Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Due March 11
Introduction
Student Teacher: Heather Rasch
Cooperating Teacher: Adam Janda
School: Seward Elementary School
Context of Teaching
Since it is black history month (February), we are introducing all of the classes 1-4
to songs written by African American artists. We are focusing in on the Civil Rights
movement as we learn the song “We Shall Overcome” in 4th grade and work on a
project, having the 4th graders compose their own verse for the song about an “injustice”
that they see in their lives.
I am teaching this unit to four sections of 4th graders at Seward Elementary.
There are no students who require any changes in what we have them do or how we
have them do it, but there are several students who require extra help staying engaged
and attentive.
We Shall MU:Re7.1.4a Demonstrate and explain how selected music connects to and
Overcome is influenced by specific interests, experiences, purposes, or contexts.
Pre-Assessment
1. How does the pre-assessment address the learning goals of the unit?
In order for them to understand what I want them to understand about
the purpose of the song that we are going to learn, they need some
historical background. The pre-test will show me how much historical
background they already have so that I know what I need to teach.
2. Pre-Assessment:
Write down everything you already know about the civil rights
movement. Include any songs that you may have heard from this time.
3. Analyze and interpret the results of the pre-assessment, in light of the unit
learning goals, for both the whole class and for individual students.
The vast majority of the students weren’t able to write down anything
for the pre-test. One section of the 4th grade seemed to know a lot
more than everyone else. They probably learned about it more recently
from their home room teacher than the other sections did.
2. How does the Authentic Performance Task address the learning goals of the
unit?
This task helps students make a personal connection with the historical
movement that they weren’t around for. This will help them
understand better the significance of what happened. They sang this
protest song in order to help motivate each other to keep fighting for
equal rights between black and white people because that was the
injustice of the day. Students will think of an “injustice” that they feel is
happening in their lives and write a new verse about that.
Lesson Plans
Copy/Paste all long form lesson plans here. You must use the unprotected
format for it to copy/paste correctly. Unprotected version is below.
At the end of each lesson plan (in the self-evaluation section), you should reflect
on the content, methodologies used, and student performance, with special
attention paid to potential modifications needed.
MU:Re7.1.4a Demonstrate and explain how selected music connects to and is influenced by specific
interests, experiences, purposes, or contexts.
MU:Pr5.1.4b Rehearse to refine technical accuracy and expressive qualities, and address performance
challenges.
Key Vocabulary:
- Civil Rights Movement
- Negroes/Colored people
- segregation
Materials: Technology:
- Popsicle sticks (method of choosing student to - Smartboard documents
call on) o Guitar chords
- Book: “Going North” o We Shall Overcome chords
- Smartboard - YouTube videos
- Chalk board o We Shall Overcome lyrics video
- Chalk
- 12 student guitars
- 2 teacher guitars
- Sample “We Shall Overcome” project
Faith/Values Integration:
Discuss unfair treatment during the Civil Rights Movement towards black people.
Differentiating Instruction
Identify the elements of the lesson that are differentiated (content, process, product).
Identify the student characteristic you will use to differentiate (readiness, interest, learning profile).
Explain how you differentiate (whole class, groups of students, individuals, or students with IEPs or 504 plans)
I didn’t have any students with IEPs that required any differentiation during this class.
For the pre-assessment, I let students write down everything that they knew. It didn’t have to have anything to do with the
questions. I wrote the questions up there for those students who needed that kind of structure to know what to write, but students
who didn’t need that help could write anything that they knew about the Civil Rights Movement.
I had each student individually writing down what they knew for the pre-assessment at the beginning of the class.
I had whole class time for everything up until the guitar section.
I had students get into pairs for the guitar section of the lesson partly because there were only guitars enough for half of the class
and partly because giving them the opportunity to teach their partner how to finger the chord if they weren’t getting it helped them
learn the chord better as well. We always know something better if we teach it.
2. Hook/Engage/Pre-Assess Students
Pre-Assessment: (5 mins)
1. Have students write down everything they can think of that they already know about the Civil
Rights Movement
2. Three questions to help get them thinking:
a. Name important people
b. Name songs… Why did people get together to sing?
c. Name things that were unfair.
