Core+Curriculum

=Objectives vs. Essential Question(s)= I've noticed there is a little confusion between "objectives" and "essential questions." (they are not the same)

We are required to include essential questions (no more than two in any single lesson) in our plans, but we post our objective on the board for every lesson (not the questions). I do, however, post my questions on my class page on our school website for every lesson. To post objectives in my room, I have laminated sentence strips (cut to fit the phrase) with the following:

"Objective:" "Today I will be able to..." and then I have music verbs - "sing" "play" "read" "write" "identify"

My word wall is also made of magnetic sentence strips (cut up) so usually I just pull the word from the word wall - this saves me having to write and erase 8 different times every day. To save you time, I would write my questions ONCE (on sentence strips or similar) and then just stick the next one up on the board before the class comes OR...(even better) have an area of your board (if you have the space) to just post all of the questions for every grade and leave them up for the week (if you see your students once a week). It may be a good brain stimulator for lower grades to see some of the questions from the upper grades...and, likewise, a nice review for the upper grades to see what the lower grades are doing.

Don't stress!

Norm Sands



We also have to post Mastery Objectives. > Our Essential Questions are based on the Va Music SOLs. We as a district have them all posted since we are continuously using them > all. I typed (used a large font so I could read them from across the room without my glasses) them up put them on construction paper, > laminated them, and posted them on the wall where ALL can see upon entering the room. Hope this helps. > > Music Essential Questions > > Module 1: Performance and Production > 1. How can we express ourselves through singing? > 2. How can we improve our singing? > 3. Why can learning about things like movement and rhythm improve our ability to sing? > 4. Why is our singing voice different from our speaking voice? > 5. How can we learn to sing well with others? > > Module 2: Cultural Context and Music Theory 1. How do tempi and dynamics affect expression in vocal music? > 2. To what extent is each voice unique" How cam we describe both the unique and universal characteristics of vocal expression? > 3. How are vocal music and musical instruments interrelated? How can instrumental music accompany and enhance vocal music expression? > > Module 3: Judgment and Criticism > 1. How can we judge if we are working well with others to make music? > 2. How can we show good citizenship when singing with others? > > Module 4: Aesthetics > 1. How can we decide if a musical performance is pleasing or beautiful? > 2. How does music connect to other things we study: What patterns can we find?

> Lynda A. Pearson