In August, I had the pleasure to visit the Google Headquarters in downtown Chicago as part of the CPS Googlepalooza conference. Google flew in top Apps for Education people from all over the nation for this event, and in the course of the two days, we heard, met, and learned so much.
Two of the people who spoke that week were Jaime Casap, Google's Global EDU Evangelist (who wouldn't want that title?) and Jim Lecinski, the head of Google's office in Chicago.
My favorite quote from the conference was spoken by Jaime Casap in the midst of a roundtable Q&A with the Googlers. Speaking of his job, he said "I love being the dumbest person in a room of really smart people!" He was clearly being self-deprecating since he is a smart guy.
But what does "I love being the dumbest person in a room of really smart people" really mean?
• It is really hard to grow when you think you're the smartest person in the room.
If you think you have little to gain, you're probably right. People who think they're the smartest person in a room are difficult to relate to.
• Put yourself in risky situations where your mind may be totally blown.
Two years ago, I went to an EdCamp wanting to attend a scripting session. I didn't know anything about scripting, but I wanted to know about it. It was one of those times where I was in way over my head, but I loved that feeling. Today, I look for opportunities to have that same mind-blowing feeling.
• Have a growth mindset.
When you surround yourself with really smart people, you start to question yourself. Don't be afraid to grow based on those questions - those really smart people in the room probably questioned themselves at one point, too.
Growth Mindset anchor chart from @escott818
Everyone wants to look smart, including our students.
What do we do to get students to be comfortable with the idea of being the "dumbest person in a room of really smart people" and not feeling down about themselves? Let me be clear: I am talking about a growth mindset here - not achievement or excuses.
• Develop relationships.
Students need to recognize the "really smart part" of every student. Trying to appear smart (or class clown) is a coping or defense mechanism when we don't feel valued in another way. Developing relationships, recognizing the "How are you smart?" in every student, and being able to say "You matter!" lowers the defenses.
• Support student goal-setting.
Goals really are just framing our shortcomings in a positive, action-oriented way. Goals say "I need something here - I am missing something here. Here's how I will set about achieving it." Goal setting moves a person into a growth mindset, as long as the goals are achievable and supported by others.
• Celebrate accomplishment.
How do kids celebrate accomplishment in a video game? By moving on to the next level! Same thing in a classroom. Celebrate accomplishment and move on to bigger goals.
I hope to make my next blog post about my other big take-away from Google HQ.
After a series of ten (ten?!) posts regarding Standards Based Learning and Performance Assessment in the music classroom, I put together a "table of contents" or index of the entire series. Feel free to click and read any or all of the posts. I hope this is of use to others. Good curriculum design crosses content areas - there are applications in these pages to all areas of the curriculum.
Chapter 1
Standards Based Music Assessment - Why state contest ballots won't help students improve.
Chapter 2
Standards - What They Are and What They Are Not - The pieces you perform are not units. This post also details the four musical units we have put into place for all 6-12 ensembles.
Chapter 3
Why SBL in Music? - The personal reasons why I have started a journey to standards-based learning in music.
Chapter 4
Love at First Sight - Practical books for music departments that are focusing on student achievement and curriculum
Chapter 5
A Book You Must Read - Tony Frontier's Five Levers to Improve Learning will change the way you teach and lead
Chapter 6
Four Questions to Ask When Designing Music Assessments - It's all about quality - individual quality, ensemble quality, responsibility, and improvement.
Chapter 7
Setting the (Learning) Targets - Every topic in music can be broken down into smaller components. Teach students these 18 targets for quality vocal performances.
Chapter 8
Defining Quality - Once you have your learning targets, you can identify what represents quality (or lack of quality) in each of the 18 areas. Also, offer strategies for improvement in each learning target.
Chapter 9
Standards Based Music Performance Report - Using the materials developed from the first eight chapters, I have designed the music assessment document presented in chapter nine.
Chapter 10
Recording & Assessing Music Performance - A pretty "tech-y" workflow that makes standards based learning doable, practical, and shareable for students, parents, and teachers. The point is to use data to improve student & ensemble performance. Not just to collect data.
What is the biggest obstacle in musical performance assessment?
Recording student performances.
How to record? When to listen? Who listens? What to do with the recordings? How to use the recording for assessment? With all those students? How does it help the ensemble?
The questions are so numerous that we often give up.
What if we could "attach" the performance directly to the assessment?
And allow students to self-reflect and set goals based on the data?
And allow parents to be part of the process?