3. Communicate the purpose of the lesson to students (objective/assessment)
I am having you write down things you already know so that I don’t try to teach you what you
already know because that could get boring. I’ll give you guys the same test at the end of this
month so that I can see how much you know after I teach you a bunch about it. Hopefully, you’ll be
able to write down more that time than you can right now.
4. Instructional Sequence:
Transition: (3 mins)
1. Have everyone pass their papers to the right. Collect them from the person at the end of the
row.
2. Have volunteers tell what they know (what they wrote down). Correct any inaccurate
information.
Book: “Going North” (7 mins)
1. Read author’s note in the back of the book to give history background.
2. Read book. Walk around while reading so that everyone gets to see the pictures.
Some people didn’t “go north.” (5 mins)
1. Since the vast majority of the students couldn’t write anything down for the pre-test, I
talked about all of these basics.
2. Some people didn’t leave the south to escape segregation. They stayed there to protest.
Some important people who stayed and protested were:
a. Martin Luther King Jr.
1. Speech
b. Rosa Parks
1. Stayed on the bus
3. Singing together: (1 min)
c. People got together to sing as a way of peacefully protesting. Even kids skipped
school to come and sing.
d. They sang to encourage each other to keep standing up for equal rights so that
they would be treated fairly one day.
3. “We Shall Overcome” (7 mins)
a. Watch lyric video on YouTube
b. Instruct them to sing along as soon as they figure it out. It’s very repetitive, so
they should figure it out quickly.
Guitars (10 mins)
1. Have students find a partner of the opposite gender & get 1 guitar per pair.
2. Bring the pictures of the four guitar chords up on the smartboard.
3. Have them review their D, A, G & Em chords and check their partner before passing the
guitar to their partner and doing the same thing.
4. Project “We Shall Overcome” with words and chords on the smartboard
5. Play through the song & say the letter names then “2, 3, 4” between each chord to give
them time to switch fingerings.
6. Have them pass guitars to their partner then play through it again the same way.
7. Pass guitars again.
8. Have students sing words & play chords slowly.
9. Pass guitars then sing words & play chords again.
10. Repeat (let each partner try it again) if we have time.
5. Closure:
Introduce project: (3 mins)
1. Next week, we are going to start working on a project. We are each going to write our own
verse for “We Shall Overcome” about something that you think is unfair to you. I have
written a sample project for you with something that I don’t think is fair: “We shall have
more music class.”
a. Walk around the room, showing my sample project.
I have written one sentence, “We shall have more music class” and put that sentence every time
where the real song says, “We shall overcome.” Then I drew a picture of music class and glued
both papers to the big colored paper.
Next class, we’re going to start on this project, so this week, I want you to try to think of a
sentence about something that you think is unfair to write about in your verse so that we don’t
have to spend a whole bunch of time in class thinking of a sentence instead of doing the fun part
of making the project.
Once our projects our projects are done, we’ll get to sing some of them just like how the African-
Americans got together to sing about segregation, the thing that was unfair to them during the
Civil Rights Movement.
If you could teach this lesson to the same group of students again, what are two or three things you would do differently to improve the
learning of these students based on their varied developmental and academic needs and characteristics? Consider missed opportunities
and other aspects of planning, instruction, and/or assessment. Explain in the table below.
Clearly state each change you would make. Explain why and how you would change it.
I would have moved more quickly while having This would have helped force them to stay on
the students figure out their D, A, G and Em task instead of talk to their partner.
chords on guitar.
I would have asked a student who wasn’t I couldn’t do that and play guitar with them at the
currently playing guitar to come up and point at same time. I ended up doing that in later lessons.
the chords to help students keep their spot. It would have been helpful to start this earlier.
Name: Heather Rasch Grade Level: 4th Grade
Topic/Central Focus: Subject: General Music
Begin “We Shall Overcome” Project Time Frame: Feb 9-14th
12:30 - 1:15pm
MU:Cr2.1.4a Demonstrate selected and organized musical ideas for an improvisation, arrangement, or
composition to express intent, and explain connection to purpose and context.
