The Sound of Music
Learner Inquiry Project
Overview of Project
For several years, I have looked for a better way to teach about the Modern American Musical. I will be using this inquiry project with grade 6 but it would be very appropriate in Grades 5-9 and could be adapted for higher or lower grades. All of my general music classes are inclusive of all learners of all different learning levels. The average class size is between 19 and 24 students. Some of my students have significant learning needs, some are gifted and talented in music which is also a learning need as they need their learning to be more in depth and the neurotypical, "average" learner that also may have strengths and needs that need to be met. This one of the reasons I love inquiry projects. I can address the needs and strengths and challenge all learners while they are working with the same "How might we..." question.
Unit Essential Question: How might we create community among diverse cultures and traditions?
Students will view the musical the "Sound of Music". As they are watching, I will either verbally or on a document, prompt them to look at details in the musical they might not necessarily notice. I will then give the students 4 choices of topics from the Musical they can research further and create a presentation for the rest of the class. They are:
Unit Essential Question: How might we create community among diverse cultures and traditions?
Students will view the musical the "Sound of Music". As they are watching, I will either verbally or on a document, prompt them to look at details in the musical they might not necessarily notice. I will then give the students 4 choices of topics from the Musical they can research further and create a presentation for the rest of the class. They are:
1. Explore the differences between Maria von Trapp's memoirs and the made for TV. version of the Musical.
2. Discover how the von Trapps immigrated to the United States, where did they settle to live and what the children did with their lives once they became U.S. citizens.
3. How did the rise of the Nazi party affect the von Trapp family and the Country of Austria
4. Explore the musical history of Salzburg, Austria. Share with the class how that musical history affected the Von Trapp family.
To create, true autonomy and sense of inquiry, I am open to conferencing with students about choosing other topics related to the Musical and the Essential Question.
Students will then use an application/platform of their choice to create a presentation.
Teacher Resources:
https://www.teachthought.com/ This site is a compilation of articles written by the Teach Thought staff and other educators. There are several articles that deal specifically with Inquiry-Based Learning. These 2 articles, I particularly found a lot of interesting points. Four Things all Project-Based Teachers should do and https://www.teachthought.com/project-based-learning/5-ideal-traits-project-based-learning-teacher/
https://nafme.org/ . Nafme is the National Organization for Music Education. The national standards for music education are found on this site as well as suggest lesson/Unit plans. There are several pages on the site for teachers that discuss the sound of music, it's history, what is happening currently with the musical and what are some of the key points for students to know about this musical
https://quizlet.com/ I use this site frequently especially when students need to prepare for simple written assessments like vocab quizzes. I would use this site with students before we actually watch the video to learn the characters and their names. I find that because the children have German names that are unfamiliar to most students. When they first view the musical, hopefully, it will reduce the need to stop the video so they will know who is who.
https://empatico.org . The essential question of this unit is to help students create community between diverse cultures and traditions. This is the mission of Empatico. Quoted from the website: "Empatico aims to connect millions of educators and children so they can see other communities, share their lives, and learn about others different from themselves. To do so, we have collaborated with education partners to create a tool that makes it easier than ever to bring virtual connections to their classrooms in an intentional and powerful way."
https://smithsonianmag.com . The Smithsonian Magazine website contains an amazing amout of information of not just history, but science, arts and culture, ingenuity and current news in those areas. There is an article on the history of the von Trapp family.
Technology Resources:
Presentation option #1 . IMovie . For students that have Macbook Air 1:1 devices, IMovie is a pre-loaded application software. This software moves the student into the Modification area of SAMR as students can take images, information, and even music and videos. Here is a tutorial on how to use IMovie. I plan to use this video with students that may have missed my in-class presentation of how IMove works or if they forget how something works, they can go back and watch the video again.
Teacher Resources:
https://www.teachthought.com/ This site is a compilation of articles written by the Teach Thought staff and other educators. There are several articles that deal specifically with Inquiry-Based Learning. These 2 articles, I particularly found a lot of interesting points. Four Things all Project-Based Teachers should do and https://www.teachthought.com/project-based-learning/5-ideal-traits-project-based-learning-teacher/
https://nafme.org/ . Nafme is the National Organization for Music Education. The national standards for music education are found on this site as well as suggest lesson/Unit plans. There are several pages on the site for teachers that discuss the sound of music, it's history, what is happening currently with the musical and what are some of the key points for students to know about this musical
https://quizlet.com/ I use this site frequently especially when students need to prepare for simple written assessments like vocab quizzes. I would use this site with students before we actually watch the video to learn the characters and their names. I find that because the children have German names that are unfamiliar to most students. When they first view the musical, hopefully, it will reduce the need to stop the video so they will know who is who.
https://empatico.org . The essential question of this unit is to help students create community between diverse cultures and traditions. This is the mission of Empatico. Quoted from the website: "Empatico aims to connect millions of educators and children so they can see other communities, share their lives, and learn about others different from themselves. To do so, we have collaborated with education partners to create a tool that makes it easier than ever to bring virtual connections to their classrooms in an intentional and powerful way."
