Jamie's+Lesson+Plan

= Sample Lesson Plan =

__Lesson Plan:__ Introductory Lesson to the Unit //Music Is More Than Ink On A Page: An introduction to jazz history and the art of improvisation//.

I. __Overview__: This lesson is geared towards a high school English/History/Music elective offered probably to juniors and seniors. The focus of the lesson is to introduce the students to jazz music, what it sound feels and looks like, and begin to introduce them the historical context of this development through rich literature that explores the topic. From there, I’d ask student to start drawing their own conclusions on what jazz means to them and the world of music and enable them to start to improvise on their own.

II. __Learning Objectives:__ After completing this lesson, students will be able to…
 * Critically listen to and analyze jazz music
 * Describe the jazz music they listen to with a rich and appropriate vocabulary and metaphorical connections
 * Draw connections between the historical context and the music and explain how that gives the piece new meaning
 * Apply what they learned through and create their own simple improvised solos


 * 1) __Standards Addressed:__
 * #3- “Improvising melodies, variations, and accompaniments.”
 * #6- “Listening to, analyzing, and describing music.”
 * #9- “Understanding music in relation to history and culture.”

III. __Instructional Plan__

a) __Preparation/Anticipatory Set__
 * “When you hear the word jazz, what words come to mind?” Have students write 5 words on a sheet of paper.
 * “When you hear the word improvisation, what words come to mind?” Have students write 5 words on a sheet of paper.
 * Have students share their lists
 * For Extra Credit, look up the etemology of the word jazz. No one knows the answer, so do some research, look at a bunch of different sources and come up with your best explanation of its origins.

b) __Procedure & Activities:__

Exploring jazz through listening, literature, and history
 * Best way to learn about jazz is to listen
 * Listen to Louis Armstrong’s (1901-1971) //Potato Head Blues// (1927) and have students write down word that they feel describe the music and metaphors or image that come to mind. Then share these words.
 * Bring up words and what students associate with tha: New Orleans- banjo, tuba, diversity, racism, community, poor; Collective Improvisation- unorganized, composer has less reign and control over music; Prominent Soloist- Armstrong established the solo
 * Read poem about Armstrong- ask what does this tell us about Armstrong as a person? Show picture of Armstrong. 1926-19Can you hear this reflected in his solo
 * Listen the second example of Miles Davis (1926-1991) //Jeru// from //Birth of the Cool// (1957, 30 years latter)//.// Have students think about the contrast between the first example and what words come to mind. Share.
 * Give a brief background on Miles Davis- bebop era, pioneer in cool jazz, hard bop, modal jazz, and fusion
 * Read poem about Davis- what key words in here might give you a new perspective on Miles Davis- media, disco (show in concert picture that reveals that side), drama, demons, moral decay, dopes- drug use and abuse big issue amongst jazz musician of that era

Application of concepts learned
 * Have students write their own poem about themselves that describes themselves, attempt either the accumulative, word play, or calligram poem styles
 * Have students work on an improv solo on their own instrument the represents themselves as an individual. For now, they are not worrying about the jazz style, just getting used to creating and improvising. Allow students to play on their primary instruments or if they don’t play allow them to use the piano. Have beginning students pick three notes that they feel “describes” them (for example are they major or minor, chordal or linear). More advanced students can choose a key or a scale, modal or blues. Then using those notes, have students fool around and create musical phrases and small motifs they can develop.
 * If the group is really beginners, or don’t have access to playable pitched instruments, use percussion instruments on improve solely on rhythms. Start small
 * Students can either do the music then the writing, or do the writing then music.

c) __Literacy and Metaphor/Analogy Links:__
 * This lesson helps broaden students’ vocabulary giving meaning to words like New Orleans and bebop. It also challenges students to use the vocabulary they have to analyze what they are hearing. As seen in the “Building Vivid, Vital, and Valuable Vocabularies” chapter of Cunningham and Allington’s book //Classrooms That Work,// this is very important to students’ comprehension.
 * The constructivist approach seen in Eleanor Duckworth’s book //Tell Me More//, is a used throughout this lesson. Through listen and analyzing the music and poems, and with some guidance along the way, students draw their own conclusions. These conclusions will be much more meaningful than anything I could tell them because they are making sense in their own minds.
 * Rick Wormeli stresses the importance of “language” metaphors, physical metaphors, and visual metaphors in his book //Metaphors & Analogies: Power Tools for Teaching Any Subject.// The calligram style of the Armstrong creates a visual metaphor. By playing their music that represents themselves, they are creating a physical/aural metaphor. And they using language and metaphors to describe the music they hear. Metaphors are great for analysis of music.

IV. __Assessment__: In the discussion, I can really assess the students understanding of music through their word choices. I can also see if they their analysis improves and comes to a deeper level in the second listening example. Also I can assess student through the application of the knowledge they learned in creating their own poem and improv solo.

V. __Materials & Resources:__
 * Blank sheets of paper and pencils
 * Laptop with music and speakers
 * Picture of Miles Davis on Laptop
 * //Jazz A-B-Z// by Wynton Marsalis
 * Copies of the poems for the students
 * Musical instruments to improvise on ( is starting the continuation of the lesson)

VI. __Research Support__ Johnson, Rebecca. “What’s New in Pedagogy Research?” //American Music Teacher.// (June/July 2008) pg 75-76.

While most students tend to struggle with some fear of improvisation, this article brings up an interesting point that is supported by research. Women’s attitude towards jazz improvisation seems to be less confident then men’s attitude. Researcher’s applied the Fennema-Sherman Mathematics Attitude Scales to measure students attitudes toward improvisation, and women consistently scored lower then men. Why is this so? Some interesting conclusions can be made. Female students can be less confident and more easily anxious when asked to improvise. Jazz is a profession already dominated by mostly all me. The issue here might not be skill, but social psychology. There may even be a certain stereotype that goes along with female jazz musicians as they may be viewed as less feminine. The biggest way this will effect my class is in the dynamic and make up of the class itself. Will the class be mostly males, will their be a mix, or will it even be mostly female. In my Improvisation I class in college was made up of 2/3s men and 1/3 women. Also, will the women in my class be extremely hesitant when asked to improvise? Or will they, as in my college class, usually tend to need just a little bit more encouragement?

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