POWER SCHOOL - 9/1/2021
At this time, music grades will not be posted in Power School until the end of the term. The reason for this is that we are still having issues with entering Standards Based Grading into the system. The program averages the 4,3,2 &1 meaning that if your child meets the standards and earns a "3" it will show on the report card as a 75 which is not what it should do. If your child is struggling or falling behind, I will reach out to you.
GRADES K-8 - 9/1/2021
All students at Center Drive School will be graded using the Standards published by NAfME - National Association for Music Education.
They could receive the following:
4 - for work that is over and above the standard being worked on
3 - for work that meets the standard being worked on
2 - for work that partially meets the standard being worked on
1 - for work that does not show an understanding of the standard being worked on
They could receive the following:
4 - for work that is over and above the standard being worked on
3 - for work that meets the standard being worked on
2 - for work that partially meets the standard being worked on
1 - for work that does not show an understanding of the standard being worked on
Family Medical Leave
Dear Parents and Students;
I am writing to let you know that I will be absent for several weeks after February vacation. I will be having back surgery that will keep me out of school for about six weeks. I have all of my K-8 music class assignments scheduled to post each week as they normally would. I will, however, be a little behind on assessing these assignments. I will do my best to get them assessed as quickly as possible. It is my goal to have all of the work assessed prior to the end of Term Two. If I am unable to do that, the school will notify you that music grades will be delayed.
You may certainly email me if you have a question or concern and I will get back to you as soon as I am physically able to.
Thank you for your understanding,
Pauline Miller
I am writing to let you know that I will be absent for several weeks after February vacation. I will be having back surgery that will keep me out of school for about six weeks. I have all of my K-8 music class assignments scheduled to post each week as they normally would. I will, however, be a little behind on assessing these assignments. I will do my best to get them assessed as quickly as possible. It is my goal to have all of the work assessed prior to the end of Term Two. If I am unable to do that, the school will notify you that music grades will be delayed.
You may certainly email me if you have a question or concern and I will get back to you as soon as I am physically able to.
Thank you for your understanding,
Pauline Miller
MUSIC ASSIGNMENTS
Hello everyone. We are already halfway through Term Two. I wanted to remind you all that Music Class assignments are posted on Wednesday morning each week. Some of you are doing a GREAT job at completing these assignments. If you check your grades in Google Classroom, you will be able to see if you are missing anything. I will always accept your work. I do not take off points for late assignments but they must be done before the end of the term.
NOTE on VIDEO UPLOADS: If you or your parents find it difficult to upload a video of you performing an activity, then you just need to make a comment to that effect so that I know.
NOTE on WORKSHEETS: Older students.... I DO ASSESS everything that you turn in. Some of you are still just hitting the "Turn In" button without doing any of the work. I will see that and I will give you a zero. Please complete the worksheet before turning in your assignment.
NOTE on VIDEO UPLOADS: If you or your parents find it difficult to upload a video of you performing an activity, then you just need to make a comment to that effect so that I know.
NOTE on WORKSHEETS: Older students.... I DO ASSESS everything that you turn in. Some of you are still just hitting the "Turn In" button without doing any of the work. I will see that and I will give you a zero. Please complete the worksheet before turning in your assignment.
Music Grades in Google Classroom
Hello,
I have had parents reach out to me in regards to grades in Google Classroom. I apologize for not having posted this before.
All music classes, grades K-8, are assessed based on the National Standards for Music Education. All of the assignments that we do are aligned with those standards.
Standards Based Grading may not be familiar to some of you so I am going to try to explain it so that you do not panic when you see a grade in Google Classroom.
Standards Based Grading is scored on the following levels:
4 = Exceeds the standard as laid out in the National Standards
3 = Meets the standard as laid out in the National Standards
1 = Does not meet the standards as laid out in the National Standards
0 = It is not done or not handed in - It does not reflect any grade at all - it just means it was not done. A zero will not go on anyone’s actual term grades at this time. Our grading policy for the Hybrid Learning system has not been finalized.
