Dakeyan C. Graham
Accomplished Practice # 5: Diversity
Illustration # 3
Source of Illustration
MUE 4940
Class Teacher
Dr. Charles R. Hoffer
Semester
Spring 2007
Type of Assignment
This example of diversity is a lesson plan that was used for a kindergarten class.
Description of Assignment
As a student preparing to enter the professional education realm, I have received the opportunity to teach a kindergarten class and create lesson plans to use in this real life elementary school environment. This example stems from a typical morning class. The classes at Duval Elementary School are very diverse in and of itself, containing a high population of African American students, a few Caucasians, and a hand full of Asian-Americans. 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 to the class as everyone sang.
Rationale
This lesson plan demonstrates diversity in that this elementary school class is composed of students from various economic and cultural backgrounds. Every student, although at the beginning stages of musical comprehension, 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 activities to stimulate those students who may be slightly ahead while still encouraging the students who may be slightly behind. During the lesson, there was an effort to maintain a classroom atmosphere that respects the differences among students.
Illustration
The class began with a movement activity to a song that was played as the students entered. They walked to the steady beat as it was played/demonstrated on a cow bell. When the bell stopped, the students stopped. The students were introduced to a chorale piece and asked to describe how it made them feel. From that the students were to describe how the song "Johnny Mr. Brown" made them feel, based on the lyrics, movements, and sounds of the song. There were many questions asked and all the students had the opportunity to respond with their answers. There was no student left out and no answer was treated differently than any other. There was a mutual level of respect maintained throughout the class period between not only teacher and student, but student to student as well. For a more detailed look into the rest of the class, see Lesson Plan.
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