This is for my ineligible students who will be removed from the full band set as we finish preparing for UIL contest.
My two ineligible students need something to do.
I want to make this an opportunity to hear the band from a new perspective and use a written assignment to force/encourage/enable them to hear better/new/different. I want it to be written so I have something concrete on file. It also is to help keep them from making this nap time.
Yes, I know rules say they can perform. My admin and I agree that's not best for us here.
I have places for them to practice but even though they're mostly trustworthy, I don't trust them quite enough to be unsupervised.
So... I bet someone already has a great listening assignment. Would you be willing to save me time by sharing it???
The website Wayground.com. You can make a youtube video a lesson. As the kids watch it, you can have them answer questions based on what they have been talking about in the video. You can also put in written responses. Some districts pay for every one to use the this site. Maybe ask a core teacher if the district pays for it. You can then create assignments in Google Classroom through Wayground and it’ll assign it to them. You can require them to make a certain grade and they’ll retake it until that grade is achieved. If you’re requiring individual responses, you will have to go back and grade those. Supposedly AI can grade it, but I’ve never allowed it. I’m going to be using it myself to keep my MS NV busy while I take HS NV to contest. They can be in their individual Chromebook with headphones in the library. There are also some lessons that are premade so you don’t have to do it from scratch. You can search those. The music had premade stuff, but in my experience, it’s mostly basic music theory skills. If I’m able to get my stuff together quickly, I’ll send you a link. Hopefully that is somewhat helpful.
Can't be directly helpful, sorry, but it has me thinking.
The problem with these assignments is that they are simply CYA material. Unless you spend time in your class on activities like writing about music, then you are asking the students to guide themselves through an advanced and introspective independent activity. Leaving written instructions is not enough to achieve the level of reflection that you are actually seeking.
If you wish to proceed in earnest, consider leaving recorded verbal directions and guiding questions. It would kind of be like the Selmer test or Bernstein's lectures, but it's in your voice and direction to the student.
Or consider incorporating written reflections and listening vocabulary like the elements of music into your class. It could be a spiral, hand written in by students, word of the week style. Then they are prepared to engage independently with this activity for an entire class period while you are away.
Or create a Google form and add videos and include various response formats. Again, it helps to practice this in class before they are expected to engage with this independently.
Or reach out to their middle school directors. Perhaps some of this has already been done in their previous studies. Borrow and modify.
Consider that the most common class of music in college for non-majors is music appreciation, where listening skills, the elements of music, and reflection activities are taught. This might be the easiest class for a music major, but for people with high school diplomas, this might be the hardest. And you are asking a high school student to do this, in one class period, without direct instruction from a music teacher, and without prior instruction or engagement with the activity.
The best activity I've ever seen for students while a director is unavailable is: multiple written passage to read on the topic of music. Included are questions and responses that are vetted by the ELAR teachers to help them with STAAR. It takes all class, it is easily amended and added to, and it wins all kinds of points on TTESS and within your community. Reading comprehension is always a worthwhile endeavor.
