Molly+Moreland

Here is the link to my lesson plan! http://www.lessonplanspage.com/SSMusicLA4thofJulyAmericaTheBeautifulStarSpangledBanner5.htm

This lesson plan is about our national songs. The goals are to have the students comprehend the importance of the[| National Anthem] and the [|National Hymn] and the meanings of both, as well as be able to define the "American Ideal." The objectives of the lesson are, students will reflect through writing their beliefs and translation of both songs and students will use a venn diagram to compare both songs. Over a few days the teacher will read "America the Beautiful-The Story Behind our National Hymn" and " Star-Spangled Banner-The Story Behind our National Anthem." The class will have short discussions about their understanding of the stories. The students will receive a copy of the lyrics and are asked to write a response about the meaning and how they feel about the songs. They will then create a venn diagram and compare both of the songs. In a closing, the students will be broken up in to two groups, one singing the National Hymn and the other singing the National Anthem. What I would add to this lesson is incorporating art. By doing this, I think it makes the lesson more fun and not so monotonous. After reading the stories and handing out the lyrics, I would ask my class to pick out their favorite part of either song and draw a detailed picture illustrating the meaning of their favorite part. Also, I would add more group work by breaking the kids up and ask them to talk about the meaning and understanding of the songs and have them complete the final venn diagram together. Finally, there are some extra activities on the lesson plan and one that I liked was having the class create a class national anthem together. I think it would also be fun to have the kids make up their own personal national anthem.

Joyce's Response
**This lesson seems like a fun way to learn about songs that are important to America. I think one way to edit this lesson would be to choose a secular American song like “Yankee Doodle” to incorporate instead of the National Hymn. It might cause trouble to use the National Hymn because it talks about God. In addition, I think the teacher should provide information about how each of the songs was created instead of using the extension idea provided in the lesson and having the students do that research. Another way I would refine this lesson would be to have all of the students sing both songs instead of splitting the class into two groups. That way, they lean more of the lyrics to both songs. I also think it would be important to discuss specifically how these two songs relate to American ideals with the students because otherwise the discussion of American ideals may seem unrelated to students who do not make the connection.**

Lyttia's Response: I don't think the teacher should have to choose a secular song over the National Hymn because the children are supposed to be learning about our countries symbols and history. God is a big part of our country's history and to ignore that would not be doing a teacher's job as educator. The teacher simply needs to be careful about how he/she talks about anything pertaining to any religion and make sure to teach about all religions involved as equals. When we talk about Indians in school, we need to make sure that we are teaching the children what beliefs were important to them as well. There is no indoctrination in that as long as the teacher treats it as historical information. I like the idea of singing both songs and relating to ideals and the idea of illustrating their favorite part and working in groups.

Virginia's Response:
===My response for this lesson plan seams to have disappeared so I'm writing it again. I like the idea of incorporating song into a social studies lesson plan. It would make it more interesting and fun for the students. It would help to enhance the lesson plan to have the students also learn about where the two songs came from before singing about them. Having them learn who wrote them and why they were written would help the lesson plan. The lesson plan doesn't mention it but it would be a good idea to have the students perform the songs in front of say other classes or maybe at a school assembly. It would be a nice way to wrap up what the class has learned. ===

===Angela's Response: I really like this lesson plan because it allows students to engage in a musical lesson that may apply to some students interests. However, I think that it would be beneficial if students were able to learn more than two songs. They would have more of a variety of songs to compare from one another and they would be able to connect more pieces of history with sons. I also really like the idea of having them perform the songs they have learned in a musical concert to their parents. That would they could establish a sense of pride for what they have learned in class. I think we could make this into a lesson plan that would allow two or three days for learning about the meanings and reasons for the songs and then the whole week focusing on also learning the words and tune of the songs so that on friday they can sing to their parents and inform them of what the songs actually mean. ===