Year+3+Documentation

Earth Day Composition/Collaborative Arts Project  ﻿   The following assumptions underpin this collaborative inquiry:

1. Working on a large-scale collaboration improves student inspiration and motivation. 2. Working on a large-scale collaboration reinforces the idea of career choices in the arts. 3. Working on a large-scale collaboration reduces attendance problems and promotes teamwork 4. Working on a large-scale collaboration improves general attitudes about the arts.

From these assumptions evolves the following Inquiry question. How can working collaboratively cause improvement and/or growth in motivation and inspiration.

Participants will develop, organize and execute a rich large-scale cross disciplinary arts content project that will involve a number of students from a number of school districts. It will be centered on a universal concept and will include visual art objects and original music compositions. The project will be multifaceted and will be produced and exhibited in many venues. The project will have the capacity to be an event that continues on an annual basis after the AE2.0 project ends.

This study will attempt to measure the impact of the endeavor upon student attitudes and the frequency of ideas that students generate.

Attitudes will be qualified by a pre-experience survey and a post-experience survey in which student responsive will be compared. A measurement of the number of ideas generated and the frequency in which they are expressed in response to a given prompt can suggest conclusions about pupil inspiration or creativity. The assessment instrument is designed validity and reliability with as a primary concern.

Teachers design classroom experiences that promote pupil input and ideas in such a way as to improve the frequency and fluency of student ideas and input. These experiences will be centered around an "Earth Day" theme and will culminate in the artistic product described above. _ ** 10/6/10 Skype Meeting: **  We used our meeting time to discuss possible lines of inquiry for our group project. We talked about how the project this year could both relate to last year's research and expand on new ideas and concepts. The initial idea for a travelling art project was introduced and we discussed how that might be realized. ** 10/14/10 Skype Meeting: ** We continued our discussion on the idea of a travelling art project. We talked about how each participant would contribute, how it would benefit our students, and how it would work as a collaborative effort. ** 10/27/10 Skype Meeting: ** We spent this shortened meeting discussing a plan for the meeting on November 5. It was determined that a travelling art project could be done but that we may need to narrow the scope. Much of this meeting was spent bouncing ideas off each other. I think we all like the idea, but we need to get together and discuss specifics and logistics. ** 11/3/10 Skype Meeting: ** This meeting was meant specifically to decide a plan of action for the IU meeting on Friday. I will not be in attendance for that meeting and as such allowed the other members of the Yellow CIG take the lead. They want to spend the afternoon session gathering ideas, deciding on a 'Theme' for the project, planning the pre/post test that will be used to gauge student learning, and discussing how the project will move. ** 11/17/10 Skype Meeting: ** We have decided on an Earth Day theme. The plan in to debut the project in/around April. We spent time discussing how each member would contribute. It was determined that the music teachers in the group would conduct lessons in which the students compose a short piece of music based on Earth Day/preservation of the Earth. We talked about students using recycled materials as instruments in the composition. It was also determined that the visual art teachers would conduct lessons in which the students create a piece of art that depicted elements of conservation and preservation. ** Week of 1/3/11 Lesson Plan ** Fifth/Fourth Grade

Week of 1/3-1/7

Pre-Test, Arts Educator Earth Day Project

Materials: Creativity Exercise, Pre-Test, Pencils

Objectives: 1.) Students will define creativity 2.) Students will take the creativity exercise 3.) Students will take the pre-test

Procedure: 1.) Teacher will outline the line of inquiry regarding the project 2.) Teacher will discuss composition 3.) Teacher will discuss creative response 4.) Teacher will discuss goals for the project 5.) Teacher will administer the creativity exercise 6.) Teacher will administer the pre-test 7.) Teacher will field any questions about the project

