Teachers Name: Allison Griffiths Grade: (High School) AP Music Theory Plan: what learners will Be able to do (behavioral

l objective): At the end of the lesson, students in the High School AP Music Theory class will be able to identify the connections between American political and musical culture with a success rate of 85%. Understand (cognitive objective): As a result of this lesson, students will be able to apply political themes in both poetry and music to the creation of an original lost scene for Sondheims Assassins. Encounter (experiential objective): As a result of this lesson, students will create a lost scene for Sondheims Assassins. Perceive Differently (critical objective): By the end of the lesson, students will realize the overarching significance of American political traditions from not only an artistic perspective but also from a pragmatic, day-today perspective as it relates to their lives. Focusing Question: in what ways will students (complete the sentence) In what ways can music bridge gaps between the political world and our daily lives that even governmental institutions and practices cannot?

Date: 10/21/13 Title: Everybodys Got the Right Partner: (Honor THEIR world by beginning with an experience students bring to the classroom. Include time for collaboration through sharing and dialogue.) Prior to class, have students come with an example of a politically-themed song of any genre to share with the class. Have them send links to the music or a video of the song to their classmates so that everyone can listen to the music prior to class. Send them the link to Peter Gabriels Family Snapshot as a sample and write a brief note explaining its place in the context of the 50th anniversary of the JFK assassination; take time to discuss this in class.

Present: (Sequence of the lesson steps. Take the learning from THEIR world to the world of the classroom. Present the information and allow time for students to practice. Engage critical thinking, problem posing and problem solving.) 1.) Split students into groups of three or four to compare and contrast the songs that they chose in terms of poetry, musical content, and political implications. Have students Think, Ink, Pair, Share. Students will use the written log as a model for subsequent discussions and analysis in the lesson. 2.) After students have discussed and recorded the results of the compare/contrast activity, play the following songs from Stephen Sondheims Assassins for the class: Everybodys Got the Right, The Ballad of Booth, Another National Anthem, and Something Just Broke. Provide them with copies of the score and allow time for discussion after each piece and at the end of the entire exercise. Discussion should

Assessment: Formative: Informal assessment; monitor students progress throughout the discussion, debate, and creation processes. Summative: Final performances will serve as the final grade for the project, based upon a rubric that takes poetry, musical content, creativity, and participation into account. Each student should be graded on their work within the group as well. I.e. there will be two grades that come out of this project: one for the entire group, and one for each individuals contribution to the success of the scene.

occur amongst the entire class and should mirror the small-group discussions in Step 1. 3.) Split the class into five equal groups and assign one song per group. Have students analyze the poetry, characterization, and musical content of the piece; one student per group should record the analysis either on the score, or on a separate piece of paper, or both. (Alert students to the potential presence of musical idioms found in American folk music to set up the debate that will occur later on. If clarification is needed, reference previous lessons in which musical and linguistic idioms were discussed.) 4.) Bring the class back together as a whole and have each group to briefly present their analyses to the class. Allow time for discussion and commentary after each presentation. 5.) Split the class into two groups of equal size, challenging each group to create a lost scene that would fit into the plot and musical scheme of Assassins. Each scene must focus on a character from American history of the students choosing (cannot be one of the characters already in the show) and must feature an original musical composition that is based upon one American folk idiom that the group chooses. Allow plenty of time for questions before sending the students off to start the project. To provide structure for the groups, have them create a proposal to present to the entire class before beginning the writing process. (Groups should delegate tasks amongst themselves.) Personalize: (Make the learning personal to the student. Provide opportunities for creativity and for students to be musicians. Encourage creativity and innovation.) 6.) Once the groups have created their proposals, set up a debate scenario in order to mimic partisanship in governmental practice, highlighting the latter portion of the focusing question. Physically set up the classroom to look like a presidential debate (podiums, moderator table, etc.) and ask the groups to choose representatives to present their proposals (opening statements). After opening statements are given, ask the groups to conference to discuss and critique the other groups proposal; this step serves as a source of feed-back and perspective going into the writing process. 7.) Bring the groups back together for the

Materials: Link to Family Snapshot http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChnjZoqS vUw Assassins soundtrack Score for Assassins Composition software such as Finale or Sibelius Podiums for the debate Moderators table

debate. The topics debated will be the two proposals and the critiques of those proposals. The debate should not be presented competitively, but rather as a way of providing constructive criticism and feedback for each other. The debate will run as would any debate and it should be emphasized that only debateappropriate rhetoric should be used, forcing students to think and communicate in an academic context. 8.) Allow time to debrief after the debate and provide further time for questions. 9.) After considering the other groups critique of their proposal, have the students revise their ideas and begin working on the scene. Allow ample class-time to write dialogue, compose music, write lyrics, etc. 10.) After groups have completed a majority of the scene, have them submit a draft of the music, lyrics, dialogue, etc. Make suggestions for revisions and discuss suggestions with the group. 11.) Once suggestions have been discussed, the groups will begin work on the final edition of their lost scene, with the ultimate goal of performing the scene for the entire class. Allow several class periods for this final step. 12.) After groups have completed the final edition, have them submit it for approval. Check that everything is in order and is appropriate for performance. Discuss any revisions that need to be made with the group. If all is well, give groups the okay to prepare for a performance in the next class. Perform: (Communicate and share the new learning through performance, demonstration or exhibition.) 13.) Provide time for an in-class scenes revue. Allow time after all performances are complete for discussion, commentary, and critique. (These performances will serve as the final grade for the project, based upon a rubric that takes poetry, musical content, creativity, and participation into account. Each student should be graded on their work within the group as well. I.e. there will be two grades that come out of this project: one for the entire group, and one for each individuals contribution to the success of the scene.)

Process: After the lesson, take time to reflect. If students need clarification on the identification of musical idioms, be prepared to review this concept. If students are unclear of debate format, take the time to go over the expected rhetoric and procedures. Show video of a past presidential debate. Allow plenty of time for debriefing after every discussion/debate that occurs in the lesson.