ENTRY 5: Application of Content
The candidate understands how to engage learners through interdisciplinary lessons that utilize concept based teaching and authentic learning experiences to engage students in effective communication, collaboration, outside resources, reading, technology, and in critical and creative thinking.
The candidate should complete a reflective essay illustrating appropriate application of content utilized in lessons. Three artifacts are to be submitted and may include Unit Plans, Student Feedback, Student Evaluations, Teacher Observations and Evaluations, lesson plans, assignments, and student work.
The candidate should complete a reflective essay illustrating appropriate application of content utilized in lessons. Three artifacts are to be submitted and may include Unit Plans, Student Feedback, Student Evaluations, Teacher Observations and Evaluations, lesson plans, assignments, and student work.
Throughout my time as an undergraduate at Kansas State, I have had the opportunity to teach many lessons. Some of these lessons have been focused solely on music and musical concepts but the ones I found to be the most effective were those that were interdisciplinary and engaged students in learning experiences that were based in collaboration. Lessons that are interdisciplinary are more likely to engage students’ brains in many ways and catch their interest as they cover many topics. These lessons could be music and history, science and literature, or any number of other subject combinations.
In my practicum teaching in the fall of 2018, I had the privilege of teaching numerous lessons. One of my favorite lessons was an interdisciplinary lesson for a middle school history course that highlighted some musical concepts. This particular history class was studying Cuba and Latin America. I was working with a group of educators and we were able to bring in a lesson to the history classroom that combined music, history, and world culture. We taught students about the impact of music on culture, especially those in Latin America and Cuba, and followed this background by giving students a musical experience in which they created their own Cuban groove with some Latin rhythms. This lesson was particularly engaging for students and they were able to remember many of the concepts we taught because they were associated in their brains differently than they usually learn history.
In my student, I worked with my cooperating teacher at Oxford Middle School to create a research project. This required students to not only use their knowledge of music but also their technology skills, research skills, and background knowledge of the pieces. The students were asked to research the historical context of their music in groups and then create a presentation based on their piece. My CT and I also brought in the librarian to do a lesson on effective research. The students ended up learning a great deal about their pieces and presented them to an audience in April.
Interdisciplinary lessons are excellent ways for students to connect music to their core classes and to relate music to their lives in a more personal way – through culture, history, and experience.
In my practicum teaching in the fall of 2018, I had the privilege of teaching numerous lessons. One of my favorite lessons was an interdisciplinary lesson for a middle school history course that highlighted some musical concepts. This particular history class was studying Cuba and Latin America. I was working with a group of educators and we were able to bring in a lesson to the history classroom that combined music, history, and world culture. We taught students about the impact of music on culture, especially those in Latin America and Cuba, and followed this background by giving students a musical experience in which they created their own Cuban groove with some Latin rhythms. This lesson was particularly engaging for students and they were able to remember many of the concepts we taught because they were associated in their brains differently than they usually learn history.
In my student, I worked with my cooperating teacher at Oxford Middle School to create a research project. This required students to not only use their knowledge of music but also their technology skills, research skills, and background knowledge of the pieces. The students were asked to research the historical context of their music in groups and then create a presentation based on their piece. My CT and I also brought in the librarian to do a lesson on effective research. The students ended up learning a great deal about their pieces and presented them to an audience in April.
Interdisciplinary lessons are excellent ways for students to connect music to their core classes and to relate music to their lives in a more personal way – through culture, history, and experience.
ARTIFACT 1: Technology Integration Lesson
A lesson that integrates technology into the classroom.
ARTIFACT 2: Middle School Afro Cuban Music Lesson Plan
An interdisciplinary lesson (history and music) that speaks to the impact of musical tradition in Cuban and Latin American culture.
ARTIFACT 3: Research Assignment
This assignment was introduced and team taught by myself, my CT, and the school librarian. This was a research project with questions designed by the three of us to have students dive into their music more deeply.