MU:Cr3.1.3a Evaluate, refine, and document revisions to personal musical ideas, applying teacher-
provided and collaboratively-developed criteria and feedback.
MU:Pr5.1.4b Rehearse to refine technical accuracy and expressive qualities, and address performance
challenges.
MU:Re7.1.4a Demonstrate and explain how selected music connects to and is influenced by specific
interests, experiences, purposes, or contexts.
Key Vocabulary:
People:
- Little Richard
- Whitney Houston
Materials: Technology:
- Popsicle sticks - Smartboard
- Smartboard o Guitar chords document
- Chalk board o We Shall Overcome YouTube lyrics
- Chalk video
- 12 student guitars o YouTube videos for listening
- 2 teacher guitars - Little Richard:
- Lyric papers for project “Long Tall Sally”
- Blank paper - Whitney Houston:
- Pencils “I Will Always Love You”
- Textbooks (hard surface)
Faith/Values Integration:
Discuss unfair treatment during the Civil Rights Movement towards black people. Remind students
that African-Americans sang songs like “We Shall Overcome” to peacefully protest the unfair
treatment that they were experiencing during that time.
Differentiating Instruction
Identify the elements of the lesson that are differentiated (content, process, product).
Identify the student characteristic you will use to differentiate (readiness, interest, learning profile).
Explain how you differentiate (whole class, groups of students, individuals, or students with IEPs or 504 plans)
I didn’t have any students with IEPs that required any differentiation during this class.
I had whole class time for the listening and class singing sections.
I had students get into pairs for the guitar section of the lesson partly because there were only guitars enough for half of the class
and partly because giving them the opportunity to teach their partner how to finger the chord if they weren’t getting it helped them
learn the chord better as well. We always know something better if we teach it.
Students worked alone on their projects.
Procedure with time allotments:
A) Before class:
1. Write the chords on the black board for the first line of the first line of lyrics on the “We
Shall Overcome” project.
B) Hook/Engage
Listening: (6 mins)
1. Play YouTube videos one after another as the kids walk into class:
a. Little Richard: “Long Tall Sally”
1. Ask the students to look out for something that someone does in the video
that they should never ever do (someone stands up on the piano).
b. Whitney Houston: “I Will Always Love You”
1. Stress how long Whitney Houston can sing before having to take a breath
(that’s why we stress taking a deep breath in music class).
D) Instructional Sequence:
1. “We Shall Overcome” (7 mins)
a. Project the YouTube lyric video up on the smartboard.
b. Have students sing along
2. Guitars (10 mins)
a. Use popsicle sticks to assign partners. Have one person from each group go and
get a guitar.
b. Bring the pictures of the four guitar chords up on the smartboard.
c. Have them review their D, A, G & Em chords and check their partner before
passing the guitar to their partner and doing the same thing.
d. Project “We Shall Overcome” with words and chords on the smartboard
e. Play through the song & say the letter names then “2” between each chord to
give them a little time to switch fingerings.
f. Have them pass guitars to their partner then play through it again the same way.
g. Pass guitars again.
h. Have students sing words & play chords slowly.
i. Pass guitars then sing words & play chords again.
j. Repeat (let each partner try it again) if we have time.
3. Project (20 mins)
a. Pass out lyric papers to everyone and tell each student to go get a book from the
shelf and a pencil from the basket on the chair in the front of the room when
they get their paper.
b. Remind students that they had been asked to think of one sentence for their
verses during the week so that we could start working on it today.
c. Ask for a volunteer who has an idea for a sentence.
1. If that sentence works, show them how to fit that sentence under the
chords that are already up on the black board.
2. This is the example that the student gave:
d. Have students write their first sentence under the first 4 chords. Walk around the
room and help people correct their spacing for the first sentence and then show
them how to finish the rest of their verse.
e. After each student is done with their lyrics paper, instruct them to get a blank
piece of paper and draw (and color) a picture of their verse.
