Student practice is at its most effective when students are able to assess it themselves. Helping students to become active, engaged participants in their own assessment creates empowered learners – and develops ear training skills to boot. Self-assessment can also create independent learners who are eager for new challenges on their instruments.
Tools like SmartMusic can help you provide students with feedback. We’ve built a free lesson plan that SmartMusic users can use with any of the thousands of pieces in SmartMusic to help students learn to assess their own playing.
The SmartMusic Self-Assessment Plan Includes:
- A list of NAfME-approved standards that connect to the learning target
- Activities that help students understand each step in the assessment process
- Space for you to customize things to fit your needs, including prompts to fill in your own concert repertoire
- Differentiation strategies such as letting students choose their own homework assignment
Also included is a suggested homework assignment that involves creating a special “sight-reading assignment” in addition to a regular assignment. Building a custom rubric is also suggested so students can assess themselves in the comments section.
Additional Related Resources:
- Create sight-reading assignments
- Build a custom rubric
- You might also consider using the custom rubric highlighted in our post on assessment strategies.
To complete their tasks, your students will submit the sight-reading assignment at the beginning of their practice session as a diagnostic assessment, then submit a “final” take so that you – and they – can hear the progress made during the practice session. The comments on the assignment will help demonstrate that students are making appropriate self-assessments.
This lesson plan is designed to be used with the standard or premium versions of SmartMusic. If you don’t have one, get started free and try our lesson plan focused on self-assessment during home practice.