9.1.5. A, B, C

** Pre-Test: **

** Week 1/3-1/7 Reflection **

I spent class time this week introducing students to the Earth Day composition unit and administering the pre-test. Fourth and Fifth graders will participate in the unit. I told the students about Arts Educator 2.0 (fifth graders had some background because they participated in our research project in year 2) and our intentions for the project this year. I then told them that they were about to take a pre-test unlike any that they had taken in the past. Rather than trying to determine initial student knowledge about a given set of facts/skills, this pre-test would help us to determine 1.) their ability to generate ideas 2.) the level of creativity in those ideas 3.) their reaction to taking this kind of pre-test. The students were given a page covered in rows of X's (8 rows of 7). I asked the students to draw as many pictures as they could using the X's. The goal was to generate as many ideas as they could and to be as creative as possible in their responses. They were given 7 minutes. After looking at the results I realized that the students in my first class had misinterpreted what I asked of them. Rather than using the X's as part of the picture most students used them like they were connecting the dots. As a result I had to change my approach. I had also generated a similar test with a page covered in O's that I planned to use as the post-test. Instead I told the students that they were going to take the test again and was more specific in my instructions. Generated ideas would only be counted if the students used the O's as part of the picture. I also shortened the time limit to 5 minutes. The results were much closer to what I expected. I continued this procedure with my remaining classes. ** Week 1/10-1/14 Lesson Plan ** Fourth/Fifth Grade

Week of 1/10-1/14

Earth Day Composition, Lesson 1

Materials: Composition Packet, Youtube Videos, Musical Excerpts

Objectives: 1.) Students will review guidelines for composition project 2.) Students will begin choosing rhythm and melody for project 3.) Students will begin choosing instrumentation for project

Procedure: 1.) Teacher will pass out Composition Packets 2.) Teacher will review material covered in the packet 3.) Teacher will discuss Earth Day and history 4.) Teacher will discuss possible instrumentation for the piece 5.) Teacher will discuss process for choosing rhythm/melody 6.) Teacher will split the class into groups to discuss further ideas

9.1.5. A, B, C, D


 * Compostition Packet **

** Earth Day Composition **

** Theme: **

The Earth, Recycling, Going Green

** History: **

What was the purpose of Earth Day? How did it start? These are the questions I am most frequently asked.

Actually, the idea for Earth Day evolved over a period of seven years starting in 1962. For several years, it had been troubling me that the state of our environment was simply a non-issue in the politics of the country. Finally, in November 1962, an idea occurred to me that was, I thought, a virtual cinch to put the environment into the political "limelight" once and for all. The idea was to persuade President Kennedy to give visibility to this issue by going on a national conservation tour. I flew to Washington to discuss the proposal with Attorney General Robert Kennedy, who liked the idea. So did the President. The President began his five-day, eleven-state conservation tour in September 1963. For many reasons the tour did not succeed in putting the issue onto the national political agenda. However, it was the germ of the idea that ultimately flowered into Earth Day.

I continued to speak on environmental issues to a variety of audiences in some twenty-five states. All across the country, evidence of environmental degradation was appearing everywhere, and everyone noticed except the political establishment. The environmental issue simply was not to be found on the nation's political agenda. The people were concerned, but the politicians were not.

After President Kennedy's tour, I still hoped for some idea that would thrust the environment into the political mainstream. Six years would pass before the idea that became Earth Day occurred to me while on a conservation speaking tour out West in the summer of 1969. At the time, anti-Vietnam War demonstrations, called "teach-ins," had spread to college campuses all across the nation. Suddenly, the idea occurred to me - why not organize a huge grassroots protest over what was happening to our environment?

I was satisfied that if we could tap into the environmental concerns of the general public and infuse the student anti-war energy into the environmental cause, we could generate a demonstration that would force this issue onto the political agenda. It was a big gamble, but worth a try.

At a conference in Seattle in September 1969, I announced that in the spring of 1970 there would be a nationwide grassroots demonstration on behalf of the environment and invited everyone to participate. The wire services carried the story from coast to coast. The response was electric. It took off like gangbusters. Telegrams, letters, and telephone inquiries poured in from all across the country. The American people finally had a forum to express its concern about what was happening to the land, rivers, lakes, and air - and they did so with spectacular exuberance. For the next four months, two members of my Senate staff, Linda Billings and John Heritage, managed Earth Day affairs out of my Senate office.

Five months before Earth Day, on Sunday, November 30, 1969, The New York Times carried a lengthy article by Gladwin Hill reporting on the astonishing proliferation of environmental events:

"Rising concern about the environmental crisis is sweeping the nation's campuses with an intensity that may be on its way to eclipsing student discontent over the war in Vietnam...a national day of observance of environmental problems...is being planned for next spring...when a nationwide environmental 'teach-in'...coordinated from the office of Senator Gaylord Nelson is planned...."

