This lesson plan is designed to teach the students how to discuss music and musicians, along with timelines and events. It utilizes reading, writing, and listening skills as well as authentic materials. The activities I selected are in order from simple to complex, starting off with vocab and music videos and going over an example paragraph draft/worksheet to prepare students for the cumulative writing task at the end of class.
The Music that Makes Us
| Instructor | Desiree Santana Hensley |
| Class/Level | Secondary Education (k-12) learners of about 16 years of age. Intermediate. |
| Time | 50-60 minutes |
| Topic | Music’s influence on us and it’s impact both on the individual and world and events/timelines. |
| Skill(s) in Focus | Discussing music and performers, along with timelines and dates |
| Goal(s) | To be able to logically create a timeline of events and discuss different categories of music |
| Objectives | By the end of the lesson students will be able to: Understand different categories of music (country, pop, rap, etc.) and it’s importance on culture. Be able to logically create a timeline of events Write a paragraph on an artists they admire (also incorporate a timeline of events in their life) |
| Materials | Paper (for paragraph) Vocabulary List Copy of adapted (from p.158 of Pathways text) writing task worksheet YouTube videos-instructor will show these |
Class Description
Describe all activities that you plan on using in the class. For each activity include the following:
The Music That Makes Us (50-60 min)
- Objective 1 – (15-20min max)
- Participation framework: whole class
- begin with a review music category of vocabulary list
- Teacher will show a corresponding music clip for each music category. If time permits students can share if they know any songs that would fit into each category.
- Ask questions about if the students are familiar with song that would fall into any of these categories. What music is specific to their own culture that they would like to share? Why do they believe music is important to all cultures? Share with them that music traditions are often rich in history and historically a way to pass down oral stories.
- Objective 2-(15min)
- Participation Framework: whole class
- Teacher will review timeline section of vocabulary
- Ask questions to gauge whether they can identify past tense verbs and use them correctly in a sentence (do they properly place words like before and after at the beginning of the sentence?
- Teacher will hand out writing task worksheet example and the blank copy and go over example with class, answering any questions the students have and asking them if any of their favorite artists are also involved in humanitarian efforts. This is a good place to start off from with their writing task. Make sure they understand what is expected of them.
- Objective 3- (20-30 minutes)
- Participation Framework: individually
- complete their own draft and complete worksheet
- Teacher will walk around and make sure everyone stays on task and/or answer any questions as they arise.
- Wrap Up- (5 minutes)
- Participation Framework: group work
- If time permits, students will share with a partner who they chose and why
APPENDIX
VOCABULARY
MUSIC CATEGORIES
Pop
Country
Rock
Classical
R&B/Rap
TIMELINE OF EVENTS
During
After
When
In ____ (date-ex In 1973)
NAME__Desiree Hensley _____ DATE __11/9/2021__________
WRITING TASK EXAMPLE
You are going to write a paragraph on the following topic: Describe the life of a musician or performer you admire
BRAINSTORMING: think of a musician or performer you admire. List as many events or achievements in their life as you can. Then share your ideas with a partner. Examples are in red.
Musician/performer: Dolly Parton
Main Life events/ Key achievements: Born in Appalachia in 1946. “Jolene” released in 1973 which is extremely popular, The Dollywood Foundation brings in jobs and other thing to the region of Appalachia and helps with issues such as HIV/AIDs and Parton also works to improve literacy in region, During COVID-19 Pandemic Parton donates $1 Million to research
PLANNING: follow these steps to make notes for your paragraph. Don’t worry about grammar or spelling. Don’t write complete sentences.
Step 1: write a topic sentence about why you admire that person and what kind of music they sing
Step 2: Find a quote either from the musician or from their lyric (if they have lyrics in their music)
Step 3: make sure events are in logical order. Are they relevant?
Step 4: Write a timeline of events in the outline. Include some details about each one
Step 5: Write the timeline of events in the outline. Include some details about each one
OUTLINE
Quote: “Working 9 to 5, what a way to make a living
Barely getting by, it’s all taking and no giving
They just use your mind, and they never give you credit”
Topic Sentence: Dolly Parton is a pop & county music performer and I admire her for her contributions to Appalachia and other humanitarian efforts.
Event 1/Details: Born in Appalachia (Eastern Kentucky) in 1946
Event 2/Details: “Jolene” released in 1973 which is extremely popular
Event 3/Details: The Dollywood Foundation brings in jobs and other thing to the region of Appalachia and helps with issues such as HIV/AIDs and Parton also works to improve literacy in region
Event 4/Details: During COVID-19 Pandemic Parton donates $1 Million to research
DRAFT 1: Complete a draft combining everything from outline
I admire the country and pop musician Dolly Parton because of contributions to Appalachia and other humanitarian efforts. Dolly was born in Eastern Kentucky in 1946. When “Jolene” was released in 1973 it became extremely popular. After that she created the Dollywood Foundation which brings in jobs and other thing to the region of Appalachia and helps with issues such as HIV/AIDs and Parton also works to improve literacy in region. During COVID-19 Pandemic Parton also donated $1 Million to research.
NAME_______________________________ DATE__________
WRITING TASK
You are going to write a paragraph on the following topic: Describe the life of a musician or performer you admire
BRAINSTORMING: think of a musician or performer you admire. List as many events or achievements in their life as you can. Then share your ideas with a partner. Examples are in red.
Musician/performer: _______________________________________
Main Life events/ Key achievements: ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
PLANNING: follow these steps to make notes for your paragraph. Don’t worry about grammar or spelling. Don’t write complete sentences.
Step 1: write a topic sentence about why you admire that person and what kind of music they sing
Step 2: Find a quote either from the musician or from their lyric (if they have lyrics in their music
Step 3: make sure events are in logical order. Are they relevant?
Step 4: Write a timeline of events in the outline. Include some details about each one
Step 5: Write the timeline of events in the outline. Include some details about each one
OUTLINE
QUOTE:____________________________________________________________________________________________________
TOPIC SENTENCE: _________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________
EVENT 1/DETAILS: _________________________________________________________
______________________________________________
EVENT 2/DETAILS: _________________________________________________________
______________________________________________
EVENT 3/DETAILS: __________________________________________________________
________________________________________________
EVENT 4/DETAILS: ________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________
Complete a draft combining everything from outline. Remember to incorporate key words from vocabulary
DRAFT 1:
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________