Krista M. Shields
Project 2
Information Age Inquiry: S574
March 2, 2009
I love literature - I love movies - I love music. Incorporating these three things into one lesson is something I have always wanted to do. I don’t think that children realize the impact that adding music to a story can have. Most of the time, they don’t even realize that music helps to set the mood in a movie.
Inquiry Skill
In The Blue Book on Information Age Inquiry, Instruction, and Literacy, author Daniel Callison states Carol Kuhlthau’s emphasis that “library and information skills are not separate school subjects. Like reading and writing, they are process skills – skills used to reach other learning goals,” (Callison 86). The inquiry skills used in this lesson are evidence of the process that takes place (and matures) from elementary to junior high school.
Third grade students are able to listen and view different aspects of stories, as well as different types of media. They also can “participate in discussion following a story, recall, summarize . . . what is listened to and viewed, and creates developmentally appropriate multimedia products . . . .” (87). These skills are woven together with the Indiana State Standards 3.3.2 and 3.8.4 in that students use these literacy skills to comprehend basic plots and discuss ways music could enhance a story.
As the students mature to seventh grade, the expectations and skills also mature. They are able to move from discussion to “understanding how to extract information from human resources and interpreting meaning from many forms [even online fairy tales] of literature,” (89). They move from creating simple multimedia products to “using content-specific tools, software, and simulations, including Web-based tools, to support learning and basic information research,” (89). In my lesson, the students use these skills to support Indiana Academic Standard 7.8.5 when they explore the connections between literature and music. The students also sharpens their inquiry skills in that they compare their “own experiences with those attributed to that age group in the media” when they participate in the self-assessment blog.
Truthfully, creating this lesson was a lot of work – work that I wish I do for every single lesson I teach. To be able to weave together the two sets of standards with the skills needed for inquiry is a huge task, but one that must be done.
Overview
After reading the fairy tale, Beauty and the Beast, third grade students will listen to music from the Disney movie soundtrack and correlate segments of it to the progression of plot in order to understand the effect music has on emotional engagement in literature.
Seventh grade students will view examples of how music can evoke specific emotions. Musical selections range from “Star Wars” and “The Lion King” to Beethoven and Tchaikovsky in the Dallas Symphony Orchestra’s “Amazing Music Series #1: Emotions in Music” DVD. Students will select an online interactive fairy tale and choose existing music or create an original piece in order to reveal the effects music has on the progression of plot.
Teaching Materials
3rd Grade Lesson Plan
Content Areas/Standards:
Language Arts/Reading
· 3.3.2 Comprehend basic plots of classic fairy tales, myths, folktales, legends, and fables from around the world.
Music
· 3.8.4 Discuss ways that music could enhance understanding of a topic in another discipline.
Time Required:
(3) 40-minute class periods
Objectives: Students will:
· Participate in a read-aloud story of Beauty and the Beast.
· Identify the five important elements of plot in the story through the Disney movie soundtrack of “Beauty and the Beast.”
· Use Kidspiration in order to depict five scenes (introduction, rising action, climax, falling action, conclusion) that show the progression of plot and their emotions while listening to that music segment.
Materials Needed:
· Beauty and the Beast picture book
· Music Segments (from Disney’s Beauty and the Beast Soundtrack)
1. Disney intro logo
2. Prologue #1 on Disney soundtrack – first 35 seconds
3. Belle #2 on Disney soundtrack - first 19 seconds
4. Something There #7 on Disney soundtrack - first 12 seconds
5. Tale as Old as Time #9 on Disney soundtrack - first 35 seconds
6. Transformation #14 on Disney soundtrack – first 1:47 seconds
Introduction:
We will read Beauty and the Beast. I will ask them to listen to an audio clip to see if they can identify it (Disney’s logo music) and ask what they felt when they heard it. This will help prepare the students for the activity.
Steps:
After finishing a picture book version of Beauty and the Beast, we will identify the five important elements of the story’s plot and then listen to the audio segments from the Disney movie soundtrack. The students will then identify the plot elements again by listening to the music. We will discuss emotions they felt during the segments and brainstorm different emotions that a person feels. Each student will create a Kidspiration map depicting the five scenes of the plot and their emotions during listening to that particular music segment. They can use their checklist to assess that they have the necessary elements. After self-assessment, students will divide into groups of four and share their projects. Using the picture rubrics, they will cut out the shapes and share their thoughts about their classmates’ work.
7th Grade Lesson Plan
Content Areas/Standards:
Language Arts/Reading
· 7.3.2 Identify events that advance the plot and determine how each event explains past or present action or foreshadows (provides clues to) future action.
Music
· 7.8.5 Identify music related to a contemporary event or topic such as Black History Month and explore interdisciplinary connections that involve music performance, dramatization, related art, reading, writing, and other potential activities.
Time Required:
(5) 50 minute class periods
Objectives: Students will:
· Discuss emotions felt after viewing selections from the Dallas Symphony Orchestra’s “Emotions in Music” DVD.
· Analyze the impact that music has on a story.
· Select an online interactive fairy tale of their choice.
· Choose or create a musical accompaniment for their individual fairy tale of choice.
· Participate in the class blog to assess classmates’ works.
