A core value in this experiment: the idea that it what Alfie Kohn calls the "three Cs"
- meaningful and relative content
- choice in what you learn and how you learn it
- collaboration with others in learning
that make for the most effective learning experiences.
Learning Topics
- The future of classical music/music careers
- Challenges facing classical music, including what some people believe is a crisis facing large institutions (symphony orchestras and opera companies in particular)
- The sociological and economic aspects of this situation
- Creating opportunities
- Classically-trained musicians doing well (success stories; this will include multi-genre ensembles such as ProjectTRIO and Voces8)
- Music therapy
- Music and brain science
- Drumming, esp. African rhythm pieces
- Improvisation on major instruments
Effective Learning Activities
- Discussion
- Group projects, including imaginative formats like a newscast
- Student-led group discussions
- Field research with smart-phone videos interviewing students about event attendance
What should we add to the list?
What topics do you see as being especially well suited to individual or group projects?
Grading
What ways can we handle grading that allow for the grade to mean something and not have the grading process be fear inducing and distracting? We discussed learning contracts. Other ideas?
We came up with such a large number of topics that it would be impossible for each student fully confront each. With this in mind, I very much like the idea from class about small groups taking a subject that they are passionate about and presenting their findings to the group so that everyone is on the same page.
ReplyDeleteThis approach would greatly relieve grade anxiety because we would be more interested in our subject of choice than worried about the grade. With every group working with their strengths, we would have a much more complete and well rounded picture than if everyone was stretched thin with all the topics.
I like the idea of some groups working together on a topic that they enjoy and have a passion for. I think this will also help the issue of overwhelming amount of topics to know. I like the ideas of music and brain, music therapy, the future of classical music/music careers, and success stories. Group project and smart phone interviews are the types of things I would be interested in doing.
ReplyDeleteI know through my high school experiences we did a lot of video projects (along the same line of Rachel's newscast idea). It was a lot of fun because we got to research something we were passionate about, and were able to put together a creative video to display it. I think this, coupled with the smart phone interviews would be a great way for us to work together as a team to take on this large amount of topics. We're all passionate about music, and we show that passion in different ways, and even pursue different aspects of our mutual, general passion. Personally, I was a fan of future of classical music, success stories, and improvisation on our major instruments.
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