African+American+Spiritual+Introduction

This lesson can be applied to many age levels. I originally presented to 7th grade, then my cooperating teacher asked me to present the same lesson to 8th grade. This can be presented before any Spiritual song in the classroom. It comes from a very historical standpoint, and gives the opportunity for a lot of student interaction. The students probably know a lot of the information already, so they are glad to share what they know in front of their peers. The lesson serves as a good review for what they have learned in History class, and the History teacher will be your friend after they hear about it. Because of the religious nature, it is important that during the lesson you mention at least once "it is not about what you or I believe, but what the people who originally sang these songs believed." That way you avoid any awkward situations where the students think you are trying to push your views on them.

The power point is very self-explanatory. I found the pictures on Google and I found the information on http://www.negrospirituals.com so I don't own any of the information.


 * ** Subject/Grade: ** || 7th Grade Chorus ||


 * ** Concepts/Skills/Values: ** || African American Spirituals, Sight-singing ||
 * National Standards (check all that apply): **
 * ** x ** || ** 1. Sing ** ||  || ** 2. Play ** ||   || ** 3. Improvise ** ||   || ** 4. Compose/Arr. ** || ** x ** || ** 5. Read/Notate ** ||
 * ** x ** || ** 6. Listen ** ||  || ** 7. Evaluate ** ||   || ** 8. Related Arts ** || ** x ** || ** 9. History/Culture ** ||   ||   ||
 * ** x ** || ** 6. Listen ** ||  || ** 7. Evaluate ** ||   || ** 8. Related Arts ** || ** x ** || ** 9. History/Culture ** ||   ||   ||


 * ** Behavioral **
 * Learning **
 * Objectives: ** || After going through the Spirituals power point, students will be able to state many facts about Spirituals, and apply them to songs they are given, specifically “Keep Travelin’ On”. ||


 * ** Materials: ** || Piano, Spirituals Power point, “Keep Travelin’ On” sheet music ||

Lip Trills Sirens “Hah”- 5 3 4 2 1
 * ** Sequence of **
 * Activities and Assessment: ** || Warm up choir:

Go through Spiritual Power point with class.

Listen to clips of “Wade in the Water” and “Swing Low Sweet Chariot” with presentation.

After presentation is over, look at new song “Keep Travelin’ On”.

Start singing at the beginning of the song (Chorus). M. 4-12 ||

Check for understanding of information. ||
 * ** Teacher **
 * Effectiveness **
 * Reminders: ** || Get students involved-. Ask them to tell what they already know.

EDIT: I think this is a great way to introduce a spiritual piece. They have so much history that influences a performance, and often times students aren't aware of the meaning of what they are singing. You created a really informative Power point that has visuals to keep them engaged, includes listening examples, and questions that pull in their knowledge of other subjects. This also allows you to cover a lot of different standards in one lesson. Since your teacher asked you to do it again for the 8th grade, it must have been really effective. You also handled the religion issue well and made the emphasis of the presentation about the meaning of the songs to slaves and how they were used to communicate, and that they were not solely for the purpose of worship. One suggestion I have is ask the students find what they think might be metaphors in "Keep Travelin' On" as an assessment to see if they at least grasp the idea of what these songs stood for. This could even happen in the next day's lesson as well. Another thing I was thinking during this was how well a middle school class could keep focused during this. If it was a smaller class, it could maybe become more of a discussion type of setting, but I know if I tried doing a Power point in 7th grade band with 45 kids, they would not be able to handle sitting still and listening for that long. My suggestion in a larger class situation, or a class that is more chatty is to incorporate some breaks in the middle where they sing part of the new song that coincides with what you have talked about in the Power point so far. I definitely like the set-up of this lesson and how it begins the learning process for this piece and I can see it work well in a variety of scenarios, either vocal or instrumental.

Allison Brady