Lesson Planning Form for Accessible Instruction Calvin College Education Program

Teacher Ashley Meyers

Date 4/8/16

Grade 9-12th

Subject/ Topic/ Theme Appalachian Folk Music The Songcatcher/life in Appalachia

I. Objectives
How does this lesson connect to the unit plan?
This lesson allows students to continue learning Banjo Pickin Girl while also providing a glimpse of everyday life in Appalachia
through The Songcatcher. Finally, this day is important because students are introduced to their final project for the unit.
cognitiveR U Ap An E C*

Learners will be able to:

Sing the first two verses of Banjo Pickin Girl with accurate pitches and appropriate style and inflection.

Analyze events and ideas in the film The Songcatcher (especially those relating to music and gender role).

C
A

Apply their knowledge of Appalachian folk style to their interpretation of Banjo Pickin Girl and their folksong or
spiritual of choice.

Ap/C

physical
development

socioemotional

X
X
X

Common Core standards (or GLCEs if not available in Common Core) addressed:
- MU:Re7.2.E.IIa Explain how the analysis of structures and contexts inform the response to music.
- MU:Re7.1.E.5a Identify reasons for selecting music based on characteristics found in the music, connection to
interest, and purpose or context.
- MU:Pr5.3.E.Ia Develop strategies to address expressive challenges in a varied repertoire of music, and evaluate
their success using feedback from ensemble peers and other sources to refine performances.
- MU:Pr4.3.E.IIa Demonstrate how understanding the style, genre, and context of a varied repertoire of music
influences prepared and improvised performances as well as performers technical skill to connect with the
audience
(Note: Write as many as needed. Indicate taxonomy levels and connections to applicable national or state standards. If an objective applies to particular learners
write the name(s) of the learner(s) to whom it applies.)
*remember, understand, apply, analyze, evaluate, create

II. Before you start

Identify prerequisite
knowledge and skills.

Background knowledge of Appalachias geographic location and a basic understand of what a folksong
is would be helpful. The students should have learned this in the previous lesson.
Pre-assessment (for learning):
Formative (for learning): Students will be asked questions about what they learned in the previous lesson about
Appalachian folk style singing. They will also be asked for suggestions on how they could make their
performance of Banjo Pickin Girl more authentic. The students own ideas will guide the focus and
interpretation of the music.

Outline assessment
activities
(applicable to this lesson)

What barriers might this

lesson present?
What will it take
neurodevelopmentally,
experientially,
emotionally, etc., for your
students to do this lesson?

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Formative (as learning):

Summative (of learning): After watching part of The Songcatcher, students will be able to discuss some of their
thoughts on the movie using discussion questions written by the instructor. This will show how well the students
paid attention to the movie. However, the thoughts that each student brings to the group will add to the learning of
the whole. In this way, this part of the lesson is both summative and formative because it is meant to hold students
accountable for what they have learned after just watching the movie, but it still allows them to learn from their
peers. Also, this assessment is informal since it is not graded.
Provide Multiple Means of
Representation
Provide options for perceptionmaking information perceptible
Visual the video clips provide a
visual way to experience
Appalachian folk song/Appalachian
life in the early 20th century.
Aural/kinesthetic during warmups, movements may be added to
help students sing with healthy

Provide Multiple Means of Action

and Expression
Provide options for physical actionincrease options for interaction
Warm-ups may include movements.
Also, with or without added
motions, healthy singing should be
a full-body activity and requires
muscle coordination of the
abdominals and the throat and
tongue, for example.

Provide Multiple Means of

Engagement
Provide options for recruiting
interest- choice, relevance, value,
authenticity, minimize threats
Students get to choose their own
song for their small groups;
however, they do not get to choose
their groups. This minimizes threats
because it decreases the social
anxiety of finding groupmates/potentially being left out. It

vocal technique. Also, rehearsing

Banjo Pickin Girl engages auralkinesthetic learning since singing is
a full-body activity.
Cognitive students discuss issues
that they see in the film that relate
to musicology, gender roles, and
Appalachian society.
Provide options for language,
mathematical expressions, and
symbols- clarify & connect
language

As before, musical notation

includes both language and
symbols.

also (hopefully) more evenly

distributes the talent between
groups.
Students also consider some of the
cultural and moral values displayed
in The Songcatcher.
Provide options for expression and
communication- increase medium
of expression

Students are able to express

themselves in both small group
and whole-class discussions.
This allows students who may
feel more shy to still have their
voices heard.
Students also get to sing with
the whole choir during Banjo
Pickin Girl and eventually get
to personalize their own smallgroup arrangements of
folksongs or spirituals.

Provide options for comprehensionactivate, apply & highlight

Instead of passively viewing

The Songcatcher, students will
be asked to activate their critical
thinking skills to evaluate
several issues and themes in the
movie. The questions students
must answer also highlights
specific issues, such as gender
roles, socio-cultural values, and
ethical musicology practices,
that I want students to think
about.

Materials-what materials
(books, handouts, etc) do
you need for this lesson
and are they ready to
use?
How will your classroom
be set up for this lesson?

Provide options for executive

functions- coordinate short & long
term goals, monitor progress, and
modify strategies

Provide options for sustaining effort

and persistence- optimize
challenge, collaboration, masteryoriented feedback

Students obviously collaborate

to work on their group song
together. However, I would also
argue that their small group
discussion are a sort of
collaboration because they are
learning from the ideas of their
classmates.

