Why Do I Use Concert Reflections?
I have to admit, I used to be the worst when it came to giving out evaluations of any kind. I always wanted every conversation to be organic when it came to discussing a group’s performance. After my first couple of years of teaching, I began to settle into my role and become more comfortable with facilitating honest conversations among students. Over time, I designed my own concert and end-of-year band evaluations in beginner band by revising what I wanted each new year’s students to focus on. I encouraged an honest look at their practice habits and how it relates their personal performances.
What I found was that many students were able to admit that they could have put more work into their practice sessions, but they downplayed their lack of preparation and still thought highly of their performance. It was very interesting to observe the variables of each group’s self-awareness!
Practice Logs And Self-Evaluations: Bridging The Gap
To help guide students in the process of correlating their practice habits to the quality of their performances, I first had to give them a visual representation of their practice habits (which you can read about here). Once I had an established weekly routine of checking in with their practice logs and completing the self-assessment that was included on it every four weeks, I rolled out a new Concert Reflection and Self-Evaluation, pictured below. I made sure to include an adapted option that lets young students or students with learning differences complete the project as well.
Of course, it’s important for young students to reflect on the things that went well in their performance in addition to thinking about ensemble elements that might have needed more work. I also included a question that asks them how they feel when they perform – it’s important to wrap all of these elements into the discussion so as to keep bringing it back to their practice habits!
Wrapping It Up
I finally feel comfortable with my concert reflection and self-evaluation routine after using them for a couple of years. I have even developed a more comprehensive End-Of-Year Reflection and Ensemble Survey to help garner more data about my students’ practice habits and commitment to their performance repertoire, as well as gaining insight to how they viewed the repertoire I chose for them.
Want to read more? Check out this post for teaching beginner band scales, or this post for info on how to use practice logs in the music/band classroom.
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