User:Ustchftc

Return to: ETAP 623 Spring 2016 | Chen's Personal Page | Chen's Mini-Course

Topic/Purpose of Course

My topic is using music to teach history in middle school. Two sample lessons will be provided separately, one may work for history teachers in America and another for history teachers in China.
The purposes of this topic are:

1) Providing sample classes for history teachers in middle schools as illustrations of how to use music to teach history subject;

2) Giving implications of how to figuring out the relationships among historical events and figures related to or appeared in the song;

3) Encouraging teachers to use various teaching methods and tools in teaching knowledge and contents to students;

4) Demonstrating some possible ways of assessments or practice for testing students' understandings of history.

Needs Assessment

Instructional problem

The words and contents of history in the textbooks or other books are cold and rigid. A certain amount of students complain that history textbooks are tedious and boring. It might be difficult for them to remember the periods and facts. Not to mention the possibility of asking them to figure out more information behind these events and figures.

What is to be learned

1) Components of music which could be utilized to teach history subject;
2) Remarkable historical events and figures appear in or related to the song;
3) Relationships among the historical events or figures and other related history;
4) Design of discussion questions for guiding students better understand and deeper think about these events;
5) Cues for getting feedbacks or learning performance of students.

The Learners

The targeted learners are mainly novice or pre-employment history teachers of junior or senior middle school in America and China. History teachers from other countries who teach the history of United States or China, or other experienced history teachers in middle school who want to learn more ways of historical knowledge delivery can also be considered.

Instructional context

This mini-course can either work for face-to-face class or online class.

Address the instructional problem/solution

1) How to teach "cold history" to students in middle schools;
2) How to motivate students and help them cultivate good attitudes towards learning history;
3) How to guide students to explore more meanings of history and what the history really bring to us in today's society.

Performance Objectives

• Learners will be able to search for music about historical events;
  
• Learners will be able to use songs to teach history;
  
• Learners will be able to connect the selected song with other related music or historical events which occurred in the same period;
  
• Learners will be able to guide students dig out more meanings or the truth behind the history.