And be able to archive it, creating a digital portfolio?
And be able to keep it over the course of many years?
And be able to collect the data and use it to identify areas of need for individuals and the group?
And be able to do it all for FREE?
This post is about to get pretty tech-y. If that scares you, I apologize.
Here's the simple list of the tech tools we can use to make this work: Kaizena - to record voice comments (student performance) and attach to a google doc GClass Folders - to create folders in every student's Google Drive that are accessible by both the teacher and the student Doctopus - to copy assessment forms into each student's Google account Goobric - to score students and collect that data back into a single teacher spreadsheet QR codes - to provide easy access to individual student folders
Two questions come up right away?
1. Why not use Smart Music? It's not free.
2. Why not use Google Classroom? Right now, Google classroom allows only one editor of a document at a time. It is written so that the student and teacher alternate editing rights. If we want student and teacher to collaborate, both teacher and student need editing rights concurrently. I hope that becomes a feature of Classroom in the future.
Now, a little more in-depth about each tech tool.
• Kaizena integrates with your Google Drive. Once you connect Kaizena to your Google Drive (click red "New" button, choose "More" and "Connect More Apps", then search for Kaizena), you can open any document with Kaizena (right click on doc, choose "Open With" and then Kaizena) and record audio. The audio is then saved as a Comment in the comment feed. When you, the student, or the parent (if granted permission) opens the document, the recording will remain in the comment feed. Re-recordings could be added. Kaizena allows you to tag your audio comments and will send notifications of new comments.
• GClass Folders is an add-on in Google Sheets that enables a teacher to install a folder into each student's Google Drive. Actually, it adds three folders to every student's Google Drive, preset with the correct permissions. One folder is for classwide viewing, one folder is for classwide editing, and the third folder (assignment folder) is individualized for each student, accessible only by the teacher and student.
• Doctopus & Goobric are also add-ons in Google Sheets. Once you have set up your student folders using GClass Folders above, use Doctopus to make "virtual copies" of your assessment document. The assessment will be placed into each student's "assignment" folder. Doctopus integrates with GClass Folders, even though they are separate add-ons. Goobric, on the other hand, is part of Doctopus. Goobric allows you to attach a rubric template to your assessment. As you fill out the rubric, the data is collected into the teacher's spreadsheet. From there, you can analyze the data for the entire class.
I previously did a blog post on Doctopus. I am not making a screencast of how to use GClass Folders, Doctopus, or Goobric because it involves student names (no FERPA violations here), so I'll leave it to the experts to explain it better.
• QR Codes are a great way for teachers and students to have fast access to anything. But did you know you can have Google Sheets automatically create QR codes? Put your URL (or any other content) in the first column of a spreadsheet, and in the second column, paste this formula:
=image("https://chart.googleapis.com/chart?chs=150x150&cht=gr&chl="&A2)
If needed, be sure to change the "A2" at the end of the formula to whatever your reference cell is. The formula will be replaced with a QR code. You can copy down the formula for as many rows as needed in your spreadsheet. Print the QR codes and tape them to folders, binders, desks, bulletin boards, or wherever so that students can skip the steps of searching through their Google Drive for the correct folder.
OK - so the assessment workflow COULD be this: Beginning of the year:
1. Teacher creates assignment folder for each student with GClass folders (one time, update as needed).
2. Create QR code links to each student's assignment folder and tape to choir folders.
Every time students will be assessed:
1. Teacher uses Doctopus to copy assessment document into each student's folder.
2. Teacher uses Goobric to associate rubric with assessment document.
During assessment:
1. Student or teacher opens assessment document in Kaizena and records performance. (Depends if teacher is listening live or recorded.)
2. Teacher assesses performance and assigns scores using Goobric.
3. Student and teacher together set new goal for next assessment period. The assessment document has a spot for reflection and goal setting.
After assessment:
Multiple options: Teacher can share assessment doc to parents, teacher can pull up assessment documents at conferences, teacher can use in class for analysis by other students (with permission), teacher can use class data from Goobric and present to the class to analyze. There are many options!
It took a long time to work all this out, but not very long to set up. The real breakthrough was Kaizena and the ability to connect performance with assessment.
This has been my Summer project. My hope is to focus on individual students, and in turn, raise the level of the entire ensemble. It also makes music assessment quantifiable, yet clearly standards-based. And it is built entirely on solid curriculum. This process could be used in other curricular areas as well. If you would like more information, please contact me on Twitter or by leaving a comment below. Thank you!
