A Lesson Plan for Teachers on Music and Musicology 2

National Standards: (6) Students should be able to listen to, analyze and describe music. (7) Students should be able to evaluate musical performances.

Instructional Materials: Stereo, Recording of Ludwig Van Beethoven’s 5th Symphony, Handouts of reviews of the initial performances, Computer with access to the internet and Microsoft Excel. Think sheets to include search engine tips and tricks for their use during this stage of the assignment, a list of recommended websites and questions to help them stay focused on their task of defining their list.

Problem Statement: When listening to music, there are many times when we may not understand everything that is happening or we may not be able to verbally express what we hear. Many people only define their musical taste by songs they like and songs they dislike. By identifying and describing complex music terms, we will be able to better understand the music we listen to and be able to explain what we hear and how it makes us feel to others.

Computer Integration: Since the students have identified 30 musical terms to help them further understand music, they will use the internet to further define them and to also create a column of synonyms to add to their spreadsheets.

Results Presentation: Each student will present a printed and fully formatted spreadsheet to the class with their list of 30 words, their definitions and synonyms for each which will help them remember the musical term.

Lesson Introduction: The teacher will read the review so that the students can hear it in context with the music. Then the students will listen once again to the piece of music for the review. The teacher will tell the students that after this three lesson project, each student will be able to write a similar review on a different piece of music and explain that this week they will be defining their words and finding similar words to help them remember and use their new vocabulary.

Computer Activities: Prior to using the computers, students will prepare their printed list of words they will be searching. Once at the computers, the students will use the recommended list of websites to begin their search for definitions and synonyms. After that section of computer research is complete, access to the internet will be blocked and students will have time to format their finished spreadsheets and personalize them using the Page Setup functions in Microsoft Excel.

Supporting Activities: In addition to the exposure to musical criticism and descriptions in class, the students will have access to supplemental materials including copies of reviews, lists of websites and search engine tips.

Culminating Activity: Students will present their list to the class, one at a time. They will show how they formatted their document, then read their list. They will give examples of the synonyms they chose to use then submit the spreadsheets for grading.

Implementation Plan: During the internet computer time, in addition to the use of firewalls, the teacher will randomly view each monitor for a screen shot to ensure students are staying on track keeping the focus of the project. The teacher will oversee the use of the Think Sheets with the website links and search engine tips to facilitate instruction.

Assessment: The following is a rubric that will be used to grade this lesson on a 20 point scale. Each section will be graded 1 to 5, 5 being the highest point total making a perfect score, 20.

Complete Format of List in Excel

Accuracy of Definitions

Choice of Synonyms

Research time used

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