It was obvious that we were headed for a spectacular success on Earth Day. It was also obvious that grassroots activities had ballooned beyond the capacity of my U.S. Senate office staff to keep up with the telephone calls, paper work, inquiries, etc. In mid-January, three months before Earth Day, John Gardner, Founder of Common Cause, provided temporary space for a Washington, D.C. headquarters. I staffed the office with college students and selected Denis Hayes as coordinator of activities.

Earth Day worked because of the spontaneous response at the grassroots level. We had neither the time nor resources to organize 20 million demonstrators and the thousands of schools and local communities that participated. That was the remarkable thing about Earth Day. It organized itself.

** What is Composition? **

Musical compositions
A piece of music exists in the form of a composition in [|musical notation] or as a single [|acoustic] event (a live performance or recorded track). If composed before being performed, music can be performed from memory, through written [|musical notation], or through a combination of both. Compositions comprise musical elements, which vary widely from person to person and between cultures. [|Improvisation] is the act of composing during the performance, assembling musical elements spontaneously.

Composition as musical form
In discussing the structure or organization of a musical work, the //composition// of that work is generally called its [|musical form]. These techniques draw a parallel to art's [|formal elements]. Sometimes, the entire form of a piece is [|through-composed], meaning that each part is different, with no repetition of sections; other forms include [|strophic], [|rondo], [|verse-chorus], or other parts. Some pieces are composed around a set [|scale], where the compositional technique might be considered the usage of a particular scale. Others are composed during performance (see [|improvisation]), where a variety of techniques are also sometimes used.Some are used from particular songs which are familiar.

** Rhythm: **
 * Rhythm ** (from [|Greek] //ῥ //// υθμός // – //rhythmos//, "any regular recurring motion, symmetry"[|[1]]) is a "movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions." [|[2]] In other words, rhythm is simply the timing of the musical sounds and silences. While rhythm most commonly applies to sound, such as music and spoken language, it may also refer to visual presentation, as "timed movement through space."[|[3]]

A **melody** (from [|Greek] //μελ// //ῳ //// δία // - //melōidía//, "singing, chanting"[|[1]]), also **tune**, **voice**, or **line**, is a [|linear] succession of musical tones which is perceived as a single entity. In its most literal sense, a melody is a combination of [|pitch] and [|rhythm], while, more figuratively, the term has occasionally been extended to include successions of other musical elements such as [|tone color]. It may be considered the **foreground** to the background [|accompaniment]. A line or [|part] need not be the melody. Melodies often consist of one or more musical [|phrases] or [|motifs], and are usually repeated throughout a [|song] or [|piece] in various forms. Melodies may also be described by their [|melodic motion] or the pitches or the [|intervals] between pitches (predominantly [|conjunct or disjunct] or with further restrictions), pitch range, [|tension] and release, continuity and coherence, [|cadence], and shape.
 * Melody: **

** Instrumentation: **

In [|music], **instrumentation** refers to the particular combination of [|musical instruments] employed in a composition, and to the properties of those instruments individually. Instrumentation is sometimes used as a synonym for [|orchestration], which more properly refers to an [|orchestrator]'s, [|composer]'s or [|arranger]'s craft of employing instruments in varying combinations.

** Week of 1/10-1/14 Reflection ** I spent class time this week reviewing the composition packet above. Each student was given a packet and we discussed each topic in detail. The students learned a little bit about the history of Earth Day and how it came to be celebrated. We then talked about composition and how the class will go about creating their own compositions. A primary focus was instrumentation. The students thought it would be a great idea to incorporate recycled materials as instruments. Some of the following ideas were expressed: 1.) Using aluminum cans as guiros 2.) Filling soda bottles with different amounts of liquid and blowing over the tops 3.) Filling milk jugs with liquid and swirling them around to simulate water moving 4.) Crinkling paper to simulate fire 5.) Filling soda cans with the pop tops to make shakers. We also talked a lot about form and how we might structure our compositions. The students seemed genuinely excited about the project and they said that they look forward to officially getting started next week.  Week of 1/17-1/21 Lesson Plan   Fourth/Fifth Grade