Student Resources:
https://artsandculture.google.com . Google's art and culture is an online platform that covers a plethora of topics from ancient times to the present time. There is a very interesting presentation of this site of how the von Trapp family immigrated to the United States from Austria.
https://history.com History.com is the website that is associated with the History Channel on television. History.com has a multitude of information on pre-World War 2 as the Nazi party evolved, the immigration to North America which as caused by this event, the events of World War 2, Hitler and post World War 2. The information on this site will definitely help students that want to investigate and research the politcal events of this time period and how did could have these events affected the Von Trapp family. The real story of the von Trapp family can also be found on this site.
https://smithsonianmag.com . The Smithsonian Magazine website contains an amazing amout of information of not just history, but science, arts and culture, ingenuity and current news in those areas. There is an article on the history of the von Trapp family.
Technology Resources:
Presentation option #1 . IMovie . For students that have Macbook Air 1:1 devices, IMovie is a pre-loaded application software. This software moves the student into the Modification area of SAMR as students can take images, information, and even music and videos. Here is a tutorial on how to use IMovie. I plan to use this video with students that may have missed my in-class presentation of how IMove works or if they forget how something works, they can go back and watch the video again.
Presentation option #2 . Google Slides. All of my students have google slides in the Google suite. I love the Google Slides because it plays so well with Google Classroom. Like iMovie, this moves students to the Modification area since you can add graphics, video, music, voiceover, and many, many more features. Students can use the many features in Google Slides to be creative in their presentations. Part of my conferencing with them will be how to use most of the features to show their creativity. Here is a tutorial on how to use Google Slides.
Presentation Option #3-- Moovly I have to admit, I'm going out on a limb on this platform as I haven't' used it much, but I loved all the features it has. First, it is a completely free online platform. The most attractive feature I noticed that I think my middle schoolers will love is the ability to add animation to your presentation. This is also a "drag and drop" program which makes very accessible to all learners. Here is a demo of Moovly. I believe this will move the students in either the Modification area of SAMR or even the redefinition area if they choose to use the animated characters to tell their stories in first person.
Just for clarification, I will also allow students to propose their own presentation platform if it has the ability to provide a multi-media presentation.
Student Rubric:
Student Assessment Rubric
National and State Standards Addressed:
The Nafme Standards are arranged by grade level. I have selected the 6th-grade general music standards to cite since I am targeting this for a 6th-grade class.
Nafme Standards
MU: Pr4.2.6c, MU:Pr6.1.6b, MU:Re7.2.6b
Grades 6-8 Music
D1: c.d. , E:1, E:2, E:3, E:5
My reflection on the Inquiry-Based Learning Project:
The more I worked on this project, the more excited I became with actually working with my students on this. I thought of so many ideas that I could do with them related to the Essential Question that I will have to write them down so I can try a different activity each quarter.
Our essential question is: How might we create community among diverse cultures and traditions?
The whole class will be working under this essential question but when they get into a specific topic from the Musical, for example, the Rise of Hitler and the Nazi party, it would be appropriate to develop a new question that is still related to the class's question.
My project requires open inquiry because each learner is going to choose a part of the video that engaged or intrigued them to find out more. I will give some suggestions but will conference with students if they have other ideas that are related to the musical and the essential question.
All of my students will need to know the characters and the plot of the "Sound of Music". From there, they will need to find one part of the musical that either leaves a question or questions in their mind to which they want to find answers. As far as the standards, the Nafme standards, the state standards and the local standards all address how cultures can be brought together by the arts. The standards also address how history effects music and how music effects history.
My Rubric Assessment is presented underneath the resources. I believe it will be a fair rubric which allows students to work hard and meet or exceed the standards or for the student who is not doing their job may conference with me before the final project is done and I can show them where they are on the rubric and why.
I would love for this project to culminate with my students either having a guest speaker from Austria or possibly Skyping with a class from Austria or possibly a living descendent of Maria von Trapp.
I can see my students struggling to find the resources they need. I've given them a few, but I know they will want to dig deeper. I will encourage them to work with our librarian. She is a master at finding resources for students when we do research projects.
I'm most excited about my students seeing this musical through a different set of "glasses". The love this musical as it is and I'm excited to see how much more they will either love or have a different view of the story of the von Trapp family.
Citations:
Common Sense Media. [Sound of Music]. Retrieved March 7, 2019, from https://d2e111jq13me73.cloudfront.net/sites/default/files/styles/product_image_aspect_switcher_170w/public/product-images/csm-movie/the-sound-of-music-poster.jpg?itok=ZHbUMkmT
5 Ideal Traits of a P.B.L teacher [Digital image]. (2018, September 10). Retrieved March 9, 2019, from https://www.teachthought.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/1E407442-DFD3-41BA-A11D-7EC124C6FF12-e1536592258983.jpeg
Connect Your Classroom to the World. (n.d.). Retrieved March 9, 2019, from https://why.empatico.org/
[Student using a laptop to research]. (2018, December 8). Retrieved March 10, 2019, from https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Dt5mIYRX4AAFiuB.jpg
Michalik, J. M. (2007, April 3). Student using Technology in the Classroom [Digital image]. Retrieved March 17, 2019, from https://photos.smugmug.com/Family-and-Children/Edt-535/n-5x8H4/i-4MpsVc8/0/3b38984a/L/i-4MpsVc8-L.jpg
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