Curriculum Basics

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Curriculum Basics

• Introduction to Music Education
• Fall 2008
• Dr. Miksza

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Department or Program Philosophy

• Beliefs about music (role in community, role in
  society)
• Beliefs about teaching (role of the teacher, role
  of the student, role of the community)
• The more logical and clear this is the more
  likely people will buy in to the music program
• Should also be connected to community values,
  needs, cultures, etc. although not necessarily
  dictated by the community
• Ultimately it is the responsibility of the
  trained, professional educator to make the large
  curricular decisions
• The School Music Program (1-7) example of
  philosophical assumptions that could be expanded
  upon

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Sample Philosophy excerpt

• Music is an expressive art form that all people
  are capable of participating in as both producer
  and consumer.

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Goals of the program

• More specific than your philosophy statement yet
  still a general description of the skills,
  knowledge, and attitudes you want your students
  to take away/develop from the school music
  program
• These should be derived from your broad
  statements about music and teaching, in other
  words they should be congruent with your
  philosophy

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Sample Goals

• Students in this program will encounter a broad
  variety of performing and listening experiences
  that will aid them in being expressive
  individuals.

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Curricular Objectives

• These are more specific similar to achievement
  standards in The School Music Program (17-21)
• They should be developmental, or in other words
  detailed by each grade level/ability level
• These could also be grouped or categorized by the
  learning domains skills, knowledge, and
  attitudes
• There should be objectives that line up with each
  of your goals, which in turn line up with your
  philosophy
• This is most commonly where programs fall into
  the trap of saying one thing and doing the
  other

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Sample Objectives - Elementary

• Skills/Psychomotor
• Students will be able to vary between the dynamic
  levels soft (piano), medium (mezzoforte), and
  strong (forte) to achieve expressive effects when
  chanting rhythms and nursery rhymes
• Knowledge/Cognitive
• Students will be able to recognize and
  discriminate between soft and loud musical
  passages within the range of soft (piano), medium
  (mezzoforte), and strong (forte)
• Attitudes/Affective
• Students will discuss what they perceive as
  qualities of soft (piano), medium (mezzoforte),
  and strong (forte) musical passages such as
  example, gentle, calm, excited, fun, scary, etc.

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Sample Objectives Middle/Jr. High

• Skills/Psychomotor
• Students will be able to sing melodic passages
  that vary between the dynamics of piano,
  mezzopiano, mezzoforte, and forte while
  maintaining a high quality sound.
• Knowledge/Cognitive
• Students will be able to define the terms
  pianissimo, piano, mezzo, forte, and fortissimo.
• Attitudes/Affective
• Students will write a short essay, in which they
  describe how piano, forte, fortissimo might be
  used in a film score to elicit emotional
  responses from viewers.

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Resources

• Staff
• Time Scheduling
• Space/rooms, Equipment, Budget

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Sample Resources

• Elementary music specialist for each school
• Students will meet in class 3 times for every 6
  day cycle
• A dedicated music room with appropriate
  acoustical treatment and carpeted floors for
  activities
• Stereo and video equipment for high quality
  listening experiences

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Teaching/Learning Experiences

• What types of activities will the students
  participate in to achieve your goals
• There should be both general and specific
  examples here
• State general categories of teacher and student
  activities that the program believes reflect
  sound learning experiences
• Include example lesson plans of how some of these
  general approaches could be applied to
  accomplishing specific program objectives

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Sample Teaching/Learning Activities

• Teachers will incorporate
• modeling (e.g., singing, playing, clapping),
  group participation (all kids) and individuals or
  small group participation (some kids),
  repetition, chaining (piecing things together bit
  by bit), shaping (moving from simple to complex),
  diagnosis and/or error detection, positive and/or
  negative feedback, etc.
• Students will participate in
• individual, small group, and full class
  performing experiences, listening to high quality
  recordings, composing and improvising music,
  self-evaluation, collaborative group projects,
  discussion about music and its relation to other
  art forms, discussions regarding historical
  aspects of music, etc.
• Lesson plan(s)
• A detailed example of what one class experience
  that addresses a specific objective would look
  like.

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Assessment of Curricular Objectives

• General and specific description of methods for
  determining whether the goals and objectives are
  being achieved
• Can be descriptions of approaches
• Formal, informal, formative, summative,
  convergent, divergent, prescriptive, graded vs.
  not-graded, etc.
• Also can include specific examples of measures
• Tests, rating forms, checklists, portfolio
  projects, group projects, practice charts, etc.

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Sample Assessment

• Rubrics used in class

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Curricular Materials/Content

• References for the materials and/or literature
  you are going to use
• Sample items
• Basal series, method books, texts, supplementary
  materials, performance literature, recording
  sets, teacher/district-created and/or adapted
  materials

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Curriculum Development as a Process

• Top down approaches are not likely to work
• Teachers generally perceive top down approaches
  as detached from their daily activities and
  challenges in the classroom
• Although leadership roles must be assumed during
  a curriculum development process, collaboration
  and respect among colleagues for personal
  educational philosophies must be maintained
• In-service experiences for music teachers to
  spend time together are essential
• Especially considering that you may be the only
  music teacher at your school

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Curriculum Development as a Process

• Ideal Outcomes
• The document/collection of information about the
  program is clear enough that all teachers in the
  district could use it as a guideline for
  implementing instruction in their classes
• All students in the district could be assumed to
  have a similar set of experiences and be
  proficient in doing and understanding the
  selected musical concepts

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Curriculum Development as a Process

• Summary of steps in the basic process of
  curriculum development
• Philosophy Goals Objectives Resources
  Teaching/Learning Experiences in a logical
  developmental sequence Assessment Materials
• This is not an exclusively linear process
• Many find it intuitive to begin with a focus on
  repertoire for performance based classes and
  branch out from there
• Any one component alone does not necessarily
  constitute a curriculum the MENC National
  Standards for Music Education are not curriculum
• This can be applied at the district level, at the
  school level, at the course level, etc. for
  increasing detail depending on the context
• Not coincidentally, this is also the approach of
  the course description taken in the first day of
  class

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Publicly Available Examples

• Example of using the National Standards in a
  creative way. They are weaved in so that they fit
  within the philosophical framework of the school
  district teachers. Good example of broad goals
  that fit within philosophy.
• Hillsborough County, FL - http//apps.sdhc.k12.fl.
  us/sdhc2/elementary/music/
• Example of relatively clear skill/psychomotor and
  knowledge/cognitive objectives
• Mifflin, PA http//www2.mcsdk12.org/music/muscur
  riculum/music_68band.htm
• Example of some apparent disconnect between lofty
  philosophical goals and primarily
  skill/psychomotor objectives. Some general
  description of teaching learning activities,
  assessment, and curricular materials.
• St Hugo of the Hills, Michigan -
  http//www.sthugo.k12.mi.us/profile/curriculum/