American History Idol
(Personalized Learning Pilot)
By: Nina Kendall
What
is American History Idol?
- It is a personalized learning approach focused on music inspired inquiry and performance assessment to promote student learning, understanding of periodization, and student agency.
- Activities are designed to use lyrics, audio clips, or videos segments to enhance student understanding and promote student use of 21st century skills
- Student mastery is demonstrated via traditional assessment and mastery tasks.
What
is the goal of American History Idol?
The goal of is to promote the use of historical
thinking skills including periodization. Students used primary and secondary
sources to investigate the period and inspire their demonstration of
understanding. Engaging students with a balance of knowledge development and analytical
opportunities allowed more chances for collaboration and creativity in class
while promoting higher order thinking.
What
is Personalized Learning?
Personalized learning is a student-centered,
individualized, self-directed learning experience that promotes content mastery
and creates 21st critical thinkers, independent problem solvers and lifelong
learners.
What
is a playlist?
A playlist is a collection of activities that a
student can complete to develop an understanding of a topic These activities
can be completed in any order the student wishes, at their own pace over a set
period of time ending in a summative assessment. The playlist is serves as a progress
monitoring tool for the student who guided by the teacher through completion of
the multiple activities.
What
is a Mastery Task?
A mastery task is an opportunity for students to
create a product that reflects deep understanding of the standards. Products that can be use as mastery task
include songs, liner notes, album covers, and concert posters.
Sample
Mastery Task
Forgotten
Man Blues
Task: Write a song that shares the blues of the forgotten man that is at least 3 verses in length and has a chorus. Your song should include a description of the hardship of this period and the recovery efforts of the New Deal.
Task: Write a song that shares the blues of the forgotten man that is at least 3 verses in length and has a chorus. Your song should include a description of the hardship of this period and the recovery efforts of the New Deal.
Forgotten
Man Blues Inspiration
“It is said
that Napoleon lost the battle of Waterloo because he forgot his infantry--he
staked too much upon the more spectacular but less substantial cavalry. The
present administration in Washington provides a close parallel. It has either forgotten
or it does not want to remember the infantry of our economic army.
These unhappy times call for the building
of plans that rest upon the forgotten, the unorganized but the
indispensable units of economic power, for plans like those of 1917 that build
from the bottom up and not from the top down, that put their faith once more
in the forgotten man at the bottom of the economic pyramid. ”
-Franklin D. Roosevelt, The Forgotten Man, April 7, 1932
Liner Notes
|
World War II Liner Notes
|
|
Task: Design Liner Notes for a World War II Swing
album using photographs or art from the time period.
Directions:
•
Select 5 photographs or images and
list the artist with each image.
•
Place explanatory text in a chart
adjacent to each image. Title each section with a “song title.”
•
At least one image should be
accompanied by text written in verse form.
•
Write an explanation of how each
image illustrates one of the following:
•
the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor
and the internment of Japanese- Americans, German-Americans, and
Italian-Americans.
•
major events; include the
lend-lease program, the Battle of Midway, D-Day, and the fall of Berlin.
•
war mobilization, as indicated by
rationing, war-time conversion, and the role of women in war industries.
|
Concert Posters
Recommended
Elements in a Mastery Task
•
Task goal: What will the work communicate?
What should be demonstrated?
•
Key Terms
•
Options for point-of-view
•
Authentic guidance for production
•
Opportunities for feedback
Who
can use the American History Idol model?
This model was used with 11th grade US History
students from all learning levels from co-taught- AP US History.
It is a model that any level could use with some
modification to reflect the grade level in regards to the number of assignments
given in the playlist and the requirements for the completion of the mastery
task to meet the achievement level of the individual learner.
What
styles of music are appropriate?
Many music style can be used as long as it is
appropriate for classroom use. Some
examples:
Blues, Jazz-
1920- 1930s Big Band, Swing- 1940s
Blues, Rock,
Doo-Wop- 1950s Rock,
Motown, Folk-1960s
Acid Rock,
Punk, Disco- 1970s Rock,
Country, Metals-1980s
Rap, Grunge,
Hip-Hop, Pop-1990s Rock, Pop, Rap, Country-2000s
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