Your iPad's Camera App As An Assessment Tool

I would love to individually assess all of my students on rhythm reading. In reality, that isn't always possible during class because of limited time, shy students, and concert prep time among a million other things. Have access to iPads? The camera/video app can solve your assessment woes! You don't even need a whole class set for this to work!

During the 2nd quarter, I used my beginner Nutcracker rhythm composition kit with my 2nd graders. They were instructed to create a 4 beat pattern, read the rhythm using ta's/titi's/to-o, read the rhythm using the Nutcracker words, and then record themselves. 

Tips for Videos
1. After students have pressed record, make sure you have them pause briefly before saying anything. Sometimes kids start speaking before they are recording without realizing. 2. In order to identify which recording belongs to which student, have them say their first and last name as well as their homeroom/classroom teacher before they start whatever part they will say for the assessment.
3. If you choose to have students email their assessments to you, organize the video files by creating a folder for each classroom teacher.
4. Don't have access to a full set of iPads? Use it as part of centers activity!
Gathering Student Work My school is fortunate enough to have a Google Drive folder for each child. Students uploaded their videos to their folders. I was able to go into their folders after school to assess their videos. If you don't have a Google Drive system set up at your school, don't fret! These videos are small enough to be emailed. Here's how:
1. Go to the camera roll and select the most recent video. Then tap on the icon that's in the bottom left side of the screen.

2. Select the video you want to send. The current video will come up already selected.

3. Select the send via mail option. The video will automatically compress once you tap the mail icon.