Rolls & Marks

Before the bell

Assumes students can already: Students have been taught roll notation at least once and can play controlled single strokes. This repairs a reading habit, not a technique.

• Rudiment Builder on the projector
• A pad or snare per student, sticks, and a metronome

The period

1. 5 minIndependent baseline probe

   A figure that is not the one they own

   Hand out one roll figure with a slash count most of them do not habitually play. Say nothing about it and ask them to play it once, cold. Listen for the room playing something else confidently. That is the finding, and it is audible in about four seconds.

2. 4 minDiagnose the barrier

   The slashes said a number

   Open that same figure in Rudiment Builder with its stroke-by-stroke sticking showing. Count the strokes the notation specified against what the room played. Rudiment names follow the PAS International Drum Rudiments, so the name on screen is the one in their method book. One comparison, then stop talking.

   Rudiment Builder

3. 7 minTargeted instructional re-entry

   Read cold, or slow it down

   The readers get two more unfamiliar figures, read aloud before played. The group that defaulted gets one figure at half tempo until the individual strokes are countable by ear — a roll nobody can hear the inside of teaches nothing about what the slashes meant. No app grades this topic, so both groups are assessed by ear and by what you write down.

   Rudiment Builder

4. 4 minImmediate evidence and next move

   One more cold, and the stroke count written

   A third unfamiliar figure. Each student writes how many strokes per written note before playing it, then plays it. Collect the paper and mark the roster as you listen. The written count is the decode; the playing is only confirmation.

How you will know

Evidence: Three unfamiliar figures across twenty minutes, with the stroke count written before playing on the last one — plus the roster note taken while listening.

What the current evidence supports

• The written stroke count matches what the slashes and note value specify.
• Written before played. A student who plays first and writes afterwards has not met this even if both are right.
• Tempo is not assessed. The notation never stated it, which is the standing lesson.

Why this measures the objective: Every figure is one they do not already own, which is the only way to separate reading from recall on this topic. A familiar figure played correctly proves nothing — that is exactly what a student defaulting to their own roll would also produce.

Boundary: Evidence collected in this period describes immediate performance under the stated conditions. It does not establish durable retention or broad mastery.

Check later

Delayed check: In a later rehearsal, use a new example before prompting. The same-period comparison records immediate change only; record whether the target is available later with reduced support.

Reaching everybody

If they are not there yet

• Give the stroke count and ask them to play it. Decoding and executing are two demands and only the first is assessed.
• Half tempo, and let the sticks stop between figures. Speed is not the objective and it hides the error.

If they are ready for a changed condition

• The same rhythm written as a measured roll and as an open roll: what in the part would tell you which is wanted?
• Ask them to write a figure producing a stroke count they choose. Writing it is the strongest evidence of reading it.

Getting at the work

• The reading half can be done aloud. A student who cannot play is fully assessable on this objective, which is about reading.
• Hearing protection offered without being asked for.

If the room is not ready: If the cold figure comes back right across the room, the reading habit is intact. Spend the rest on the measured-versus-open distinction, which is the next thing to break and is not covered by the first-teach plan.

What to look for

• Sticks starting before the eyes finish is the whole diagnostic and it is visible from the front of the room. Watch hands, not paper, in the first block.
• A room that plays the same roll for three different figures has one roll and a reading habit that has not been used in months.
• No app grades this topic, so the roster note during the split block is half your evidence. Write it while they play.