Dakeyan C. Graham
Accomplished Practice # 5: Diversity
Illustration # 1
Source of Illustration
Gainesville High School Vocal Ensemble Class
Class Teacher
Rochelle Savitz
Semester
Fall 2005
Type of Assignment
This example of diversity is a lesson plan that was used for a high school choral class.
Description of Assignment
As a volunteer at Gainesville High School, I have received the opportunity to teach the vocal ensemble and create lesson plans to use in this real life high school environment. This lesson plan was centered around reading rhythms and learning intervals. There was also a variety of music covered that emphasized various culture backgrounds, partially because of the literature that was previously chosen for the ensemble to perform. This lesson plan demonstrates Accomplished Practice #5 in the following ways:
Maintains a classroom atmosphere that respects the differences among students
Honors the musical heritage and experiences of all students
Teaches classes that include appropriate music from a variety of cultural backgrounds
Artistic Processes/Medium
This was a responsive lesson in the the students were required to give feedback and interact with the lesson to demonstrate comprehension of the material being covered. With this forum-esque question/response atmosphere the students were also given the opportunity for self-evaluation, to determine how much they actually know as opposed to how much they thought they knew before the lesson. Listening was also incorporated into the lesson with the listening of various pieces of music to identify different rhythms and styles. Also, various pieces were used to isolate intervals, which intervals were used more often in the piece, and pointing those intervals about then recreating them.
Rationale
This lesson plan demonstrates diversity in that this high school class is composed of students from various economic and cultural backgrounds. Every student was on a different music level in terms of not only knowledge, but also skill and ability. Some students possessed more skill but lacked the knowledge that possibly less skilled students possessed. The actual lesson plan demonstrates the use of appropriate music from a variety of cultural backgrounds and honors the musical heritage and experiences of all students. During the lesson, there was a effort to maintain a classroom atmosphere that respects the differences among students.
Illustration
The class began with warm-ups and was followed immediate by interval evaluation. The students were introduced to various intervals and their correct musical denomination. Throughout this section, various songs were played that emphasized different intervals in order to help keep that particular interval for intimate memory; for example, 'Here Comes the Bride' opens with a perfect 4th. After spending a significant amount of time on intervals, the class changed focus to rhythms and note values. Although the student were on different levels, the class was geared in such a way that even the more advanced students could learn from the rhythmic review. For a more detailed look into the rest of the class, see *link to Lesson Plan*.
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