Aesthetic Perception Unit

A sequential summary of key learning events/activities and instruction are…
Week 1 – Pre-Evaluation through pair & share and class discussion. Formal assessment through writing prompt at the end of the week.
Weeks 2 & 3 – Popular Music. Student will use their listening journals to evaluate popular music on a basic level. Using popular music that they may already have formed opinions about giving them a jumpstart on forming value judgments about the music.
Week 2 & 3 Assessment – Students will perform a written assessment using a writing prompt to evaluate their ability to aesthetically evaluate a piece of music.
Weeks 4 & 5 – Classical Music & Jazz. Students will use their listening journals to evaluate classical music and jazz. On a general basis, most students will not have heard this music before and should not have pre-created value statements regarding this music. Using this music at this point will allow the students to begin forming value judgments based on their listening.
Week 4 & 5 Assessment - Students will perform a written assessment using a writing prompt to evaluate their ability to aesthetically evaluate a piece of music.
Weeks 6 & 7 – Student selections. Students will be allowed to suggest and/or bring in music for listening examples. This forces students to defend their selections in class discussion and consider how music that they enjoy is valued by other students and teachers.
Week 8 – Formal Summative Assessment. Students will doing a writing assessment where they will evaluate an entire album of music. These assessments will be evaluated using the district evaluation rubric.