Flipped Lesson

My flipped lesson is for the 5th grade music classroom. My Padlet unit was about the Building Blocks of Music, and I decided I wanted to teach about rhythm basics using a flipped classroom style. 

https://ed.ted.com/on/asxs9cWL

I thought rhythm would be an excellent choice for a flipped lesson because, at the elementary age, I think an understanding of the foundations of what rhythm is is very important, but that students will just get bored being lectured on what quarter notes are. I think it would be much more engaging to use the flipped approach- where the students learn the basics in interactive video format at home, and then come into the classroom to do rhythms in practice on real instruments. I would write rhythms based on fractions of beats, since not all students may be up to reading from the staff yet.

I would want to make the most of the day after the flipped lesson by not only allowing students to practice rhythms on percussive instruments, but by exposing them to music from different cultures and countries they may not have heard before, and asking them to all tap the beat along with each song. This activity would ensure that they are all finding the beat, since they are doing it at the same time, and also would expose them to different kinds of music. I think with rhythm, it is essential that kids understand how different rhythms completely change the mood! 

I would want to spend a good portion of the day allowing students to work together in groups to create their own rhythms, or, for students who have gone beyond and already understand how to read rhythms from sheet music, playing the rhythm to an existing song from sheet music. I would spend this creative, group time going around to help groups that are struggling, whatever stage they may be at. At the end, I would ask each group to perform their rhythm on their instruments.

I love the idea of a flipped classroom. Some of the major benefits of flipped lessons are the technologies and equipment available in the classroom that aren't at home. So, for instance, instead of just tapping along with the beat, or learning to tap the rhythm of what they are reading, students are able to play on percussive instruments. I also think that in this model, in general, students will be more engaged in the classtime because they are not being lectured at. Also, they will have in-class space to practice what they might make time to practice on their own.