L3+Aceto,+Jason

Teacher’s name: Mr. Jason Aceto Date of lesson: 3 Grade Level: 6-8 Topic: Aztec Culture and Music //Maine// //Learning Results:// Social Studies-E.History E1 //Historical knowledge, concepts, themes and patterns//. Grade 6-8 "The Expansion and Interaction of Civilizations, 600CE-1450CE" //Students understand major eras, major enduring themes, and historic influences in the history of the various regions of the world.// b. Identify and analyze major historic eras, major historical eras, major enduring themes, turning points, events, consequences, and people in the history of the various regions of the world. During my lesson I will be asking students to use various forms of technology to complete their final products. First, during assigned research time, I will require students to utilize the World Wide Web for finding information about the cultural importance of music in the Aztec culture. Also, I will be having the students use the program Garage Band to create their final products; therefore I will be running a brief tutorial with my students before setting them to research online. Some of the integration that will also be involved with this lesson is going to come from other subject areas. For example, this lesson will require students to utilize their reading skills from English in order to sift through the information on Aztec culture and pick out the important pieces. Also, students will be utilizing their creative writing skills from English as they compose the lyrics to their songs. Finally, another subject that will be integrated into this lesson will be music. This is obvious in that the students will have to compose a song and create the rhythm all on their own, utilizing skills they have obtained in any sort of music class. = Groupings: = = Students will be asked to line up in the front of the class by height. Then, after this has been done, the teacher will assign the two tallest students to work in a group with the two shortest making each group a four person team. The groups will be selected in this way, with the groups being constructed by simply choosing the next two tallest students and pairing them with the next two smallest students until everyone is in a group. Then each group will be asked to move their belongings and work materials to a given table and move them to another spot of the room where they will be spread out and away from the other groups. Once all the groups have maneuvered their tables to their own plot of space in the room, it will be time to set tem to work. The purpose of having these students work in groups is to allow a vast amount of collaboration to occur in the research and creation of their final product. Group members must all be active in the research process, but the teacher must make sure that each team of four must have two students fulfill the two roles of this activity, those being musical composers and writers. It is important to stress that two students must be working on the actual sounds and tune of the song, while the other two collaborate on what parts of Aztec culture should be addressed in the lyrics. = Linguistic - students will be writing and reading while creating their graphic organizers and researching Aztec culture. Logical - students will be creating a song/poem based on factual information about Aztec culture. Spatial - students will be working with pictures detailing the Aztec culture which will enable these students to derive critical information about this topic through a different medium. Bodily-kinesthetic - students will be using the computer to create and to edit their songs/poems. Musical - Students will be allowed to utilize traditional Aztec or Spanish music from the time period to enhance their product. Intrapersonal - Students will be working independently on their research. Interpersonal - Students will be working in groups and then sharing their songs/poems with the class. Naturalist – Students must incorporate in importance of the natural world in their songs/poems as the Aztecs were heavily centered on nature. To meet the needs of all students, I will encourage them to look for various mediums in their sources. Each student will be given the opportunity to discuss and work with their group members to answer questions or clarify information. Also, to accommodate any IEP’s, 504’s, or ELLIDEP’s I will review the needs of the given student and provide an alternative that will suite their learning style. An example of this would be to encourage a student with a low reading level to have their laptop read the information back to them, which will allow them to retain more of the content and allow them to participate fully. Students will be asked to present a weekly half page write up that is typed and describes a piece of modern popular music (appropriate lyrics of course!) and relates this to what the Aztecs addressed in their music. The students will be expected to draw comparisons and contrasts between the subject matters in their modern musical selection to what they already have learned about the subjects addressed in Aztec music. This extension will help them to make real world connections between Aztec music and it’s purpose in society by taking a look at what modern music is used for in society and why songs address certain issues. I personally will have to gather resources to prepare for this lesson which will give students examples of Aztec music. Also, I must collect resources as on Aztec culture and research how it transcended into Aztec music so I can conduct a brief overview at the beginning of class. However, the students will be using their text books and internet search engines to uncover more information and to get ideas as to how they want to create their song, as well as what their song will be about. In terms of how they will use technology, it will be as simple as utilizing the programs installed on their laptops (Garage Band, etc.) However, I will need to review handouts and online tutorials before class to understand the basics of this program so that when students have questions about how to use it, I will be able to give them their desired answers and assist in moving their projects along. ---  Pre-Assessment Sheets Project Description Handout Wireless Internet Network Garage Band software Idea Wheel Graphic Organizer LCD Projector Group Evaluation Sheets __ Ancient Days __ Text Book http://www.philtulga.com/Aztec%20Music.html a great website with audio examples and written descriptions of Aztec Music. http://library.thinkquest.org/27981/ a helpful website that gives a great overview of Aztec Culture in an easy to understand way. http://www.mexicolore.co.uk/index.php?one=azt&two=mus this website has some great basic information about the