This data comes from a unit that I did with my 5th graders during my student teaching placement. I worked on musical form with them. To see the full description of the unit, look under "Teaching Samples". Click on the button below to see a table of data from this unit and a description of the data. 

 

 

 

 

 

Pre-assessment - Students spread out with laminated letters (3 As, 3 Bs, 2 Cs), a piece of paper, and a pencil. The piece “Hungarian Dance No. 5” by Brahms, a piece the students had not heard before, was played over the sound system. Students used their letters to figure out what they thought the form of the music was. They were told that they may or may not use all of the letters. However, every time a new theme of the music happened, the teacher told the students that it was a new theme. If the students were following what the teacher was telling them, they should have come up with a seven-part form. It is important to note that the teacher did not tell the students what the themes were (i.e. A, B, or C) but just that the music that they were hearing was the next theme in the form.

 

Decisions after Pre-Assessment - After I gave the pre-assessment I decided that I needed to focus on teaching the students what things to listen for when figuring out when the themes change. I also needed to teach students how to recognize reoccurring themes. Most of the incorrect answers on the pre-test were because students added more themes than necessary or wrote down the wrong theme when it repeated.

 

Formative assessments - Throughout the unit, students were continually asked questions about form and how they could figure out what the form of a piece of music was. Just by the answers they gave me I knew where I needed to explain more and how what I was teaching was coming across. Students were also given the opportunity to use the laminated letters to lay out in front of them what the form of different pieces of music was. During that time I could walk around and note what students understood what was going on and what students did not. This also helped me know which students I needed to coach more and which students really understood the concepts I was teaching. Another form of assessment that students had was to tell me when a new theme of music was occurring while the whole class listened to a specific piece. Students chose to raise their hands when they thought there was a change in theme.

 

Post- assessment - Set up in the same way as the pre-assessment. Students spread out with laminated letters (3 As, 3 Bs, and 2 Cs), a piece of paper and a pencil. The piece “Ballet of the Chicks” from Pictures at an Exhibition by Mussorgsky, a piece that the students had not heard before, was played over the sound system. Students used their letters to figure out what the form was. They were told that they may or may not use all of the letters. However, this time they were not told where the themes were; they had to figure it out themselves. The music was played four times, and once those playing were finished, the students had to write their final answer on their paper and turn it in.