Documenti di Didattica
Documenti di Professioni
Documenti di Cultura
Course Description:
In this elective online course, students will explore the connection between music and poetry.
An emphasis will be placed on analyzing songs for figurative language, meaning, theme, and
purpose. Students will be creating a “Soundtrack of My Life” blog and writing poetry inspired
by songs of their own choosing. Students will be communicating on the course’s discussion
forums, blogs, and via padlet, and zoom for group projects and our final. This course will use
the school’s learning management system, Canvas, to complete assignments and to create
discussion forum posts. This course will be available to all 9-12 grade students attending
Kutztown Area High School or KVA (Kutztown’s Virtual Academy). The course will last a full
semester (20 weeks) and will be offered once a year.
Rationale:
Because of our school district’s initiative to increase student enrollment in AP classes, BCTC
vocational school, and dual enrollment at Kutztown University, scheduling electives required for
graduation has become increasingly difficult. Additionally, students enrolled in our virtual
online academy are lacking a solid Elective ELA course offering. This course, which will be
taught entirely online, will help to alleviate this problem and offer all students, regardless of
career path or academic track an elective choice offering. This elective will be student-
centered, meeting the diverse learning needs of each student and empowering students with
the tools and skills they need to master course content.
Objectives:
1. Students will learn to analyze music for theme, meaning, and use of figurative language.
2. Students will make meaningful connections between music and their own lives.
3. Students will develop communication skills by interacting with peers through discussion
boards and by authoring a course “Soundtrack of My Life” course blog.
4. Students will explore music from the decades of the 1950s to the present.
5. Students will create poems inspired by music and create projects using digital tools to
complete assigned tasks.
Student Expectations:
1. Students are expected to log on to the course via Canvas at least three times a week and
respond promptly to email and course correspondence. All discussions in Canvas and
blog posts should be at least 150 words so that we may gain an understanding of your
ideas.
2. Students are expected to be respectful of others at all times, including maintaining a
professional and courteous rapport with all students and the instructor. We all will have
different musical preferences and opinions of the value and quality of the musical
selections. Please use thoughtful analysis of lyrics and avoid personal criticisms.
3. Students should only post songs with “school-appropriate” language. When in doubt,
please email me directly or choose another song for your assignments.
4. Have fun and enjoy learning about new music and writing poetry!
CC.1.3.9–10.A Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in detail its development
over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific
details; provide an objective summary of the text.
CC.1.3.9–10.J Acquire and use accurately grade appropriate general academic and domain-
specific words and phrases; gather vocabulary knowledge when considering a word or phrase
important to comprehension or expression.
CC.1.4.9–10.D Organize ideas, concepts, and information to make important connections and
distinctions; use appropriate and varied transitions to link the major sections of the text;
include formatting when useful to aiding comprehension; provide a concluding statement or
section.
CC.1.4.9–10.U Use technology, including the Internet, to produce, publish, and update
individual or shared writing products, taking advantage of technology’s capacity to link to other
information and to display information flexibly and dynamically.
ISTE Standards:
1c Students use technology to seek feedback that informs and improves their practice and
to demonstrate their learning in a variety of ways.
6b Students create original works or responsibly repurpose or remix digital resources into new
creations.
6d Students publish or present content that customizes the message and medium for their
intended audiences.
Office Hours:
- Please email me for help at any time at mchester@kasd.org A reply will be made within
24 hours.
- Virtual Office Hours via skype will be available upon request.
Course Syllabus
2 Set up your class blog o Sign up for your free blog via Wordpress
Blogging Basics https://wordpress.com/ This blog will be
Post to blog used all semester long as a way to share
songs, analyze them, write poetry, and
communicate with classmates. Be sure to
come up with a catchy title that relates to
music and/or poetry.
o Complete the following post: If you could
have dinner with any singer, songwriter,
musician, or band from any time period,
who would it be and why? What insight
would you hope to gain? comment on at
least two classmates’ blogs.
Scoring:
Assignment Point
Value
Icebreaker Activity 10 pts
Discussion Forum 5 pts
Blog creation and Introductory 10 pts.
Post: Who is coming to dinner?
Gimkit Assignment 5 pts.
Poetic Devices Assessment on 25 pts.
Quia
Song Analysis Practice Guide 5 pts.
Song Analysis Post on Blog 20 points
March Madness Voting 5 pts.
Participation and Blog 10 pts.
Reflection
Soundtrack of My Life (3 50 pts.
assignments this semester)
“Where I’m From” Poem 20 pts.
inspired by mentor texts
Blackout Poem 10 pts.
Emotion in Music Padlet 5 pts.
Pantoum Poem 20 pts
Emotion in Music Reflection 5 pts
Parody Venn Diagram 5 pts.
Parody Discussion Forum 10 pts.
Original Parody of Song 30 pts.
Google Slide Group 20 pts.
Assignment: Music of a decade
Reflection Post 10 pts.
Blog Exploration Posts 10 pts
(Soundtrack of My Life due)
Slam Poetry Observation sheet 5 pts
Slam Poetry Writing 20 pts
Zoom Presentation Slam Poetry 20 pts
Final Course Reflection on 10 pts
Flipgrid
Responses to classmates 5 pts
Total 350 pts
342-350 A+
323–341 A
314-322 A-
303-313 B+
289-302 B
279-288 B-
268-278 C+
254-267 C
244-253 C-
233-243 D+
219-232 D
209-218 D-
Under 209 F