instruments used for Aztec music and also describes its purpose in society http://homerecording.about.com/od/garagebandtutorials/ss/getting_started.htm this website provides a simple and easy to follow tutorial for first time Garage Band users, all students should be able to follow these easy instructions. The students will enter the room and find the class set up with the usual two tables slid together in the back of the class, and two tables up front angled inward on the right and left hand side of the class. The teacher’s desk will be located in the back of the class, directly to the left of the two back tables. However, the teacher will be instruction primarily from the small desk in the font of the class which will hold the LCD projector that the teacher will use to display the various handouts. Welcome Hook ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWVtOvwSWlk ) Lesson introduction Handout pre-assessment Handout project guidelines Line students up and assign groups. (*see groupings for details) Students collect materials and move tables to group workspaces Handout product rubric along with the final group evaluation Allow the remainder of class to be spent researching. Check in with groups Send students to their next class The students will enter the room and take their usual seats in the class setup. I will welcome all of the students and the briefly explain that we will be starting a new lesson that will discuss the importance of Aztec music in their culture and how they reflected upon each other. I will then show them a brief video explaining one ritual song from the Aztec religious tradition. This will then help to engage students so I may begin my introduction to the lesson by speaking on the idea that music and culture in the Aztec Empire were entwined. I will then explain to the students that music was an important part of the Aztec culture and the culture itself served as a muse for many traditional songs. Next, I will ask the students to consider that if music and culture are intertwined, what does our modern music speaks to in American culture? I will ask them to consider throughout this lesson, the fact that our own cultural practices and beliefs are utilized in our music, in similar ways as the Aztecs. This will allow the students to understand the major historical influences and enduring themes from this ancient culture and relate them to our own modern day society. **Where, Why, What, Hook, Tailor: Intrapersonal, Linguistic and Visual (10 minutes)** Next, I will explain that in this lesson they will be asked to research parts of Aztec culture that utilized and influenced their music and to create an original Aztec song using Garage Band. The students will then be given pre-assessment questionnaires that will ask very general questions about this topic. I will ask the students to quietly fill out this worksheet and flip them over once they have finished. One they are all completed, I will collect them from the students and explain that they will not be graded on this assignment, only that these sheets will be used to show them how and what they have learned during this lesson. Once the students have finished with their pre-assessments I will handout their graphic organizer which they will use to record any information vital to their final product. After filling out the pre-assessment questionnaires I will have each student in the class move to the front of the room and line up from tallest to shortest. I will then count off the groups by placing the two tallest students with the two shortest students and so on until I have 4 groups of 4 or 5. Then the students will join up with their new groups and move their materials to separate tables. Each group will have their own table which they must move to another part of the room to use as their personal workspace which will allow minimal distractions between groups. I will make sure that each group understands that each individual works equally during the group research and two students from each group must assign themselves one of the two roles. This will ensure that students who are more musically inclined may be able to work on the composing and more linguistic students may be able to write the lyrics. This will also ensure that all may come to understand the major enduring themes and historical influences while also understanding that music and culture are entwined. I will explain to the students that through this lesson I will expect the students to be able to understand the connection between music and culture in not only the Aztec people, but to consider the relationship in our own society. Before setting the students to work, I will remind them that they must use their critical thinking skills when looking through the internet for information on this topic and to try and decipher what is appropriate information for their final product. Finally, I will set them to work on their research and make my rounds about the classroom to observe the groups work on their graphic organizers and begin to construct their products. . To assess my students I will be giving them a final product rubric that will inform the students that they must follow the criteria listed in the rubric in order to achieve the highest mark possible. This will give my students a clear understanding of what I expect from them and what their product must entail. The final group evaluation will be explained as part of their individual grade which will be filled out by their fellow group members. I will explain to them that each group member must participate equally and contribute in one of the two assigned roles. It is also important that the students understand that I will also be grading their individual productivity by observing how they work in their groups. At the end of class I will make a quick check in with each group to help them assess what is left for them to do in order to complete their song. If need be, the group may only have to complete the remainder of the song for homework, while other groups may have to stay after school or come in during recess if they are behind with their research or are having technical difficulties. It is important for them to know that I will be prompt and available if they need any help or need to discuss an extension. Finally, once all the groups have been check up on, I will allow the students to pack up their belongings and head on to their next class. Rev. 12/07 = =
 * Objectives: **
 * Student will understand ** that Aztec music was an important part of their culture and was utilized for various facets of daily life.
 * Student will know** different facts of how the Aztecs created music, (ie instruments or other objects) and how their music was utilized in daily life.