In Google Classroom,
I have had parents reach out to me in regards to grades in Google Classroom. I apologize for not having posted this before.
All music classes, grades K-8, are assessed based on the National Standards for Music Education. All of the assignments that we do are aligned with those standards.
Standards Based Grading may not be familiar to some of you so I am going to try to explain it so that you do not panic when you see a grade in Google Classroom.
Standards Based Grading is scored on the following levels:
4 = Exceeds the standard as laid out in the National Standards
3 = Meets the standard as laid out in the National Standards
- The majority of all students will receive a 3
1 = Does not meet the standards as laid out in the National Standards
0 = It is not done or not handed in - It does not reflect any grade at all - it just means it was not done. A zero will not go on anyone’s actual term grades at this time. Our grading policy for the Hybrid Learning system has not been finalized.
In Google Classroom,
- Some of the assignments are Ungraded.
- Some of the assignments are worksheets with concrete answers graded on a traditional number based grading system
- Some of the assignments are a culmination of previous assignments that I would like to assess. For many of you that means that I am requesting a video recording of your child doing the lesson.
- Some of the assignments are audio recordings of GarageBand Lessons - these will be assessed based on the standards based grading system above.
Feedback on Music Assignments
Dear Parents and Students,
This is a difficult time for all of us. Students, parents and teachers are being asked to do something new. There is a learning curve for all of us. We all may make mistakes here and there and will need to make adjustments as we go. I know my goal is to just try to meet everyone's needs. This is easier said than done. If everyone is patient we will all get through this.
My plan is to give feedback to every student every week. If an assignment is turned in I will assess it and respond in the comment area. If an assignment is not turned in I will send a reminder in the comment section. This did not happen for the first two music assignments. I was, honestly, overwhelmed by the whole situation. I have since gotten a handle on it and have completed assessments and commented on the first 3 assignments for each grade level.
It takes time to respond to roughly 400 students each week. My ultimate goal is to complete all of the assessments within a week of the due date. Ex: The due date for lesson 4 is midnight on Tuesday, October 13th. That means all assessments for that assignment should be completed by midnight of October 20th.
Since I have so many students accessing Google Classroom, I have turned off the automatic email notifications. When it is on, I get an email from every student that comments or posts an assignment. It is completely unmanageable on my end. In most cases, this does not cause an issue. I can read the comment when I assess the assignments. But, if a student has a question, I will not see it until I do the assessment which does not work if they need help with that particular assignment. My suggestion to solve that potential problem is this: if you have a question, please send me an email to p.miller@cdsedu.org and I will respond within 24 hours.
Thank you,
Mrs. Miller
This is a difficult time for all of us. Students, parents and teachers are being asked to do something new. There is a learning curve for all of us. We all may make mistakes here and there and will need to make adjustments as we go. I know my goal is to just try to meet everyone's needs. This is easier said than done. If everyone is patient we will all get through this.
My plan is to give feedback to every student every week. If an assignment is turned in I will assess it and respond in the comment area. If an assignment is not turned in I will send a reminder in the comment section. This did not happen for the first two music assignments. I was, honestly, overwhelmed by the whole situation. I have since gotten a handle on it and have completed assessments and commented on the first 3 assignments for each grade level.
It takes time to respond to roughly 400 students each week. My ultimate goal is to complete all of the assessments within a week of the due date. Ex: The due date for lesson 4 is midnight on Tuesday, October 13th. That means all assessments for that assignment should be completed by midnight of October 20th.
Since I have so many students accessing Google Classroom, I have turned off the automatic email notifications. When it is on, I get an email from every student that comments or posts an assignment. It is completely unmanageable on my end. In most cases, this does not cause an issue. I can read the comment when I assess the assignments. But, if a student has a question, I will not see it until I do the assessment which does not work if they need help with that particular assignment. My suggestion to solve that potential problem is this: if you have a question, please send me an email to p.miller@cdsedu.org and I will respond within 24 hours.
Thank you,
Mrs. Miller