I really don't like to give grades to students in a performance based class. It is so subjective to my observation and evaluation of how I think the student performed a particular exercise or piece of music. There are so many factors involved. I will use all boys in this example. Student A likes to sing and do other forms of music like play piano or another instrument. Music has been in his family for many years and the whole family is "musical", so being musically talented is natural and it doesn't seem to take much effort. He has very strong opinions about what music to perform and how it should be done. There are some students he definitely would not sing with in a small group. Student B is also musical in that he can read music. sing and play a little piano. He enjoys a variety of music, seems easy to get along with and willing to sing with anyone and sing all types of music. Student C enjoys singing, has no music background, cannot read a note of music, even has trouble matching his voice with notes so doesn't have a clue if he is singing on the right pitch or not. He's quiet, never complains, gives 100% effort, has a positive attitude and is willing to stretch himself. If the grades were based on ability only Student A and B would get very good grades but student C not at all. If grades are based only on effort and attitude then Student B and C would get high grades and A not. Now multiply these three students by ten so there is 30 in the class and it really gets challenging to determine who should receive what. I am trying to include ability, effort and attitude on a weekly bases.
I am open to a fair, accurate system that will fit a performance base class like choir.
A question I have is effort as a grade more important in performance based classes? Does having 100% effort mean they know the material? Things to think about.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you 100%, Daryl. Is effort more important than ability? I don't think so. I was a pretty good flute player in school, and unless it was music contest, I never took my flute home to practice and still easily learned the music for concerts. My effort was very low but my ability level was high...what grade do I get?
ReplyDeleteOn the flip side though, I think it's almost impossible to put in 100% effort and not see improvements when it comes to performance-based classes. Is Student C, who can't sing or match pitch, putting in any extra work to get better? Have you told him he can't match pitch so he knows he needs to work on it? Is he able to take voice lessons to get one-on-one help?
I think we should grade a combination of effort and ability. Let opportunities like music contest be the challenge for those who aren't challenged in regular class. And provide opportunities for students of lower ability to put in more practice if they are willing to put in the effort.