Step 3: What about Assesment Tasks?

Thank you all for this week's posts about what you exactly want to study within the topics. I have included all of these suggestions in our programs in addition to other elements that I have already programmed for you.

Now, I need some help with assessment tasks. Unfortunately, these must be done and not doing them isn't a choice. However, I am certainly interested in what your thoughts are on assessment tasks.

Please respond to the following questions by 5pm Friday.

In the 3 learning areas of performing, composing and listening, what suggestions do you have about how we could be assessed on these three skills in Music? What activities/projects/tasks do you suggest? What assessment tasks would you enjoy completing?

Please keep in mind, that we need to set assessment tasks in EACH of the three areas of perfoming, composing and listening.

Step 2: Choices of study within the topics.

Thank you everybody for your posts this week. I am pleased to announce that this will be our course of study over the Year 9 and 10 elective course:

Year 9: Rock Music (the most popular topic).
            Classical Music
           Australian Music

Year 10: Australian Music (continued)
              Music for Small Ensembles
              Music and Technology (my topic choice)

I have made careful note of everybody's suggestions and when designing the topics, I will ensure that we try to cover as many of those as we can. For example, we can explore jazz music when studying Australian Music by looking at Australian jazz music, etc.

The next step is to determine what focus areas you would like to explore within each of these topics. As your Music Teacher, there are some focus areas within these topics that I will select to extend your appreciation of different styles of music (this is very important as young musicians), however, I would like to know what and who interests you in a musical context.

For each of the 5 topics above, please indicate a style, composer/band/artist, skill that you would like to learn about. This is due on the blog by 5pm Friday this week.

For example, take Rock Music. You may want to specifically focus on Punk Rock, and the music of Blink 182, and learn how to compose a rock song using Garageband.

In each topic, there will be a number of different focus areas in order to try to meet everybody's needs and interests.

If you aren't sure what to nominate, come and pay me a visit and ask me some questions.

Check the blog the following Monday for our next step: Assessment Tasks.

Selecting Our Topics

The first step in designing how and what we want to learn in Year 9 Music in 2011 is selecting our topics.

The compulsory topic that we must study is Australian Music which encompasses a range of different musical styles. Then, there are 4 other topics that need to be selected. I am going to choose one topic, which means that the remaining three are up to you.

In your envelope, you will find a sheet with two topic boxes on it. We must make sure that when the final topics are determined, that we have selected 2 topics from each of these boxes to be studied over Years 9 and 10.

Your task for this week is to nominate the three topics that YOU want to study in the Elective Music Course. It will be a 'majority rules' scenario so for your voice to be heard, you must post your nominations on this blog by Friday 5pm (come and see me if you have trouble with this before Friday). Failure to nominate topics, results in me selecting your topics.

In your envelopes, you will find a list of your Year 9 classmates. You might want to talk to them about the topics before making your final decision.

Check this blog on Monday for our chosen topics and your next step in designing how and what you are going to learn in Year 9 Music.