Anna,
The other thing you want to do, as you start learning how to apply TBL to
a course like music appreciation, is spend some time thinking about
what you want students to be able to DO, three years or so
after the course is over.
My hunch
is that you it might be something like: Be able to listen to a new piece
of music and identify its era or general style (classic, romantic,
baroque, blues, swing); identify what the composer is doing with rhythm,
instrumentation, harmonies; etc.
Then,
whatever these thinking tasks turn out to be, you can start the process
of "backward design":
Given what you want students to be able to do well by the end of the
course (and thereafter):
- What would they have to do DURING the course, to learn how to do that
well at the end?
- What would they have to know, i.e., read and study, in order to do
that during the course?
One other thing I would like to see students who have graduated from
a course like be able to do, is to create their own "music
listening plan". This is an individual activity, not a
team-activity.
But if
students could begin the process of creating a general set of categories
of music (classic, popular; traditional, recent; western, non-western;
and so forth), and then think about generating "listening
moments" for live or recorded music, they would then realize that
they need to think about (a) what they have recently listened to and, as
a result, (b) what they want to listen to next - that would be an
extremely good thing in terms of empowering them to intentionally make
music a live and vibrant part of their life.
I know of
a literature person who tried this with literature. At first,
students were bewildered because it was so different from the traditions
in English courses. But after they saw where the teacher was headed
and what they were able to start doing, they really liked it and
appreciated what the teacher was doing. In this case, students were
creating a "reading plan", but it was the same idea.
Hope this gives you some ideas to think about, Dee
Fink
At 07:52 PM 11/9/2007, Anna Rubin wrote:
Friends, I'm a new subscriber
and just getting exposed to this
approach. I am most interested in applying this to a music
appreciation course. Are any of you aware of models I could look at
in humanities areas? I haven't seen any so far. Much of the task
of
the class is listening to a variety of musics, understanding musical
rudiments and forms, and how those forms reflect the social
structures they come out of. Best, Anna Rubin
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
*
L. Dee
Fink
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**National Project Director, Teaching & Curriculum Assessment
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**Senior Associate, Dee Fink & Associates Consulting Services
**Author of: Creating Significant Learning Experiences
(Jossey-Bass, 2003)
**Former President of the POD Network [Professional and Organizational
Development] in Higher Education (2004-2005)