E) Closure:
1. Next class, we will finish our projects which will include gluing our papers to big colored
paper so that it looks nice. Once the whole class is done, we’ll post all of them out on the
wall in the lunch room so that our parents, teachers and friends can see them. So, make
sure that you are writing and drawing something that you would be proud for your parents
to see on parent teacher conference day.
If you could teach this lesson to the same group of students again, what are two or three things you would do differently to improve the
learning of these students based on their varied developmental and academic needs and characteristics? Consider missed opportunities
and other aspects of planning, instruction, and/or assessment. Explain in the table below.
Clearly state each change you would make. Explain why and how you would change it.
I would have tried to get around the room more. I I would try to figure out how to instruct them to
ended up stuck with a couple of students for a fix the spacing instead of writing the proper
long time. That meant that quite a few people spacing out for them. This would take more time
turned in partially completed papers with incorrect for them to figure out, but it would allow me to
spacing. get around to more people.
Name: Heather Rasch Grade Level: 4th Grade
Topic/Central Focus: Subject: General Music
Finish “We Shall Overcome” Project Time Frame: Feb 20-23rd 2018
12:30 - 1:15pm
MU:Cr3.1.3a Evaluate, refine, and document revisions to personal musical ideas, applying teacher-
provided and collaboratively-developed criteria and feedback.
Key Vocabulary:
People:
- Louis Armstrong
- Stevie Wonder
Materials: Technology:
- Popsicle sticks - Smartboard
- Smartboard o We Shall Overcome chords
- Chalk board o YouTube videos for listening
- Chalk
- 12 student guitars
- 2 teacher guitars - Louis Armstrong:
- Lyric papers for project “When the Saints Go
- Blank paper Marching In”
- Pencils - Stevie Wonder:
- Textbooks (hard surface) “Superstition”
Faith/Values Integration:
We are still emphasizing how African-Americans were treated unfairly/unequally during the Civil
Rights Movement. To help it register a little bit more strongly, they are writing their own verse
about something that they feel is unfair to them.
Differentiating Instruction
Identify the elements of the lesson that are differentiated (content, process, product).
Identify the student characteristic you will use to differentiate (readiness, interest, learning profile).
Explain how you differentiate (whole class, groups of students, individuals, or students with IEPs or 504 plans)
I didn’t have any students with IEPs that required any differentiation during this class.
I had whole class time for the listening and class singing sections.
I had students get into pairs for the guitar section of the lesson partly because there were only guitars enough for half of the class
and partly because giving them the opportunity to teach their partner how to finger the chord if they weren’t getting it helped them
learn the chord better as well. We always know something better if we teach it.
Students worked alone on their projects.
D) Closure:
Since we all finished out projects today, we’ll get to sing three verses that our classmates
wrote next class. I’ll pick them randomly with popsicle sticks so that everyone has an equal
chance of being picked.
I would not have them echo with the backup The echoing part changes too much. It caused
singers. unneeded confusion.
Name: Heather Rasch Grade Level: 4th Grade
Topic/Central Focus: Subject: General Music
Post-Assessment/Play & sing students’ verses Time Frame: Feb 26-28th
from project 12:30 - 1:15pm
MU:Pr5.1.4b Rehearse to refine technical accuracy and expressive qualities, and address performance
challenges.
Key Vocabulary:
- Civil Rights Movement
- Martin Luther King Jr.
- Rosa Parks
- Segregation
Materials: Technology:
- Popsicle sticks - Smart board documents
- Smartboard o Guitar chord pictures
- Chalk board o We Shall Overcome chords
- Chalk o Fly Me to the Moon lyrics
- 12 student guitars o Catch a Falling Star lyrics
- 2 teacher guitars - YouTube video
- 3 completed student projects (chosen by o Old Time Rock & Roll
popsicle sticks)
- “You Are My Sunshine” chord papers
Faith/Values Integration:
The students were tested over how much they understood about the unfair treatment during the
Civil Rights Movement. Three of them were able to share their verses about something they felt
was unfair to them.
Differentiating Instruction
Identify the elements of the lesson that are differentiated (content, process, product).
