This week I started thinking about end-of-year evaluations. Too soon? I
think not.
Generally, I wait until the week prior to (or the week of) our end-of-year evaluations to start writing them. It took me 10 years, but I wouldn’t recommend that! LOL
Waiting until the last minute created a lot of pressure on me and made it tempting to not be as thorough or concise as I could have been at times.
This year I was determined to start sooner.
Here are some resources to help as you start thinking about your own student evaluations.
1
Writing Student Evaluations Using Evernote (Piano Pantry)
2
Piano Safari’s Mini Essay #21 on leveling repertoire can helpful (for your own reference) if you are discussing student playing levels with parents.
3
Set Your Studio Apart with Solid Feedback (Leila Viss)
One of my first evaluation forms I developed (and talk about in the post on using Evernote to write student evaluations), was originally inspired by Leila’s 5-point progress score.
Want to hear more? Check out one of Leila’s most recent podcast episodes: Maybe Measuring Progress is Really Measuring Something More Important
4
Part of evaluation time should be considering not just what skills students have developed and accomplishments they’ve achieved, but what their future study will look like.
Creating & Sharing Student Growth Plans in 5 Easy Steps (Rosemarie Penner)
5
This year I am experimenting with a new way of giving meaningful assessments to my students at the end of the year. There are two parts to this:
First, I’m looking to create mini-videos of their playing over their time in lessons. The videos will feature clips of their playing in no more than 1-3 minutes.
Providing Piano Student End-of-Year Assessments in a Meaningful Way (Teach Piano Today)
6
Second, I’m working on designing a new format for my forms in Canva inspired by these posts by @mslimusic on Instagram.
It’s still a work in progress and not ready for sharing but perhaps you can also be inspired by her example to create your own!
P.S. I also like the name “Piano Progress Report” rather than “Evaluation” 🙂
(Another post example @mslimusic)
7
How to Create Student-Led Conferences (Rosemarie Penner)
I absolutely love this idea but will admit, is something I’ve yet to try out.
Have you ever tried something like this? If so, I would love to hear your ideas as well in the comments!
