I love music! There is rarely a day that does not start or end without me humming/singing something, pretending to be an opera singer (I know…weirdo, I’m a tenor btw) in the shower, or serenading my fellow commuters as we drive down the busy streets of Taiwan on our scooters.
Something that I’ve noticed over the course of the year is that most of the exposure my students have to Western music is primarily derived from the billboard top 40’s pop charts, or K-Pop. I wanted to try and broaden my student’s horizons, or at least their understanding that there is more to music than just pop music.
I’ve created a crossword sheet, a PPT, and a Kahoots game to help do this. I taught this lesson to students in 7th, 8th, and 9th grade over the course of two weeks.
The first week we discussed several different types of venues and locations you can go to listen to music. We also learned about several different types of musical genres and listened to a clip that represented that genre. As I talked about the location or music type, students had to fill in the blanks on their crossword sheet.
The second week we finished the remaining music genres and played the kahoots game.
My school has iPads that can be loaned out to teachers for use in the classroom. I break the classroom into 4 groups and give each group an iPad. Students have to listen to the entirety of the clip before they can answer the question. Students can also play the game with their phones as long as they have access to wifi or a cellular network.
Google Drive with PPT and Crossword game: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B0cZ4MzFrFjYY29GRnd3STBod0U
Kahoots game link: https://play.kahoot.it/#/k/f92eafe8-dbf4-4a09-b145-22f592d3ef4c