Materials Needed:
· Dallas Symphony Orchestra’s “Amazing Music Series #1: Emotions in Music” DVD
(Online store: http://dallassymphony.myshopify.com/products/dvd-amazing-music-series-1-emotions-in-music)
· LCD projector
· DVD player
Introduction:
I will review the five elements of plot (introduction, rising action, climax, falling action, conclusion). The class will discuss favorite movie soundtracks (Narnia, Lord of the Rings, Enchanted, etc.), as well as favorite childhood fairy tales. We will then view the Dallas Symphony Orchestra’s “Emotions in Music” DVD.
Steps:
Students will divide into groups and discuss the effect that music has on portraying emotions in a movie. Students will then participate in whole group discussion of what they learned from the DVD. They will choose their own fairy tale from the available websites and then adapt music to accompany it. After projects are completed, students will blog responses and comments to others’ works as a self-assessment.
Student Materials
For 3rd Grade:
1. Bank of Emotions (if needed)
2. Template (if needed)
3. Kidspiration software on a student workstation
4. Checklist
5. Picture Rubrics
For 7th Grade:
1. Websites for interactive stories/online fairy tales (internet access on a student workstation)
· http://www.grimmfairytales.com/en/main
· http://www.classicfairytales.com/en/main
· http://www.andersenfairytales.com/en/main
· http://kids.aol.com/KOL/2/KOLJrStories/Archive/fairy-tales
· http://www.nationalgeographic.com/grimm/index2.html
2. Access to their own music, soundtracks, mp3’s, instrument, or music software
3. How Did I Do? assessment blog URL: http://www.howdididoproject.blogspot.com/
Lesson Comparison
In third grade, the teacher is providing the fairy tale as well as the musical selections; whereas, in seventh grade, students choose their own fairy tale and create their own music to accompany it. Third graders are able to identify and associate the emotion from the teacher-directed selections but the seventh graders are actually creating their own choice of music to accompany their own fairy tale selection.
The scaffolding in third grade is present to help students who might struggle at the independent reading level for Beauty and the Beast. I am providing the five elements of plot as well as an example or a template for their Kidspiration project. The students may choose to use the template or create their own. A word bank of emotions will also be provided in case a student is unable to think of descriptive words. If students choose to use the template or the word bank, that is scaffolding because I am providing them with the tools they need in order to fully understand the process for this project.
In seventh grade, the DVD itself is the scaffolding in that it leads the discussion and provides the students with examples of how music enhances a storyline. As the students recognize skills used to identify how music enhances a story, students are able to transfer what they learned from the DVD to create original works. If students work with a partner, scaffolding is provided through/from partnership with peers, whereas those students who are able to work independently may not need the same support.
Summarizing in whole group settings after the DVD also provides scaffolding for both seventh and third grades. The guided discussions enable the teacher to direct students toward the desired new learning that will thus enable them to produce student work independently.
The expectations of a third grade student information scientist completing this project differ greatly from the expectations of a seventh grade student information scientist. The third grade student is being introduced to the five elements of plot while the seventh grader is merely reviewing them. Starting with a simple exercise of identifying those elements through music gives the third grade student a better understanding of plot progression. The seventh grader is then able to build on what he has learned by then choosing which music is best suited for the different elements in his particular fairy tale. Giving the older student more choices and less guided instruction allows the teacher to see the understanding the student has about the power of music and what type of music “fits” into the different elements of the story.
As the instructional specialist, I have a greater responsibility in the guiding and instructing of the younger student due to the fact that she is learning the content for the first time. Giving her the opportunity to build on her technology skills through Kidspiration is the least amount of guiding I would give. With the older student, I must review what has been learned in order to present new information. The role I take on is more of a facilitator – especially with the group discussions and blog assessment interaction. I have never tried a student self-assessment before, but feel that this project is one where I could give a little due to its objective nature.
Even though these lessons apply to more than one Information Literacy standard, the one I am focusing on is:
· 3.1.4 Use technology and other information tools to organize and display knowledge and understanding in ways that others can view, use, and assess.
It is so exciting to see how my own daughters have grown in the area of information literacy just in the four to five years they have been in school. The products they are able to create as third and fourth graders are so much more intricate than those from first grade.
In these lessons, the third grade student goes from using Kidspiration to create a graphic organizer and record their findings and feelings to a seventh grade student who uses those findings to create their own musical accompaniment (existing or original) to complete an interactive fairy tale of their choice.
Other information literacy standards covered in these lessons are:
· 1.1.6 Read, view, and listen for information presented in any format (e.g., textual, visual, media, digital) in order to make inferences and gather meaning.
· 1.2.3 Demonstrate creativity by using multiple resources and formats.
· 1.4.2 Use interaction with and feedback from teachers and peers to guide own inquiry process.
· 2.2.4 Demonstrate personal productivity by completing products to express learning.
· 3.2.3 Demonstrate teamwork by working productively with others.
As I stated, I have always wanted to teach these lessons. I am looking forward to recruiting a teacher with whom I can collaborate - I think it will be exciting! If I am able to do this next year, I would love for you to see the students’ finished products!
Works Cited:
Callison, Daniel, and Leslie Preddy. The Blue Book on Information Age Inquiry, Instruction, and Literacy. Westport, Connecticut: Libraries Unlimited, 2006.
"Indiana Academic Standards." Ed. Department of Education, 2008.
Standards for the 21st Century Learner. Chicago: American Library Association, 2007.