Provide options for self-regulationexpectations, personal skills and

strategies, self-assessment &
reflection

Since students will be working

in small groups to create their
own arrangement of a song,
they have to begin mapping out
their goals for what they want to
accomplish by the end of the
unit. They have to be able to
ensure that they are progressing
at an adequate pace for their
piece to be ready to perform.
They may also have to adjust as
they go based on how well their
rehearsals go and the ability of
those in their group.

Students are able to apply their

knowledge of Appalachian folk
performance practices by
choosing their own folksong
and begin to formulate their
own arrangement of it.
Projector with sound
The Songcatcher film (2001)
Printouts (or PowerPoint slide) with discussion questions about The Songcatcher (see attachment).
Printouts of possible folksongs or spirituals for the small groups to sing (see attachment).
Written description of the final project for the unit plan (see attachment).
The class should be able to the see the projector during the movie and should also have rows for when
they sing. However, they should also be able to break up in small groups to discuss the film and work
on their group projects.

III. The Plan

Time

Components

5 min

Motivation

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Describe teacher activities

AND
student activities
for each component of the lesson. Include important higher order thinking questions and/or
prompts.
Start with vocal warm-ups. Can be varied but
Students sing warm-ups. Some warm-ups may

(opening/
introduction/
engagement)

15
min.

30
min

should include at least one warm-up exercise from

each category (in this order):
1. Relaxation/stretching
2. Breath support
3. Pure vowels
4. Extremes of range (usually lower then
upper)
5. Diction/articulation
6. Flexibility
Start be reviewing the melody of Banjo Pickin
Girl (first verse). Then review each harmony part
individually in the second verse (altos have the
melody, sop 1, and sop 2 have upper harmonies).
Note the subtle differences between the verses.
Learn the third verse (mm 22-36). Ask students
how they can add in vocal effects to make their
performance sound more authentic. Experiment
with different sounds/tones. Run-through verse 1-3.

require physical movement.

Review the first verse/melody of Banjo Pickin

Girl. Learn the second verse (mm. 22-36).
Contribute ideas for how they can make their
performance more authentic and experiment with
different sounds/tones.

Development
(the largest
component or
main body of
the lesson)

Watch first 20-25 minutes of The Songcatcher,

Students watch a portion of The Song Catcher.
especially those that relate to collecting the
Afterwards, they should discuss the following
folksongs. Before starting the movie, let the
questions in small groups: what biases or
students know that there will be questions to
assumptions do you see about women in this
answer afterward, so they need to pay attention
movie? How would you describe social interactions
(especially to musical and social elements of the
in the Appalachian community? What are some
film). However, wait till after the clip is done to
vocal techniques or styles that you noticed in the
give students a list of discussion questions so that
folk music recorded? How does that compare to the
they can focus on the movie rather than the
recording of Banjo Pickin Girl by the Coon
questions. Afterwards, have them discuss these
Creek Girls that you heard yesterday? Is it ethical
questions in small groups while the teacher
to collect music from people in order to preserve a
circulates the room. After about 5 minutes, have the musical tradition? What could be some potential
smaller groups share their best thoughts with the
problems? Make a list of pros and cons.
whole class.
5 min
Introduce final project of the unit to the students.
Students will receive a written description of their
Closure
Tell them that in order to apply what they have
final project. They will be assigned to groups of 3(conclusion,
been learning about Appalachian folk music, they
4, but will be able to pick their own song. They will
culmination,
will be arranging either a folk song or a spiritual
have the last few minutes of class to choose their
wrap-up)
(which they will learn about tomorrow) in small
song and brainstorm ideas with their group.
groups. In order to make this as fair as possible, try
to evenly distribute the stronger students between
groups. Also, if possible, try to make sure that each
group has at least one person who can play an
instrument.
Your reflection about the lesson, including evidence(s) of student learning and engagement, as well as ideas for improvement
for next time. (Write this after teaching the lesson, if you had a chance to teach it. If you did not teach this lesson, focus on the
process of preparing the lesson.)
Similar to the first lesson, we sort of also did this lesson in class already. The day before spring break, my cooperating teacher was
looking for a music-related film to show in class since she knew that the students would probably be too distracted to rehearse. I
suggested The Songcatcher since I had watched the film in advance because I wanted to use it for my unit plan. I had thought about
doing smaller clips of the movie for this lesson plan, but the beginning of the movie is most relevant to the topic of the unit plan
(later on it kind of veers off into romantic side-stories rather than focusing on the music). Also, I felt like having a fuller context for
the action of the film was important enough not to do more stop-and-start style. Plus, I think theres something to be said for
continuous flow since it can sometimes feel disjointed and lead to classroom management issues if the movie is fragmented.
However, since I would be showing a larger clip of the movie, I decided to include several discussion questions in an effort to keep
students engaged.
Another difference between what I did in my real-life class and this lesson plan is that the real-life class is not doing the final project
for this, so clearly the project was not introduced to them. Also, they had already learned most of Banjo Pickin Girl by this point,
so the beginning part of the lesson had already been accomplished in previous classes. However, if I were teaching this unit from
scratch, I would have started by working on Banjo Pickin Girl for two reasons: 1. It is important that the unit stay grounded in
learning music and continuing the groups progress towards being performance ready with that piece, and 2. It avoids moving the
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chairs back and forth between neat rows for singing and clusters for group discussions.

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