Title: Books on "Tape"
Engaged Learning with Technology
Unit Framework
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Title: Books on “Tape”!
Subject and Level: General Music (3rd grade) Orchestra (6th grade)
Learner Description – Regular and special education students (3rd grade) The special education students in orchestra are in a different resource class on the days we will have this lesson (6th grade)
Overview – Students will be using the audio recording and editing computer program “Audacity” to create soundtracks as an accompaniment to narrated books.
What will be taught?
Creative use of a variety of instrument and voice sounds. Using music and sounds as an enhancement of the book. Expanding students’ knowledge and awareness of sound production.
What will students do and learn?
The students will learn how to use the program “Audacity”. They will become familiar with the process of combining spoken words with many tracks of audio files, visually and aurally.
Rationale - Purpose for the unit as a whole. The WHY questions.
Why would you teach this unit?
The addition of sound and music to a story adds power and emotion to the final product. The combination of literature and music is extremely functional as well as interdisciplinary.
3rd graders have just completed their instrument unit. This lesson further emphasizes their exposure to the orchestra.
The 6th graders benefit through the creative use of their instrument, and this unit offers many recruiting possibilities for the program.
Why would this qualify as an Engaged Learning unit?
The unit is authentic, with real world implications. It is performance-based and generative, with students creating end product presentations. It is collaborative, with heterogeneous grouping. The teacher’s role is both guide and co-learner. All student roles are assumed, from explorer to teacher.
Why is technology an important component of this unit?
This unit could not be completed without the use of a sound studio program.
Why is this project authentic, meaningful, and challenging for students?
Students are learning how real-life media is created, such as commercials and movie soundtracks. Students are required to imagine how their instrument can be used in non-conventional and creative ways, such as creating special effects.
Goals - Content, Cognitive and Social - The WHAT questions
What new attributes (knowledge, skills, attitudes) do you expect students to gain?
Students will develop audio editing skills. They will develop group interaction skills through the discussion of literature interpretation through music. The students will expand their perception of music and sound.
What school, district, state and national standards/benchmarks are addressed?
As stated by the Illinois Board of Education, “They learn to use media, tools and technologies. They learn to shape ideas and emotions into sounds, images and actions. As students create and perform their own artworks and review the works of others, they become more imaginative, strengthen their problem-solving skills and learn to respond to the creativity of others. Creating and performing are at the core of the fine arts. Students also learn about the role of the artist (e.g., dancer, painter, actor, director, scriptwriter, musician).”
Standards: 26.A.1c Music: Identify a variety of sounds and sound sources (e.g., instruments, voices and environmental sounds).
26.A.3c Music: Describe the processes involved in composing, conducting and performing.
26.A.4c Music: Analyze ways in which musical sounds are produced and how they are used in composing, conducting and performing.
26.A.3e Visual Arts: Describe how the choices of tools/technologies and processes are used to create specific effects in the arts.
LearningActivities - The activities required to achieve the goals.
The students will work together in groups to record music and sound examples. The students will collaborate to produce a finished sound product.
What are my scoring characteristics? (What do I want to measure? What is an important outcome of this unit?)
The finished product will be evaluated by their peers and the teacher. The students will be given a rubric to assess their peers’ projects. See rubric below.
Scores: The students were informed that a Superior Rating would qualify their project for presentation at the Board Meeting on May 10, 2006.
Scoring Categories: 10 is the highest score / 1 is the lowest score
What will indicate that students are novices, practitioners, or experts?
The extent to which the students are creative with sound.
How will I measure and communicate student progress on the goals?
The students will be guided verbally by the teacher throughout the creative process.
How will the assessments be implemented to ensure that they are generative? seamless and ongoing? equitable for all students? an authentic task?
The assessments are formulated to ensure student involvement and participation. The students’ finished product serves as a musical tool for peers and younger students, in effect making the project meaningful and generative.
How will students demonstrate their knowledge and skills?
The project completion depends on performance-based learning, and the creation of a product.
Management
How will you manage student work individually and in groups?
What resources will you need to do this unit?
The students need the following:
Audacity Program (free download pre-installed on computers)
Computers outfitted with microphones
Instruments (Classroom and/or Orchestral)
Selected Books (Primary level optimal)
How will the room(s) be arranged.
The students will be provided with a separate space to complete the different tasks of the project, such recording soundtracks and creating storyboards.
How will students with special needs be helped?
The teacher assigns students with special needs to appropriate groups.
Unit Evaluation
What will I need to do, be aware of, and/or gather while teaching the unit in order to answer these questions:
What was effective?
What wasn't effective?