 * Student will be able to** create a song that reflects a part of Aztec daily life.
 * Maine **** Learning Results Alignment: **
 * Rationale: This learning result can give us a great starting point to analyze the culture of the Aztec Empire and what shaped their beliefs and practices.**
 * Assessment: **
 * Formative ** (Assessment for Learning)
 * I will have the students fill out self-assessment questionnaires before they form their groups. This will help me to see what they already know and what else they need to know. After they fill these sheets out, I will go over their responses with the entire class. The class will them split into groups and filter through a variety of sources such as books, pictures, and websites to decipher the information in this unit. **
 * Summative ** (Assessment of Learning)
 * Students will be asked to transform the information from their graphic organizers and create a song or poem using GarageBand. While creating this product, the students will be able to come to understand how important music was to the Aztec culture and how it reflected important events in their daily life. Each team will be required to introduce the idea for their song and explain why they chose the topics that are addressed in their final product. Each group will be given a grade based on the overall quality of their song and the content which was included in the lyrics. However, each individual in the groups will receive a grade based on their performance while gathering information and creating the song. This will be assessed through the teachers’ observations during group work and by group evaluations that each student will fill out about their individual groups.
 * Integration: **
 * Differentiated Instruction: **
 * Strategies: **
 * Modifications/Accommodations: **
 * Extensions: **
 * Materials, Resources and Technology: **
 * Source for lesson plan and research: **
 * __ Maine __****__ Standards for Initial Teacher Certification and Rationale __**
 * // Standard 3 - Demonstrates a knowledge of the diverse ways in which students learn and develop by providing learning opportunities that support their intellectual, physical, emotional, social, and cultural development. //**
 * Rationale ** : This lesson meets the Maine Standards for Initial teacher certification by taking into a consideration that students learn in different ways and providing them with different learning opportunities. Students are asked to be creative and use their own personal discretion as to what kind of information they want to include in their final products. Students will also be following the product rubric to create their song and must stay organized and efficient in their research. Students are also provided with a safe and comfortable learning environment. Any mistreatment or disrespectful attitudes will not be allowed and will be discouraged as they not only are disrespectful to others, but they also disrespect the learning environment.
 * // • Standard 4 - Plans instruction based upon knowledge of subject matter, students,  curriculum goals, and learning and development theory. //**
 * Rationale ** : This lesson meets the Maine Standards for Initial teacher certification by providing students with the proper information they need to complete this project. Students have been learning about Aztec culture and different facets of this culture’s everyday life in the previous two lessons and will be asked to take a closer look at the importance of Aztec culture and how it extended to a specific part of their community, that being music. The students will also be made to think and make modern day connections to this topic by looking at modern music and what its place is our culture is and what important themes in our culture are presented through our music. This allows students to make a deeper connection to the subject matter by applying it to their every day life, while still reaching the goals set out in the MLR for this unit.
 * // • Standard 5 - Understands and uses a variety of instructional strategies and appropriate technology to meet students’ needs. //**
 * Rationale ** : This lesson meets the Maine Standards for Initial teacher certification by meeting the needs of eight different learning strategies. These eight strategies include linguistic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, musical, bodily-kinesthetic, naturalist, logical, and spatial. The students will also be utilizing a type II technology in the form of Garage Band to create their final product which will also help reach students with various learning styles. Each student will be accommodated by either working online to research the Aztec culture and music, or by the creation of the actual song itself.
 * // • Standard 8 - Understands and uses a variety of formal and informal assessment  strategies to evaluate and support the development of the learner. //**
 * Rationale ** : This lesson meets the Maine Standards for Initial teacher certification by assessing students in many different ways and by a variety of individuals. Each group member will be expected to participate fully in the research and creation of the final product. The students will be assessed on this area of the lesson by not only their team members who will be filling our group evaluation sheets after presenting their song, but the teacher will also assess each group member through their observations of the students as they work in their teams. Students will also be evaluated as a group in terms of the overall quality of their final product. The teacher will go through the rubric and assess whether or not each group has hit the required benchmarks in order to receive a certain score on their product. Students will be given this product rubric when they first begin and will be able to reference this in order to understand what will be necessary to receive the highest possible score.
 * Teaching and Learning Sequence: **
 * Agenda: **
 * Equip, Explore, Rethink, Tailors: Visual, Linguistic, Intrapersonal (20 minutes) **
 * Explore, Experience, Rethink, Revise, Refine, Tailors: Interpersonal, Bodily-Kinesthetic, Intrapersonal, Visual, Linguistic, Naturalist. (45 minutes) **
 * Evaluate, Tailor: Interpersonal, Spatial, Visual, Linguistic (5 minutes) **