Day 7 – And My Mind is Beginning to Fill Up…

EDUC 5400 and 5410 combined reflection

Today I spent time reading Challenges in Assessing the Development of Writing Ability: Theories, Constructs and Methods by David H. Slomp and within it, found a number of similarities to the focus of my Assessment as Research assignment.  I will try summarizing some of the article and look at how it pertains to my current work as well.

Slomp (2012) is looking at how to improve assessment of writing ability and supports making it a process where the scope of what is being assessed needs to shift “from assessing products (the artifacts that point to writing ability) to tracing the trajectory of one’s development over time and across contexts” (p. 82).  Within this statement I found a similarity to my own assessment as research in the sense that I want to shift the focus of practicing for band classes away from the quantitative aspect to including the full scope of what impact qualitative practicing may have on technical ability and continued participation and enjoyment in instrumental classes. 

In both cases, regardless of the construct, I believe it will be difficult to shift the focus of teachers on the ground away from the established practice of assessing products (writing artifacts and practice minute journals) to one where students need to learn how they can increase their own learning ability.  Metacognition development is central to both topics.  As Slomp (2012) suggests reflection letters play a large part in portfolio development as it gives students the opportunity to explore and give evidence of development (p.88).  Similarly, my plan to have students initially reflect on what they are practicing, how they are practicing, and identify their perceived strengths and weaknesses will begin to develop metacognitive processes surrounding practicing. 

If I ever am able to do such a study, and I am beginning to think it would be very valuable to do as nearly every band teacher I know struggles with the issue of student practicing, an extension for me would be to look into whether increased metacognition regarding practice habits and the (suspected) rise in technical ability and enjoyment of music would have any transfer to other courses students are taking in school. 

It has been interesting to me to see how, in less than a week, by changing the focus of what I want to study from a philosophical topic to one that affects students’ success, has opened up many possibilities for future research as well.  I suspect this has occurred due to my knowledge and experience within the school music setting, as well as my desire to see students enjoy and continue making music long after they have been in my program. 

In closing, however, I wish to pose a question that may be more directed towards Richelle. The research proposal I would like to do, as a result of completing the assessment-as-research assignment for David, will be on the same topic.  I had planned to construct a much more meaningful practice assessment for my own use this coming year, and it makes sense for me to do just that in these summer courses.  But considering that the study would incorporate the assessment of practice minutes combined with written reflections, performance assessments for grades (because that’s the way we still report), and reflections on how their enjoyment of band has changed as a result of better practice habits, would it be qualitative research or mixed method due to the inclusion of numerical data?