High+School+Music+History+Lesson

Something that I have learned while teaching this course, is that you cannot lecture to them all of the time. You have to find new, and interesting ways to present the material, because all students learn differently.

What you will see below is several activities taken from several different lesson plans used during my time with this class:

Note taking:

Note taking was one of the more difficult aspects in which to find news ways of doing so. Some days I would have them take notes based on the lecture I was giving that day. Each time I gave a lecture, I always made sure to put the mains points up on the board so they knew exactly what to write down. You can never have too many bullet points up on the board; the more it is broken down for them the better.

Towards the end of my time with the class I created note sheets. I wrote out my entire lecture for that day in bullet point form, and replaced some of the main points with blanks. This allows the students to be actively engaged in the note taking process because they have to figure out what to put in each blank. Often times the copies of the fill in the blank note sheets that I gave to them were printed on different color paper. Its boring to always have things printed out on white paper. Also, when taking a test/studying the color of the sheet may help them remember the content printed on it.

Additionally, for one particular class I gave them a sheet that was half fill in the blank, and half taking notes from my lecture.

Venn Diagram:

I learned that you are never too old to use a Venn Diagram. I made use of the Venn Diagram several times during my teaching of the Baroque era. The first time I used it to compare and contrast opera of the Baroque, and opera of the Classical era. I had the students get into partners, so they could figure out as many different points as possible. Once they were finished I drew a giant Venn Diagram on the board and had each group come up one at a time to fill in a few points. Once the giant diagram was complete we discussed it in depth. The second time I used it in this chapter was to compare the life and career of Bach to the life and career of Handel.

PIzza Wheel chart:

At the beginning of this semester I was introduced to the pizza wheel chart. In short, it is a chart shaped like a pizza, and cut into four sections. This is a great way for the students to categorize certains things that belong to a certain category. For instance I had the students used the pizza wheel to diagram the the main instrumental genres of the Baroque; Dance Suite, Sonata, and Concerto. I split them up into three groups, and eventually brought each group up to the board to write down the information for each of the three genres.

Getting them out of there seats:

I created a stupid little activity to help the students remember the difference between recitative and aria. The important thing is that it got them out of their seats and introduced the material to them in a different light. For recitative I took four student volunteers; two to play the basso continuo part and the other two to be the singers on stage with sung dialogue back and forth. With the continuo people, I had them lightly tap the table they were sitting at to mimic the simple accompaniment that makes up the basso continuo. With the singers I had them have a spoken conversation about anything. In a recitative in Baroque opera, the accompaniment is simple, played by one or two continuo instruments, and the singers on stage have sung (spoken) dialogue. For aria, I had one person be the solo singer, and I grouped the rest of the class together as the orchestra. The continuo people from the first exercise remain the same, because the continuo is always present. I had the rest of the class (the orchestra) tap the table even louder to simulate that more instruments were playing. I had them go back and forth between both setups so that it could be further cemented in their brains.

Review:

At the beginning of each class, I would do a review of the previous day by asking certain questions to each student. I found that this is a much better tactic than asking questions to the entire class all of the time. Asking each student gives them personal accountability for the information given the previous day.

//Dave, // //This is a great set of tips for keeping students engaged during something that can tend to become very much a lecture. It sounds like you give them ample opportunity to link the knowledge to many parts of their brain and make connections to other parts of their surroundings in order to achieve maximum retention! // //<span style="background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0);">I got to thinking about the note taking section here; I thought maybe you could toy around with setting up questions to ask as you go through the lecture, where the answers are on the note sheet. This, in combination with leaving sporadic blanks (and taking the notes for a grade which will be added motivation to pay attention) will keep all students further engaged. Hope that helps! //

//<span style="background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0);">I apologize for not giving more comments and criticism; however, this is not a "lesson" per se. It certainly has A LOT of worth being on this wikispace, but it is difficult to "peer-edit" with the guidelines provided because it doesn't have Form, Objectives, Sequence, or Assessment. If/When you post a document in lesson format to the wiki, I'd love to give it the time it deserves. //