Week of 1/17-1/21

Earth Day Composition, Lesson 2

Materials: Percussion instruments, Pencils, Staff Paper

Objectives: 1.) Students will identify different musical forms 2.) Students will identify instruments to be used in composition 3.) Students will begin choosing rhythms for compostion

Procedure: 1.) Teacher will review form and instrumentation 2.) Teacher will put students in groups of 3 or 4 3.) Teacher will pass out percussion instruments (non-pitched) to each group 4.) Teacher will conduct an exercise in which students choose a 4 beat rhythm for their instrument. Students will count and play their part on the instrument. 5.) Teacher will pair groups and create an impromptu composition by layering instruments together in different groups. 6.) Teacher will talk about how this exercise relates to the actual composition

9.1.5. A, B, C

Week of 1/17-1/21 Reflection

Class time this week was spent engaging in a practice composition session. Students were put in groups of 3 or 4 and asked to create a basic four beat rhythm. Once the students could accurately play and count their rhythms they were given a choice of percussive instruments (triangle, guiro, cowbell, bongos, etc). Each group was then given approximately 10 mintutes to practice playing their rhythm on their instrument of choice. After the alloted time I told the groups that we would create a practice composition through the use of instrument layering. One instrument would begin, four measures later another instrument would join, and so on. I recorded each rehearsal and allowed the students to hear the products and to give immediate feedback. At the end of class we discussed instrumentation for the final projects and how we wanted to incorporate the elements of the Earth. The students really seem to be taking to this project.

Fourth/Fifth Grade Week of 1/31-2/4

Earth Day Composition, Lesson 4 Objectives: 1.) Students will decide on form for the piece 2.) Students will decide on instrumentation for the piece 3.) Students will begin composing rhythms for each instrument

Procedure: 1.) Teacher will split students into work groups 2.) Teacher will review musical form 3.) Teacher will give students a chance to discuss form and how it will work in their composition 4.) Teacher will review instrumentation 5.) Teacher will give students a chance to discuss instrumentation and make final decisions as to which instruments will be part of the composition 6.) Teacher will pass out instruments and give students group time to begin writing rhythms

9.1.5. A, B, C, D

Fourth/Fifth Grade

Week of 2/21-2/25

Earth Day Composition, Lesson 5

Materials: Percussion Instruments, Rhythm Cards, Recording Device, Recording Software

Objectives: 1.) Students will write rhythmic parts for percussion instruments 2.) Students will play parts by themselves and in a group 3.) Students will complete and record the rhythm section of the composition

Procedure: 1.) Teacher will divide students into 3 groups 2.) Teacher will ask each group to compose two 4 beat rhythmic patterns 3.) Teacher will write each groups’ patterns on the board 4.) Teacher will ask students to pick instruments to play said patterns 5.) Teacher will allow students time to rehearse 6.) Teacher will ask groups to select one person to play each instrument 7.) Teacher will give remaining students hand drums and bongos 8.) Teacher will rehearse the composition with the students 9.) Teacher will record the composition

9.1.5. A, B, C, D

Fifth Grade

Week of 2/28-3/4

Earth Day Composition, Lesson 6

Materials: Mic, Recording Software, Metaliphones

Objectives: 1.) Students will write 4 beat rhythms for melodic sections 2.) Students will play solo and in groups 3.) Students will complete and record melodic section of the composition

Procedure: 1.) Teacher will play completed rhythm section for students 2.) Teacher will give each table (3) a metaliphone 3.) Teacher will talk about melody and how it will be used in the piece 4.) Teacher will ask students to create a four beat rhythm that will become the basis for a melody line 5.) Teacher will ask students to create a melody based on the rhythm 6.) Teacher will give students time to rehearse 7.) Teacher will ask students to pick the best student in the group to record their melody 8.) Teacher will ask the chosen student to come to the computer and play the part along to the already recorded rhythm section 9.) Teacher will play back parts and ask students which one they like best and whether they want to use all three melodies, two, or just one

9.1.5. A, B, C, D

media type="file" key="Mr. Davis.mp3" width="240" height="20"  **Mr. Hewitt's Class Composition: Thunder and Lightning** media type="file" key="Mr. Hewitt.mp3" width="240" height="20" media type="file" key="Mr. Jones.mp3" width="240" height="20"
 * Mr. Davis's Class Composition: Earth Revolves**
 * Mr. Jones's Class Composition: Earthquake**