Dakeyan C. Graham

Accomplished Practice # 4: Critical and Creative Thinking

Illustration # 1

Source of Illustration

MUE 3311

Professor

Dr. Timothy S. Brophy

Semester

Fall 2005

Type of Assignment

This critical and creative thinking example stems from a portion of a lesson plan developed and used in teaching a second grade music class at P.K. Younge School. The students attending the class were engaged in a musical lesson evaluating rhythm, pitch accuracy, and note identification. The teachers evaluated the students based on their responses to various critical thinking questions. The students were required to think in a way that they may not have previously been asked to.

Description of Assignment

We were teaching a lesson at P.K. Younge Elementary School in an effort to become more acquainted with teaching an actual class, as opposed to teaching ones peers and having them act as though they were in elementary school; real life representative on-the-job training. The students of MUE 3311 are required to create a lesson plan in which they are given examples of previous lesson plans and the aspect of music they are supposed to cover on their time to teach, i.e. rhythms, sons on sol-mi-do, 'America', etc. The students then prepare visual aids and whatever other materials they need to be able to engage the class and teach as if they were the teachers in the class. This lesson plan demonstrates Accomplished Practice #4 in the following ways:

• Includes opportunities for critical and creative thinking in learning activities

• Involves students in making decisions about the interpretation of songs and musical works

• Provides opportunities for critical reflection and metacognition

Artistic Processes/Medium

This is a responding example in that it revolves around communication. The students are given the opportunity to convey their ideas and pre-existing knowledge to their peers and the teachers. This activity requires listening, discussion, and evaluation. The students are required to listen to the songs that are played and introduced to them for more then just the words. They are expected to evaluate the songs and be able to answer questions pertaining to different elements in the song and  expound on those aspects of different characters within the piece. The discussion takes place in a forum-esque atmosphere where each child is given the opportunity to give his/her opinion or remark.

Rationale

This lesson plan outlines specific opportunities for the students to take part in critical and creative thinking activities. The lesson plan demonstrates the Accomplished Practice by allowing the students to form their own inferences and make connections between pre-existing knowledge about the main character within a song and what the song itself entails.

Illustration

At the conclusion of each activity the students were given the opportunity to answer a couple of critical thinking questions; for example, after they learned 'The Spider Song', the students were asked to identify one characteristic of a spider, or what made a spider different from other insects. They were then asked to identify the actions of the spider within the song; what exactly was the spider in 'The Spider Song' doing? To see the exact layout of the critical thinking questions and how they fit into the lesson plan, see Lesson Plan.

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