The Best Laid Plans.....

So, I gave a final to my beginning instruments. Usually I don't give finals in my performance classes - I use two concerts per semester as a mid-term and final. But this class pushed me to put each one on the carpet individually and ask the to produce. To that end they got both a playing and written assessment.

It was a nice idea, but it kind of fell apart. Kind of. I still think it was worthwhile, but I have to adjust how I do it. The problem with the playing part was that I listened to the kids one-by-one, while the rest of the class was on 'silent activity.' The silent part didn't happen. Hell, the 'stay in their seat' part didn't happen. Next test: small groups (two or three at a time) right there in rehearsal. I wanted to make it so that the kids weren't just playing by themselves in front of the whole class, but since the class in general has to be monitored every second - that's kind of out of the equation.

The written test was.... well for starters, it was a self made test. I also tried to design it to be instrument-specific. Add in the fact that I also am careful to make multi-version tests - it turned out that almost every kid got a unique test. That sounds like a nightmare to grae, but I actually have a system to cut down the confusion. Plus, we're talking about basic musicianship - like "what is a whole note" kind of stuff. I should be able to grade it without a key.

The only problem is that the test was full of bugs. I was swarmed by kids who were trying to navigate their way through my mistakes. It really is a good test in theory - I just have to iron the glitches out... um... for next year's class.