Classroom Music Lesson Plan

AMERICAN POP MUSICS ROLE IN IDENTITY

Teachers Name: JOSHUA ACAMPADO Grade Level: High School, Songwriting elective,
Guitar as a pre-requisite

LEARNING GOALS

ASSESSMENT

What Learners will:

Be able to do (behavioral): By the
end of the lesson, students will be able to
perform a song that represents their
identity with a success rate of 80%
Understand (cognitive): Students
will be able to empathize with their
fellow classmates, after listening to the
songs that they identify with, and the
song they performed.
Encounter (experiential): Students
will compose an original song that
represents their identity and their story.
Construct meaning
(constructivist): Students will realize
how music has influenced their lives and
their perceptions of their peers.

Formative: Teacher monitors the discussion

of how responsive students are, and
monitors the creation of the song.

FOCUSING QUESTION:
In what ways does music impact how we
perceive one another?
MATERIALS
Projector
Computer, sound system
Youtube videos of:
I Drive Your Truck by Lee Brice,
Mockingbird (Clean) by Eminem, Forget
You by Ce-Lo Green, Still Loving You by
the Scorpions, Pixelated by Jeremy Passion

Summative: The students are to compose a

song that displays a story that they believe is
imperative to their character then perform in
in front of the class. The students are to then
write a reflection on their own song and a
peers song, identifying key emotions,
events, and the story of the song. The
teacher then grades the reflection dependent
on how well a student was able to apply
what they learned to their song and to
identify the meaning of their peers song.
Integrative: The teacher reviews the songs
and the reflections, to see how well the
students were able to connect to their own
music, and how well a student is able to
connect to a peers song.
PROCESS
Partner: The lesson begins with students
bringing a song that they identify
with/means a lot to them. In groups of four,
the students then share their songs with their
groupmates, explaining why the song is
relevant to their life. Students then choose to
share their song and personal connections
with the class. This opens up discussion

about how certain events make for good

song writing material and how songs
represent stories and emotions.
Present: The teacher transitions from the
open discussion to specific songs from
different genres. The teacher explains how
that each song evokes different emotions
and shows a story, regardless of the genre.
The teacher then explains how the stigmas
and stereotypes of each of the represented
genres should not take away from the
experience of the song. Even though a rap
song may be dark, it still can evoke the same
feelings of abandonment and redemption as
a singer-songwriters song about long
distance. Through exploration of this topic,
the teacher discusses how genres do not
represent a persons/cultures characteristics,
breaking down the animosity brought about
by certain styles of music. Each song
represents an individual story represents an
identity that a person can identify with due
to shared experiences. The teacher and
students then establish what makes for a

good song that people can identify with

regardless of genre. Examples of this would
be emotions, personal events such as break
ups, stories of family, events in school, etc.
The teacher would then have the students
listen to the songs again with a different
point of view.
Personalize: At home and in class, students
will write a song, minimum of 2 minutes,
maximum of 4 minutes. In this song,
students will describe an event that
happened to them, as detailed or vaguely as
they choose, abiding by the guidelines
established by the class, evoking different
emotions, with the goal of representing a
part of who they are. Students will apply
guitar chords, their melodic line, and lyrics
to achieve this goal. The songs are then
performed. Students then reflect upon their
work, and a peers work.
Perform: Students perform their songs in
class.