Dakeyan C. Graham
Accomplished Practice # 4: Critical and Creative Thinking
Illustration # 3
Source of Illustration
MUE 4940Professor
Dr. Charles R. HofferSemester
Spring 2007Type of Assignment
This critical and creative thinking example stems from a portion of a lesson plan developed and used in teaching a kindergarten music class at Duval Elementary School. The students attending the class were engaged in a musical lesson evaluating rhythm, movement, pitch recognition, and echo ability. The teacher 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
A lesson was taught at Duval 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 an elementary school; real life representative on-the-job training. The students of MUE 4940 are required to create lesson plans and teach as if they were the teachers in their various school placements. The students have the freedom to choose what subject matter and content they wish to cover in their lessons, as long as it adheres to the direction the music teacher wishes to go. 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 instructor sing and demonstrate various songs and stories. They are expected to be able to reproduce the songs and answer questions about the songs at any given time. 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 Accomplished Practice #4 by allowing the students to form their own inferences and make connections between pre-existing knowledge about what they know about fairy tales and what they learn in the course of the class.
Illustration
At the conclusion of each activity the students were given the opportunity to answer a couple of critical thinking questions; for example, after singing through the Three Bears song, the students were asked specifically what the song was about. They were also questioned as to the activities within the song, such as what was the first thing the bears noticed when they got home. And to go even further in depth, the students were questioned on the sequential order of the events of Goldilocks. 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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