STUDENT IMPACT SUMMARY REFLECTION

EVIDENCE OF THE EXTENT OF STUDENT GROWTH IN THE FORM OF

AVERAGE RESULTS FOR THE PRE AND POST ASSESSMENT

Pre-Test
The test was given to eighteen students, and the class average was 34%. Only three students

scored above a 75%, and all three of them had prior music training. The scores ranged from 0%

to 100%. The entire pre-test centered around very basic music theory such as note identification

on both treble and bass clefs, identifying note/rest types and their values, identifying how many

notes are in a measure and what type of note gets 1 beat just from looking at basic simple and

compound time signatures, and counting basic rhythms. The students had learned this basic

information at the very beginning of the year with Mr. Hartshorn, but from their test scores, it is

obvious that they had not retained the information. The students did really well remembering
what the top number of a time signature indicates and identifying notated pitches on a treble clef,

but retention was lacking in all of the other areas of the pre-test.

Progress
In the classes to follow, I reviewed the information on the test by using musictheory.net and

kahoot.it. These activities really just consisted of a variety of examples, and I monitored their

progress using individual feedback as well as their Kahoot scores. The students also seemed

very comfortable asking questions and opening up conversations of how and why music theory

works the way it does. This seemed to help things stick in their heads more, and it led many to

more “Ah-ha” moments especially during the Kahoot!’s when they were on their own to choose

the correct answer.

Post-Test
The post-test was given to sixteen students, two were absent, and the class average shot up to a

61%. Five students scored above a 75%, and every student’s score improved substantially. The

scores ranged from 18% to 100%. The post-test was the exact same test they were given as the

pre-test. The areas that improved greatly were note/rest types and their values and counting

basic rhythms. They still struggled with note identification and interpreting basic simple and

compound time signatures.

EVIDENCE OF YOUR ATTEMPTS TO ASSESS ONGOING INSTRUCTION,

REFLECT, AND MODIFY INSTRUCTION
There are several students who are very apathetic about this class, but I made it my mission to

make sure they were engaged during our lessons. To do this, I tried to find ways that I could

assess their learning while using something that would engage them that was new to their

routine. At first, I used musictheory.net because I knew I could use it to assess their ability to

identify pitches. At first, we did a few of them together, and I helped them along the way. Once
I thought they had a handle on it, I went down the line and had each individual answer. If they

answered incorrectly, I would skip them and come back to them later. I did run into the problem

of the stronger students feeding answers to the students who needed more help. At the end of

that first lesson, one of my students said, “Miss E., we should do a Kahoot!” so I took him up on

his offer. After that, I only used Kahoot! to teach and review the information because they were

all engaged, and they all had an excuse to use their phones. It was also quicker and easier for me

to gauge the problem areas by using the feedback Kahoot gave me. The only thing it did not

allow for me to do was gauge individual issues because the feedback Kahoot gave me was

anonymous. To aid this, during our final review, I made sure to open the floor for any questions.

This can be intimidating for students, though. Next time, I would like to find an activity that

engages the students as well as Kahoot while also providing feedback on individual students’

progresses.

FINAL THOUGHTS ABOUT HOW YOU WOULD DO THE UNIT DIFFERENTLY

NEXT TIME
I really liked how I broke up the lessons, and I thought the lesson lengths were appropriate for

this class. This class tends to have shorter attention spans, so I did short mini lessons instead of

long detailed lessons. I do wish I would have worked with individuals more. I think a

modification I could make for this unit is to do more teaching in groups. An idea that I have is to

have groups of four or five and have them rotate through stations that have activities that teach

and review different areas. I also had a couple students with IEPs and 504 Plans that I should

have worked more one-on-one with, however, those are the students that want to avoid the

one-on-one attention the most. This presents an issue because I want to reach those students and
help them, however, I do not want to upset them by giving them unwanted attention. In the end,

even those students improved, and that was the end-goal.