new memes. The two photos directly below the green sign are of band students. I have not read all of their ideas, however the ones shown to me are really funny!! I'm debating using my judgement to select the best/funniest, or allow them to vote in the fall and then have the posters created.

TOP 3 TIPS FOR BAND SUCCESS: Last year, an optional activity was for students to write a short letter to a future band student. This year I adjust the optional activity to have the students list their top 3 tips for being successful in class, which I will then use to create a Top Ten list to give to incoming band students. I encouraged them to phrase them using kid-friendly words, being funny or serious or whatever works for them. I have only glanced at a few, but there as some goodies: "Don't eat and then play; your instrument will smell gross."

MY LIFE IN SONG: This optional activity asked students to list songs and events that are forever tied in their memories. For example, whenever they hear a particular song, a specific event is brought to mind. The students found this one to be the most challenging; some could only think of one or two and others did not even bother with this activity since it was optional and they were stuck on ideas.

PERFORM SCALE FOR BAND REWARDS POINTS: The final optional activity was the opportunity to earn more points for the Band Rewards program. There were many students who were 1-2 activities away from earning the next level, so this option gave them class time to memorize and perform scales to earn points.

Overall, this packet was successful. The students could complete the activities in any order, and jump around to difference activities if they felt "stuck" on something. They were also able to work together and assist each other. The atmosphere in the room was "controlled chaos." I see my students for 80 minutes every other day, so most were completed the requirements and the optional activities of their choice within 3 classes (240 minutes). Of course I had a few stragglers that struggled with time-management, but perhaps that was a lesson they needed to learn :)

48 Festival Judges?!?

If the band director or music teacher world had political parties, I would probably be placed in the ultra-liberal, radical party. I have ideas, and views, and ways of doing things that are not always traditional. I do them in search of additional avenues of teaching my students and guiding them to be musicians, not to make waves in the music education community. But it seems as if the waves are a natural side-effect of my choices.

My latest wave-making idea is the "Comments-Only" festival attendance. For the first time, my band participated in our county festival for comments-only, no rating given by the panel of judges.

I believe my students do need the ears and eyes of other music professionals to help them progress and improve. I absolutely LOVE band clinics, where the "clinicians" listen to the band perform then work with them to make the performance even better. I am no so in love with the festival which keeps the "judges" and the band separate. I do not feel the comments have as great of an effect when they are written and recorded as when they are personally delivered and immediately performed.

I explained to the students about the "comments-only"status and we discussed as a group how that can be beneficial to us: instead of having just 3 judges, we will have 48 - each student in our band will be a judge, plus we will have the comments from the 3 official judges.

While performing at the festival, I made a "clean" recording of our performance using a digital recording device on the conductor's podium. Not the greatest placement for getting a good sound, but at least I had something to immediately share with the students. I then received the recorded comments on CD and written comment sheets from each judge following our performance.

The next class, the students received a "Compliments & Critiques" sheet to use while listening to the clean recording. As they heard great aspects of our playing, they would jot down these thoughts under Compliments. As they heard aspects of our playing that were not so great, they would write them under Critiques. I have worked with them all year learning how to write specific thoughts: "we played good" is not a compliment, instead we write "the trumpets entered at the right time with good volume."

After listening to the entire clean recording, the students turned to the back of the Compliments & Critiques page where they found a ratings chart. It is the same concept as what the judges complete, however simplified for a middle school student to complete. The students places a mark (check, star, shade-it-in) for the letter grade (A, B, C, F) they would give the band for each category (intonation, tone quality, etc.). Then they completed some quick math (add, multiply, & add some more) to find our overall rating.

It was amazing to find that 95% of the group had the same result, with 3% rating slightly higher and 2% rating slightly lower. The students believed this rating had more weight and meaning than when it comes from a judge they don't even know or have not met.

During the next class, we listened to parts of the judges recordings (not the entire performance from each judge due to time constraints) and I shared all of the comments from the recordings and comment sheets. The students placed a mark (star, check, underline) on their Compliment & Critique sheet if a judge mentioned the same thing they had written. Every students had multiple items with these additional marks. Definitely an eye-opening experience for many of them.

The students kept these sheets in their folders to refer to whenever we play these selections in preparation for our spring concert. Although my method breaks with tradition, it seems that my students gained musicianship skills from this experience: better listening skills, a more discerning ear, better use of performance-based vocabulary, and improved problem-solving skills (how to fix what they critiqued).

The Reflective Musician: My MdMEA Session

I presented (for the first time!) at the Maryland Music Educators Association Conference. For those who were not able to attend my session (since you were busy or live in another state) and for those who wanted a chance to review the info, here is my presentation in a nutshell (but not literally "in a nutshell", although that would be an interesting delivery system):

THE REFLECTIVE MUSICIAN

This session will provide methods and resources in teaching student reflection techniques to gauge personal learning and progress in instrumental music classes. Methods range from instant reflections using only a few seconds of class time, to complete projects involving multiple class sessions and methods of reflecting. Session attendees will leave with a packet containing worksheets & prompts that can be used immediately, and concepts & examples of how to implement reflection methods daily. 

(Confession of dishonesty: I did not create packets since I could hear the trees screaming. Instead I provided my contact information so those who wanted electronic documents could request them... as can you.)

Why Teach Reflection?

• Reflection is an inherent task in the Arts. An artist must evaluate what they produce in order to learn and grow from the experience.
• Growth is achieved through mistakes and successes. Students often focus on success or mistake, but not both; we must teach them to look at both.
• The more we practice Reflection, the more comfortable the process becomes. Have you ever watched a video of yourself teaching? My first experience was one of the most uncomfortable moment of my life; now I find the practice invaluable!