Identify the student characteristic you will use to differentiate (readiness, interest, learning profile).
Explain how you differentiate (whole class, groups of students, individuals, or students with IEPs or 504 plans)
I didn’t have any students with IEPs that required any differentiation during this class.
I started class with individual work on their post-tests.
I had students get into pairs for the guitar section of the lesson partly because there were only guitars enough for half of the class
and partly because giving them the opportunity to teach their partner how to finger the chord if they weren’t getting it helped them
learn the chord better as well. We always know something better if we teach it.
I had whole class time for the sections where we learned Grandparents Day songs.
Procedure with time allotments:
1. Before class (5 mins)
a. 5mins before class, grab two students who are already sitting in line waiting for lunch to be
over to come and hand out blank paper and pencils as the class walks in and remind
everyone to pick up a book for a smooth surface.
2. Hook/Engage/Pre-Assess Students
Post-Test (5 mins)
a. Come in and immediately start working on their post-test.
b. Give them a few minutes (watch how much writing is still happening to figure out when to
have them stop) then go around and pick up their papers.
4. Instructional Sequence:
a. “We Shall Overcome” wrap up
i. Guitar (10 mins)
1. Use popsicle sticks to assign partners. Have one person from each group go
and get a guitar.
2. Bring the pictures of the four guitar chords up on the smartboard.
3. Have them review their D, A, G & Em chords and check their partner before
passing the guitar to their partner and doing the same thing.
4. Project “We Shall Overcome” with words and chords on the smartboard
5. Play through the song & say the letter names.
6. Have them pass guitars to their partner then play through it again the same
way.
7. Pass guitars again.
8. Have students sing the words of the first verse & play chords slowly.
9. Pass guitars then sing words to the first selected student’s verse & play
chords.
10. Pass guitars then sing words to the second selected students’ verse & play
chords.
11. Pass guitars then sing words to the third selected students’ verse & play
chords.
12. Have students put the guitars away and return to their normal spots.
ii. Have the students whisper to someone next to them why people got together during
the Civil Rights Movement to sing. (3 mins)
1. After they have had a chance to whisper, pick a popsicle stick and ask that
person to tell the class. If they can’t think of why it was, they can go over and
ask someone with their hand raised then tell me what that person said.
b. Rehearse Grandparents Day songs (10 mins)
i. Listen and echo phrase by phrase to learn the 2 songs.
ii. Try some full runs if they are ready.
c. Rehearse “You Are My Sunshine” on guitar (10 mins)
5. Closure:
a. Listen to YouTube video of “Old Time Rock & Roll” as they line up at the door.
b. Explain before they leave that they will be learning that song for their concert at the end of
the semester.
If you could teach this lesson to the same group of students again, what are two or three things you would do differently to improve the
learning of these students based on their varied developmental and academic needs and characteristics? Consider missed opportunities
and other aspects of planning, instruction, and/or assessment. Explain in the table below.
Clearly state each change you would make. Explain why and how you would change it.
I would have planned a time for students to put I hadn’t thought about that, so they had
their textbooks back up (as soon as I picked up textbooks in front of them on the floor much
their post-test). longer than was helpful. The kids had a hard time
not fiddling with them while they were supposed
to be doing other things. Getting rid of that
distraction earlier would have been helpful.
I would have gone around during the post-test I would have asked questions like:
and talked to the students who were writing - Who was the person who is famous for giving
absolutely nothing on their post-tests and asked a speech?
them more specific probing questions to help jog - Who was the person who refused to leave her
their memory. seat on the bus?
- What kind of people were treated unfairly?
1. What was your biggest area of growth through this unit planning/teaching
process?
I got a lot better at assessing where individuals were in their progress.
Multitasking is difficult. I really struggled with that a lot at the beginning of
the semester. I kept trying to move on because I had completed what I had
planned to do even though some students were clearly struggling with what
I was having them do. Once I started having a student point at the chords for
me, I was able to assess their progress on guitar much more successfully.
Once I gave myself enough time studying my lesson plan that I knew my
lesson forwards and backwards, I was able to focus more on individuals’
success/struggles in singing.