 Reflection is in the Standards

• National Standards for Music Education #6 & #7
• Maryland Standards for Arts Education 1.0 & 4.0
• Common Core State Standards Math1, Math2, LiteracySL1, & LiteracySL2

         (This list is a quick touch on the standards; there are methods of linking reflection to practically every standard.)

Reflection is in Teacher Evaluation

Charlotte Danielson Framework for Teaching

• Components 2a, 2b, 3b, 3c, & 3d

How Much Time?

• Minimal Time & Preparation: Thumb Checks and Rating Scales
• Medium Time & Preparation: Recordings and Performance Reflections
• Extensive Time & Preparation: Portfolios and Projects
  

Minimal Time & Preparation

These practices do not need any preparation time or equipment and take minimal class time. These are "instant" reflections.

Thumb Check & Rating Scale: to quickly gauge student understanding or opinions

"Thumbs up if you completely understand Allegro, thumb middle if you kind-of understand, or thumbs down if you have no clue about the term."

"Thumbs up, clarinets, if you successfully shifted from A to C; thumb middle if you need more practice; thumb down if it did not work at all."

"Show me fingers of how well we followed dynamics when we performed this piece: 1 is we performed all the dynamics, 3 we performed some, and 5 we performed none."

Always incorporate follow-up questions. As the teacher, you can select any student and ask "Why did you give us that rating?" or "Why was your thumb in the middle?" You can also ask that student to then ask another student to share their reasoning and so on.

Medium Time & Preparation

These practices need preparation time and/or equipment and take some class time. These are reusable reflections once you create them the first time.

Recordings: of a professional group or of the student group. I keep a digital recorder handy at all times to record my group and do instant playback.

"Listen to this recording of Over the Waves; compare and contrast it to how you just sang it."

"I just recorded you as you played the chorale. What do you think of our balance?" 

Concert or Festival Reflection: listening to or watching a performance and completing reflection questions on a worksheet.

"List two things the band did well at the performance."

"List one thing the band needs to improve."

"List one critique from the festival judges." 

"What is one suggestion from the judges that you can implement immediately. Why did you select this suggestion?"

Depending on the experience level with reflection practices of your group, you may also keep the worksheet open-ended:

Using this form, the student lists the compliments (+) and critiques (-) for each piece of music, circling the one that can be fixed at the next rehearsal.

Practice Reflection: with an emphasis on goal-setting and reflection, instead of total time spent practicing.

The student sets two goals for the week and marks progress towards achievement at each practice session. Additional reflection questions are answered at the end of the week.

Extensive Time & Preparation

These practices need preparation time & equipment and will take class time, often spread over multiple days.

Portfolios: this method is primarily for goal-setting and performance preparation. Depending on the needs of your students, the goals can be performance-based (intonation, musicality, etc.) or behavior-based (bringing class supplies, talking when appropriate, etc.). Portfolios can be combined with a project, as shown below.

Projects: this method is used to achieve a task while setting and progressing toward goals. The task can be solo performance, small ensemble performance, or composition.

In the examples below, my students formed small ensembles and selected music to prepare & perform for the class. This process was spread over 15 class meetings, using only 15-30 minutes at a time.

This is the first task which occurred over 2 class sessions. The students were encouraged to write honest and thoughtful answers, not answers they believed I wanted.

The students then set individual goals to give them a focus during the project. I insisted on complete sentences for every item in the portfolio.

Open-ended question allowed them voice their opinion, while encouraging them to practice good writing skills.

Two of the items in the portfolio asked them to reflect on goal progress.

Prior to performing for the class, the groups had to record and assess their performance. I encouraged them to be honest in their evaluation, since the grade at the bottom of the chart would not be the grade at the top of the sheet; that grade is based on completion instead of performance.

As with all teaching practices, I continually tweak my methods as well as gather new methods. I attended a session the day before I presented my session and discovered additional reflection practices that I plan to use this year.

Keep your eyes and ears open, listen to and address the needs of your students, and remember to share, share, share!!! The more the students reflect, the more they will reflect without your guidance, which is something they can use in every facet of their life.

Traditions in the Band Class

I can't say the word "Tradition" without hearing Topol in my head.

"Fiddler on the Roof" aside, I am contemplating the role of Traditions in the band classroom. I am the type of person that completely supports traditions as long as the tradition benefits the program.

This year, I found that one tradition regarding band in my district would not be beneficial to my students. In fact, I have struggled mentally with this tradition for the past few years. I met with my principal and with my supervisor over the summer to discuss my concerns and ask them for advice. Both people agreed that it would be in the best interest of the musical education of the students to not follow the tradition this year.

So, I planned the beginning of this year minus the tradition. I did not make a big deal of it; I just didn't mention it. If a parent or student asked about the tradition, I was careful to answer the exact question that was asked and not to offer more information than was needed (this was the advice from my principal). It has been a constant source of low-level anxiety for me since the first day of school.

Yes, there have been questions asked. No, I have not had anyone seriously upset about the change. I still have 2-3 more weeks until we are past the "tradition" and there could still be more conversations; I look forward to no longer feeling this anxiety. Yes, my principal and supervisor have been extremely supportive and helpful. Yes, I have missed participating in the tradition. I still firmly believe that my students will be better musicians based on the path that I have set before them... minus the tradition.

Has anyone else made changes to traditions in their band program, even knowing that the community expected participation in that tradition?